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Article published In:
Syntactic Variation and Change
Edited by David Håkansson, Ida Larsson and Erik Magnusson Petzell
[Linguistic Variation 17:1] 2017
► pp. 111–148

On prosodic variation and the distribution of wh- in-situ

| The Graduate Center, City University of New York

Wh- in-situ is a pervasive feature of Tano interrogative syntax, yet the Tano languages differ from one another in subtle ways with respect to the distribution of in-situ interrogatives. Languages like Krachi and Bono allow wh- in-situ in both main and embedded complement clauses, whereas closely related languages like Wasa and Asante Twi only allow wh- in-situ in main clauses. In this article, I argue that the generalization underpinning this variation in Tano concerns a prohibition on wh- items phrasing with C0 at the level of Intonational Phrase (ιP). I show that the ability of a wh- item to appear in-situ correlates with the prosodic status of its immediately containing clause. Embedded complement clauses are parsed as independent ιP units in Krachi and Bono, but not in Wasa and Asante Twi. Thus, ιP boundaries divide C0 from embedded interrogatives in Krachi and Bono, preventing the items from forming a prosodic constituent at the level of ιP. Conversely, no such boundaries intervene between embedded C0 and wh- in Wasa and Asante Twi, yielding prosodic mappings in which the items phrase together. Consequently, embedded wh- in-situ is prosodically licit in Krachi and Bono, but not in Wasa and Asante Twi. In this way, the Tano pattern of wh- in-situ variation described above reduces to a difference in how syntactic structures are externalized via prosodic mapping.

Keywords: prosodic mapping, prosodic variation, wh- in-situ, partial wh- movement, intonational phrase, embedded clause, Krachi, Bono, Wasa, Asante Twi
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The distributional variation of wh- in-situ in Tano
    • 2.1The distribution of wh- in-situ in Krachi
    • 2.2The distribution of wh- in-situ in Bono
    • 2.3The distribution of wh- in-situ in Wasa
    • 2.4The Distribution of wh- in-situ in Asante Twi
    • 2.5Delimiting the empirical scope of the article
  • 3.Motivating a prosodic approach to Tano in-situ interrogative distribution
  • 4.Prosodic analysis of Tano in-situ interrogatives
    • 4.1Methodology
    • 4.2Prosodic status of Krachi embedded complement clauses
    • 4.3Prosodic status of Bono embedded complement clauses
    • 4.4Prosodic status of Wasa embedded complement clauses
    • 4.5Prosodic status of Asante Twi embedded complement clauses
    • 4.6Analysis
    • 4.7Extending the analysis: Deriving the distribution of partial wh- movement in Tano
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 29 June 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.17.1.06kan
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