The periphery of vP in the theory of wh-in situ

Abstract

This article outlines an implementation of Cable’s (2010) Grammar of Q that considers the role played by the periphery of vP, hitherto unexplored in this framework. Empirically, I offer a new example, in a new language family, of a known manifestation of wh-in situ: I argue that Trevisan, a Northern Italian dialect, displays compulsory clause-internal focus movement of both wh-elements and contrastive foci. Theoretically, I use the Trevisan data to present a new, tweaked application of previously proposed approaches whereby wh-elements do not contribute to clause-typing and Q-particles are cross-linguistically needed in the computation of answer-seeking wh-questions. My claim is that wh-in situ languages are characterised not only by language-specific choices between projection and adjunction of Q and overt vs covert movement of Q, but also in terms of the loci where the features relevant to wh-questions, [q] and [focus], are checked: while some languages check both in C, others make use of the clause-internal vP-periphery to check [focus]. The theory developed in this article provides an innovative understanding of the mechanisms involved in Northern Italian wh-in situ that reduces all core properties to different combinations of the setting of simple, universal micro- parameters related to interrogative wh-movement.