On the syntax and processing of wh-questions in Spanish

Abstract

The impossibility of preverbal subjects in most Spanish wh-questions, in light of the permissibility of both pre- & postverbal subjects in most other contexts, is explained in a minimalist approach to syntax as the result of basic constraints on working memory, whereas the superficially similar English construction *What John will buy? is ruled out on syntactic grounds. Preverbal subjects in Spanish wh-questions are shown to vary in degree of acceptability according to factors that increase the processing load, particularly discourse linking. The preverbal subject position in Spanish receives a more specific discourse role than the postverbal subject position & thereby incurs a heavier processing load, making it unacceptably difficult to retain the filler in working memory for assignment to a gap; in contrast, the preverbal subject in English & in Caribbean Spanish lacks a special discourse role & therefore does not disrupt filler-gap processing. 31 References. J. Hitchcock