LING 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Preposition And Postposition, Interrogative Word
Document Summary
An english wh-structure is one in which there is a wh-constituent in the clause initial position. Note: a wh-constituent is an interrogative word, or a phrase that contains an interrogative word. Interrogative words: who, whom, what, where, whose, which , when, why, how. Interrogative words are referred to as wh-words since, with the exception of how, they being with the letter sequence wh of their written form. A fronted wh-consituent is assumed to occur under cp and to have been moved to this position by the means of a rule of wh- movement. Wh-structures are formed by a rule of wh-movement. Wh-movement move a wh-constituent to sentence initial position. The underlying position from which a wh-consitiuent is moved corresponds to the semantic function that it expresses. Possible functions associated from wh-constituents include verb dependent, preposition complement and subject.
