Non-Interrogative Subordinate Wh-Clauses

This volume examines subordinate -clauses that lack an interrogative interpretation, particularly those in which the -word seems to deviate from its literal meaning. These include subordinate manner -clauses that have a declarative-like meaning, locative -clauses expressing kinds, and headed relatives that serve as recognitional cues, among many others. While regular interrogative embedding has been widely studied in recent years, little is known about the circumstances under which non-interrogative (subordinate) -clauses are licensed, nor why some, but not all, -phrases can be polyfunctional. The chapters in the book combine the study of cross-linguistic variation in patterns of subordination with formal semantic and syntactic analyses, with data drawn from a wide range of languages including Basque, Czech, English, Mandarin, Romanian, and Taiwan Southern Min. They provide novel insights into the ways in which -phrases can be used to introduce complements, relative clauses, and adverbial clauses, and show how the meanings associated with -words are exploited beyond their standard distribution. The findings have implications for our understanding of both the phenomenon of subordination as a whole and the relationship between form and meaning in -clauses.