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Universal 1379:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 1379:

Original
Question-word Movement Universal:
All languages that move WH-question word to clause-peripheral position move it to the left, not the right.
Standardized
Question-word Movement Universal:
IF there is a WH-question word movement to clause-peripheral position, THEN it proceeds to the left, not to the right.
Keywords
question, wh-movement
Domain
syntax
Type
no genuine implication; rather: provided that
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
merged sample of 87 languages from Greenberg 1963 and Ultan 1978c
Source
Hawkins 1999: 273, claimed also in Bach 1971: 160, 164
Counterexamples
In Tangale (Chadic, Afro-Asiatic), wh-expressions must be moved to the right peripheral position of the clause (Kenstowicz 1987).

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    1. Hawkins argues that this universal can be explained by Fodor’s (1983) principle “Fillers First” (The human processor prefers to process fillers before their subcategorizors or gaps).2. Bach (1971: 160): If a language has a movement rule for interrogatives then it will always move the interrogative to the left, never to the right.

    1. May 2020

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