From wh to y/n: The features of C

Elly van Gelderen

Konstanz, 24-25 January 2014

Aims

1. examine sources of certain interrogatives

and look at some stages they go through

2. focus (in keeping with the workshop) on those that contribute to illocutionary force in particular the Y/N and Wh-Cycles

3. account for these changes in a feature-based way

Origin of clause markers

1. Argument/Adverb WH > Yes/No and C

2. Relative pronoun > Conjunction(e.g. Meyer 2010 in Slavic, e.g. čto)

3. Preposition > Complementizer(for, after, before)

4. VP adverb > Clausal adverb/C(Swan 1988; Traugott 1995; Lenker 2010)

Theoretical background+/- Interpretable features:

C needs u-F to function as C to its clause (F could be phi or T) and needs i-F to be argument/adjunct to higher clause (F could be wh or pol) (cf. Lohnstein 2005; Roussou 2010: 582: “dual capacity of being selected by a matrix predicate and of selecting a clause”; Bayer 2012; Bayer & Brandner 2008, etc)

(1) I wonder [what C [she will see]].

[u-Q] [i-wh] [u-Q: wh]

VP

V CP

wonder

[u-Q] what

[i-wh] C ...

[u-Q: wh] VP

V what

see [i-wh]

Semantic and formal overlap:Chomsky (1995: 230; 381) suggests: "formal

features have semantic correlates and reflect semantic properties (accusative Case and transitivity, for example)."

I interpret this: If a language has nouns with semantic phi-features, the learner will be able to hypothesize uninterpretable features on another F (and will be able to bundle them there).

Radford (2000): in acquisition from + > -“[S]emantic features ..., are presumably drawn

from a universal ‘alphabet’” (Chomsky 1965: 142), “little is known about this today”.

If semantic features are innate, we need:

Feature Economy

(a) Utilize semantic features: use them as for functional categories, i.e. as formal features (van Gelderen 2008; 2011).

(b) If a specific feature appears more than once, one of these is interpretable and the others are uninterpretable (Muysken 2008).

GrammaticalizationGrammaticalization is a unidirectional

change from semantic to formal (=grammatical) features.

For instance, a verb with semantic features, such as Old English will with [volition, expectation, future], can be reanalyzed as having only the grammatical feature [future]. And a pronoun can be reanalyzed as agreement on the verb.

Grammaticalization tells us which features matter

Subject and Object Agreement (Givón)demonstrative > third ps pronoun > agreement > zeronoun > first and second person > agreement > zeronoun > noun marker > agreement > zero

Copula (Katz)demonstrative > copula > zerothird person > copula > zeroverb > aspect > copula

Noun (Greenberg)demonstrative > definite article > ‘Case’ > zeronoun > number/gender > zero

And about processing/economyNegative (Gardiner/Jespersen

see van der Auwera)a negative argument > negative adverb > negative

particle > zerob verb > aspect > negative > C(negative polarity cycle: Willis)

CP Adjunct AP/PP > ... > C

Future and Aspect Auxiliary A/P > M > T (> C)V > ASP

Demonstrative

[i-phi]

[i-loc]

 

article pronoun C copula

[u-phi] [i-phi] [u-phi] [i-loc]

[u-T] [i-T]

Ambiguous wh-elements

Whether from WH-pronoun to Yes/No and C(1) ond siþðan witig god on swa hwæþere

hondand then wise lord to so whichever hand... mærðo deme swa him gemet þince.... glory grant so him right think`And may the wise lord grant glory to whichever side he thinks right.'

(Beowulf 686, Klaeber’s edition)

(2) Hwæðer þara twe3ra dyde Who of-the two did þæs fæder willan? the father’s will (Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxi. 31)

Y/N(3) Hwæðer wæs iohannes fulluht þe of heofonum þe of

mannum?Whether was John's baptism that of heavens or of man`Was the baptism of John done by heaven or by man' (West Saxon Gospel, Corpus, Matthew 21.25).

(4) Hwæðer ic mote lybban oðdæt ic hine geseo?Whether I might live until I see him`Might I live until I have seen him?’ (Aelfric Homilies Thorpe edition 136. 30, from Allen 1980: 789)

Spec (moved) vs head (pure Y/N)

(5) Hwæðer wille ge ðæt ic cume to eow, ðe mid gierde ðe mid monnðwære gæste?Whether will you that I come to you or with rod or with gentle spirit`Do you want that I come to you, with a rod or with gentleness of spirit?' (Alfred, Pastoral Care, Sweet’s edition 117.7-8).

(6) Hweðer eni totilde ancre uondede euer ðisWhether any peering nun found ever this`Did any peering nun ever experience this?’ (Ancrene Riwle 44.18, from Allen 1980: 790; Morton 102.2-3).

