Covert pied-piping in English multiple wh-questions
Hadas Kotek, Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine
February 2013 

In this paper we argue for the existence of covert pied-piping in wh-questions through a previously unnoticed pattern of intervention effects in superiority-obeying English multiple wh-questions. We show that the preference of covert pied-piping is for movement of larger constituents, unlike overt pied-piping. We argue that this discrepancy stems from conflicting requirements of PF and LF: overt pied-piping feeds both LF and PF, but covert pied-piping feeds LF only. The study of covert pied-piping thus reveals the true preference of LF and Core Syntax with regard to pied-piping: larger pied-piping constituents are preferred over smaller ones. This preference can be overridden by certain PF constraints that apply to overt pied-piping.

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/001736 (please use that when you cite this article, unless you want to cite the full url: http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/001736)
Published in:	Submitted
keywords:	pied-piping, covert movement, multiple wh-questions, intervention effects, focus alternatives, semantics, syntax
Downloaded:	317 times

 

[ edit this article | back to article list ]