This textbookan abridged version of radfords minimalist syntax and the syntax of englishprovides a concise and accessible introduction to current syntactic theory, drawing on the key concepts of chomskys minimalist programme. Examples of wh words would be who, what, what, which, where and how. In linguistics, wh movement also known as wh fronting, wh extraction, wh raising concerns rules of syntax involving the placement of interrogative words. In linguistics, whmovement also known as whfronting, whextraction, whraising concerns rules of syntax involving the placement of interrogative words. Whmovement, topicalization, relative clause formation. The book focuses primarily on the descriptive facts of english syntax, presented in a way that encourages students to develop keen insights into the english data. Whmovement and the syntax of sluicing researchgate. Based on the cambridge grammar of the english language. The lf structure of 3a is thus 3b, in which the wh word which was unmoved at sstructure has been adjoined to speccp. Since possessors in english seem to occupy the same syntactic position as whdeterminers, it is. Semantics of wh questions require an opvbl structure. In plain terms, it refers to an asymmetry between the syntactical arrangement of words or morphemes in a question and the form of answers to that question. Some analyses given below are simplified in order to make this text. It introduces the most important basic concepts, aiming to give readers an idea of syntactic phenomena and argumentation.
In this unit, we see that move can take a whphrase from its deep structure position and move it. In a dialect of english spoken in ulster, the quantifier all can attach to whpronouns. The present version is intended primarily for members. A whphrase that does not undergo whmovement1 is said to remain in situ, and is sometimes referred to as whinsitu. I will show that english also has tp tense phrase with a t head. Among the most important results of this enterprise is a set of locality conditions, including most notably rosss island constraints and chomskys subjacency condition. This paper explores the crosslinguistic status of the socalled whscopemarker strategy of wide scope assignment through the study of its instantiation in hungarian, assessing the role and distribution of the expletivelike whelement wh.
The wh constituent at the front of the sentence will be replaced in the answer by a constituent that wasnt in the question. Crosslinguistic influence at the level of syntactic. However, we might try to take advantage of the fact that 42 involves wh movement, and prior to wh movement, john should ccommand himself, since the wh phrase which picture of himself should begin the derivation as the complement of buy. On the syntax and processing of whquestions in spanish 1ggg grant goodall university of california, san diego it is often stated that minimalism has a therapeutic effect on syntactic theory. Second, the landing site for the moved constituent is outside of ip. It happens in order to create an operatorvariable structure. The whelement moves up from compvp to speccp word order of embedded clauses shows that msa is vso o if arabic is vso, the wh simply moves up the hierarchy from speccp to speccp without changing any word order o if arabic is svo, the wh must move through each speccp and then front the verb of the last clause it lands in. I know that for wh movement out of a nonroot cp successive cyclic movement is needed, so moving to speccp of the lower cp and then from there to the rootcp, but whats the specific restriction o. A whquestion is a question that involves a whword, for example who did you see.
There is also another type of movement going on here, which well talk about later, which relocates will from t to c its called headmovement. English syntax helps students appreciate the various sentence patterns available in the language, understand insights into the core data of its syntax, develop analytic abilities to explore patterns of english in more depth, and learn precise ways of formalizing. I argue that the interrogative phrase in farsi sluicing escapes deletion not by whmovement as in english but by a type of focus movement. This new introductory textbook has been developed with this goal in mind. Wh questions are very common in english and we use it in our daily conversation. On the syntax and processing of whquestions in spanish. On the one hand, the wh phrase might move from the position in which it is interpreted, however deeply embedded that is, to the sentenceinitial spec cp position in one fell swoop, yielding a wh movement chain with two links, as in 4. In other words wh questions are words that include the letter w and h, we use them to ask certain types of questions. The comps list is what is expressed as a sister of the head, and the subj list is what is expressed as a sister of the vp. An introduction to english syntax jim miller an introduction to english phonology april mcmahon an introduction to english morphology andrew carstairsmccarthy 01 pages ixvi prelims 181001 4.
