Embedding definites instead of questions: The case of Spanish and French

Abstract

Spanish and French may use relativised constructions introduced by a definite and a demonstrative, respectively, as complements of question-embedding verbs. We argue that these constructions are the intensional versions of the respective headless RCs in those languages: DPs (not interrogative CPs) encoding number-neutral maximality. These combine with question-embedding predicates as concealed questions (similar to I know the temperature of the lake), analysed as individual concepts (Romero, 2005). The cross-linguistic implication is that some languages recruit concealed questions as a generalised question-embedding strategy, with DPs taking up the functional space usually associated to wh-interrogatives.