Making linguistic theory is like specifying a programming language...

Partial wh-movement (PM) constructions have recently been the focus of investigation in a number of languages. For example, in German and Hungarian, an element described as a wh-expletive appears in the matrix Spec CP while the wh-word moves overtly to a clause initial Spec position in the lower clause: 1

The Slavic (or Slavonic) languages represent a fairly homogeneous group of languages spoken in a large territory of central and eastern Europe as well as Russian Asia. This chapter familiarizes the reader with their general structure and surveys a range of problems in Slavic syntax which have received recent attention from linguists working within various formal frameworks. In selecting

The phase-based approach to grammatical derivation and one rooted in the Tree Adjoining Grammar (TAG) formalism share the idea that the derivation of a complex sentence is divided into separate derivations of local domains. These approaches differ, however, in their treatment of syntactic dependencies spanning across such local domains. Under the phase approach, operations in a higher domain can access the edge of a lower domain in accordance with the Phase Impenetrability Condition. In TAG, one local domain can be inserted within another under the adjoining operation. This difference has important consequences in how the locality properties of syntactic dependencies are explained. In this paper, I systematically compare the explanations for locality effects under phases and TAG. I explore the degree to which the explanations offered by these different approaches generalize across Aand A ′-movement, across different structural contexts, and across the phenomena of displacement and agreement, and whether such generalization is empirically warranted in each case.

This paper analyzes the existence of superiority with each instance of whfronting in Basque multiple questions, and shows how the phenomenon forces us to reconsider our understanding of the mechanisms of multiple wh-fronting in general. I propose that the role of the verb is crucial in determining the specific patterns of multiple wh-fronting found across languages. If correct, my analysis shows that head-to-head dependencies cannot be entirely shifted from narrow syntax into the PF-component, as they are the key factors in the syntactic organization of multiple whfronting. My analysis also entails that because it depends on such uninterpretable features as phi-features on finite verbs, superiority is a narrow-syntax requirement, and not an interpretive effect. 1 Background on Multiple Wh-fronting The investigation of multiple wh-questions has occupied an important place in the Principles-and-Parameters approach. At first, properties of multiple questions of

Head-driven processing of verb-final structures Published by

The dissertation consists of theoretical and experimental studies of multiple interrogatives (i.e., sentences containing more than one wh-phrase, like Who bought what?). First, I examine the status of Superiority effects in contexts with and without subject-aux(iliary) inversion cross-linguistically. The relevant contrast from English is between Who bought what?,?? What did who buy?, and *I wonder what who bought., where (*) indicates a greater degree of unacceptability by native speakers than (??). I argue that the presence of subject-aux inversion in main clauses in English is responsible for the given asymmetry, and I attribute the degraded status of?? What did who buy? to the independent semantic properties of questions. Next, I explore the semantic properties of multiple interrogatives in detail. I develop an analysis that does not rely on covert wh-movement, relying instead on the syntactic position of the Question morpheme. I also explore the nature of complex wh-phrases (e.g., what boy, which book). I propose that choice functions are part of complex wh-phrases but not bare wh-phrases. I then explore the behavior of multiple interrogatives under Sluicing (i.e.,

Head-driven processing of verb-final structures Published by

This paper has two goals. The first is to provide a structural analysis of Warlpiri split

this paper I propose that the syntactic/ semantic difference between all and other non-all Qs (NAQ) -- independently proposed in the literature (Shlonsky 1991, Giusti 1997) -- can be clearly predicted from the morphology in Bangla (Bengali). In particular, I claim that NAQs contain a "vague" morpheme for one which gives rise to these differences. As a larger consequence, I suggest that the Bangla DP structure must be seen as consisting three layers.