On Wh-Islands

Authors

  • Márta Abrusán

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18148/sub/2009.v13i1.496

Abstract

This paper argues that wh-islands are unacceptable because they cannot be given a complete (exhaustive) answer. In the case of degree questions, the complete answer expresses a contradiction given the assumption that degree questions range over intervals. In the case of manner questions the problem arose from the fact that a complete answer to these questions is equivalent to a sentence with an embedded declarative, which is either a violation of the principle of Maximize Presupposition!, as in the case of question embedding predicates such as know, or simply incompatible with the meaning of the question embedding predicate, which is argued to be the case with predicates such as wonder.

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Published

2019-07-19

How to Cite

Abrusán, M. (2019). On Wh-Islands. Proceedings of Sinn Und Bedeutung, 13(1), 47–62. https://doi.org/10.18148/sub/2009.v13i1.496