322: The question operator

The Question Operator

Linguistics 322

Intermediate Syntax

There are two kinds of interrogative sentences. The first type are affirmation questions wherein the speaker is trying to get the addressee to assert whether or not a proposition underlying the interrogative sentence is true or false. The addressee may respond with a declarative sentence, a negative declarative sentence (he is asserting that the proposition is false), or he may respond with the answer that he does not know the truth value of the proposition. The second type are questions in which the speaker is seeking information about a given proposition. The addressee may respond with the information, refuse to give the information, or claim that the does not know the information., or he does not wish to divulge the information.

Questions are marked in English syntax by moving the first auxiliary verb in the clause to the beginning of the clause, or, more specifically, the features of the auxiliary verb are copied upwards. The auxiliary verb fills the C node, which marks mood:

(1). Mary may go to the movies.

(2). May Mary go to the movies?

In the minimalist type of grammar we are following here, no movement (transformation ) occurs unless motivated. The head of the interrogative M-proposition is an operator--a question operator ([+Q]). The question operator triggers movement. In English the question operator is a strong operator which means that the movement is obligatory. We will explain this in more detail below.

A question is a modified lexical proposition. Let's look at the following two sentences:

(3). John smokes stogies.
(4) Does John smoke stogies?

The lexical E- proposition here is

(5). SMOKE <patient: STOGIE> <agent: JOHN> .

Both (3) and (4) are modified by tense--the present tense:

(6). [TENSE [-Past]] < SMOKE <patient: STOGIE> <agent: JOHN> >

(6) is a T-proposition; i.e., it is a semantic proposition. The difference between them is that (3) is a declaration and (4) is a question. In English as in most languages declarations are formally unmarked whereas questions are marked in one of several ways. We could represent the underlying structure of (3) and (4) as (6) and (7), respectively, where [+Q] is a feature of MOOD (mood). It represents the question modifier: Like other features that are not represented by a Grammatical word, it requires the host T. In the remainder of this discussion and other discussions, [+Q] is a short hand for [Mood [+Irreal [+Q]]]. :

(7). [MOOD [-Irreal [+Q]]] < [TENSE [-Past]] < SMOKE <patient: STOGIE> <agent: JOHN> >>

(8).

But before we do so let us look at the properties of questions at the surface in more detail.

In main clauses questions are formed by placing a tensed auxiliary verb at the beginning of the sentence. In transformational theory, it is assumed that the tensed auxiliary verb moves there from its underlying or D-structure position. First, Mood is realized by convention as 'C' in the syntax. 'C' stands for complementizer. This name was chose long before anybody thought that complementizers were markers of mood. There is no grammatical word representing [+Q] in English. At L-structure, [+Q] must be marked to indicate the host it needs. The feature [+Q] is copied downwards to T, which it governs:

(9)

All questioned main clauses must be marked for tense. In the discussion on tense and aspect, we showed that T (tense) is lowered to the main verb, because T needs a verbal host:

(10)     Rule: The features of T are copied to V (which it governs)

Motivation: T needs a host.

(11)     Rule: The features of [+Q] are copied to T.

(12)     Property: T functions as host for Q

Motivation: [+Q] in root sentences needs a host.

However, that cannot be the case for questions. Note in (4) that does is a tensed auxiliary verb and the main verb smoke remains in situ; it does not move to the beginning of the sentence:

(13). *Smokes John stogies?

(14) Parametric Rule: The features of T+Q are not copied to V

The features of T are not copied to the main verb. How can we explain this? Suppose that when the features of Q (and of T) are copied, they form an outer constituent or feature block:

(15)

Recall that a sentence will crash if T does not have a verbal host:

(17). *John -s smoke stogies.

Now suppose that the features of T cannot "escape" out of Q, and that since Q has a host, there is no need to copy the features of Q to V. This can be attributed to the Least Effort Principle: don't do it if you don't have to. If the features of Q and hence T cannot be copied to the verb, then how is T saved which still needs a host? It is saved by the Last Resort: the insertion of a dummy verb. The dummy verb in this case will be {DO}. We will formally insert the dummy verb later.

