Q-particles and the nature of covert movement: Evidence from Bùlì

Abstract

There are a number of intriguing issues surrounding wh-questions that have drawn considerable attention in the literature. Among the most commonly observed is the fact that in certain languages, wh-phrases move overtly from their base-generated positions to a clause-peripheral position, while in other languages the wh-phrases remain in-situ. A well known and contentious issue, to which this paper contributes with novel data from Bùlì, is the status of the in-situ wh-phrase. For instance, do in-situ phrases undergo covert movement? If so how is this movement similar or different from overt movement? I argue that Bùlì distinguishes two kinds of wh-in-situ phrases: one undergoes covert movement, a movement that I claim is comparable in many ways to overt wh-movement, while the other one does not. The key to this observation is the presence of an overt Q-particle in the language. Whenever the Q-particle is absent, the signs of movement disappear. This provides a very transparent set of arguments in favor of the mixed view that sometimes you have movement of wh-in-situ and other other times you do not.