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LINGUIST List 17.354

Thu Feb 02 2006

Diss: Syntax: Reglero: 'A'-dependencies in Spanish a...'

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        1.    Lara Reglero, A'-dependencies in Spanish and Basque
Message 1: A'-dependencies in Spanish and Basque
Date: 01-Feb-2006
From: Lara Reglero <lreglerofsu.edu>
Subject: A'-dependencies in Spanish and Basque


Institution: University of Connecticut
Program: Department of Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2004

Author: Lara Reglero

Dissertation Title: A'-dependencies in Spanish and Basque

Linguistic Field(s): Syntax

Subject Language(s): Basque (eus)
                            Spanish (spa)

Dissertation Director:
Zeljko Boskovic
Howard Lasnik
William Snyder

Dissertation Abstract:

This dissertation offers a study of A-dependencies in Spanish and Basque.
More specifically, I analyze wh-movement, its interaction with Focus and
Topic and the adjacency requirement between wh-phrases and the verb. In
order to offer an analysis of these phenomena, I explore the following
topics: in situ questions in Spanish, (multiple) question formation in
Basque, and comparative subdeletion phenomena in Spanish. In chapter 2 I
provide an account of the behavior of wh-in-situ questions in Spanish. The
analysis pursued in the chapter reveals that the distribution of in situ
wh-phrases is governed by phonological properties. More precisely, in situ
wh-phrases in Spanish need to appear last within their intonational phrase.
This generalization captures the behavior of all in situ wh-phrases in this
language. In chapter 3 I discuss the strategies Basque employs to formulate
a multiple wh-question. I show that in the in situ strategy no wh-phrase
remains in situ in the structure: the postverbal wh-phrase raises overtly
to check a topic feature. I offer an analysis for Multiple Wh-fronting
structures in which the wh-phrase closer to the verb is focalized and the
rest of the wh-phrases are topicalized. I propose that Basque has a head
with two features: Attract-all-discourse and Attract-1Topic (cf.
Bošković 1999, 2002). Under this analysis, all wh-phrases bearing
focus or topic are moved to the front of the sentence. Furthermore, the
highest wh-phrase must move first. The fact that only one wh-phrase is
focalized follows from the adjacency requirement of a PF verbal affix. In
chapter 4 I examine the role of contrastive focus in comparative
subdeletion constructions in Spanish. Spanish allows Comparative
Subdeletion under the two following circumstances: obligatory verb gapping
and word order alteration of the elements in the comparative clause
("Inversion Strategy"). I capture the Spanish data by appealing to the
claim that there is a strong focus feature requirement in the "Inversion
Strategy". I claim that the NP containing the quantity term must undergo
overt movement to check a strong focus feature. If the feature is not
checked, the derivation can still be rescued by deleting the strong feature
in PF.




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