Abstract
The study investigates whether context affects subextraction from heavy DPs, both in situ and ex situ (HNPS). The study provides evidence that the contextual factors givenness and newness play a crucial role in licensing subextraction, while ordering preferences such as given>new are less decisive for the acceptability of subextraction. Experimental evidence suggests that subextraction receives contextual support if the heavy DP is discourse new irrespective of whether the heavy DP is in situ or shifted. Provided that newness is typically associated with focus, the study provides new evidence for the sensitivity of extraction to information structure. In particular, evidence is provided for the hypothesis that extraction takes place from focused and is dispreferred from discourse given constituents, which are identified as the relevant information- structural domains for subextraction from heavy DPs.
