Wh-agreement

Wh-agreement refers to morphological changes triggered by wh-movement, usually in verbs or complementisers.[1] It occurs in a number of Bantu languages,[2][3] Austronesian languages including Chamorro and Palauan, Algonquin languages such as Ojibwe,[4] as well as Hausa, French, Scottish Gaelic, and Irish.[5]

For example, in Chamorro, the infix -um- (labelled "WH[nom]") is attached to the verb to mark agreement with the nominative question phrase following subject extraction:[6]

(1)

Ha-fa'gasi

3sSA-wash

si

PND

Juan

i

the

kareta.

car

'Juan washed the car.'

(2)

Hayi

who?

fuma'gasi

WH[NOM].wash

i

the

kareta?

car

'Who washed the car?'

Additionally, some languages have distinct agreement morphology depending on the case of element being moved.[1] In the case of object extraction in Chamorro, the verb fa'gasi instead becomes fina’gasése (marked with "WH[obj]"):

(3)

Hafai

what

fina’gasése-nña

WH[OBJ].wash.PROG-AGR

si Juan

Juan

pära

for

hagu?

you

‘What is Juan washing for you?’

In French and Scottish Gaelic, special complementisers are used in cases of wh-movement:[5]

(4)

Tu

you

as

have

dit

said

que

that

le

the

livre

book

était

had

tombé

fallen

‘You said that the book had fallen.’

(5)

Qu'est-ce

what-is-this

que

that

tu

you

as

have

dit

said

qui

that.AGR

était

was

tombé

fallen

‘Who did you say had fallen?’

References

A. Watanabe (6 December 2012). Case Absorption and WH-Agreement. Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory. Vol. 37. Springer, Dordrecht. pp. 170–1. doi:10.1007/978-94-015-8615-3_4. ISBN 978-94-015-8615-3.
McDaniel, Dana (29 August 2018). "Long-distance extraction attraction: A production-based account of an unexpected cross-linguistic structure". Glossa. 3 (1): 95. doi:10.5334/gjgl.712. ISSN 2397-1835.
Zentz, Jason. Kramer, Ruth (ed.). "Bantu Wh-agreement and the Case against Probe Impoverishment" (PDF). Selected Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference on African Linguistics: 290–301.
Lochbihler, B.; Mathieu, E. (2013). "Wh-agreement in Ojibwe relative clauses: Evidence for CP Structure". The Canadian Journal of Linguistics. 58 (2): 293–318. doi:10.1017/S0008413100003042.
http://artsites.uottawa.ca/eajmathieu/doc/Lochbihler_Mathieu.pdf
Sandra Chung (November 1998). The Design of Agreement: Evidence from Chamorro. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-10607-6.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[Watanabe2012-1] A. Watanabe (6 December 2012). Case Absorption and WH-Agreement. Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory. Vol. 37. Springer, Dordrecht. pp. 170–1. doi:10.1007/978-94-015-8615-3_4. ISBN 978-94-015-8615-3.

[2] McDaniel, Dana (29 August 2018). "Long-distance extraction attraction: A production-based account of an unexpected cross-linguistic structure". Glossa. 3 (1): 95. doi:10.5334/gjgl.712. ISSN 2397-1835.

[3] Zentz, Jason. Kramer, Ruth (ed.). "Bantu Wh-agreement and the Case against Probe Impoverishment" (PDF). Selected Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference on African Linguistics: 290–301.

[MUSE-4] Lochbihler, B.; Mathieu, E. (2013). "Wh-agreement in Ojibwe relative clauses: Evidence for CP Structure". The Canadian Journal of Linguistics. 58 (2): 293–318. doi:10.1017/S0008413100003042.

[inheritance-5] ttp://artsites.uottawa.ca/eajmathieu/doc/Lochbihler_Mathieu.pdf

[Chung1998-6] Sandra Chung (November 1998). The Design of Agreement: Evidence from Chamorro. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-10607-6.