On the Syntax of Multiple Sluicing and What It Tells Us aboutWh-Scope Taking

Bibliographic Data

ID4958728
AuthorsKlaus Abels (0000-0001-7663-0242, Department of Linguistics, University College London, [email protected], corresponding author), Veneeta Dayal (Department of Linguistics, Yale University, [email protected], corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume54
Issue3
Pages429-477
Publication date2023-06-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueLinguistic Inquiry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0024-3892 • E-ISSN: 1530-9150
PublisherThe MIT Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1162/ling_a_00448
OpenAlexW3210180268
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited77

Across many languages, multiple sluicing obeys a clausemate constraint. This can be understood on the empirically well-supported assumption that covert phrasal wh-movement is clause-bounded and subject to Superiority. We provide independent evidence for syntactic structure at the ellipsis site and for locality constraints on movement operations within the ellipsis site. The fact that the distribution of multiple sluicing is substantially narrower than that of multiple wh-questions, on their single-pair as well as their pair-list reading, entails that there must be mechanisms for scoping in-situ wh-phrases that do not rely on covert phrasal wh-movement. We adopt the choice-functional account for single-pair readings. For pair-list readings, we develop a novel functional analysis, argue for the functional basis of pair-list readings, and present a new perspective on pair-list readings of questions with quantifiers

Covert · Ellipsis (linguistics) · Linguistics · Locality · Natural language processing · Scope (computer science) · Subject (documents) · Syntax · Utterance · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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