In the last unit, we extended our model of the syntax component of the mental. I will show that english also has tp tense phrase with a t head. Crosslinguistic influence at the level of syntactic features. Just as wonder requires whmovement in its cp complement, so a verb like. In this chapter, we present the evidence for a wh movement analysis of questions. 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. Linguistics 101 theoretical syntax university of delaware. 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. Semantics of wh questions require an opvbl structure. We know this because when the np is more than one word, the whole np moves, not just the n. A wh question is a question that involves a wh word, for example who did you see. We discuss wh words, wh questions, and wh movement, as well as the property of cyclic movement. Since possessors in english seem to occupy the same syntactic position as whdeterminers, it is.
English syntax is an authoritative, selfcontained introduction to the subject for students who have had no prior coursework in syntactic theory. Esl students who understand the information on this page and follow the advice have a better chance of writing well. 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. There are changes in almost every chapter, including a large number of new exercises and several. It also includes examples of common sentence problems in written english. Exploring the structure of english also published by cambridge university press prelim. 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. I will also show that morphemes can move from one position to. Fundamentals of english syntax know that word is an adjective. I argue that the interrogative phrase in farsi sluicing escapes deletion not by whmovement as in english but by a type of focus movement. Whmovement in questions is a central topic of contemporary syntax as well as. In 23b, it is important to distinguish the two instances of wh movement. This lends support to the cyclicity of wh movement shown here. Examples of wh words would be who, what, what, which, where and how.
Questions containing whphrases are known aswhquestions. 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. A whphrase that does not undergo whmovement1 is said to remain in situ, and is sometimes referred to as whinsitu. The status of whexpletives and the partial whmovement. 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 lf structure of 3a is thus 3b, in which the wh word which was unmoved at sstructure has been adjoined to speccp. Syntax and semanticsquestion formation in english what what. On the syntax and processing of whquestions in spanish. 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. 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. It introduces some basic concepts, aiming to give readers an idea of syntactic phenomena and argumentation.
After establishing the existence of the construction in hungarian via novel types of arguments, a variety of evidence is presented showing the inadequacy. In a multiple question in english, one whphrase undergoes wh movement. Questions containing wh phrases are known aswhquestions. Below are a few examples of different types of syntax in english. If you want to get some information about someone or something you ask by the help of wh questions. The detailed revisions throughout this new edition are aimed at increasing its clarity and usefulness. English, as in 12, the whword continues on to the front of the sentence, to cp 1, and leaves an. Some analyses given below are simplified in order to make this text. Syntax meaning in the cambridge english dictionary. The present version is intended primarily for members. Among the most important results of this enterprise is a set of locality conditions, including most notably rosss island constraints and chomskys subjacency condition.
The following examples of sentence pairs illustrate whmovement. It introduces the most important basic concepts, aiming to give readers an idea of syntactic phenomena and argumentation. The casemotivated movement of dps in passive and raising structures is a typical example for this movement type. Apparently binding theory can treat this example as though no movement had happened. For whmovement, its a whole phrase that moves, and it ends up in the specifier of cp. 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. Forming whquestions are a little like making algebraic equations, no. It happens in order to create an operatorvariable structure. Gb syntax problems assignment 5 english has a set of words known as wh words who, what, which, where, when, why, etc.
In west ulster irish english mccloskey 1998, expressions like what all, who all etc. Which problem moves from its original position as complement of solve to the spec cp of the complement clause. In other words wh questions are words that include the letter w and h, we use them to ask certain types of questions. You cannot just notice that the example involves a pronoun and leap to. Examples of whwords would be who, what, what, which, where and how. Drawing on german material, we argue that they crucially differ as to the features of the landing sites. Ma seminar english syntax andrew mcintyre various instances of phrases moving to the specifier of cp, with or without itoc movement. Second, the landing site for the moved constituent is outside of ip. Relative clauses and the theory of phrase structure. Whmovement is triggered by the presence of an interrogative pronoun.
In a multiple question in english, one whphrase undergoes whmovement. Collectively, subj and comps are called the valence lists. 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. The syntax of whmovement in multiple tesis doctorals en xarxa. Middle english examples from ppcme, kroch and taylor 2000.
