Wh-agreement refers to morphological changes triggered by wh-movement, usually in verbs or complementisers.[1] It occurs in a number of Bantu languages,[2][3] Austronesian languages including Chamorro and Palauan, Algonquin languages such as Ojibwe,[4] as well as Hausa, French, Scottish Gaelic, and Irish.[5]

For example, in Chamorro, the infix ⟨um⟩ (labelled ⟨WH[nom]⟩) is attached to the verb to mark agreement with the nominative question phrase following subject extraction:[6]

(1)

Ha

3sSA

fa'gåsi

wash

si

PND

Juan

Juan

i

the

kareta.

car

Ha fa'gåsi si Juan i kareta.

3sSA wash PND Juan the car

'Juan washed the car.'

(2)

Håyi

who?

f⟨um⟩a'gåsi

⟨WH[NOM]⟩wash

i

the

kareta?

car

Håyi f⟨um⟩a'gåsi i kareta?

who? ⟨WH[NOM]⟩wash the car

'Who washed the car?'

Additionally, some languages have distinct agreement morphology depending on the case of element being moved.[1] In the case of object extraction in Chamorro, the verb fa'gasi instead becomes fina’gasése (marked with ⟨WH[obj]⟩):

(3)

Håfa

what

i

the

f⟨in⟩a’gasésen-ña

⟨WH[OBJ]⟩wash.PROG-AGR

si Juan

Juan

para

for

hågu?

you

Håfa i f⟨in⟩a’gasésen-ña {si Juan} para hågu?

what the ⟨WH[OBJ]⟩wash.PROG-AGR Juan for you

‘What is Juan washing for you?’

In French and Scottish Gaelic, special complementisers are used in cases of wh-movement:[5]

(4)

Tu

you

as

have

dit

said

que

that

le

the

livre

book

était

had

tombé

fallen

Tu as dit que le livre était tombé

you have said that the book had fallen

‘You said that the book had fallen.’

(5)

Qu'est-ce

what-is-this

que

that

tu

you

as

have

dit

said

qui

that.AGR

était

was

tombé

fallen

Qu'est-ce que tu as dit qui était tombé

what-is-this that you have said that.AGR was fallen

‘Who did you say had fallen?’

References

  1. 1 2 A. Watanabe (6 December 2012). "WH-Agreement". Case Absorption and WH-Agreement. Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory. Vol. 37. Springer, Dordrecht. pp. 170–1. doi:10.1007/978-94-015-8615-3_4. ISBN 978-94-015-8615-3.
  2. ↑ McDaniel, Dana (29 August 2018). "Long-distance extraction attraction: A production-based account of an unexpected cross-linguistic structure". Glossa. 3 (1): 95. doi:10.5334/gjgl.712. ISSN 2397-1835.
  3. ↑ Zentz, Jason. Kramer, Ruth (ed.). "Bantu Wh-agreement and the Case against Probe Impoverishment" (PDF). Selected Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference on African Linguistics: 290–301.
  4. ↑ Lochbihler, B.; Mathieu, E. (2013). "Wh-agreement in Ojibwe relative clauses: Evidence for CP Structure". The Canadian Journal of Linguistics. 58 (2): 293–318. doi:10.1017/S0008413100003042. S2CID 55026147.
  5. 1 2 http://artsites.uottawa.ca/eajmathieu/doc/Lochbihler_Mathieu.pdf
  6. ↑ Sandra Chung (November 1998). The Design of Agreement: Evidence from Chamorro. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-10607-6.
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