|
|
 E-mail this message to a friend
|
|
Title:
|
Focus Projection and Wh-Head Movement
|
|
Author:
|
Yuko Yanagida
|
|
Email:
|
click here to access email
|
|
Degree Awarded:
|
Cornell University
, Department of Linguistics
|
|
Degree Date:
|
1995
|
|
Linguistic Subfield(s):
|
Syntax
|
|
Subject Language(s):
|
Japanese
|
|
Director(s):
|
John Whitman
|
|
|
Abstract:
|
|
This thesis presents a cross-linguistic investigation of wh-questions, particularly focusing on wh-questions in Japanese. It argues that languages universally possess an internal operator position that appears immediately above VP, associated with a phrasal category, which I label Focus Projection (FocP). In languages like English in which wh-words move to SPEC(CP), FocP serves as an intermediate landing site for wh-movement. In contrast, in languages like Japanese, wh-words do not appear to move at all in the syntax. I show, however, that Japanese has two types of wh-elements: one identifiable as wh-operators and the other as variable-like wh-words. The former either move to or originate in SPEC(FocP) in overt syntax, while the latter remain in-situ.
Given that wh-operators appear in SPEC(FocP), it is proposed that Wh-features are specified in the head Foc position by a Spec-head relation and move to Comp by head-to-head movement (henceforth Wh-head movement). It is well-known that in English, matrix wh-questions involving non-subject wh-phrases induce obligatory I-to-C movement. It is shown that I-to-C movement is a syntactic process triggered as a result of Wh-head movement and further that it is present in Japanese as well. I also examine the presence or absence of subject-object asymmetries with respect to I-to-C movement.
Finally, this thesis discusses locality conditions in wh-in-situ languages. Within the Chomsky's barrier's (1986) framework, the adjunct and subject conditions (CED) and wh-island effects are subsumed under Subjacency. I argue against Subjacency accounts for island effects in wh-in-situ languages, and claim instead that these conditions are reducible to a Minimality condition. The Minimality condition is conceived of as part of chain-link condition (Chomsky and Lasnik 1991, Chomsky 1992) that applies derivationally. Furthermore, I discuss specificity effects (Nishigauchi, 1986) and superiority effects (Watanabe 1992, Takahashi 1993) in Japanese and claim that these conditions do not reflect independent principles of grammar, but rather follow as an effect of Minimality.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Page Updated: 29-Nov-2009
Please report any bad links or misclassified data
LINGUIST Homepage | Read
LINGUIST | Contact us
While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed
on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.
|
|
