This paper inquires into the asymmetrical phenomenon of the absence of T-to-C movement in embedded wh-interrogatives. In the light of the hypothesis that both matrix and embedded wh-interrogatives display a constant interpretative effect, it is shown that what surfaces as interrogativity in embedded clauses is not the result of a positively marked [+wh]-feature passed from a selecting verb to the complementiser. Instead, it is the derivative effect of CP’s argumental decomposition due to the deficient case assignment between [V[v]] and [C]. What then in standard analyses is postulated to be a representational interrogative feature in complementary distribution with T to-C movement, in the present analysis is shown to be the materialisation of the deficiency in accusative case assignment, analysed as a function inverse to T-to-C movement.
Keywords:
wh-interrogatives, T-to-C movement, accusative case
Ioannou, G. (2012). T-to-C movement and accusative case assignment. A correlation based on wh-embedding. Lenguas Modernas, (40), Pág. 55–78. Retrieved from https://revistaderechopublico.uchile.cl/index.php/LM/article/view/30742
