Abstract
In this paper, I argue that a certain case of scrambling of Wh-phrases counts as syntactic Wh-movement in Japanese: Specifically, I argue that long-distance scrambling of a Wh-phrase to a clause headed by a [+ WH] COMP behaves exactly like Wh-movement. I defend this hypothesis by showing (i) that such movement lacks LF 'undoing' effects, a quite surprising fact considering that scrambling can be freely undone in LF, and (ii) that it exhibits the Superiority effects. This observation provides support for Mahajan's (1990) proposal that long-distance scrambling, unlike local scrambling, is uniformly A′-movement. Further, I show, on the basis of LF undoing effects, that multiple Wh-movement is possible in Japanese, and argue that this fact supports Kuroda's (1988) 'multiple SPEC' analysis for the phrase structure of Japanese.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 655-678 |
Number of pages | 24 |
Journal | Natural Language & Linguistic Theory |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1993 Nov 1 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Language and Linguistics
- Linguistics and Language