More on the indefinite-interrogative affinity: The view from embedded non-finite interrogatives

Abstract German disallows embedded infinitival (wh-)interrogatives. Although cross-linguistic comparison has not been undertaken to any broader extent, most accounts attribute this gap to properties of complementizers and the C-system. By contrast, this gap will here be linked to a correlation between non-finite (wh-)interrogatives and the indefinite-interrogative affinity present in the inventory of wh-pronouns of many languages. The claim will be defended that, if a language has embedded non-finite (wh-)interrogatives, then its pronominal system does not have a robust indefinite/interrogative ambiguity. In addition to a crosslinguistic survey, it will be sketched – with particular reference to German – how to relate these two domains in terms of clausal typing and the illocutionary force of non-finite (root) interrogatives.

[1]  T. Shopen,et al.  Language typology and syntactic description , 2013 .

[2]  Edna Amir Coffin,et al.  A Reference Grammar of Modern Hebrew: Verb tables , 2005 .

[3]  Gertjan Postma,et al.  The indefinite reading of WH , 1994 .

[4]  C. Huang.  On the distribution and reference of empty pronouns , 1984 .

[5]  The Syntax of native American languages , 1986 .

[6]  Rajesh Bhatt,et al.  Covert Modality in Non-finite Contexts , 2006 .

[7]  Peter Austin,et al.  Complex Sentence Constructions in Australian Languages , 1988 .

[8]  Jussi Ylikoski,et al.  Defining non-finites: Action nominals, converbs and infinitives , 2003 .

[9]  Ivan A. Sag,et al.  Referential and quantificational indefinites , 1982 .

[10]  F. Beukema,et al.  The Position of the Infinitival Marker in the Germanic Languages , 1989 .

[11]  J. Dayley.  Tümpisa (Panamint) Shoshone grammar , 1989 .

[12]  Hans Tilo Tappe.  On infinitival clauses without COMP , 1984 .

[13]  Alexander Grosu,et al.  The syntax-semantics of modal existential wh constructions , 2004 .

[14]  Steven A. Jacobson,et al.  A Practical Grammar of the Central Alaskan Yup'ik Eskimo Language , 1995 .

[15]  Caroline Heycock,et al.  Embedded Root Phenomena , 2007 .

[16]  Lynn Gordon,et al.  Maricopa Morphology and Syntax , 1986 .

[17]  Bernard Comrie,et al.  The World's Major Languages , 1987 .

[18]  Tauno F. Mustanoja,et al.  A Middle English syntax , 1960 .

[19]  E. G. Ruys,et al.  The scope of indefinites , 1992 .

[20]  ON THE LACK OF WH-INFINITIVES WITH 'ZU' AND THE PROJECTION OF COMP IN GERMAN* , 2007 .

[21]  Reinhard Blutner,et al.  Some Aspects of Optimality in Natural Language Interpretation , 2000, J. Semant..

[22]  M. Haspelmath,et al.  FROM PURPOSIVE TO INFINITIVE ― A UNIVERSAL PATH OF GRAMMATICIZATION , 1989 .

[23]  Manfred Mayrhofer,et al.  A Sanskrit Grammar , 1972 .

[24]  Ellen Brandner.  Scope Marking and Calusal Typing , 2000 .

[25]  K. Kiss.  Syntax of Hungarian , 2017 .

[26]  Marga Reis.  On the Form and Interpretation of German Wh -Infinitives , 2003 .

[27]  Horace G. Lunt.  Old Church Slavonic Grammar , 1968 .

[28]  Anna Szabolcsi,et al.  Weak islands and an algebraic semantics for scope taking , 1993 .

[29]  Benjamin Bruening,et al.  Wh-in-Situ Does Not Correlate with Wh-Indefinites or Question Particles , 2007, Linguistic Inquiry.

[30]  J. Bayer,et al.  Klitisiertes zu im Bairischen und Alemannischen , 2004 .

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

[32]  Ulrike Zeshan,et al.  Interrogative Constructions in Signed Languages: Crosslinguistic Perspectives , 2004 .

[33]  Alan Dench.  Complex Sentences in Martuthunira , 1988 .

[34]  Ann Banfield.  Narrative style and the grammar of direct and indirect speech , 1973 .

[35]  I. Willis.  Pronouns , 2004, Encyclopedia of Queer Studies in Education.

[36]  B. Joseph.  The Synchrony and Diachrony of the Balkan Infinitive , 1983 .

[37]  Joel Waldfogel,et al.  Introduction , 2010, Inf. Econ. Policy.

[38]  E. König,et al.  Finite vs. non-finite languages , 2001 .

[39]  P. Enns,et al.  Wh- words and the infinitive in English , 1996 .

[40]  N. Evans.  Insubordination and its uses , 2007 .

[41]  Hubert Truckenbrodt,et al.  Zur Strukturbedeutung von Interrogativsätzen , 2004 .

[42]  Joachim Sabel,et al.  Impossible Infinitival Interrogatives and Relatives , 2006 .

[43]  Robin Cooper,et al.  The syntax and semantics of when-questions , 1982 .

[44]  IDAN LANDAU,et al.  The Scale of Finiteness and the Calculus of Control , 2004 .

[45]  Markus Steinbach,et al.  Economy, verb second, and the SVO-SOV distinction , 1994 .

[46]  Bettelou Los,et al.  The Rise of the To-Infinitive , 2005 .

[47]  Sally Mclendon,et al.  A grammar of Eastern Pomo , 1975 .

[48]  Ineke Smeets,et al.  A Grammar of Mapuche , 2007 .

[49]  Johan van der Auwera,et al.  Clause integration in German and Dutch conditionals, concessive conditionals, and concessives , 1988 .

[50]  J. Jónsson.  Clausal architecture and case in Icelandic , 1996 .

[51]  David J. Weber,et al.  Relativization and nominalized clauses in Huallaga (Huanuco) Quechua , 1983 .

[52]  Russell Ultan,et al.  Some General Characteristics of Interrogative Systems. Working Papers on Language Universals, No. 1. , 1969 .

[53]  H. Berger,et al.  Die Burushaski-Sprache von Hunza und Nager , 1998 .

[54]  C. Platzack.  COMP, INFL, and Germanic Word Order , 1986 .

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

[56]  James Lavine,et al.  Case and word order in Lithuanian , 2006, Journal of Linguistics.

[57]  Fr Brandon,et al.  Moving Interrogatives without an Initial +wh Node in Tupí , 1984 .

[58]  Bernard Comrie,et al.  Sonora Yaqui language structures. , 2002 .

[59]  Wim van der Wurff,et al.  The Syntax of Early English , 2001 .

[60]  Martin Haspelmath, Indefinite Pronouns , 1999 .

[61]  Der-Hwa Victoria Rau.  A grammar of Atayal , 2001 .

[62]  N. Cocchiarella,et al.  Situations and Attitudes. , 1986 .

[63]  Pauline Jacobson.  On the Quantificational Force of English Free Relatives , 1995 .

[64]  Martin Haspelmath,et al.  Language typology and language universals : an international handbook , 2001 .

[65]  Joseph Wright,et al.  Old English Grammar , 1955 .