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Article published In: Journal of Historical Linguistics
Vol. 13:3 (2023) ► pp.375–460

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Relative construction in Hittite

A corpus-based case study in syntax-prosody interface

 | Lomonosov Moscow State University
 | Institute of Linguistics, RAS
Published online: 22 November 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.22014.lyu
Summary
The paper proposes a novel structural analysis of Hittite determinate relative clauses on the basis of a corpus study considering a wider and fuller array of Hittite data than ever before. In Hittite, relative wh-phrases attest a wide range of linear positions: first/initial, clause-second, immediately preverbal or even postverbal. We build upon the current assumption that wh-pronouns are clitics and thus their placement is determined by the syntax-prosody interface. As for the syntactic component, we argue against the in situ construal of wh-elements. Instead, we propose that what linearly appears to be clause-second, preverbal or postverbal position of the wh-pronoun is structurally associated with Spec, FinP. The prosodic component is provided by the standardly acknowledged prosodic inversion, but the prosodic domain for the placement of wh-clitics is not clausal (CP), it is rather to be identified with a smaller domain within CP, namely, FinP. We also provide the first ever systematic treatment of split wh-phrases which are highly problematic for existing approaches but are fully accounted for by our analysis.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous studies: State-of-the-art overview
  • 3.The corpus study
    • 3.1The corpus and the database
    • 3.2Analysing the data
      • 3.2.1The structure and linearity of the wh-phrase
      • 3.2.2The position of the wh-phrase within the relative clause
  • 4.Shortcomings of the previous accounts
    • 4.1Hittite relative pronouns are not in situ
    • 4.2Hittite wh-pronouns cliticize lower than expected
  • 5.Analysis
    • 5.1Hittite clause structure
    • 5.2The wh-movement analysis of Hittite determinate relatives
    • 5.3Relative clauses with wh-proforms
    • 5.4Relative clauses with wh-XPs
      • 5.4.1The basic configuration
      • 5.4.2Phrase-inversion and inverted splits
      • 5.4.3Scattered deletion
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
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