Local wh-subjects under Quem nunca? ellipsis

Abstract

In this paper I show that there is an elliptical construction in Brazilian Portuguese involving nunca ('never') restricted to locally moved wh-subjects and provide an account of this peculiar restriction. The construction in question corresponds to the sequence Quem nunca? ('Who never?'), which is used as a follow-up comment to a declarative sentence such as Pedro beijou João ('Pedro kissed João'), meaning 'Who did never kiss João?'. Curiously, the wh-element in such cases must correspond to the locally moved subject. I argue that the construction in question provides evidence for Bošković's (2023) proposal regarding two different positions for wh-movement, in which local wh-subjects move to a position below CP and above TP, whereas other wh-elements all move to Spec,CP. I also show this approach provides evidence for the view in which a Spec-head relation is needed for ellipsis licensing.