Multiple Wh-Fronting

This article argues that overt multiple wh-fronting in languages like Bulgarian consists of moving a single wh-cluster to [Spec, CP]. The formation of wh-clusters is motivated by the assumption that wh-elements can act as landing sites for wh-movement due to morphological properties of wh-words. I further argue that languages such as Japanese constitute covert instances of this process of wh-cluster formation, accounting for intricate constraints on multiple wh-questions such as the so-called additional-wh effect. Another central claim of the article is that despite appearances, multiple wh-questions in German equally involve the formation of wh-clusters, which are shown to consist of one visible and one or more invisible wh-elements. This analysis provides a new account for the lack of short and the presence of long superiority effects in German.

[1]  Tim Stowell,et al.  Origins of phrase structure , 1981 .

[2]  Michael T. Wescoat,et al.  Proceedings of the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics , 1983 .

[3]  Richard S. Kayne.  Connectedness and binary branching , 1984 .

[4]  Norbert Hornstein,et al.  Two Types of Locality , 1987 .

[5]  C. Rudin.  On multiple questions and multiple WH fronting , 1988 .

[6]  Algemene Vereniging voor Taalwetenschap,et al.  Linguistics in the Netherlands, 1989 , 1989 .

[7]  H. J. Bennis,et al.  A representational theory of empty categories , 1989 .

[8]  Ileana Comorovski,et al.  Discourse and the syntax of multiple constituent questions , 1989 .

[9]  G. Grewendorf,et al.  Scrambling and barriers , 1990 .

[10]  Taisuke Nishigauchi,et al.  Quantification in the theory of grammar , 1990 .

[11]  Guglielmo Cinque,et al.  Types of Ā-dependencies , 1990 .

[12]  Gisbert Fanselow,et al.  Scrambling as NP-Movement , 1990 .

[13]  Nigel G. J. Richards,et al.  What Moves Where In Which Language , 1991 .

[14]  Noam Chomsky.  A minimalist program for linguistic theory , 1992 .

[15]  M. Saito.  Long distance scrambling in Japanese , 1992 .

[16]  渡邊 明.  Wh-in-situ, subjacency, and chain formation , 1992 .

[17]  Noam Chomsky,et al.  The Minimalist Program , 1992 .

[18]  Daiko Takahashi,et al.  Movement of Wh-phrases in Japanese , 1993 .

[19]  Wolfgang Sternefeld,et al.  Syntax: An International Handbook of Contemporary Research , 1993 .

[20]  Joseph E. Aoun.  'Wh'- elements in situ: syntax or lF? , 1993 .

[21]  Wolfgang Sternefeld,et al.  Improper movement and unambiguous binding , 1993 .

[22]  Daniel Büring,et al.  The dark side of Wh-movement , 1994 .

[23]  M. Meyerhoff,et al.  Working papers in linguistics , 1994 .

[24]  M. Saito.  Additional-wh effects and the adjunction site theory , 1994 .

[25]  G. Grewendorf,et al.  Long scrambling and incorporation , 1994 .

[26]  Multiple WH-fronting in Persian , 1994 .

[27]  Mark Baltin,et al.  A-bar syntax : a study in movement types , 1995 .

[28]  Norbert Hornstein,et al.  Logical Form: From Gb to Minimalism , 1995 .

[29]  Sigrid Beck,et al.  Quantified structures as barriers for LF movement , 1996 .

[30]  Erich Groat,et al.  Spell-Out at the LF Interface , 1996 .

[31]  J. Ouhalla.  Remarks on the binding properties of wh-pronoums , 1996 .

[32]  Yuji Tanaka.  Movement and parametric variation in syntax , 1996 .

[33]  Helen de Hoop,et al.  Linguistics in the Netherlands, 1997 , 1997 .

[34]  Lisa Lai-Shen Cheng,et al.  On the typology of wh-questions , 1997 .

[35]  Anna Szabolcsi.  Ways of Scope Taking , 1997 .

[36]  G. Müller,et al.  Partial wh-movement and Optimality Theory , 1997 .

[37]  Ad Neeleman,et al.  Optimal Questions , 1998 .

[38]  Željko Bošković,et al.  Wh-Phrases and Wh-Movement in Slavic * , 1998 .

[39]  T. Reinhart.  Wh-in-situ in the Framework of the Minimalist Program , 1998 .

[40]  Hiroyuki Ura,et al.  Multiple Feature-Checking: A Theory of Grammatical Function Splitting , 1998 .

[41]  N. Hornstein.  Movement and Chains , 1998 .

[42]  Cheng-Teh James Huang,et al.  Logical Relations in Chinese and the Theory of Grammar , 1998 .

[43]  Noam Chomsky,et al.  Minimalist inquiries : the framework , 1998 .

[44]  Günther Grewendorf,et al.  Scrambling in German and Japanese: Adjunction Versus Multiple Specifiers , 1999 .

[45]  George Tsoulas,et al.  Specifiers : minimalist approaches , 1999 .

[46]  Arthur Stepanov,et al.  On Wh-Fronting in Russian , 1999 .

[47]  Gisbert Fanselow,et al.  Towards a Minimalist Theory of Wh-Expletives, Wh-Copying, and Successive Cyclicity , 2000 .

[48]  H. Haider.  Towards a Superior Account of Superiority , 2000 .

[49]  D. Pesetsky.  Phrasal Movement and Its Kin , 2000 .

[50]  Malte Zimmermann,et al.  Proceedings of Console IX , 2000 .

[51]  K. Hale,et al.  Ken Hale: A Life in Language , 2001 .

[52]  Joachim Sabel,et al.  Deriving Multiple Head and Phrasal Movement: The Cluster Hypothesis , 2001, Linguistic Inquiry.

[53]  Chris Collins,et al.  Multiple Verb Movement in Hoan , 2002, Linguistic Inquiry.

[54]  Ž. Bošković.  On Multiple Wh -Fronting , 2002 .

[55]  Jonathan David Bobaljik,et al.  In terms of Merge : Copy and Head Movement , 2022 .