tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Dec 03 10:57:03 1996
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Re: RE: Embedded wh-questions
- From: "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: RE: Embedded wh-questions
- Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 13:57:13 -0500 ()
- Priority: NORMAL
On Mon, 2 Dec 1996 10:19:42 -0800 d'Armond Speers
<[email protected]> wrote:
> I'm wondering whether wh-elements 'in situ' (in their base position, as
> they are in Klingon) can be interpreted at the matrix level, like the ones
> that move in English.
>
> English has another quirky bit of behavior, in that some syntactic
> structures prevent wh-elements from moving to the matrix clause.
>
> I wonder who John likes.
> Who do you wonder whether John likes?
I can't imagine a Klingon offering any answer but {jISaHbe'.}
Anyway, for the first sentence:
nuv parHa' *John* 'e' vIpIH 'ach nuvvam vIngu'laHbe'.
and for the second:
'Iv DapIH?
> I wonder who likes Mary.
> * Who do you wonder whether likes Mary?
*Mary* parHa' nuv 'e' vIpIH 'ach nuvvam vIngu'laHbe'.
'Iv DapIH?
> Since wh-elements don't raise in Klingon, they remain 'in situ', we don't
> have such extraction effects. For instance,
>
> *Mary* parHa' 'Iv 'e' vISIv.
> 'Iv parHa' *John* 'e' vISIv.
This can be broken down into:
Who likes Mary? I wonder that.
John likes whom? I wonder that.
Still, it sounds very ugly to me. You are using "wonder" almost
as if it were a verb of speech and the question is the direct
quotation. Meanwhile, that would not use the {-'e'} or the
Sentence As Object construction at all. "'Who likes Mary?' I
wonder." Or, "I wonder. 'Who likes Mary?'"
That is the crux of my problem with this construction.
> To my ear, though these are syntactically correct, they sound like
> gibberish. Again, my mind has a hard time raising the scope of the
> question to the matrix level.
I think that it is squeezing close to quotation and I'm not sure
that we can extend the grammar of quotation to include verbs
like "wonder".
> Maybe it's sleep deprivation, as I prepare for my exams. Ugh.
ghaytan DuH.
> --Holtej
> Stardate 96922.01
charghwI'
Stardate 96924.8