Partial Wh-movement Research Articles

Partial Wh-Movement in Indonesian, Criterial Freezing, and Sub-Extraction

Abstract This paper develops a new analysis of partial wh-movement in Indonesian, a construction which raises seemingly challenging problems for criterial freezing. It is proposed that partially-moving wh-phrases in Indonesian are structured as focused expressions properly containing a wh-interrogative phrase. It is argued that the derivation of partial wh-movement in Indonesian involves sub-extraction, or movement out of a moved element, to evade a freezing violation that would otherwise ensue. More specifically, it involves focus movement of the focused XP to the intermediate non-interrogative C-system, followed by sub-extraction of the QP from the XP to the matrix interrogative C-system. The analysis receives independent empirical support from the amelioration of freezing effects observed in focused wh-questions in Japanese.

Partial Wh-Movement in North Italo-Romance and the FormCopy Analysis of Wh-Doubling

This paper analyzes the syntactic derivation of so-called ‘wh-doubling’, a single-constituent question-formation strategy that features the overt occurrence of two wh-phrases (e.g. kuza fa la ku’zε (lit.) ‘what does she do what?’) in North Italo-Romance. We argue that the wh-phrases involved in the construction are best treated as being generated independently by External Merge (EM), rather than being bona fide syntactic copies constructed by Internal Merge (IM). This raises the theoretical issue why IM to scope position cannot take place in wh-doubling, despite IM being more economical than EM. We propose that the wh-element merged in argumental position undergoes partial movement to the edge of the v-phase, where it becomes ‘frozen’ upon entering into a Focus configuration. This makes the derivation of wh-doubling identical to the derivation of wh-in situ up to the v-phase as recently proposed for different wh-in situ languages. The derivation of wh-doubling then proceeds by EM of an additional wh-phrase that gives phonological content to the scope Q position in the left periphery. The single-constituent reading is obtained at Conceptual-Intentional (C-I) via the operation FormCopy (FC), which connects the independently generated wh-elements in the syntactic workspace. We moreover discuss issues pertaining to parametric variation.

Position of Wh-Words in Kipsigis Wh-Questions

The wh-parameter determines whether the wh-expression can be fronted or not. Studies on a number of languages among them English, Shona, Kiitharaka and Chinese have revealed that different languages use different ways to form wh-questions. This paper examines the positions a wh-phrase can occupy in Kipsigis, a southern Nilotic language. A descriptive research design was adopted and a structure generation exercise was used to elicit data from ten competent native speakers of Kipsigis. Data was analysed within the context of the minimalist program developed by Chomsky. The analysis revealed that Kipsigis wh-words can be found in their canonical position, a position termed in-situ. The wh-words can also be moved to the front of the matrix clause. This movement is triggered by a strong focus feature manifested by a focus marker which is always attached to the verb. The wh-words can undergo partial wh-movement where the wh-phrase moves to a position lower than its relevant position. The study also established that adjuncts remain in-situ except for the wh-phrase ‘why’ which can be fronted in addition to being found in-situ. This study contributes towards the understanding of universal and parametric linguistic features in syntactic theory.

The Syntax of <i>Wh</i>-Questions in Gichuka

This study investigated wh-question formation in Gichuka, an SVO Bantu language spoken in Kenya. The study established that Gichuka forms wh-question using the four strategies, namely: wh-in situ, full wh-movement, partial wh-movement, and intermediate strategy. In wh-in situ, the wh-phrase does not move. In full wh-movement, the wh-phrase moves to the beginning of the sentence. In partial wh-movement, the wh-phrase moves to an intermediate Spec, CP. In the intermediate strategy, the wh-phrase moves to an intermediate Spec, CP, or a Spec of the matrix CP, followed by movement of the subject to position above CP, a Topic position. These findings are similar to those of Muriungi (2003) who established that Kitharaka, a related Bantu language forms questions using the four strategies. As in Muriungi (2003), the study established that subjects cannot be questioned in situ.

Wh-Questions in Colloquial Singapore English

This paper discusses supplementary roles played by Bazaar Malay and Baba Malay in the genesis of wh-questions in Colloquial Singapore English (CSE). CSE has three options for wh-questions: (a) full wh-movement, (b) partial wh-movement, and (c) wh-in-situ, just like Bazaar Malay and Baba Malay. Whereas options (a) and (c) arose under pressure from English and Chinese, option (b) apparently challenges the Sinitic substrate hypothesis on CSE for two reasons. Firstly, neither Cantonese nor Hokkien possesses partial wh-movement. Secondly, it is mysterious how the apparent Malayic pattern could have entered the pool of CSE features within the predominantly Sinitic contact environment. This paper proposes that partial wh-movement was added onto the CSE grammar as an evolutionary ‘adaptive’ trait from Malay which survived selective Sinitic pressures due to congruence between Malay and Chinese. Both Cantonese and Hokkien possess a wh-topicalization structure, which is sufficiently similar to the partial structure in Malay. As a result, the former served as the template for Chinese speakers to analyze the latter as a congruence structure in the emerging variety. This result supports the recent view that typological congruence between Sinitic and Malay must be taken into account in any discussion of the origin/development of CSE grammar.

