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Veronica Gerassimova and Peter Sells
190-198 (complete pdf)
This paper offers a new analysis of the dependencies found in relative clauses, wh-questions and clefts in Tagalog, which are known for their unusual properties -- only arguments may "extract," and verbs along a long-distance chain must appear in a specific voice form. It is shown that all of the peculiarities of these "subject-only" chains can be explained if they are treated as subject-to-subject raising, rather than wh-movement, as in current accounts. Next, dependencies involving adverbs and adjuncts are considered, which in contrast to subject-only chains display no special constraints. It is demonstrated that they do not involve wh-movement either, but appear in independently available Focus positions. As a result, it is suggested that Tagalog is better described as a type of wh-in-situ language, and is thus similar to Malagasy and other Philippine-type languages.
Published in:
Proceedings of the 26th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics
edited by Charles B. Chang and Hannah J. Haynie
Table of contents
ISBN 978-1-57473-423-2 library binding
vii+524 pages
publication date: 2008
published by Cascadilla Proceedings Project, Somerville, MA, USA