The “Who Left” puzzle in matrix syntax

초록

In wh-subject interrogatives, there has been a debate about whether the wh-subject proceeds to SPEC-C through SPEC-T, remains in SPEC-T, or passes by it. This study aims to solve the so-called “Who Left” puzzle in matrix syntax (MS), by weighing two options: whether the wh-subject proceeds to SPEC-C without stopping by SPEC-T or proceeds only to SPEC-T. Referring to Orús et al. (2019) and Martin et al. (2019) for the foundations of MS and Arikawa (2022) for its application and building upon their insights, we investigate the singular values of the normalized vector of the who-chain in each case. According to Arikawa’s (2022) perspective that they indicate the direction of chain externalization, our findings reveal that the geometrical form of the chain for both options is similar although some distinctions exist. This implies the possibility of both options, which helps to explain typological linguistic phenomena.

키워드