Skip to content
1. May 2020
FP
One Comment

Universal 1632: polysynthesis ⇒ Wh-movement

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 1632: polysynthesis ⇒ Wh-movement

Original
In polysynthetic languages, interrogative phrases are constrained to appear in clause-initial position.
Standardized
IF there is polysynthesis, THEN interrogative phrases are constrained to appear in clause-initial position (through WH-movement).
Keywords
polysynthesis, interrogative, wh-movement
Domain
morphology, syntax
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
statistical
Basis
Polysynthetic languages like Mohawk (Iroquoian), Nahuatl (Uto-Aztecan), Kiowa (Kiowa- Tanoan), Gunwinjguan (Gunwingguan, Australian), Wichita (Caddoan), Chukchi (Chukchi-Kamchatkan), Ainu (isolate). Non-polysynthetic languages like Greenlandic (Eskimo-Aleut), Lakhota (Siouan), Slave (Athabaskan), Alamblak (Sepik-Ramu), Chichewa (Bantoid, Niger-Congo), Choctaw (Muskogean)
Source
Baker 1996: 72
Counterexamples
FP

FP

View more posts

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    Baker defines polysynthetic languages as typically being head-marked and having free word order. His finding that polysynthetic languages are prone to have WH-movement is contrasted by the generalization by Bach (#1638) that interrogative phrases are usually in situ in pure head-final languages.

    1. May 2020

Comments are closed.