The syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of covert pied-piping in Sinhala and Japanese Wh-questions

要旨

This paper is a study of Japanese and Sinhala wh-questions, both of which employ a special particle called a Q-particle, ka in Japanese and də in Sinhala, forming QP. A Q-particle is normally base-generated adjacent to a wh-phrase or at the edge of an island when a wh-phrase is inside. However, under very restricted circumstances, a Q-particle can merge with TP, and the whole TP can be pied-piped to spec of CP. An information-seeking wh-question normally represents a set of unvalued propositions (i.e. Hamblin set); however, we claim there are cases in which a set of true propositions (i.e. Karttunen set) can be the meaning of an information-seeking wh-question, and this happens when TP pied-piping is applied. Each circumstance in which such pied-piping is possible is carefully analyzed.

主題