On the size of Spell-Out domains: Arguments for Spell-Out of intermediate projections

It is a widely held assumption in the Minimalist framework that Spell-Out domains
are uniformly complements of phase heads. Contrary to this, the present paper
proposes that a traditional intermediate or bar-level projection of phase heads
constitutes Spell-Out domains if a phase head is in a spec-head agreement relation. I
defend this proposal by examining cases of Spell-Out at CP-phase levels, discussing
two types of phenomena which are sensitive to the size of Spell-Out domains. First,
I discuss Richards’s (2010) Distinctness. It regulates the distribution of functional
items within a Spell-Out domain. Case resistance effects observed by Stowell (1981)
are investigated in terms of Distinctness and it is shown that the distribution of
different types of clauses is correctly accounted for by the proposed analysis, but not
by the standard account of Spell-Out. Second, I discuss ellipsis under the view that
ellipsis sites correspond to Spell-Out domains. It is shown that this approach to
ellipsis accounts for Merchant’s (2001) sluicing-COMP generalization and its
exception when combined with the proposed analysis.