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Unique Focus
Languages without multiple wh-questions
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2008
About this book
This monograph focuses on an interesting typological property shared by four languages: the ungrammaticality of multiple wh-questions in Irish, Berber, Italian and Somali. It contains a broad discussion of data related to the grammar of wh-questions, a comparative analysis of wh-constructions in the four languages, and a theoretical account for the observed phenomenon. The analysis is based on the minimalist syntax theory as developed by Chomsky since 1995. It takes up the standard assumption that wh-phrases are typical representatives of elements bearing new information, in theoretical terms referred to as information focus. Most importantly, in the languages without multiple wh-questions the information focus is licensed in a unique syntactic position. The basic claim is that languages with unique focus are languages without multiple wh-questions. The analysis makes possible the classification of the languages without multiple wh-questions into the crosslinguistic typology of wh-constructions. Furthermore, this book is a contribution to the better understanding of information structure in natural languages, especially of focusing phenomena.
Topics
-
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Prelim pages
i -
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Table of contents
v -
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Acknowledgements
ix -
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Abbreviations
xi -
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Chapter 1. Introduction
1 -
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Chapter 2. Previous analyses of the ungrammaticality of multiple wh-questions
15 -
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Chapter 3. The overview: What is possible in which language?
33 -
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Chapter 4. Analysis
141 -
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Chapter 5. Conclusion
163 -
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Bibliography
169 -
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Index
179
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
July 1, 2008
eBook ISBN:
9789027291523
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
184
This book is in the series
eBook ISBN:
9789027291523
Audience(s) for this book
Professional and scholarly;