Syntax, semantics and acquisition of multiple interrogatives : who wants what?

209 Pages·2012·9.11 MB·English

by  Lydia Grebenyova

Syntax, Semantics and Acquisition of Multiple Interrogatives
Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today (LA)
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studies into synchronic and diachronic linguistics. Studies in LA confront empirical
and theoretical problems as these are currently discussed in syntax, semantics,
morphology, phonology, and systematic pragmatics with the aim to establish robust
empirical generalizations within a universalistic perspective.
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General Editors
Werner Abraham Elly van Gelderen
University of Vienna / Arizona State University
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Advisory Editorial Board

Josef Bayer Christer Platzack
University of Konstanz University of Lund
Cedric Boeckx Ian Roberts
ICREA/UB Cambridge University
Guglielmo Cinque Lisa deMena Travis
University of Venice McGill University
Liliane Haegeman Sten Vikner
University of Ghent University of Aarhus
Hubert Haider C. Jan-Wouter Zwart
University of Salzburg University of Groningen
Terje Lohndal
Norwegian University of Science
and Technology
Volume 195
Syntax, Semantics and Acquisition of Multiple Interrogatives. Who wants what?
by Lydia Grebenyova
Syntax, Semantics and Acquisition
of Multiple Interrogatives
Who wants what?
Lydia Grebenyova
Baylor University

John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8
the American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Grebenyova, Lydia.
Syntax, semantics and acquisition of multiple interrogatives : who wants what? / by
Lydia Grebenyova.
p. cm. (Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, issn 0166-0829 ; v. 195)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Grammar, Comparative and general--Interrogative. 2. Grammar, Comparative
and general--Syntax. 3. Grammar, Comparative and general--Word order. 4.
Minimalist theory (Linguistics) I. Title.
P299.I57G73 2012
415--dc23 2012023461
isbn 978 90 272 5578 5 (Hb ; alk. paper)
isbn 978 90 272 7336 9 (Eb)
© 2012 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 36224 · 1020 me Amsterdam · The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America · P.O. Box 27519 · Philadelphia pa 19118-0519 · usa
For Henry...

Table of contents
List of abbreviations xi
Preface xiii
Introduction xv
chapter 1
Superiority – Syntactic and interpretive 1
1. Introduction 1
2. Matrix-embedded clause asymmetry in Superiority effects 2
3. T-to-C movement and locality of wh-movement 4
3.1 Equidistance via head-movement 4
3.2 Non-identical Agree Principle 5
3.3 The main-embedded clause asymmetry 7
4. Interpretive Superiority 8
5. Implications and consequences 11
5.1 Cross-linguistic predictions 11
5.2 Superiority in non-sub ject questions 15
5.3 Subject extraction and T-to-C movement 16
6. Summary 20
chapter 2
Semantics of multiple interrogatives 21
1. The phenomena 21
2. Covert wh-movement and semantics of questions 25
2.1 Interpreting wh-in-situ 25
2.2 Choice functions 27
2.3 Syntactic evidence for/against covert wh-movement 29
3. Semantics of PL and SP readings 31
3.1 Previous accounts 31
3.2 PL readings as sets of sets of propositions 33
3.3 Syntactic and semantic contribution of the Q-morpheme 34
3.4 Compositional semantics for PL and SP readings 38
4. Capturing cross-linguistic variation with respect to the SP reading 41
viii Syntax, Semantics, and Acquisition of Multiple Interrogatives
4.1 Bošković (2003) 41
4.2 Parameterized selectional restrictions of the Q-morpheme 47
5. Interpretive Superiority 49
6. Complex Wh-phrases 51
7. Locality effects 53
8. Summary 55
chapter 3
Multiple interrogatives and ellipsis 57
1. Introduction 57
2. The phenomenon of sluicing 58
3. Licensing TP-deletion 61
3.1 Multiple wh-fronting and contrastive focus 62
3.2 A note on multiple foci 65
3.3 Focus-licensed sluicing 66
3.4 Overt material in Comp 69
3.5 Unifying the theory of licensing TP-deletion 71
4. Multiple sluicing and semantics of multiple interrogatives 72
5. Superiority under sluicing 74
6. Summary 79
chapter 4
Multiple left-branch extraction 81
1. Introduction 81
2. The prohibition against multiple left-branch extraction 82
3. LBE as head-movement 84
3.1 D-linking and LBE 84
3.2 Toward an alternative analysis 86
4. Evidence from sluicing 88
5. LBE out of islands 94
5.1 Interaction between LBE, islands and sluicing 94
5.2 The analysis: Locality and violation encoding 98
6. Summary 104
chapter 5
Acquisition of multiple interrogatives 107
1. Introduction 107
2. Multiple interrogatives and the nature of the input 110
2.1 What is there to acquire? 110
2.2 Previous studies 114
2.3 Evidence in the input 115
Table of contents ix
3. Experimental schema 117
4. Results 120
4.1 Experiment 1: English vs. Russian 120
4.2 Experiment 2: Child wh-in-situ in Russian 124
4.3 Experiment 3: Malayalam 126
5. The discussion 130
5.1 Acquisition of syntax of multiple interrogatives 130
5.2 Acquisition of the PL/SP readings in multiple questions 135
5.3 More remarks on Malayalam 139
6. Summary 141
chapter 6
Acquiring contrastive focus and multiple interrogatives 145
1. Introduction 145
2. Contrastive focus in child language 146
2.1 Contrastive focus 146
2.2 Previous studies on acquisition of contrastive focus 148
2.3 Syntax of contrastive focus: What is there to acquire? 150
2.4 Implications for multiple interrogatives 152
3. Method 153
3.1 Experimental schema 154
3.2 The experiment 156
4. Results 156
5. Discussion 160
6. Summary 162
chapter 7
Concluding remarks 165
References 169
Appendix A: Test items in experiments on multiple interrogatives 179
Appendix B: Script for experimental stories on multiple interrogatives 181
Appendix C: Test items and script for experiments on contrastive focus 185
Index 189