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Question words Begin with wh- (English) except “how” Other languages similar phenomena
WH- questions (not just Y/N)
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What did you see? Who sneezed? When did you sneeze? Why did you sneeze?
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Can John ___ catch a cold?
What can John __ catch __ ?
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Argument vs. adjunct Key: theta-role assignment (or not)!
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John can sing. Can John __ sing?
John did watch the game. What2 did John watch __2?
What2 did John1 __1 watch __2?
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Objects: start in comp-VP, move to spec-CP
Feature [wh] WH-determiners: in D (of course!) When modifying adverbs, adjectives:
Deg (a new syntactic complex) Adjectival Hierarchy of Projections:
(Deg) > A
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Representing propositions as atomic symbols e.g. p: John is hungry. q: John eats Cheerios.
Connectives: &, V, ¬, p q ¬p ¬q
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Formalizing semantic relations and their representation Predicate names: lexical item Entities: atoms or variables (e.g. x, y, z)
Multiple nesting is possible
Dave eats a clam. dave(x) & clam(y) & eat(x,y) = entity x is Dave, entity y is a clam, entity x eats entity y
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…sneezed sneeze(x) …saw… see(x,y) … laughed and is not a woman
laugh(x) & ¬woman(x) … respects himself
respect(x,x)& male(x) …respects and is respected by…
respect(x,y) & respect(y,x)
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Who sneezed? For which x, sneeze(x)
Which students like syntax? For which x, student(x), syntax(y), likes(x,y)
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C[Q] When values on T[uclause-type:] as Q*, T
moves into C XP[wh]C[Q,uwh*]...<XP[wh]>
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Echo questions (wh- in situ) Multiple wh- questions
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Null element in spec-CP Has lots of implications for semantics
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T raises to C[Q, uwh*] Now...
project wh- to C-bar! Numeration: Op[wh] satisfies Semantics: propositional T/F
Movement: wh- element satisfies Semantics: predicative variable
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Verbal arguments (subject, object) Adjuncts PP objects (!) Complements Verb complement selection ▪ wonder: must have WH- complement ▪ think: must have non- WH- complement ▪ ask: can have either
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Did you ___ sneeze? Do support, T-to-C movement
Who sneezed? No do support, no T-to-C movement; why? Moved wh-subject values T[uclause-type:]
with wh Checked, valued feature implies no further
movement necessary
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