CAS LX 522 Syntax I

CAS LX 522Syntax I Week 12a. More wh-movement,Subjacency, and relative clauses

Three kinds of movement • A-movement: Movement to SpecIP (subjects, passive objects, subject raising). • A-movement ends in a Case location. • Operator Movement: Movement to SpecCP and other things we’ll talk about later. A.k.a. “A-movement” • Operator movement starts in a Case location. So A-movement precedes operator movement. • Head Movement: Movement of a head to the next higher head.

Structural Uniformity • The different elements of the structure are each responsible for a certain element of the meaning. • C is responsible for the clause type (or illocutionary force) of the clause. It marks clauses as declaratives or as questions (or as imperatives, or as exclamatives). • I is responsible for tense interpretation (and also subject agreement). • v is responsible for external q-role assignment (Agent for sure, others like “Beneficiary” perhaps [win], or even simply marking as a verb [seem])? • D is responsible for definiteness (at least) (a vs. the) • N, V, A, P are responsible for lexical content.

Structural uniformity • As a consequence of structural uniformity: • All wh-questions have a [+WH, +Q] C. • Subject wh-questions: Who left? • Object wh-questions: What did Pat buy? • All finite embedded clauses have a CP. • I heard [CP that [IP Tracy left]]. • I heard [CP Ø [IP Tracy left]].

*Economy of structure • The alternative view (adopted by Radford at various points) is to say that you only have a CP when you have overt evidence for one. • Radford views subject wh-questions such as Who left? as being IPs. • Radford also views embedded that-less clauses as being IPs (I heard [IP John left]). • Here, we will adopt the more mainstream and I think simpler view that structure and function are in a 1-1 relation. • One exception: Main clause declaratives have been presumed to be IPs here, not CPs. We could have been stricter.

What will they bake?

Who left? Note: Vm c-commands tm here. Vm excludes tm and any node that dominates Vm dominates tm too. • I and V are adjacent, do-support unnecessary.

The category of wh-phrases • What kind of phrase is a wh-phrase? • It depends on the structural role it plays; essentially, a wh-phrase is like a “pronoun” with a [+wh] feature (but it need not be a “noun”, it’s a more general “pro-form”) • What in What did Pat buy? is a DP. Because the lamp is a DP in Pat bought the lamp. Which bookis a DP, with which being a D. • When in When did Pat leave? is an AP. Because yesterday is an AP in Pat left yesterday. (Although note that it could also have been answered Pat left on Tuesday—we still take when to be an adverb) • How in How did Pat leave?is an AP. Because hurriedly is an AP in Pat left hurriedly.

The category of wh-phrases • Suppose we wanted to ask how Pat ate the sandwich… IP DPi I Pat vP I [+Past] AP vP quickly DP v ti v VP v Vk V DP tk thesandwich eat

The category of wh-phrases CP • We attach how in the tree where adverbs go; how is a wh-adverb… C IP [+WH,+Q] DPi I Pat vP I [+Past] AP vP how DP v ti v VP v Vk V DP tk thesandwich eat

The category of wh-phrases CP APj C • And then how moves to SpecCP like in any other wh-question. how C IP DPi I C Im Pat [+Past] [+WH][+Q] vP I tm AP vP tj DP v ti v VP v Vk V DP tk thesandwich eat

The category of wh-phrases • Or, if we are wondering which student ate the sandwich… CP C IP [+WH,+Q] DPi I vP I D NP which student [+Past] DP v ti v VP v Vk V DP tk thesandwich eat

The category of wh-phrases CP DPi • Or, if we are wondering which student ate the sandwich… C C D NP IP which student DP C I Im ti [+Past] [+WH][+Q] vP I tm DP v ti v VP v Vk V DP tk thesandwich eat

The category of wh-phrases CP DPi • Or, if we are wondering whose dog ate the sandwich… C C DP D IP who DP C I Im D NP ti ’s dog [+Past] [+WH][+Q] vP I tm DP v ti v VP v Vk V DP tk thesandwich eat

Long-distance wh-movement • You can ask a question about something in an embedded clause too… • I said [that John ate a sandwich]. • Whati did I say [that John ate ti]? • Mary wondered [whati I said [that John ate ti]]. • Note that what gets its q-role from ate. • Note that the main clause C is the question ([+Q, +WH])—the embedded clause C here is a [-Q] CP. • Wh-movement that escapes its clause like this is sometimes called “long-distance wh-movement”.

CNP-islands • There are certain things that seem to “trap” wh-elements, though. • Whati did John claim [that Mary bought ti]? • John believes[DP the claim [that Mary bought cheese]]. • *Whati does John believe[DP the claim [that Mary bought ti]]? • The claim that… is a DP. What starts inside. A “complex noun phrase” island.

Wh-islands • Another thing that seems to “trap” a wh-phrase is another wh-question. (Called wh-islands) • Who bought a cheeseburger at Burger King? • John wondered [who bought a cheeseburger at BK]. • *Whati did John wonder [who bought ti at BK]? • *Whoi did John wonder [whatjti bought tj at BK]?

Successive-cyclicwh-movement • To reconcile the fact that wh-movement can be “long distance” with the fact that wh-movement can be trapped by islands, we suppose that: • Wh-movement proceeds to the nearest SpecCP, and then moves the next SpecCP—it cannot “skip” a CP, that’s moving too far. But a series of such movements can appear to be “long distance”. • Islands cause a situation where wh-movement needs to move “too far” • What did you hear that they bought? • C[+Q] you I hear [that they bought what] • C[+Q] you I hear [whati that they bought ti] • whati C[+Q]+Ij you tj hear [ti’ that they bought ti]

Successive-cyclic movement • The wh-phrase moves first to the intermediate SpecCP, and from there to the main clause SpecCP. What did you hear that they bought?

