<OT> New Posting: ROA-915

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 915-0607

Wh-Islands: A View from Correspondence Theory

Ralf Vogel <ralf.vogel at uni-bielefeld.de>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=915


Abstract:
This paper discusses a family of restrictions on syntactic
extraction, so-called wh-islands. The analysis will be based
on the OT syntax model developed in Vogel (2004a,b) which
focuses on the correspondence between semantic, syntactic
and phonological representations, in the spirit of work
by Jackendoff (1997), Williams (2003) and Culicover & Jackendoff
(2005). I will argue that the wh-island restriction results
from the impossibility to establish a perfect semantics-syntax
mapping in the relevant structures. The resulting constraint
violations add up to yield the wh-island effect. Exceptions
to the wh-island restrictions in English are argued to be
prosodically licensed.


Section 2 introduces the model I am using, and presents
examples of some accounts of ineffability which I developed
elsewhere. That section also introduces the basics of my
treatment of wh-movement. Section 3 develops the account
of wh-islands. Section 4 discusses the exceptions to the
wh-island restriction that we see in English, and extends
my account to handle these cases. The OT implementation
of this account is presented in Section 5.

Comments: To appear in: Modeling Ungrammaticality in Optimality Theory, edited by Curt Rice, Equinox Publishings.
Keywords: syntax, wh-islands. island effects, correspondence
Areas: Syntax
Type: Book Chapter

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=915