Partial Wh-Movement and Wh-Copying in Dutch: Evidence for an Indirect Dependency Approach

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt:This article reports on a magnitude estimation experiment investigating the grammatical status of partial wh-movement and wh-copying versus standard long-distance movement in Dutch. The results show that long-distance wh-movement is rated most acceptable, followed by wh-copying and finally partial wh-movement. Of interest is the significant difference in acceptability in partial wh-movement and wh-copying. It is argued that these results speak in favor of a so-called Indirect Dependency Approach to partial wh-movement in which partial wh-movement is analyzed as a structurally altogether different construction from long-distance wh-movement. Wh-copying, on the other hand, is argued to be a surface alternative to long-distance movement, where an intermediate movement copy has been spelled out.

Trapped at the edge: On long-distance pair-list readings

This paper discusses a pair-list reading which we call the trapped pair-list reading, arising in long distance questions with three wh-phrases, two of which are embedded within a subordinate clause. Under the trapped pair-list reading, all three whs are answered, but only the two whs trapped inside the embedded clause can be paired. Based on evidence from a language with (overt) multiple wh-movement (Romanian), we argue that (lists of) trapped pair-list readings in English involve covert multiple partial wh-movement. On this proposal, trapped pair-list readings raise, for multiple partial wh-movement, the same canonical scope paradox that single partial wh-movement raises, since on the relevant list reading, all three whs have semantically wide, matrix scope, though syntactically, the (only) two whs that can be paired are trapped at the periphery of the subordinate clause. We suggest that this paradox can be resolved by extending Sternefeld (2001) and Lipták and Zimmermann's (2007) Indirect Dependency Approach to single partial-movement to multiple partial-movement. The basic insight driving this proposal is that the subordinate whs can be paired independently of the matrix wh because the subordinate clause can be interpreted as a multiple question on its own.

H1 gisako urruntasun luzeko NZ-galderen jabekuntza haur euskaldun batengan

In this article we present data from the first language (L1) acquisition of Long-distance (LD) wh-questions. The subject's age at the begining of the experiment was 5;1. The main aim of the investigation was to examine the development of this structure longitudinally and on the other hand to compare the results obtained with similar experiments reported in the literature. Our results show that the acquisition of this structure in Basque is consistent with the findings from other L1s such as English (Thronton 1990), French (Oiry 2003, Jakubowicz 2004), Dutch (van Kampen 1997) and Spanish (Gutierrez 2006). The main finding from these investigations, also confirmed for L1 Basque, revealed that in the process of acquisition children produce structures which are absent in the adult language, that is, in the language they are acquiring. However, this non-adult structures known as Partial wh-movement and wh-copying structures can be found in several natural languages and as such are part of Universal Grammar (UG). The main contribution from our experiment lies in the longitudional nature of the experiment, shedding light in the development of these types of questions through time.

Extreme Locality in Madurese Wh‐Questions

Abstract. This article investigates the apparently three types of wh‐questions in Madurese—wh in situ, overt wh‐movement, and partial wh‐movement—and argues that the three are actually instantiations of a single wh‐in‐situ strategy and that the relation between the wh‐element and its operator obeys extreme locality. An analysis is proposed in which overt long distance and partial wh‐movement are actually reflexes of A‐movement to subject position in a proleptic‐object construction. Madurese wh‐phenomena are situated in term of Cole and Hermon's (1998) typology of wh‐movement. It is further suggested here that movement across clause boundaries is illicit in Madurese.

Partial Wh-movement in Russian

Partial Wh-movement in Russian

Two types of wh-features

In this paper, within the framework of the Minimalist Program, I will propose the Split Wh-feature Hypothesis, which assumes that there are two features involved in wh-movement, one relevant to interpretation at LF and the other to movement. The Split Wh-feature Hypothesis can describe two differences in wh-movement among languages. First, unlike English, languages such as German and Ancash Quechua permit a wh-phrase to partially move to Spec of declarative complementizer (partial wh-movement). Second, in contrast to English, neither Italian nor Irish allows multiple questions. In addition to these differences in wh-movement, the Split Wh-feature Hypothesis provides an account of the descriptive generalization that a wh-phrase in Spec of an interrogative complementizer cannot make any further movements.

