Article published in:
Nonmanuals in Sign LanguageEdited by Annika Herrmann and Markus Steinbach
[Sign Language & Linguistics 14:1] 2011
► pp. 9–48
Syntax and prosodic consequences in ASL
Evidence from multiple WH-questions
Sarah Churng | University of Washington
This study investigates three different multiple wh-question types in American Sign Language (ASL). While the three are strikingly similar, subtle but systematic differences in their prosody make them semantically distinct. I derive these distinctions from their syntax, via extensions of Koopman and Szabolcsi’s (2000) remnant movement and Sportiche’s (1988) stranded movement, and I propose that multiple wh-questions in ASL involve Parallel Merge structures of the kind proposed by Citko (2005). I also present new generalizations to characterize their prosody, whereby A-bar movement gives rise to prosodic breaks and ‘prosodic resets’.
Keywords: American Sign Language (ASL), multiple wh-questions, syntax–prosody interface, wh-nonmanual markings, multi-dominance
Published online: 11 August 2011
https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.14.1.03chu
https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.14.1.03chu
Cited by
Cited by other publications
Benitez-Quiroz, C. Fabian, Kadir Gökgöz, Ronnie B. Wilbur, Aleix M. Martinez & Emmanuel Andreas Stamatakis
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 december 2020. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.