The Grammar of Q puts forth a novel syntactic and semantic analysis of wh-questions, one that is based upon in-depth study of the Tlingit language, an endangered and under-documented language of North America. A major consequence of this new approach is that the phenomenon classically dubbed "pied-piping" does not actually exist. Cable begins by arguing that wh-fronting in Tlingit does not involve a syntactic relationship between interrogative C and the wh-word. Rather, it involves a probe/Agree relation between C and an overt "Q-particle" (or "Q") c-commanding the wh-word. Fronting of the wh-word in Tlingit is a mere by-product of fronting the QP projected by this Q. From this core observation, he develops a syntax and semantics for Tlingit wh-questions. Given the strong similarity between the wh-constructions of Tlingit and those of more widely studied languages, Cable applies his analysis to a range of other languages and finds that such a "Q-based" theory holds a number of interesting consequences in syntax and semantics.
Author(s): Seth Cable
Series: Oxford Studies in Comparative Syntax
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 264
Contents......Page 10
Abbreviations......Page 12
American Tlingit Orthography......Page 14
1.1 The Central Claim and the Main Character......Page 18
1.2 Some Classic Assumptions in the Theory of Wh-Questions......Page 19
1.3 Tlingit Wh-Questions Force a New Approach......Page 21
1.4 Two Broader Consequences for Grammatical Theory......Page 24
1.5 The Overarching Research Project, and Further Major Consequences......Page 26
2.1 Introduction......Page 28
2.2 Relevant Background Regarding the Tlingit Language......Page 29
2.3 The Behavior of Wh-Words in Tlingit Wh-Questions......Page 36
2.4 Q-Particles in Tlingit Wh-Questions: The Formal Status of Sá......Page 45
2.5 Wh-Fronting in Tlingit as a Consequence of Q-Movement......Page 51
2.6 The QP-Intervention Condition......Page 58
2.7 A Semantics for Tlingit Wh-Words and Q-Particles......Page 78
3.1 Introduction......Page 99
3.2 The Nature of Wh-In Situ Languages......Page 100
3.3 The Semantics of Wh-Inde. nites and Wh-Questions in Wh-In Situ Languages......Page 108
3.4 The Theory of LF/Focus Intervention Effects......Page 111
4.1 Introduction......Page 115
4.2 The Generality of the Q-Based Structure: Some Initial Motivation......Page 116
4.3 Some Initial Applications to the Theory of Pied-Piping Structures......Page 130
4.4 Intervention Effects and Superiority Effects in Wh-Fronting Languages......Page 137
5.1 Introduction......Page 156
5.2 Q/Wh-Agreement and the Constraints on Pied-Piping......Page 157
5.3 Further Results Regarding Pied-Piping......Page 171
5.4 Secondary Wh-Fronting......Page 191
5.5 Massive Pied-Piping and Its Constraints......Page 205
6.1 Introduction......Page 214
6.2 The Syntax and Semantics of Other A-Bar Movements......Page 215
6.3 Free Relatives......Page 221
Notes......Page 226
Bibliography......Page 250
E......Page 260
L......Page 261
Q......Page 262
T......Page 263
W......Page 264