Wh-movement in Iraqi Arabic and Slave

Both Iraqi Arabic and Slave show asymmetries in wh-movement that are different from the typical asymmetries that have been observed. In Iraqi Arabic, covert movement of argument wh-words appears to be more restricted than overt movement, and in Slave, covert movement of adjunct wh-words appears to be freer than overt movement. The analysis given claims that the covert/overt distinction with respect to wh-movement should be characterized as a distinction in pied-piping, as discussed in Watanabe (1992), though some important modifications of this approach are made. This paper also claims that partial wh-movement - movement of a wh-operator to an intermediate CP position - can occur without an overt scope marker, the scope of the partially moved wh-phrase determined by a null scope marker in the matrix CP. Wh-movement in Iraqi Arabic and Slave is shown to be quite similar, despite surface appearances to the contrary

Partial wh-movement and Optimality Theory

Partial wh-movement constructions in German and Hungarian exhibit a number of properties that are unexpected under standard approaches to movement. In contrast, I will show that these properties follow directly under an optimality-theoretic approach to wh-dependencies. This approach is primarily devised so as to account for languages like English, Korean, and Bulgarian, and centers around six general and commonly accepted constraints (PROJ-PRIN, DER-ECON, WH-CRIT FULL-INT, MIN-CHAIN, and BAR-CON). However, it turns out that the properties of partial wh-movement constructions of both the German and the Hungarian type correspond exactly to one specific ranking of these constraints. On a more general note, the analysis presented here provides arguments for postulating complete derivations as members of the reference set, and for constructing the reference set via LF identity

The Status of ‘Wh-Expletives’ and the Partial Wh-Movement Construction of Hungarian

This paper explores the cross-linguistic status of the so-called Wh-scope-marker strategy of wide scope assignment through the study of its instantiation in Hungarian, assessing the role and distribution of the expletive-like Wh-element (wh). After establishing the existence of the construction in Hungarian via novel types of arguments, a variety of evidence is presented showing the inadequacy of the leading analysis of Wh-expletive constructions with overt partial Wh-movement: proposals based on the formation of a Wh-chain linking the scope-marking Wh-expletive in the higher Spec with the partially moved contentful Wh-phrase, in a way that mimics overt full Wh-movement chains (originating in McDaniel's (1989) work on German and Romani, assumed subsequently, with some modifications, e.g. by Rizzi (1992), Brody (1993), McDaniel, Chiu and Maxfield (1995) and Muller (1995)). I motivate an alternative account, falling within the general framework of an indirect Wh-dependency approach proposed by Dayal (e.g. 1994, based on the in-situ Wh of Hindi). I argue that the scope-marker of Hungarian is not an A-bar expletive, but an expletive element generated in an A-position which has a CP as its associate, and which undergoes (overt) movement to an A-bar position due to being a Wh-morpheme. The construction is shown to arise as a by-product of independently motivated processes: (a) Wh-feature percolation from Spec, as in (clausal) pied-piping cases, and (b) an expletive-CP association, argued to be due to needs inherent to clausal complementation in the language and independent of any Wh-feature or scope-assignment. In spite of the shared indirect Wh-dependency concept and the assumption of CP being the ‘associate’, Dayal's particular analysis (1994) is shown to be empirically distinct from mine, and to be untenable for Hungarian, as well as for German. An initial three-way comparison of Hungarian vs. Hindi vs. German suggests that (at least) the syntactic implementation of the Wh-expletive strategy is different in each of the three languages. So contrary to earlier conceptions, this phenomenon does not arise from some unitary parametric source, such as the availability of a Wh-expletive morpheme; rather it seems to be parasitic on independent syntactic properties exhibited by the individual languages.

Partial and multiple Wh-movement

This paper deals with two types of Wh-constructions that occur in German and Romani: partial and multiple Wh-movement. In these constructions a Wh-phrase moves to the specifier of a CP that is lower than the CP over which the Wh-phrase takes scope. In partial Wh-movement, the scope position contains a scope-marker, and in multiple Wh-movement, the scope position contains another Wh-phrase. Both constructions are restricted by a Subjacency-like constraint. It is argued that the data can be accounted for by considering Subjacency to be a condition on representation. In addition, it is claimed that Absorption applies at S-structure, as well as LF, in these languages, whereas in languages like English, it applies only at LF. The possibility of S-structure Absorption unifies partial and multiple Wh-movement and accounts for their existence in a language.