Analyzing Across-the-Board Wh-movement in Sanandaji Kurdish: A Parallel Merge Approach

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD student in General Linguistics, Sanandaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran.

2 Associate Professor Department of English and Linguistics, Faculty of Language and Literature University of Kurdistan

3 Professor, Department of Mathematics, Kurdistan University, Sanandaj, Iran.

4 Assistant Professor of English Language and Literature, Sanandaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran.

Abstract

The present study investigates across the board wh-movement in Sanandaji Kurdish language, based on parallel merge approach of Citko (2005) in multidominant structure. The evidence in the data indicates that, wh-arguments in the object position of the transitive verb (inside vp), which contain essential information, do not move to the scope position of wh-phrase and behave in-situ and remain in their base generated position, in this case we can say that, ATB-movement cannot affect wh-questions in the object position. Also, the data showed that, wh-arguments can be preposed to the left periphery of the structure, if they are shared between two conjuncts. On the other hand, data containing conjuncts with a single pair reading does not impair the absolute assumption of wh-in-situ in Sanandaji Kurdish and in this sense, it cannot be claimed that the wh-questions exhibit mixed behavior. Likewise, in Sanandaji Kurdish, the ATB-movement of the wh – adjuncts to the left periphery is the result of topicalization and focusing, which often occupies the specifier position within a Focus phrase. In addition, the data showed that the movement of the wh-adjuncts, in the coordinate configuration in Sanandaji Kurdish is optional and is conducted in the logical form (LF) and receives information focus.

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References

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Journal of Iranian Dialects & Linguistics
Volume 7, Issue 1
September 2022
Pages 293-311

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History

  • Receive Date: 10 June 2022
  • Revise Date: 20 July 2022
  • Accept Date: 24 July 2022

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