Direct vs. indirect disjunction of wh-complements, as diagnosed by subordinating complementizers
Anna Szabolcsi
October 2016 

Szabolcsi (1997) introduced the observation that the presence of a subordinating complementizer in each coordinated clause correlates with indirect (VP-level) coordination, i.e. with the conjunction/disjunction of lifted complements. Languages that have subordinators in wh-complements allow one to study the distribution of direct vs. indirect disjunctions of wh-complements in a way that English does not. Among others, Hungarian and Korean are such languages. The present paper focuses on the following issues: (i) How and why does the presence of a complementizer in each clause correlate with lifting and thus indirect coordination? (ii) What is the distribution of direct vs. indirect disjunctions of wh-complements? Is there a difference between veridical vs. non-veridical matrix contexts? (iii) Do there remain cases of direct disjunction of wh-complements after all? If yes, can they perhaps be explained away as conjunctions (exemplifications)?

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/003090 (please use that when you cite this article)
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keywords:	interrogative, wh, complementizer, subordinator, conjunction, disjunction, lifting, hungarian, korean, semantics, syntax
previous versions:	v4 [October 2016] v3 [August 2016] v2 [August 2016] v1 [August 2016]
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