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In:East and West of The Pentacrest: Linguistic studies in honor of Paula Kempchinsky
Edited by Timothy Gupton and Elizabeth Gielau
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 33] 2021
► pp. 69–82

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Chapter 3
Why does D-linking reduce the need for inversion in Spanish wh-questions?

 | University of CaliforniaSan Diego
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Published online: 10 May 2021
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.33.03goo
Abstract
Spanish wh-questions without inversion are much more acceptable when the wh-phrase is D-linked. Standard semantic and syntactic analyses of D-linking, developed for the more well-known case of D-linking in weak islands, make incorrect predictions regarding the Spanish case, while analyses based on working memory fare better. In these analyses, the effect obtains because at the time when the gap is posited, the processor is able to retrieve a D-linked filler more easily, and this results in increased acceptability. This type of analysis makes correct predictions about D-linking in Spanish wh-questions, and the Spanish facts provide new evidence that such an approach to D-linking based on working memory is correct. The analysis adopted leaves open the question of the proper analysis of inversion itself. Even if D-linking results from properties of working memory, the inversion phenomenon could still be the result of a grammatical constraint.
Article outline
  • 1.The D-linking phenomenon
  • 2.Towards a solution
  • 3.Implications for the analysis of inversion
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (35)
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