Successive cyclic? • McCloskey (2000). Quantifier float and wh-movement in an Irish English. Linguistic Inquiry 31(1):57-84. Cf. exactly. • What all did you get for Christmas? • What did you get all for Christmas? • All the students have left. • The students have all left. • I don’t remember [CP what I said all]. • What all did he say (that) he wanted? • What did he say (that) he wanted all? • What did he say all (that) he wanted?

Wh-islands • Now, suppose we have an embedded wh-question. • You wondered what they bought. • And try to question the subject.

Wh-islands • Too far— • Wh-movementcan’t go past themiddle CP without“stopping off” • *Who did you wonder what bought?

Wh-islands • Subjacency. Operator movement cannot cross more than one bounding node. • IPis a bounding node (in English).

CNP-islands • We can treat complex NP islands in pretty much the same way—what makes them ungrammatical is trying to move past more than one bounding node. • *Whati did Mary believe[DP the claim that John bought ti]?

CNP?

DP is also a bounding node.

*Who did they eat’s lunch? CP * DPi C • We can’t move just who. The entire phrase whose lunch must be pied-piped along with who. who C IP DP C I Im they [+Past] [+WH][+Q] vP I tm DP v ti v VP v Vk V DP tk eat DP D ti D NP ’s lunch

Bounding nodesand Subjacency • In English IP and DP are bounding nodes. • In other languages this varies. We won’t explore the evidence here, but Italian and Spanish seem to have CP and DP as bounding nodes. • Subjacency: Wh-movement can cross only one bounding node at a time. • Derives the CNP-island and wh-island constraints.

Relative clauses • Another place where we see wh-movement, besides in explicit questions (either in the main clause or embedded) is in relative clauses. • The book which I read • The woman who(m) I met • These consist of a head noun (book, woman) and then what appears to be a wh-question that further specifies the referent of the head noun.

Relative clauses • Relative clauses serve to modify the head noun. • Kind of like adjectives, or PP modifiers. • The unhappy students. • The students from Vancouver. • The students who solved the problem. • So where would you put them?

Relative clauses • The structure of a relative clause is like this. • A [+Q, +WH] CP is adjoined to the NP, like an adjective, or a PP modifier. • The meaning is essentially “the man with the property of being the answer to ‘Who did I meet?” ’ DP D NP the NP CP man DPi C who(m) C IP [+WH][+Q] I met ti

Quirks • The “question” inside a relative clause has a couple of odd properties, not shared with regular main clause or embedded questions. • *The problem what I solved. • The problem which I solved. • The problem which I will solve. • The problem I solved. • The problem that I solved.

Which/that/Ø • In addition to being able to say • The book which Mary read • We can also say • The book that Mary read • and • The book Mary read • And they all mean the same thing. So we expect that they would all have basically the same structure (they all have a question adjoined in the NP)—so where is the wh-word in the last two?

Op • The secret to these last two kinds of relative clauses is Op, the silent wh-word. • That is, the book which Mary read and the book Mary read are really exactly the same except that in one case you pronounce the wh-word, and in the other, you don’t. • the book [CP whichi Mary read ti ] • the book [CPOpi Mary read ti ]

Op • It is also possible to pronounce that with Op, giving us: • the book [CPOpi that [TP Mary read ti ]] • Why can’t we pronounce that with which? • *the book [CP whichi that [TP Mary read ti ]]

Doubly-Filled COMP filter • The Doubly-Filled COMP filter is the traditional “explanation”. • Doubly-Filled COMP filter:*[CPwh-word if/that/for…] • You can’t pronounce both a wh-word and (a base-generated) C at the same time. Thus: • the book [CPOpi [TP Mary read ti ]] • the book [CPOpi that [TP Mary read ti ]] • the book [CPwhichi [TP Mary read ti ]] • *the book [CPwhichi that [TP Mary read ti ]]

Op • Skeptical of Op? Is there really wh-movement of Op, a silent wh-phrase? • I read the book [CP whichi [IP Mary said [CP that [IP Bill bought ti ]]]]. • *I read the book [CP whichi[IPMary wonders [CP who[IPbought ti]]]]. • I read the book [CPOpi (that) [IP Mary said [CP that [IP Bill bought ti ]]]]. • *I read the book [CPOpi (that)[IPMary wonders [CP who[IPbought ti]]]].

Op • So if we have a silent wh-phrase, why can’t we ask questions with it? • Wherei did Mary buy this book ti ? • Wheni did Mary buy this book ti ? • Whyi did Mary buy this book ti ? • Howi did Mary buy this book ti ? • *Opi did Mary buy this book ti ? • See why?

Op • Recoverability condition:The content of a null category must be recoverable. • the place [Opi (that) Mary bought that book ti ] • the day [Opi (that) Mary bought that book ti ] • the reason [Opi (that) Mary bought that book ti ] • the way [Opi (that) Mary bought that book ti ] • In each case, we can tell what the wh-phrase is by looking at the head noun.

A commenton C • Notice that when you use Op, the C—despite being [+Q]—can be pronounced as that. • This seems to mean that that is just a way you can pronounce C if it would otherwise be unpronounced and pronouncing it wouldn’t violate the DFC filter. DP D NP the NP CP man DPi C who(m) C IP [+WH][+Q] I met ti

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CAS LX 522 Syntax I