Note that at S-structure, the dummy verb {DO} occurs in sentence initial position. This position we assume to be C (Q). The question that arises is how does the auxiliary verb end up there? We might suppose (as does conventional wisdom) that after Q is lowered to T, T+Q raises (back) to Q:

(21).

What has to be accounted for is how to get {be} or any dummy verb (non-lexical auxiliary verb) to precede to subject. First, what position does the dummy verb occupy? Since it is affected by [+Q], it seems reasonable to assume that it occurs in C, the home of [+Q]. The only other position it could occur in is POLARITY, but there is no reason to assume that it should occur there.

At first we might assume that the features of Q ([+Q]) are copied to T (lowers to T), and then Q and everything it contains are copied back to T (raises to T). What motivates the raising? Following Chomsky and Pollack we propose the feature [+Strong]. [+Strong] means that the features must be copied upwards to the position of the governor:

(22)

Recall that hen an affix raises, its host raises with it. Otherwise, the affix would end up without a host. For example, in the following sentence:

(23) *-Ed John do sing a song?,

the host for the suffix remains behind. The result is hopelessly ungrammatical. In the approach we are taking here, the features [+Past, +Q] are copied upwards to C and is spelled out as *-ed. "-ed" is possible only when it has a host:

(24) Rule: Q is raised back to C when Q+T is adjoined to an auxiliary verb.

(25). Property: Q is an operator.

There is a second approach to the problem. Is it really necessary for Q to lower and then raise again? Note that Q needs a host. Nothing has been said that T can't raise. Suppose the feature [+Strong] blocks lowering. Then T would have to raise. Let us suppose hat the default is lowering. If lowering is blocked, then another strategy must be used. Since there are no dummy tense markers, T has to raise. Note that this simplifies the grammar: One step of lowering is eliminated. Thus in (23), the features of the subject are copied to T, and then the features of T must raise.

Q is said to be strong when it moves back to C. Why it becomes strong is not clear. The reason for stipulating strong Q is found in WH-questions where the WH-word is the subject of sentence (WH+Q lowering,).

It seems non-minimalist to lower a feature and then raise it back to its original position. Let us take a more minimalist approach to the problem. Suppose Q does not lower at, though it still needs T as a host. Why would it not lower? Suppose that the feature [+Strong] (proposed by Chomsky and by Pollock) blocks lowering.--the copying of features down to T. But Q still governs T through SP. Suppose that the features are copied upward through the government chain to Q.:

(27)

Note that the features are copied again the head of the arrow; that is, from the head to the tail. This should be considered a marked alternative to rules that that copy form the tail to the head. Hence, the latter will be consider to be of "lesser effort" than the former. The Least Effort Principle predicts that a rule that is of "lesser effort" takes precedence of one that takes "greater effort".

Let us return to the structure in Figure (24). T is marked with [V\___], but it must raise (its features copied upwards) to Q. And T cannot lower because of the strong host Q to which it is adjoined. The host requirement cannot be overridden. There must be a host. Is there a solution, or will the structure fail, or is the theory wrong?

Fortunately, there is a solution. English has in its repertoire of strategies a set of dummy verbs. The dummy verb do is inserted to function as a host for T when it cannot lower to the main verb:

(28)     Rule: Insert dummy verb do as a last resort if T chain-governs a lexical verb.

(29)     Property: Do functions as a host for T when the complement of T is VP whose head is lexical.

(30)     A head chain governs Y if X and and Y are connected by a set of government links, and there is no lexical governor Z, such that X governs Z, and Z governs Y.

At the final stage we return to the lexicon to fill in the final phonological form of each node or mark it empty. Let's start with the dummy verb. The host for T+Q must be phonetic. Rule (28) is applied selecting the morpheme {DO}. This morpheme is linked to the dummy verb as well the lexical entry for the main verb do.

