Linguistics 110 Zhang/Öztürk/Quinn

Class 22 (12/11/02)

WH-Movement

(1) WH-movement
• WH-words in English: who, what, where, when, why, how, which
• WH-phrases belong to different categories:
who, what NP
which book, what book NP
how tall AP
in which year PP
where, when, why, how AdvP (PP)

• WH-elements can occupy normal dependent positions, acting as complements and other
dependents (i.e. no movement transformation involved):

Echo-questions: You bought what?

Quiz-show questions: Tchaikovsky was born in what year?

• Constituents containing WH-elements often occur in moved positions:

IP
ru
NP I’
| ru
N’ I VP
| {pres} |
N V’
I ru
V CP → CP
wonder ru ru
Spec C’ NP C’
ru g
C IP N’
ru g
NP I’ N
| ru [+WH]
N’ I VP who
| {pres} |
N V’
John ru
V NP → NP
like | [+WH]
N’ t
|
N
[+WH]
who

1
(2) Why not to C?
• Direct questions:
(a) Who does John like?
(b) Which book did John buy?
(c) In what year was Tchaikovsky born?

• Sentences (a)—(c) provide two reasons why WH-elements don’t move to C, what are they?

• Restrictions on movement: head-to-head, XP-to-XP.

(3) Subject questions

(a) Who ran the marathon?
(b) Who talked to John?

Which surface tree structure is correct?

CP CP
ru ru
Spec C’ NP C’
ru | ru
C IP N’ C IP
ru | ru
NP I’ N NP I’
| ru [+WH] [+WH] ru
N’ I VP who t I VP
| {past} | {past} |
N V’ V’
[+WH] ru ru
who V NP V NP
run @ run @
the marathon the marathon

(4) Long distance movement

(a) (Which book)i do you think Bill likes ti?
(I think Bill likes Moby Dick.)

(b) *Which book do you think who likes?

(c) Who do you think likes Sarah?

Question: does I-to-C movement occur in a subject question? Assume that the [+WH] trace
t in Spec of IP can block affix hopping.

(5) WH-movement (or lack thereof) in other languages

• Chinese: WH-words remain in their Deep Structure position (WH-in-situ)

Ni shi shei?
you are who
‘Who are you?’

2
 Ni xihuan shenme?
you like what
‘What do you like?’

Shei pao-le malasong

who run-ASP marathon
‘Who ran the marathon?’

Ta shuo Zhangsan xihuan shei?

He said Zhangsan like who
‘Who did you say Zhangsan likes?’

Wo xiang zhidao Zhangsan xihuan shei.

I want know Zhangsan like who
‘I want to know who Zhangsan likes.’

• French: WH-words can optionally move to the Spec of CP.

tu as vu qui
you have seen who
‘Who did you see?’

qui as-tu vu
who have-you seen
‘Who did you see?’

• One theory of WH-structure:

➥ WH-elements universally move to Spec of CP, either overtly (from Deep Structure to
Surface Structure, as in English), or covertly (not in Surface Structure, but in Logic
Form, or LF, as in Chinese).

➥ LF is the representation that provides information for the semantics, or meaning, of the
utterance.
Deep Structure

Surface Structure

Phonetic Form Logic Form

➥ Reasoning behind LF:

English:
WH-element as indirect question—Spec of embedded CP
WH-element as direct question—Spec of matrix CP

What gives you the direct vs. indirect distinction in Chinese?

3
 Zhangsan zhidao Lisi xihuan shei.
Zhangsan know Lisi like who
‘Zhangsan knows who Lisi likes.’

Zhangsan juede Lisi xihuan shei?

Zhangsan think Lisi like who
‘Who does Zhangsan think Lisi likes?’

(6) Syntax conclusion

• Hierarchical structure.
Long distance dependency, ambiguity, recursion.
• How to identify constituents.
• Constituents within constituents. X’-Theory.
• Inadequacy of phrase structure rules that build constituents.
Subcategorization.
Transformation.