CLAUSAL PIED-PIPING

• Published in: Natural language semantics Vol. 11; no. 2; pp. 115 - 143
• Main Author: ARREGI, KARLOS
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Kluwer Academic Publishers 01-07-2003; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Ambiguity; Basque language; Clauses; Descriptive studies and applied theories; Grammatical clauses; Grammatical constructions; Linguistics; Predicates; Presuppositions; Scope; Semantics; Syntactic movement; Syntactic structures; Syntactics; Syntax; Syntax semantics relationship; Verbs; Wh phrases; Reconstruction; Wh-movement; Generative syntax; Crosslinguistic study; Logical form; Wh-question; Interrogative (sentence); Syntactic clause; Semantic property
• ISSN: 0925-854X; 1572-865X
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1024499226731

In Basque, wh-movement can pied-pipe an entire clause. The surface syntax of clausal pied-piping structures suggests that their syntax and semantics should be similar to scope marking constructions as analyzed in the Indirect Dependency approach. However, data having to do with presupposition projection and the interpretation of how many-questions show that clausal pied-piping structures are actually more similar to their long-distance wh-movement counterparts than to scope marking constructions. I develop an analysis which takes into account these facts. Specifically, I show that pied-piped clauses must reconstruct, which makes the correct prediction that clausal pied-piping, unlike long-distance wh-movement, is sensitive to negative islands. Finally, I propose that reconstruction is forced by a condition on the interpretation of traces.