Gouskova, Maria. 2001. Split scrambling: Barriers as violable constraints. (long version) In RuLing Papers II, eds. Graham Horwood and Se-Kyung Kim. New Brunswick: Rutgers University. pp. 49-82.
The paper argues that DP splitting results from the interaction of violable constraints with opposing demands. A set of constraints requires Topic, Contrastive Focus and Presentational Focus to appear in certain positions in the clause. Another set of constraints defines DPs, PPs and VPs as barriers to movement. These barrier constraints form a fixed hierarchy, which is universal across languages. The factorial typology of the constraints predicts the variable status of the same barriers in the same language with respect to different kinds of movement. A small typological survey supports this prediction.