Unveiling multiple wh- free relative clauses and their functional wh-words

Abstract

We provide the first description and compositional semantic analysis of a construction that we label a "multiple wh - free relative clause" -- an embedded non-interrogative wh -clause with more than one wh -word. We show that multiple wh -free relative clauses are closely related to the more familiar free relative clauses with one wh -word ⎯- single wh - free relative clauses. We argue that an appropriate semantic analysis for multiple wh -free relative clauses can be grounded in the semantic analyses that have been proposed for single wh - free relative clauses, but crucially requires non-trivial broadening of the meaning of wh -words. Focusing on Romanian, we propose a compositional account of multiple wh - FRs building on two main components: (i) the assumption that wh -words can license complex traces/variables with a functional component -- an option that has been independently suggested for several other wh - constructions, and (ii) a new functional meaning for wh -words -- a close variant of the functional meaning of wh -words that has been independently proposed to account for functional wh - interrogative clauses. EARLY ACCESS