Conjunction (Both Selected Embedded

Questions and UEQ; Adger&Quer2001)(7) þær se snotera bad hwæþer him alwalda

there the wise waited whether him almighty æfre wille ... wyrpe gefremman. ever would ... change accomplish`There the wise one waited whether the almighty would ever grant him change' (Beowulf 1313-5).

(8) Ne wæs me on mode cuð, hwæðer on Þyssum folcenot was me on soul known whether on these people

frean ælmihtiges egesa wære, Þa ic her ærest com.free Almighty.GEN.SG fear was.SUBJ then I here first came'It was not known to me in my soul whether there was fear of the almighty in these people when I first came here'.(from Parra-Guinaldo 2013: 92, Genesis 80)

features?

whether: D in vP sem polarity/wh> specifier in CP [i-phi] [i-pol] or [i-

wh]> head C [u-phi] [i or u-Q]> zero Y/N [i or u-Q]> loss of Y/N

The (valued) i or u-Q depends on certain assumptions (Pesetsky & Torrego)

Old Norse (same stage as OE)(1) hvárt grætr þú nú Skarpheðinn?

Q cry you now S‘Are you crying, Skarphedin’? (Faarlund 2004: 226, Njal’s Saga 303.27)

(2) Njáll spurði Gunnar hvárthannNjal asked Gunnar whether hemyndi til þings ríðawould to assembly ride‘Njal asked Gunnar whether he was going to ride to the assembly’ (Faarlund 2004: 256, Njal’s Saga 71.26)

Gothic has only pronominal use and an ambiguous Y/N (Parra-Guinaldo 2013):

(3) hvaþar ist raihtis azetizo qiþan: which.of.the.two is indeed easier say.INFafletanda þus frawaurhteis þau qiþan: forgive.PASS.IND you.DAT sins or say.INF urreis jah gagg?arise.IMP and go.IMP

'Which of the two is indeed easier to say: 'your sins are forgiven' or to say 'arise and walk'?

'Is it indeed easier to say 'your sins are forgiven' than to say 'arise and walk'?

(Matthew 9:5, Codex Argenteus)

Among the last Y/N:(4) "Whether corporeal substance can think,"

"whether Matter be infinitely divisible," and "how it operates on spirit"- these and like inquiries have given infinite amusement to philosophers in all ages; but depending on the existence of Matter, they have no longer any place on our principles. (1710 Berkeley, Principles of Human Knowledge §85)

(5) Whether shall the red or the blue be annihilated? (1739-40, Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, 1.2.4.6, http://nothingistic.org/library/hume/treatise/treatise014.html)

(6) Whether does Doubting consist in embracing the Affirmative or Negative Side of a Question? (1713 Berkeley Three Dialogues Hylas & Phil i. 5)

The C use remains:(7) to know whether it be possible for us to

understand .. or (1734 Berkeley,Treatise XXIV)but also:(8) then I put it to her conscience, whether if she

was sure her mother had gone where the worm dieth (COHA 1822)

and:(9) Now I would fain know how any thing can

be present to us, which is neither perceivable (1734 Berkeley A Treatise LXVIII)

(10) ... told them how he had a situation (Dickens 1844, OED, Willis 2007: 434)

The decline of Whether as a C in COHA

ChangesY/N may arise first (Gothic) and be lost first

(C18 English). Both (if and) whether seem relatively stable as C although declining slightly

Features of whether: [either/or] and [wh]

So, wh-disjunction > y/n > loss> interrog C > Force

50x whether if in COCA

Rizzi’s 2001 left periphery

ForceP

Force IntP

whether Int FocP

whether Foc FinP

whether Fin ...VP

whether

How interpreted higher up, as y/n

Questions(1) Which features are relevant?

(2) What are the stages:

kind/manner > degree > yes/no

=exclamative

(3) Which wh- can be exclamative? needs a degree, so where/when not good candidates; why is what used?

(3) Is phrasal function first?

(4) Exclamatives gain something extra: `only-E’ in Z&P: how very tall.

Manner/kind > Degree

How in Old English (acc. to the OED and Bosworth & Toller)

-manner adverb modifying a V(1) Hu sculon wit nu libban oððe on þys lande

wesan, gif her wind cymð? ‘How should we now live or ...?’ (Gen 805)

-subordinate C, both manner and degree(2) þa angan Thomas his spæce hu he com to

Cantuuarebyri, & hu se arcebiscop axode hyrsumnesse

(3) Þa axode se casere. þone ænne preost. hu his nama wære. oððe hu gefyrn he gelyfde (‘how formerly he believed’, Aelfric Hom 177.105, B&T)

-kind and degree adverb modifying an Adj/Adv

(4) Hu lange for-bere ic eow?

