144 ROBERT D. VAN VALIN, JR.
therefore not in the PFD of the sentence. Consequently, question forma
tion is not possible. When the clause is in an extraposed position, however,
principle (111) is met and question formation is much more acceptable.
(131) a. * What did that Fred won surprise Mary?
b. What did it surprise Mary that Fred won?
Horn (1986) has noted that sentence-initial subordinate clauses are always
presupposed, hence topical, and therefore they are not part of the AFD of
the clause; the focus of a question, yes-no or WH, must be in the AFD of
the clause, as we have seen. The postposed clause, however, not only meets
(111) but also is in the natural post-verbal focus position, and therefore the
AFD can fall within it.
Principles (HI) and (130) together place a very general structural
restriction on question formation in complex sentences, but they are not the
whole story. There are cases in which they are met and yet question forma
tion is impossible, and there are likewise cases in which they are not met
and yet it is possible. The first class of cases fall into two types, and in each
lexical semantic factors play a decisive role. The first type involves verbs of
manner of speaking; their complements meet (111), but question formation
out of them is very difficult, if not impossible (see Erteschik-Shir 1973).
(132) a. What did Mary say that John bought?
b. *What did Mary murmur I chortle I whine/lisp/whisper that
John bought?
In both of these sentences the PFD is the whole sentence in terms of (111),
but in fact it is restricted to the matrix clause in (132b). There is a relatively
straightforward Gricean explanation for the contrast in (132). The focus of
an utterance is the most informative part (see section 2.2), and the choice of
say, the most neutral verb of saying, together with an unmarked intonation
pattern in (132a), signals that the main information of the utterance is the
content of the communication, which is syntactically encoded in the com
plement. Hence the focus can fall in the complement, and (132a) is fine.
The choice of a verb which emphasizes the way in which something is said
rather than what is said, such as murmur, chortle and lisp, as in (132b),
causes the focus to shift to the verb in the main clause, because of the
maxim of relevance: the speaker's choice of an informationally richer
expression {murmur) over another, more neutral possibility (say) only makes
sense in terms of the Cooperative Principle if the manner of expres
sion is in fact relevant to the main point of the utterance. This leaves the