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

Cited by

Cited by other publications

Benitez-Quiroz, C. Fabian, Kadir Gökgöz, Ronnie B. Wilbur, Aleix M. Martinez & Emmanuel Andreas Stamatakis

2014. Discriminant Features and Temporal Structure of Nonmanuals in American Sign Language. PLoS ONE 9:2 ► pp. e86268 ff.

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