Lessons about clausal embedding from long-distance wh-dependencies 

Abstract: In this talk I argue with the data from Georgian that syntax and semantics of long-distance wh-dependencies provide support for the view that many embedded clauses are adjuncts (syntactically) and modifiers (semantically) rather than arguments of verbs they combine with (Elliott 2017, Bochnak & Hanink 2021, Bondarenko 2022, a.o.). Georgian is a language that has wh-movement within matrix clauses (Borise 2023), but lacks wh-movement out of embedded CPs (Harris 1981). I examine in detail both restrictions on wh-movement, and alternative strategies of building long-distance wh-dependencies, and argue that explanations for both need the assumption that embedded clauses at hand are not true arguments of the verb.

First, I argue that restrictions on wh-movement in Georgian are an instance of the Williams Cycle effect (Williams, 2003, 2011; Meadows 2023, Poole 2023, Egressy 2024, a.o.): unlike in languages like English, wh-movement in Georgian targets a syntactic projection lower than CP, and this is why it cannot cross a CP boundary. I show that this constraint is part of a broader seize-locality generalization, and propose that Meadows’ (2023) approach to Williams Cycle is best suited to account for it. An implication of this is that (most) embedded clauses have to be adjuncts: a crucial part of the proposal is that clausal embedding involves featurally free instances of external Merge.

Second, I show that Georgian has three alternative strategies of building long-distance wh-dependencies (wh-scope marking, prolepsis with a gap, prolepsis with wh-doubling), and none of them involve cross-clausal movement (cf. Dayal 1994, 2000, a.o.). I make a proposal of how to build the meanings of these long-distance questions compositionally from clauses with regular wh-syntax. A crucial assumption of this proposal is that embedded clauses restrict the propositional content of the matrix eventuality, implying that embedded clauses under consideration are modifiers of the verb.

Location: Royce Hall 362