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This paper proposes a formulation of the Subjacency condition and related parametric variation in terms of the notion “barrier” of Chomsky (1986), adapting features of the analysis of Lasnik and Saito (1989). The discussion centers around topic constructions such as (1) and what will be referred to here as the topic island effect, illustrated in (2): (1)Under the table Bill noticed a small iron box.(2)a.*What under the table did Bill notice?b.*I wonder what under the table Bill noticed.c.*The box that under the table Bill noticed was locked.

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In this this paper we will be concerned with the properties of right adjuncts in English that are in some sense dependent for their interpretation on a position elsewhere in the sentence, e.g., relative and result clause extraposition and rightmost heavy NPs. Such constructions seem to be the strongest cases in English for rightward movement. We have argued in previous work that this is not the correct account of extraposition constructions. On the basis of contrasts between these constructions and rightmost heavy NP constructions, we have argued that only the latter are derived by rightward movement.We will review the arguments in favor of these conclusions. Comparing several alternative leftward movement analyses in each of these cases, we reconfirm our conclusion that the extraposed constituents undergo no movement in the course of the derivation. The facts about extraposition can be fully accommodated on a leftward movement account in which the extraposed constituent achieves its rightmost position through the leftward movement of other elements in the sentence. We will show that it is also possible to provide a leftward movement analysis of the rightmost heavy NPs that is fully compatible with the data that we consider. In both cases we will show that a successful leftward movement account must have certain characteristics that hold also of successful accounts that are compatible with rightward movement or adjunction.