Syntactic Inquiries into Discourse Restrictions on Multiple Interrogatives

Abstract

Multiple interrogatives in German involve highly thematic Wh-elements. This is captured by the notion of Discourse-Restricted Quantification (DRQ) : discourse restrictions in German (and possibly other languages, though not English) force both Wh-elements in double questions (Multiple Wh) to move to a syntactically thematic position which is assumed to be a functional projection in an articulated CP-structure ; this projection is Top(ic)P. This movement is motivated by an underlyingly complex structure assigned to the elements which in turn has overt realizations that can be found in (interrogative) partitives. The movement is instantiated similarly to pre-subject scrambling, independently taken to be topicalization. The higher Wh-topic then moves to CP in order to check the Wh-feature ; the other Wh checks its Wh-feature covertly. Evidence from a number of languages shows interesting correlations of Wh-movement and Topicalization supporting this proposal. Semantically, the scope of multiple Wh-phrases in German is subject to DRQ : the sets of referents for both Wh-elements are limited in that they must be known to speaker and hearer. The differences between German and English will be addressed and there is also plenty of cross-linguistic discussion. A wide range of phenomena are scrutinized here, including (but not exclusively) Wh-adjuncts, Wh-islands and child language. The upshot is that a conception of Wh-topics is not only more natural than one would think at first but also superior to any other account presently made public in the minimalist literature

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