Syntax the part of linguistics that studies sentence structure. An introduction to english syntax universitas brawijaya. We know this because when the np is more than one word, the whole np moves, not just the n. After establishing the existence of the construction in hungarian via novel types of arguments, a variety of evidence is presented showing the inadequacy. Whmovement in questions is a central topic of contemporary syntax as well as. These sentences will follow a basic subjectverbobject format. Fundamentals of english syntax know that word is an. The casemotivated movement of dps in passive and raising structures is a typical example for this movement type. Exploring the structure of english also published by cambridge university press prelim. Introduction it is a familiar fact that languages differ in the extent to which they place whwords in a special, clauseinitial position. Questions containing wh phrases are known aswhquestions. Thus, it is possible to strand the quantifier in intermediate spec, cp. For head movement, its a head that moves, and it moves to another head position.
This means that before wh movement takes placein a multiple question, there is more than. A wh phrase that does not undergo wh movement1 is said to remain in situ, and is sometimes referred to as wh in situ. This lends support to the cyclicity of wh movement shown here. In this chapter, we present the evidence for a wh movement analysis of questions. Esl students who understand the information on this page and follow the advice have a better chance of writing well.
So when youre depicting movement, always check that youve got the right kind of node moving to the right position. Relative clauses and the theory of phrase structure. Gb syntax problems assignment 5 english has a set of words known as whwords who, what, which, where, when, why, etc. Questions containing whphrases are known aswhquestions. It introduces some basic concepts, aiming to give readers an idea of syntactic phenomena and argumentation. A wh question is a question that involves a wh word, for example who did you see. Which worldfamous linguists i did the commission not consider t i for the job. In west ulster irish english mccloskey 1998, expressions like what all, who all etc.
We call these whquestions because most of the english words that we use in these questions are spelled with wh. The goal of many syntacticians is to discover the syntactic rules common to all languages. Since possessors in english seem to occupy the same syntactic position as wh determiners, it is. It also includes examples of common sentence problems in written english. Noam chomskys 1977 paper on whmovement, a landmark in the study of whmovement and movement in general, showed that this computational operation is the basis of a variety of syntactic constructions that had. I will also show that morphemes can move from one position to. Ma seminar english syntax andrew mcintyre various instances of phrases moving to the specifier of cp, with or without itoc movement. Crosslinguistic influence at the level of syntactic features. Collectively, subj and comps are called the valence lists. Erika hunt sam hatch jarrett lever byu department of.
One important aspect of teaching english syntax to native and nonnative undergraduate students alike involves the balance in the overall approach between facts and theory. Gb syntax problems assignment 5 english has a set of words known as wh words who, what, which, where, when, why, etc. In other words, diction and syntax focus on different things. Assuming little or no prior grammatical knowledge, it takes students through a range of topics in english syntax, beginning at an elementary level and progressing. The children in the experimental groups differed according to age, dialect, and clinical status, as well as several control variables such as gender, socioeconomic status, and geographic region. You cannot just notice that the example involves a pronoun and leap to. In the last unit, we extended our model of the syntax component of the mental grammar. English syntax is an authoritative, selfcontained introduction to the subject for students who have had no prior coursework in syntactic theory. Given that wh phrases in direct and indirect questions occupy their surface position as a result of movement, the question arises of how far a wh phrase can move from the position where it is interpreted. We call these whquestions because most of the english words that we use in.
Whmovement is triggered by the presence of an interrogative pronoun. We discuss wh words, wh questions, and wh movement, as well as the property of cyclic movement. It is this movement grammatical on its own that creates an island for any further wh. In a multiple question in english, one whphrase undergoes whmovement.
