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Wh-Fronting in a two-probe system

Author(s)
Kotek, Hadas
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Abstract
Prior work on wh-movement has distinguished among several types of wh-fronting languages that permit distinct patterns of overt and covert movement, instantiated for example by the Slavic languages, English, and German. This paper extends the cross-linguistic typology of multiple questions by arguing that Hebrew instantiates a new kind of wh-fronting language, unlike any that are discussed in the current literature. It will show that Hebrew distinguishes between two kinds of interrogative phrases: those that are headed by a wh-word (wh-headed phrases: what, who, [[subscript DP] which X], where, how…) and those that contain a wh-word but are headed by some other element (wh-containing phrases: [[subscript NP] N of wh], [[subscript PP] P wh]). We observe the special status of wh-headed phrases when one occurs structurally lower in a question than a wh-containing phrase. In that case, the wh-headed phrase can be targeted by an Agree/Attract operation that ignores the presence of the c-commanding wh-containing phrase. The paper develops an account of the sensitivity of interrogative probing operations to the head of the interrogative phrase within Cable’s (2010) Q-particle theory. It proposes that the Hebrew Q has an EPP feature which can trigger head-movement of wh to Q and that a wh-probe exists alongside the more familiar Q-probe, and shows how these two modifications to the theory can account for the intricate dataset that emerges from the paper. The emerging picture is one in which interrogative probing does not occur wholesale but rather can be sensitive to particular interrogative features on potential goals.
Date issued
2014-05
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/103321
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy
Journal
Natural Language & Linguistic Theory
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Citation
Kotek, Hadas. “Wh-Fronting in a Two-Probe System.” Nat Lang Linguist Theory 32, no. 4 (May 15, 2014): 1105–1143.
Version: Author's final manuscript
ISSN
0167-806X
1573-0859

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