A Semantic Explanation for Intervention Effects

Abstract

This paper proposes a semantic analysis of intervention effects in wh-constructions. Wh-phrases are assumed to use the same interpretive mechanism as focus. Similar to a focus sensitive operator evaluating the contribution of focus, a question operator evaluates the contribution of a wh-phrase. An intervening focus sensitive operator interferes with this evaluation and renders the structure uninterpretable. Crosslinguistic variation in the appearance of intervention effects arises due to variation in the Logical Form of questions and of focus evaluation.