‘How long endure I you?’ (West Saxon Gospels: Matt. 17.17)

-exclamation can be kind or degree

(5) Hu god is ece God!

`How good is eternal God!’ (Paris Ps. 72[i]. 1)

(6) Hu þu biswikest monine mon!

‘How you betray many a man!’ (Brut, Caligula 1704)

OE in shortdirect question

e.g. how should we live?exclamation

e.g. how good is God!how you were with the name rightly named!

dependent clausee.g. Now wonders everyone how the devil ...

qualifyinge.g. How much do you owe?

MED: (h)ou, hov, hu, he(o)u, hw, w, hwu, wou, howe, ho, (w)hou3, who(u), qwou, whov, wou3, haw.

1.(a)In what manner or way; in what respect, with what meaning, by what criteria; in what situation or condition; -- also in rhetorical questions; (b) by what name; (c) with verbs of doing, thinking, reading, saying: what?

(1) Lauerd, hu hauest þu iuaren toniht?  Lay. Cal. 28011

(2) Hou [Ld: 3what] schal ich nou do, Nou ich haue mi wyf forlore? c1300 SLeg.Kath.(Hrl 2277) 262-8.

(a) By what means, through what agency or chance, by what sequence of events; (b) from what source or evidence, by what right, with what moral justification; (c) how does it happen that, wherefore, why; ~ is hit (this), why is it; ~ that, why is it that; (d)?in such a way, so.

In combs.: (a) ~ elles, how else; ~ if, how if, what if; (b) as ~, how so; ~ so, how is it so, how so?

2.(a) To what extent, degree, number, or amount; -- also, in rhetorical questions; (b)?very.

(3) Ða axode Petrus, Hu ofte sceal ic for3ifæn? `How often shall I forgive?’

(c1175 Bod.Hom. 343, 32/28)

3.In exclamations: (a) in what a way!; (b) to what an extent or degree!

(4) Hu þu biswikest monine mon!

‘How you betray many a man’ (MED, Lay. Cal 3412 [Otho: ou])

(5) Hou long þe here hongeþ him opan! (MED, Orfeo 506)

(6) Hou michel þyn werkes ben heried, Lord! (MED, c1350 MPPsalter (Add 17376) 103.24)

Clausal and phrasal how much

(7)    He clepede his spendere and him acsede hou moche he hedde y-yeue to þe kniȝte. (OED, 1340 Ayenbite 190)

(8) Þanne told þei hire..at how miche meschef here men were formest. (OED, a1375 William of Palerne 1362)

Vangsnes 2008: Degree < manner

(1) Hurdan dag? Swedish

`how day?’ = kind (sunny/*Wednesday)

(2) Hur gammel?

‘how old?’ = degree

Vangsnes connects the D and A use through Predicate Inversion.

My sense: item is in the lexicon with [way, degree, wh] and can be used multiple ways.

Adapt basic AP tree (Corver; Wood):

DegP (how long)

Deg’

Deg QP (how much longer)

Q’

Q AP (how good)(much)

A’

A XP (kind)long how/snake-

like

structure of how: upward reanalysisDegP

Deg’

Deg QP

Q’

Q AP

(much) A’

A

how

Manner > degree > y/n(1) How would you like some tea?

(2) How would you like having a liberal black man from Kenya as president someday? (COCA 2012 Fiction)

(3) Paul said, "Starting would be a good thing to do. How would you like to begin?“ (COCA 2010 Fiction)

(4) " Well, " said the stranger, " you must find time to go away. You're too noisy . How would you like to go before the mayor? " " No, I'd rather not. Stop -- now I think of it, I've asked him before; but perhaps if you'd speak a good word, he'd give me the first vacancy. (COHA, 1838 Charcoal Sketches, Joseph Neal)

(5) “... How would you like to go with us?” “Lord, Massa, you joking. Go wid you? ...” (COHA,1836 The Partisan Leader, Nathaniel Tucker)

Exclamative or degree how?(6) And hue is hit uoul dede zeþþe hit is

kendelich? ‘how is it a foul deed since it is natural?’(OED, 1340 Ayenbite, Morris 47)

(7) Hou shulde sich sense be error in man? (OED, c1380, Wycliffite Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 60)

(8) Howe durst any be so bald to blemysche..Þe hand-werke of þat hiȝe gode? (OED, a1400–50, Alexander 4345)

(9) If thou be to ly at the Altar, how wantst thou a Priest to say thy soule Masse? (OED, 1606 Birnie Blame of Kirk-buriall xi. sig. C4v)

How: Manner and degree how: reanalysis in

DegreeP; semantic bleaching. Manner/kind have an inherent grade, so degree.

