A unified analysis of wh-in-situ in Spanish

This paper provides a unified analysis of wh-constructions in both the Spanish clausal and nominal domains. The analysis builds on recent typological research findings (cf. Cable 2010) and analyzes Spanish as a language that possesses two different Q-particles in its lexicon: a Q-particle that must agree with the wh-phrase and triggers its movement, and a Q-particle that does not agree with the wh-phrase and enters the derivation in the relevant Force (C) position. The analysis captures the distribution and locality properties of interrogative sentences in Spanish, which reveal that only wh-in-situ can appear in islands, survive blocking effects, and appear in subextraction constructions. Crucially, the only requirement for wh-in-situ in the clausal and the nominal domains (the Sentence Final Requirement) can be straightforwardly derived by the interaction of a phonological constraint, the nuclear stress assignment, and the deletion of copies of non-trivial chains created through syntactic movement at the PHON interface. Furthermore, this paper contributes to the general approach of banning optionality from the grammar.