Interrogative CPs3.5 Subject questions
The last issue concerning interrogatives we will discuss concerns the difference
between wh-questions which focus on the main clause subject and all other kinds of
wh-questions. With most wh-questions it is fairly easy to see that movements take
place as elements such as objects and adjuncts do not appear in their expected
positions, but at the beginning of the clause:
(66) a who 1 did they execute t 1
b when 1 was the meeting scheduled t 1
Inversion is also possible to detect as the auxiliary and the subject end up on the
opposite sides of each other. But when it is the main clause subject that is the focus of
the question, things are no longer so clear cut. The word order is consistent with at
least three analyses:
(67) a [CP e [IP who can save the world]]
b [CP who 1 e [IP t 1 can save the world]]
c [CP who 1 can 2 [IP t 1 t 2 save the world]]
In (67a) both the wh-subject and the auxiliary are in the IP and do not move to the CP.
In (67b) the wh-subject moves to the specifier of CP but the auxiliary does not move
and in (67c) both the subject and the auxiliary move. But which one is correct and how
can we know? From all that we have said above, one might hope that (67c) is accurate
as only in this is the CP specifier filled with a wh-element and the head filled by
something it can agree with. However, doubt is cast on this conclusion from the
following phenomena:
(68) a who did you meet
b who met you
It seems that for some reason, to which we return shortly, main verbs cannot move
to C. So when a wh-element moves to the specifier of CP and it requires some element
in the C position to agree with, the dummy auxiliary is used and hence we get do-
insertion. However, when the subject is the focus of the question, there is no do-
insertion indicating that nothing has to move to C. If this is a general condition then it
suggests that no element moves from I to C in subject questions and hence that (67c) is
not correct. Opinions differ as to the correctness of (67a) or (b), but obviously both are
problematic for the straightforward analysis of interrogatives.
Before we consign (67c) to the waste bin however, let us see if it might be
salvaged. We have argued that main verbs do not differ in their positions from
auxiliary verbs except in the case of negation where the main verb cannot move over
the negative head, but as auxiliaries are inserted into tense, the presence of negation
does not affect them. Other than this, though, both main verbs and auxiliaries alike can
occupy the I position (contra standard wisdom). If this is a general fact, then it is
possible that main verbs can raise to C just as auxiliaries do and hence (68b) might be
analysed as involving I-to-C movement of the main verb: