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IS-MOBIL-Mobilitetsprogr.f.utl.Ph.D-stu

Wh-movement within Echo Questions: a comparative analysis of English, Spanish and Russian- Mobile researcher: Ekaterina Chernova, Spain

Awarded: NOK 67,500

It is well known that crosslinguisticaly echo questions (EQs) -which are pronounced in immediate response to a surprising or partially heard utterance (U)- present considerable challenges to standard theories of syntax of non-EQs since they appear to coun ter-exemplify general claims about question formation. E.g., in the case of English, wh-EQs exhibit wh-in-situ, apparent Superiority violations, verb movement not accompanied by wh-movement, and mandatory wide scope only for the echo-introduced wh-phrase. Probably because of this atypical behavior they are very little researched and the few existing results still need to be refined. To this end, we propose a project which is conceived as comparative and aims to undertake a study of echo-syntactic variatio n with respect to wh-movement in three different language types: Germanic and Romance (where only one wh-phrase moves overtly), and Slavic (with multiple wh-movement). The project has both a descriptive and a theoretical side. We will deliver a descriptiv ely addecuate account of the variation of EQs across languages. In this research the modified version of Sobin's (2010) analysis will be partially adopted (i.e., wh-EQs have a double CP structure). Apart from showing that Spanish and Russian EQs exhibit c haracteristics similar to aforementioned English ones, it will also provide new empirical evidence for the particular syntactic structure of EQs and show that -contrary to what it could appear (contra Sobin 2010)- wh-movement in actual fact takes place in EQs. In other words, this project will explain why in languages like English or Spanish the only possibility for the echo wh-phrase is to remain in situ, while in multiple wh-fronting languages like Russian it has an additional option of undergoing subse quent wh-movement, although it is restricted by something similar to wh-islands. The analysis of wh-EQs will also shed light on the behaviour of non-echo wh-interrogatives.

Funding scheme:

IS-MOBIL-Mobilitetsprogr.f.utl.Ph.D-stu