The book focuses primarily on the descriptive facts of english syntax, presented in a way that encourages. In 23b, it is important to distinguish the two instances of wh movement. Forming whquestions are a little like making algebraic equations, no. For whmovement, its a whole phrase that moves, and it ends up in the specifier of cp. Apparently binding theory can treat this example as though no movement had happened. Below are a few examples of different types of syntax in english. English, as in 12, the whword continues on to the front of the sentence, to cp 1, and leaves an. The following examples of sentence pairs illustrate whmovement.
This paper presents a brief account of english syntax based on the cambridge grammar of the english language, 1 providing an overview of the main constructions and categories in the language. Whmovement across dialects and disorder short title. One of its implications is that there are no right. Middle english examples from ppcme, kroch and taylor 2000. The syntax of whmovement in multiple tesis doctorals en xarxa. The status of whexpletives and the partial whmovement. Phrasescontaining wh words are known as wh phrases.
A wh word is one of a fixed inventory of words used for asking questions that are so called because most of them begin with these letters. However, we might try to take advantage of the fact that 42 involves whmovement, and prior to whmovement, john should ccommand himself, since the whphrase which picture of himself should begin the derivation as the complement of buy. This is the only movement type where we move a constituent down. We then describe two constraints on wh movement that have given rise to. I wonder which of the students you saw it is important to realize that. I argue that the interrogative phrase in farsi sluicing escapes deletion not by wh movement as in english but by a type of focus movement. Wh expressions dp d d who dp d d what dp d d what np book dp d d which np book advp adv adv when. Examples of whwords would be who, what, what, which, where and how. In a multiple question in english, one wh phrase undergoes wh movement. Drawing on german material, we argue that they crucially differ as to the features of the landing sites. If you want to get some information about someone or something you ask by the help of wh questions. Syntax meaning in the cambridge english dictionary.
Relative clauses and the theory of phrase structure robert d. Fundamentals of english syntax know that word is an adjective. Syntax and semanticsquestion formation in english what what. Assuming downward movement to take place is necessary in the traditional framework because it is assumed that lexical verbs in english cannot leave the vp and this way we can also account for the. There are changes in almost every chapter, including a large number of new exercises and several. Just as wonder requires whmovement in its cp complement, so a verb like. I know that for whmovement out of a nonroot cp successive cyclic movement is needed, so moving to speccp of the lower cp and then from there to the rootcp, but whats the specific restriction o. These examples are from the cambridge english corpus and from sources on the web. Some languages, like english, normally place one and only one whword in the specifier.
Browse other questions tagged syntax xbartheory movement principlesandparameters or ask your own question. One sense in which thi s is t rue is that minimalism f orces us to examine analyse s that are suspiciously complex and stipulative and ask whether the. In a question like the one in 8, the whword what appears at the beginning of the clause. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the cambridge dictionary editors or of cambridge university press or its licensors. This textbookan abridged version of radfords minimalist syntax and the syntax of english provides a concise and accessible introduction to current syntactic theory, drawing on the key concepts of chomskys minimalist programme. On the other hand, wh movement might take place in more than one step. The detailed revisions throughout this new edition are aimed at increasing its clarity and usefulness. The text adopts a theoretical perspective called government and. First, it affects not just dps, but maximal projections of many syntactic categories. Assuming the copy theory of movement, cyclic wh movement is further supported by languages in which multiple wh copies are pronounced.
A whword is one of a fixed inventory of words used for asking questions that are so called because most of them begin with these letters. In the last unit, we extended our model of the syntax component of the mental. Linguistics 101 theoretical syntax university of delaware. The term syntax is also used to refer to the study of such principles and processes. Diction focuses on word choice, while syntax focuses on the order and structure of those words. Because this type of movement is involved in the derivation of wh questions, it is known as wh movement. In english, at least, it appears to be movement to the specifier of cp. The text adopts a theoretical perspective called government and binding. Fundamentals of english syntax version 3 andrew mcintyre this is a brief introduction to syntax, the study of the structure of sentences. Which problem moves from its original position as complement of solve to the spec cp of the complement clause. We understand that one important goal of teaching english syntax to undergraduate students is to help.
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