Abstract
We provide the first description and compositional semantic analysis of a construction that we label a "multiple wh- free relative clause" -- an embedded non-interrogative wh-clause with more than one wh-word. We show that multiple wh-free relative clauses are closely related to the more familiar free relative clauses with one wh-word ⎯- single wh- free relative clauses. We argue that an appropriate semantic analysis for multiple wh-free relative clauses can be grounded in the semantic analyses that have been proposed for single wh- free relative clauses, but crucially requires non-trivial broadening of the meaning of wh-words. Focusing on Romanian, we propose a compositional account of multiple wh- FRs building on two main components: (i) the assumption that wh-words can license complex traces/variables with a functional component -- an option that has been independently suggested for several other wh- constructions, and (ii) a new functional meaning for wh-words -- a close variant of the functional meaning of wh-words that has been independently proposed to account for functional wh- interrogative clauses. EARLY ACCESS
Highlights
We provide the first description and compositional semantic analysis of a construction that we label a “multiple wh- free relative clause”⎯an embedded non-interrogative wh- clause with more than one wh-word
Which kinds of wh- clauses allow for more than one wh-phrase and which don’t? Can the semantic analyses that have been proposed for single wh- clauses be straightforwardly extended to multiple wh- clauses and, in particular, can the meaning that has been assumed for wh-words in single wh- clauses be retained and applied to wh-words in multiple wh- clauses as well? To the best of our knowledge, these two broad issues have not yet been systematically investigated within languages, let alone across languages
We focus on a construction that exemplifies both issues: (i) it is a multiple wh- clause whose existence has not yet been recognized, unlike its single wh- variant, and (ii) its semantic analysis cannot be a simple extension of its single wh- variant but requires non-trivial broadening of the meaning of its wh-words
Summary
Wh- clauses are full clauses characterized by the necessary presence of at least one wh-phrase. They are well-attested across languages and manifest themselves in different syntactic and semantic shapes, with various levels of productivity, both within a given language and across. We focus on a construction that exemplifies both issues: (i) it is a multiple wh- clause whose existence has not yet been recognized, unlike its single wh- variant, and (ii) its semantic analysis cannot be a simple extension of its single wh- variant but requires non-trivial broadening of the meaning of its wh-words We label this construction a multiple wh- free relative clause or, in short, a multiple wh- FR. We argue that multiple wh- FRs are free relative clauses, rather than any other new or already attested kind of wh- clause in Romanian. Our investigation of Romanian and its multiple wh- FRs broadens the meaning space of wh-words in free relative clauses and in general. In doing so, it highlights how this meaning space is constrained and holds across different kinds of wh- clauses.
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