Diagnosing Cyclicity in Sluicing

This article discusses how the remnant wh-phrase in a sluicing structure ends up in the position where it is pronounced. Finding a parallel between universally quantified interrogatives and sluices with universal quantifiers, with respect to the distribution of pair-list readings, the article shows that quantified interrogatives involving weak islands can have pair-list interpretations that require reconstruction of the wh-phrase to positions that can only be created by successive-cyclic movement, and that the same is true for structurally similar sluices. The article therefore concludes that the remnant wh-phrase in sluicing gets to its surface position via regular successive-cyclic movement.

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