<HTML dir=ltr><HEAD><TITLE>Re: multiple wh-questions</TITLE>
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<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>Dear all,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>No problem to say in dutch:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>Het kan me niet schelen <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>wie wat aan wie</FONT></STRONG> heeft verteld maar ...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>'I don't care who has told what to whom but ...'</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>In case of only two wh-words, I guess the standard would be</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>as in English, i.e. via coordination:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>Het kan me niet schelen <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>wie</FONT></STRONG> het heeft verteld, en <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>aan wie</FONT></STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>'I don't care who has told it, and to whom'
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>cf.</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>??Het kan met niet schelen <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>wie</FONT></STRONG> het <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>aan wie</FONT></STRONG> heeft verteld</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>'I don't care who has told it to whom'</DIV></DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>Het kan me niet schelen <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>wie</FONT></STRONG> het heeft verteld, en<STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000> waarom</FONT></STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>'I don't care who has done it, and why''</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV dir=ltr>cf.</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>*Het kan met niet schelen <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>wie</FONT></STRONG> het <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>waarom</FONT></STRONG> heeft gedaan</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>'I don't care who has done it why'</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>Maybe the status of the wh-constituent - argument or attribute - </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>plays a role in Dutch as well.</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr> </DIV></FONT></DIV></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>Best,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dik</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV id=idSignature99720 dir=ltr>
<DIV RE>Dik Bakker </DIV>
<DIV RE>Dept. of General Linguistics </DIV>
<DIV RE>Universities of Amsterdam & Lancaster</DIV>
<DIV RE>tel (+44) 1524 64975 & (+31) 20 5253864</DIV>
<DIV RE><A href="http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/d.bakker/">http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/d.bakker/</A></DIV>
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<DIV RE> </DIV>
<DIV RE><STRONG><FONT color=#0000ff><EM>Societas Linguistica Europaea</EM></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV RE>Secretary/Treasurer</DIV>
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<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> Discussion List for ALT on behalf of matthews@HKUCC.HKU.HK<BR><B>Sent:</B> Tue 18/03/2008 12:09<BR><B>To:</B> LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: multiple wh-questions<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
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<P><FONT size=2>Dear all,<BR>Martin's multiple concessive wh- is productive in Cantonese, e.g.<BR><BR> mou4leon6 lei5 hai2 bin1dou6 gong2 mat1je5 waa2...<BR> no.matter you at where speak what language<BR>"No matter what language you are speaking where..."<BR><BR>According to Matthews & Yip (1994:336), multiple wh is especially common in<BR>indirect questions, and the concessive mou4leon6 "no matter" essentially selects<BR>an indirect question as its complement. How about English?<BR><BR> ?No matter what language you are talking to who(m)...<BR><BR>seems marginally okay although in formal speech I would prefer a conjunction<BR>structure as in:<BR><BR> No matter what language you are talking or to who(m)...<BR><BR>and with a wh-phrase as the subject it seems fine:<BR><BR> No matter who says what...<BR> No matter which student studies what language...<BR><BR>Stephen<BR><BR><BR>Quoting Martin Haspelmath <haspelmath@EVA.MPG.DE>:<BR><BR>> Dear Edith,<BR>><BR>> There seems to be a fairly extensive generative literature on this<BR>> topic, which I think is definitely worth looking at. But you are right,<BR>> we are only just beginning to investigate the various restrictions on<BR>> multiple parametric questions from a cross-linguistic perspective.<BR>><BR>> Incidentally, multiple wh-relative clauses are also attested (and<BR>> discussed e.g. by Christian Lehmann in his 1984 "Der Relativsatz", p.<BR>> 341-345). And in my Lezgian grammar, I also mention multiple parametric<BR>> concessive conditional clauses of the type "Whatever letters she writes<BR>> to whomever, she doesn't get any answers" (1993:399). I haven't seen<BR>> this latter type anywhere else, but I doubt that Lezgian is the only<BR>> language that allows it.<BR>><BR>> Martin<BR>><BR>> Edith Moravcsik wrote:<BR>> > A doctoral student here at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is<BR>> > carrying out a crosslinguistic survey of multiple wh-questions. So far<BR>> > we have not found much published material on the topic. If you are<BR>> > able to provide either data or literature references, this would be<BR>> > much appreciated.<BR>> > <BR>> > The following are the basic research questions.<BR>> > <BR>> > 1/ SELECTION OF MULTIPLE WH-WORDS<BR>> > What wh-words can cooccur in a question? There are clearly some<BR>> > constraints here; for example, in English, (some) wh-words that are<BR>> > verb complements can cooccur but adjuncts resist the pattern; compare<BR>> > "Who read what?" but "*Who read the book why?"<BR>> > <BR>> > 2/ THE LINEAR ORDER OF MULTIPLE WH-WORDS RELATIVE TO THE REST OF THE<BR>> > SENTENCE<BR>> > Are multiple wh-words "in situ" or do they occupy some other position?<BR>> > <BR>> > 3/ THE LINEAR ORDER OF MULTIPLE WH-WORDS RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER<BR>> > Do multiple wh-words that are not "in situ" have a preferred or<BR>> > required order relative to each other?<BR>> > <BR>> > 4/ DO MULTIPLE WH-QUESTIONS ALWAYS HAVE A DISTRIBUTIVE INTERPRETATION?<BR>> > For example, English "Who read what?" assumes more than one subject<BR>> > and more than one things to read and asks about the distribution of<BR>> > the reading materials over the set of subjects.<BR>> > <BR>> > 5/ WHAT DOES IT DEPEND ON WHETHER A LANGUAGE DOES OR DOES NOT HAVE<BR>> > MULTIPLE WH-QUESTIONS?<BR>> > This is a question about typological implications linking mutliple<BR>> > wh-questions to other properties of languages.<BR>> > <BR>> > Thank you.<BR>> > <BR>> > Edith A. Moravcsik<BR>> > Professor of Linguistics<BR>> > Department of Foreign<BR>> > Languages and Linguistics<BR>> > University of Wisconsin-<BR>> > Milwaukee<BR>> > Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413<BR>> > E-mail: edith@uwm.edu <<A href="mailto:edith@uwm.edu">mailto:edith@uwm.edu</A>><BR>> > Tel: (414) 229-3068<BR>> > Fax: (414) 229-2741<BR>><BR>><BR>> --<BR>> Martin Haspelmath (haspelmath@eva.mpg.de)<BR>> Max-Planck-Institut fuer evolutionaere Anthropologie, Deutscher Platz 6 <BR>> D-04103 Leipzig <BR>> Tel. (MPI) +49-341-3550 307, (priv.) +49-341-980 1616<BR>><BR>> Glottopedia - the free encyclopedia of linguistics<BR>> (<A href="http://www.glottopedia.org/">http://www.glottopedia.org</A>)<BR>><BR></FONT></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>