Quirks of subject (non-)extraction in Igbo
- In this paper we present new data on a subject/non-subject extraction asymmetry in Igbo constituent questions. We provide evidence that the superficially morphological phenomenon reflects a deeper syntactic asymmetry: Unlike wh-non-subjects, wh-subjects cannot undergo local (A) over bar -movement to the left periphery (SpecFoc); rather, they have to stay in their canonical position SpecT. The same constraint also leads to the that-trace effect (absence of the complementizer) in the embedded clause of long subject wh-movement. We argue that what is responsible for the special status of wh-subjects is their high structural position. We provide an optimality-theoretic analysis of the asymmetry that is based on anti-locality: Local subject (A) over bar -movement is excluded because it is too short. Moreover, we address the nature of apparent wh-in-situ in Igbo.
Verfasserangaben: | Mary Chimaobi AmaechiORCiDGND, Doreen GeorgiORCiD |
---|---|
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.607 |
ISSN: | 2397-1835 |
Titel des übergeordneten Werks (Englisch): | Glossa : a journal of general linguistics |
Verlag: | Ubiquity Press |
Verlagsort: | London |
Publikationstyp: | Wissenschaftlicher Artikel |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Datum der Erstveröffentlichung: | 24.06.2019 |
Erscheinungsjahr: | 2019 |
Datum der Freischaltung: | 19.01.2021 |
Freies Schlagwort / Tag: | extraction asymmetries; focus marking; that-trace effect; wh-in-situ; wh-movement |
Band: | 4 |
Ausgabe: | 1 |
Seitenanzahl: | 36 |
Fördernde Institution: | Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)German Research Foundation (DFG) [317633480 - SFB 1287]; Singapore Ministry of Education under WBS [R-103-000-145-115] |
Organisationseinheiten: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Strukturbereich Kognitionswissenschaften / Department Linguistik |
DDC-Klassifikation: | 4 Sprache / 41 Linguistik / 410 Linguistik |
Peer Review: | Referiert |
Publikationsweg: | Open Access / Gold Open-Access |
DOAJ gelistet | |
Lizenz (Deutsch): | CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |