Information AboutWh-movement |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT WH-MOVEMENT | |
| syntactic relationships | |
| syntactic transformation | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
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According to Joseph Greenberg 's Linguistic Universal No.12, VSO languages always have wh-movement, while SOV languages never do. Many SVO languages have wh-movement too, such as English , but some don't, such as Mandarin . Languages without wh-movement are referred to as wh-in-situ languages. WH-MOVEMENT IN ENGLISH English is one language that features wh-movement. For example, a Declarative Sentence in English featuring normal Word Order would be: : He buys bread. The Direct Object , "bread", of the Verb , "to buy", normally follows the verb, however, when the direct object is replaced with a wh-word in order to form a question, the wh-word generally appears at the beginning of the sentence: : What does he buy? In English main clauses, a form of "to do" must be used as in the absence of an Auxiliary Verb . The auxiliary verb (including a form of "to do") occurs after the wh-word and before the subject: : He should buy bread. : What should he buy? In Transformational approaches to syntax, wh-movement is analyzed literally in terms of constituent movement, where a moved constituent leaves behind a silent Trace (often indicated by a ''t''): : What does he buy ''t''? PIED-PIPING Pied-piping (first identified by John R. Ross ) describes the situation where a phrase larger than a single wh-word occurs in the fronted position. In the case where the wh-word is a Determiner such as ''which'' or ''whose'', pied-piping refers to the fact that the wh-determiner appears sentence-initially along with its complement. For instance, in the following example, the entire phrase "which car" is moved: : Which car does he like ''t''? In the transformational analysis, the wh-word ''which'' moves to the beginning of the sentence, luring its complement ''car'' with it, much like The Pied Piper Of Hamelin attracted rats/children that would follow him, hence the term ''pied-piping''. In the case of determiners, pied-piping is obligatory. For instance, the following sentence would be ungrammatical:
However, there are cases where pied-piping can be optional. In English, this is often the case when a wh-word or phrase is the object of a Preposition . For instance, the following two examples are both grammatical: : To whom did she reveal her secret ''t''? : Whom did she reveal her secret to ''t''? The second example is a case of preposition stranding, which is possible in English, but not allowed in Latin or other Romance Languages . For languages that use Postposition s rather than prepositions, stranding is not allowed either. Prescriptive grammarians often claim that preposition stranding should be avoided in English as well, however in certain contexts, obligatory pied-piping of prepositions in English may make a sentence feel artificial or stilted (e.g. "This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put."). EXTRACTION ISLANDS In many cases, a wh-word can occur at the front of a sentence, regardless of how far away its canonical location is. For example: : Who does Mary like ''t''? : Who does Bob know that Mary likes ''t''? : Who does Carl believe that Bob knows that Mary likes ''t''? However there are cases in which this is not possible. Phrases from which a wh-word cannot be extracted are referred to as extraction islands. Adjunct islands An adjunct island is a type of island formed from an Adjunct clause. Wh-movement is not possible out of an adjunct clause. Adjunct clauses include clauses introduced by ''because'', ''if'', and ''when'', as well as Relative Clause s. Some examples include: : Grammatical: You went home because you needed to do what?
: Grammatical: Alex likes the woman who wears what?
Wh-islands A wh-island is an island that is created by an embedded sentence which is introduced by a wh-word. For instance, the clause "where Eric went to buy the gift" in the following example, is a wh-island: : John wonders where Eric went to buy the gift. Wh-islands are weaker than adjunct islands since extraction is often awkward but not necessarily considered ungrammatical by all speakers. : Grammatical: John wonders where Eric went to buy what? : Questionable: ?What does John wonder where Eric went to buy ''t''? Subject extraction It is typically easier to extract objects rather than subjects from a clause, especially when an overt Complementizer such as "that" or "for" is used. Take the following examples: : Grammatical: Who do you believe ''t'' saw Tom?
: Grammatical: Who do you believe Jim saw ''t''? : Grammatical: Who do you believe that Jim saw ''t''? Subject clauses Wh-movement does not appear to be possible in clauses that appear in the subject position. For instance, here is a sentence where the clause appears in the object position: : It is likely that John went home. Here is the same sentence where the clause appears in the subject position: : That John went home is likely. Notice that wh-movement can occur only in the clause that appears in the object position: : Grammatical: Where is it likely that John went ''t''?
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