In linguistics, whmovement also known as whfronting, whextraction, whraising concerns rules of syntax involving the placement of interrogative words. In english, at least, it appears to be movement to the specifier of cp. 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. These sentences will follow a basic subjectverbobject format. We then describe two constraints on wh movement that have given rise to. This page contains some basic information about sentence structure syntax and sentence types. Erika hunt sam hatch jarrett lever byu department of. 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. Thus, it is possible to strand the quantifier in intermediate spec, cp. This means that before wh movement takes placein a multiple question, there is more than. Some languages, like english, normally place one and only one whword in the specifier.
This new introductory textbook has been developed with this goal in mind. In a question like the one in 8, the whword what appears at the beginning of the clause. Based on the cambridge grammar of the english language. 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. In english, a strong, active voice sentence will always have the subject doing the action of the sentence. It is this movement grammatical on its own that creates an island for any further wh. 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. Fundamentals of english syntax version 3 andrew mcintyre this is a brief introduction to syntax, the study of the structure of sentences. Crosslinguistic influence at the level of syntactic. In this unit, we see that move can take a whphrase from its deep structure position and move it. First, it affects not just dps, but maximal projections of many syntactic categories. In a dialect of english spoken in ulster, the quantifier all can attach to whpronouns. 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.
These examples are from the cambridge english corpus and from sources on the web. This is the only movement type where we move a constituent down. Whmovement across dialects and disorder short title. Whmovement, topicalization, relative clause formation. 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. In other words, diction and syntax focus on different things.
Borsley kayne 1994 proposes a restrictive theory of phrase structure in which asymmetrical ccommand invariably maps into linear precedence. In the last unit, we extended our model of the syntax component of the mental grammar. A wh phrase that does not undergo wh movement1 is said to remain in situ, and is sometimes referred to as wh in situ. 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. The text adopts a theoretical perspective called government and. 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. Gb syntax problems assignment 5 english has a set of words known as whwords who, what, which, where, when, why, etc. A whquestion is a question that involves a whword, for example who did you see. 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. The wh constituent at the front of the sentence will be replaced in the answer by a constituent that wasnt in the question.
The goal of many syntacticians is to discover the syntactic rules common to all languages. Which worldfamous linguists i did the commission not consider t i for the job. 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. In a multiple question in english, one wh phrase undergoes wh movement. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the cambridge dictionary editors or of cambridge university press or its licensors. 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. 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. Phrasescontaining wh words are known as wh phrases. Because this type of movement is involved in the derivation of wh questions, it is known as wh movement. So when youre depicting movement, always check that youve got the right kind of node moving to the right position. One of its implications is that there are no right. On the other hand, wh movement might take place in more than one step.
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. 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. Whmovement and the syntax of sluicing researchgate. Since possessors in english seem to occupy the same syntactic position as wh determiners, it is.
Relative clauses and the theory of phrase structure robert d. Syntax the part of linguistics that studies sentence structure. Introduction it is a familiar fact that languages differ in the extent to which they place whwords in a special, clauseinitial position. We call these whquestions because most of the english words that we use in. 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. Browse other questions tagged syntax xbartheory movement principlesandparameters or ask your own question. Diction focuses on word choice, while syntax focuses on the order and structure of those words.
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. The book focuses primarily on the descriptive facts of english syntax, presented in a way that encourages. 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. Wh questions are very common in english and we use it in our daily conversation. 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. Assuming the copy theory of movement, cyclic wh movement is further supported by languages in which multiple wh copies are pronounced. An introduction to english syntax universitas brawijaya. We call these whquestions because most of the english words that we use in these questions are spelled with wh. It then proceeds with the basic, theoretical concepts of generative grammar from which students can develop abilities to think, reason, and analyze english sentences from linguistic points of. Whmovementthe phenomenon by which interrogative words appear at the beginning of interrogative sentencesis one of the central displacement operations of human language. I wonder which of the students you saw it is important to realize that. In linguistics, wh movement also known as wh fronting, wh extraction, wh raising concerns rules of syntax involving the placement of interrogative words. We understand that one important goal of teaching english syntax to undergraduate students is to help. The term syntax is also used to refer to the study of such principles and processes.
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