ABSTRACT
This part of the book discusses how wh-questions are formed and how wh-elements are interpreted in Chinese and English and shows that the formation and interpretation of wh-questions are constrained by economy considerations, specifically, PCTC (Pure Clausal Typing Condition) and PE (Principle of Economy), which incorporate two factors: prominence and locality. It is shown that the derivation and interpretation of wh-questions are affected not only by locality conditions but also by prominence considerations. It is the interaction between prominence and locality that determines how wh-questions can be derived and interpreted in the most economical way.
This part also discusses the A-not-A question and the asymmetry between weishenme “why” and other wh-expressions in Chinese, and it is argued that when weishenme or the A-not-A element occurs in a strong island, they cannot take wide scope since they cannot be interpreted with the relevant C via either the Agree operation or the choice function.