(31). [+T, +Q] John smoke stogies. -->

(32). Do+[-Past, +Q] John smoke stogies.

The lexical entry for the morpheme {DO} contains information that the stem do is spelled out as 'do-' /d+caret/, and following agreement the inflectional ending for the third person singular is regular:. {+Q] determines the interrogative intonation contour

(33). Do+es John smoke stogies?:

JOHN is spelled out s John. The nodes containing the omega features are linked to an antecedent (the blue arrow), also called the head of a link and consequently of a chain. The tail ed of a link is the original position before movement. In (33) John is head of the link (drawn with a blue line) and the omega features occur at the tail of the link. In links of this sort, the head receives phonological form, and the tail is nearly always empty. When empty, it is called a trace. In days of linguistic yore, it was thought that the phonological item moved. Nowadays it is believed that the bundle of features is copied to the new position (the head of the link). The external argument is copied to the subject position:

(34)

The features of person and plural of the subject NP are copied to T to satisfied the empty features there, completing S-structure. The features bundles are then spelled out at surface structure:

(34).

The feature [+Strong] in [+Q, +Strong] means that the form to which Q is attached must raise back in the syntax to its original position. This is motivated by the need for interpretation of the sentence containing Q. This a property of lowered forms. It has been observed that traces, an empty form remaining when a node is raised, must be c-commanded by the raised form. If a weak feature is lowered, and spelled out in the lowered position, the feature does not c-command the empty form of C[+Q] as shown in (13).

Finally, this structure is sent to the phonological component where phonological rules spell out the final phonetic form.

Next, note the difficulty of representing the head of CP. This node should be C, but the features of T are moved to that node. At first glance, you might expect there to be a prohibition of a dual node of this sort. The prohibition that we do find is against a node representing two lexical items simultaneously. The problem is with labelling. Node labels are artifacts of linguists, not of the grammar. Grammars do not contain such labels. Linguists have invented them for convenience. It is easy to read N, and realize that this N is a short hand for [+N, -V], two features. C is a label for mood: [MOOD [+Irreal [+Q]]]. T is label for tense. Both mood and tense are features in the node which we have labelled as T, though we could have labelled it T/C or C/T. Whatever labels are selected should be used consistently. We will use the label of the host node. Hence in questions C dominates {be}.

Consider the interrogative of sentences which contain a modal verb:

(35)     John could write good papers.

(36)     Could John write good papers.

(37)     *-d John can write good papers.

It first glance it appears that when a feature raises, its host raises, too. If the feature (or an affix) raises ('-d' in (36)), it the host doesn't raise as well, the feature will end up without a host, which is not permitted. We adopt the the following rule of separability here, which is derived from the Unattached Affix principle:

(38) Principle: Inseparability

In the syntax once X has been adjoined to some node Y, X cannot be separated from Y.

This principle, then, explains that when C raises back to C, it is T that must raise, since C is adjoined to T.

However, if lexical items are assigned phonetic form which includes affix development as a final step, then this above issue disappears, except to say that if one feature in a feature bundle is copied to another position, all features in that bundle are copied to that position. We can now replace (37) with the following principle which is similar in its scope:

(38)     Principle: Feature Bundle Copying

In a feature bundle if one feature is copied to a new structural position, all features in the bundle are copied to the position.

(39)     Definition: Feature Bundle

A feature bundle is the set of features that are assigned to a terminal grammatical category.

(40)     Definition: Terminal Category

A terminal category is one which dominates no node at some specific point in a derivation in a grammar.

The intent of (38) is to ensure that the features in phrasal nodes which are later expanded into adjunction structures are all copied. When T +Q is raised, the principle ensures that all the features in T+Q are copied, which may be spelled out as a stem plus an inflectional suffix as in the case of di+d. T+Q is a feature bundle, and it is a terminal category before the second lexical pass.

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