Features: [way], [degree], [wh], [Q]In Y/N, the degree is lost. What is y/n [u-Q]

valued by? [wh]Or via:Exclamative includes FACT and exclamative

how is higher (cf Z&P 2003).

wh > Exclamation > Y/N

FocP > FactP

how Foc’ how! Fact’

Foc TP Fact FocP

has ...

Need more data on:

(1) How amazing most of it I could understand.

Walkden (2013: 481): OE hwaet is an exclamative

Hwæt modifies the verb frinan `to learn’ in:(1) Hwæt we Gardena in geardagum þeodcyninga

þrym gefrunonwhat we SpearDanes in yeardays nationkings power heard‘How much we have heard of the might of the nation-kings in the ancient times of the Spear-Danes’! (Beowulf, 1–2)

Walkden (2013: 483) says that “the loss of the restriction [+thing] (and thus of the necessity of argument status), seems to be a ‘natural’ change’”, namely a case of semantic bleaching.

Embedded: interrog/exclamative

(1) The men will wonder how there'll ever be enough lobsters around this island for seven more men to ... (COCA)

(2) Susan assured me everything would be okay. Connie said how nobody could blame me. (COCA 2012 Fiction)

(3) Dwyer told the players how he wanted to win (Willis 2007, BNC)

Earliest ambiguous C in COHA

(1) By this sense, or faculty of seeing, they are enabled to bring events which are yet future, as well as those otherwise out of sight, present to their minds; and thus they can behold them with their mental eye, as clearly as we behold objects at a distance. "This, you may say, is visionary indeed. And you may wonder how I can doubt of the truth of miracles, if I can believe in such a chimerical idea as this!"

(Ballou, Hosea 1820, A Series of Letters in Defence of Divine Revelation)

wh > degree > polar

(2) We saw how, in Chapter 2, a biological system of animals functions like any other mechanistic system. (BNC C9A 1337)

(3) Susan assured me everything would be okay. Connie said how nobody could blame me. (COCA 2012 Fiction)

(4) Your Dad once said how I had legs like Betty Grable (BNC AC5 2999)

(5) The men will wonder how there'll ever be enough lobsters around this island for seven more men to ... (COCA 2000 Fiction)

OE manner and ME emphatic C(6) We gehirdon ... hu ge ofslogon ... Seon and Og.

we heard how you slew ... S and O(OED, c1000, Ælfric Joshua ii. 10)

(7) Hym thoughte how þt the wynged god Mercurye Biforn hym stood. `It seemed to him that the winged god Mercury stood before him’ (OED, c1385 Chaucer Knight's Tale 527)

(8) A letter was brought ... certefiyng him how he was elected to be a Cardinal. (OED, 1548, Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. lvii)

(9) He..saide to the kyng, How his fadir hette Felip. ‘He said to the king that his father was called Felip.’ (OED, K. Alis. 1565)

Spec or head:(1) *What did he tell the players how he wanted to

win what.

Frequent doubling (e.g. 222 times how when):

(2) Frankly, I didn't know how whether the president would play.  (COCA 1991 Spoken)

(3) I don't know how when people are watching me (COCA 2010 Fiction)

(4) You know how if you don't have a DJ, you don't have a party? (COCA 2012 Mag)

How high?

Zanuttini & Portner (2003: 76): Exclamatives higher than wh and FACT in lower CP.

Rizzi (2001) has Interrogative below Force so easy to `confuse’ y/n and exclamative but how in features?

C, Pol, wh: feature reshuffle/split

Bayer & Brandner (2008); Bayer (2012):

(1) Ik vraag me af wie of dat hij zag.

wh pol T

I ask me PRT who if that he saw

`I wonder who he saw.’

What does this mean for uF/iF?

Wh-cycle = i-phi>uphi

a. CP b. CP þat C' C’

se/þam C TP CTP

(þe/þat) that

c. CPwh- C'

C TPrenewal that ...

How come + SV(1) For, as we have previously enquired, how

come we at a knowledge of virtue? (COHA, 1829)

older:

(2) Til it com on a fest dai, þat king herod did for to call þe barnage. (CursorM, Vesp. 13131)

(3) How com'st that you haue holpe To make this rescue? (Shakespeare Coriolanus iii. i. 275)

Wh vs A/P > CThe change from wh > C is to be expected

because wh has dual function as argument or adjunct AND wh-marker:

-Wh moves anyway so easy to reanalyze!

-Wh is a D

The other two sources of C involve more lexical content and are more erratic.

-A and P have lexical content

-They need not move to C but optionally topicalize

ConclusionRenewal of the C-layer:

whether, how, and relativesFeature Economy leads to renewal with

something from the VP-layer

Two types of grammaticalization:-inside the phrase: kind > degree-inside the clause: or > y/n

manner > degree > y/n

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