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.
Author details: | Mary Chimaobi AmaechiORCiDGND, Doreen GeorgiORCiD |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.607 |
ISSN: | 2397-1835 |
Title of parent work (English): | Glossa : a journal of general linguistics |
Publisher: | Ubiquity Press |
Place of publishing: | London |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2019/06/24 |
Publication year: | 2019 |
Release date: | 2021/01/19 |
Tag: | extraction asymmetries; focus marking; that-trace effect; wh-in-situ; wh-movement |
Volume: | 4 |
Issue: | 1 |
Number of pages: | 36 |
Funding 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] |
Organizational units: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Strukturbereich Kognitionswissenschaften / Department Linguistik |
DDC classification: | 4 Sprache / 41 Linguistik / 410 Linguistik |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Publishing method: | Open Access / Gold Open-Access |
DOAJ gelistet | |
License (German): | CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |