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[Gisbert Fanselow]

Dear HPSG-List members,

thanks for the numerous replies to my data query.

The claim has been made in the GB/minimailst literature that the
superiority violation in the lower clause of

who wonders what who bought

is licensed (mitigated) only with an interpretation of the question in
which the lower _who_ takes matrix scope, i.e. it is licensed only as a
question that would be answered as

John wonders what Jane bought, Mary wonders what Bill bought ...

In two experiments with non-linguists, we could not confirm this claim.

However, among the members of the HPSG list who responded (some 20), there
were three or four native speakers who showed a shift of preferences in the
direction predicted by the claim cited about, i.e. they preferred answer a)

"John does"

for the non-superiority violating question

who wonders who bought what

but the more complex answer to the question involving crossing movement in
the lower clause. The reverse preference shift does not occur.

I will have to sort out various non-native replies, so that I can see
whether there are enough native judgments left for drawing a firm
conclusion, but I am convinced our small survey shows that

a) a subtle claim concerning readings of multiple wh's made in community A
can be confrmed by judgments from community B

and

b) there are linguistic facts which at least the standard method cannot
establish by consulting non-linguists.

Currently, I am checking if the GB/minimalist intuitions are also shared by
phonologists and semanticists.

Thanks A LOT for your help!

Gisbert Fanselow







-- 
Gisbert Fanselow
Linguistics, University of Potsdam
Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 23-24
14476 Potsdam
x331-977 2446
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