Basic English Grammar with Exercises - MEK

Chapter 7 - Complementiser PhrasesIf the wh-element is moved to the specifier of CP then the result is a whinterrogativeinterpretation. If not then the sentence is interpreted as an echo question.We might think of this in terms of the interpretation of the wh-element itself. A whelementinterpreted in an echo question simply has the role of a pointer to the missinginformation. In a sense it is a ‘place filler’ that does little more than indicate whatneeds to be repeated. A wh-element that is moved into a the specifier of the CP is alittle more complex in terms of its interpretation. The semantics of a moved whelementis similar to that of a quantifier such as everyone or someone. These are calledoperators as they indicate a process that is needed to work out the meaning of thesentence that contains them. For example, consider the difference between the following:(33) a Tim is tallb someone is tallThe truth of (33) is fairly easy to establish. First we find the individual that the nameTim refers to and then we see if they have the property of being tall. The truth of thesecond statement is not quite so easy. For a start, there is no individual to whom theword someone refers and so it isn’t just a matter of checking to see if the person hasthe property of being tall. Instead we must go to the set of things that someone couldpotentially refer to (the set of people relevant to a conversation, perhaps) and gothrough each of them individually to see if they are tall. If at least one of them is tall,then the sentence in (33) is true. If none of them are tall then the sentence is false.Consider what who means in (32a). Like the quantifier someone the interrogativepronoun does not refer to a known individual. Instead, the hearer is asked to perform aprocess of going to the set of potential referents and finding those that if substituted forthe wh-element would produce a true sentence:(34) a who did you talk to?b I talked to Tom – false = not the answerI talked to Dick – false = not the answerI talked to Harry – true = answerThus, a fronted wh-element is interpreted as an operator. Given that the differencebetween a wh-element that is interpreted as an operator and one that is simply used asan echoic device is that the former is moved to specifier of CP while the latter is not itseems that the movement plays a role in determining the interpretation of the whelementas well as the interpretation of the clause that contains it. Let us assume thefollowing interpretative principle:(35) interpret a wh-element as an operator if it is in spec CPThere is one exception to the above principle however. Consider the following:(36) who does Thelma think likes whatThis is known as a multiple wh-question as it is a single question that asks for morethan one piece of information. Note that both of the wh-elements may be interpreted asoperators (the second one may be interpreted as an echo given the right intonation), inwhich case the answer to the question has to be a list of pairs ranging over likers andlikees. The interesting point is that the second wh-element, although it may be252