WH-Movement and the Position of Spec-CP: Evidence from American Sign Language

Some researchers have claimed that WH-movement in ASL is rightward, contrary to the apparent universality of leftward WH-movement. In contrast to this claim, we argue that WH-movement in ASL is to a leftward specifier of CP. We account for the occurrence of rightward WH-elements by independently mot...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Language (Baltimore) 1997-03, Vol.73 (1), p.18-57
Main Authors: Petronio, Karen, Lillo-Martin, Diane
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
American Sign Language
Context Clues
Criminal sentencing
Deafness
Discourse Analysis
Grammatical clauses
Interrogative sentences
Language
Linguistic Theory
Linguistics
Phrases
Questioning Techniques
Sentence Structure
Sentences
Sign language
Syntax
Verbs
Wh Questions
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Some researchers have claimed that WH-movement in ASL is rightward, contrary to the apparent universality of leftward WH-movement. In contrast to this claim, we argue that WH-movement in ASL is to a leftward specifier of CP. We account for the occurrence of rightward WH-elements by independently motivated syntactic and discourse factors which lead to the appearance of WH-elements in sentence- or discourse-final positions-not by rightward WH-movement. Our analysis provides an account for a variety of ASL direct and indirect WH-questions and is in accord with cross-linguistic generalizations.
ISSN:0097-8507
1535-0665
DOI:10.2307/416592