| Title: | Two Types of Subject Inversion in Italian WH‑Questions |
| Authors: | Valentina Bianchi, Giuliano Bocci, Silvio Cruschina |
| Publication: | Revue roumaine de linguistique, LXII (3), p. 233-252 Information structure and the left periphery / La structure informationnelle et la périphérie gauche Edited by Ion Giurgea |
| p-ISSN: | 0035-3957 |
| Publisher: | Editura Academiei |
| Place: | București |
| Year: | 2017 |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we discuss the phenomenon of subject inversion in Italian wh-questions. Experimental evidence is provided for the distinction pointed out in Rizzi (2001) between direct questions introduced by perché ‘why’ and wh-questions introduced by other bare wh-phrases with respect to subject inversion. In particular, we show that why-questions display information-structure motivated subject inversion, while other wh-operators obligatorily require the subject to occur postverbally. Contrasting the respective focus structure, we then offer a semantic explanation of the two types of subject inversion: in why-questions a narrow focus is semantically motivated and, thus, possible, whereas in the other wh-questions the presence of a narrow focus would yield a clash in the calculation of question-answer congruence. We finally propose an implementation of this asymmetry in cartographic terms. |
| Key words: | subject inversion, wh-questions, wh-operators, why-questions, question-answer congruence, focus |
| Language: | English |
| Links: |  pdf  html |
Citations to this publication: 1
| 0 | Florin Sterian | Bibliografia românească de lingvistică (BRL, 60, 2017). Lucrări de lingvistică apărute în țara noastră în cursul anului 2017 | LR, LXVII (2), 127-254 | 2018 |
References in this publication: 0
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