Covert Pied-Piping in English Multiple 'Wh'-Questions

• Hadas Kotek ^[1] ; Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine ^[2]
  1. [1] McGill University

     McGill University

     Canadá

     
  2. [2] National University of Singapore

     National University of Singapore

     Singapur

     
• Localización: Linguistic inquiry, ISSN 0024-3892, Vol. 47, Nº 4, 2016, págs. 669-693
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • In this article, 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, unlike that of overt pied-piping, is for movement of larger constituents. 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 narrow 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