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Re: THEORY: two questions

From:And Rosta <a.rosta@...>
Date:Sunday, April 2, 2000, 21:23
Tim Smith:
> At 03:17 PM 4/1/2000 -0600, Matt Pearson wrote: > >My favourite example of a "decidedly non-functional" feature of grammar > >is the constraint which says that a wh-phrase may not move out of > >one half of a coordinate structure--i.e. the ungrammaticality of sentences > >such as "Who did you see and Bill?". There doesn't seem to be any > >obvious communicative reason for the coordinate structure constraint. > >Sentences like "Who did you see and Bill?" are not especially difficult > >to process (no more so than many other constructions which are judged > >grammatical). And yet, in every language that I'm aware of where this > >phenomenon has been tested, such sentences are judged ungrammatical, > >and are rarely if ever produced spontaneously. I find it hard to believe > >that the coordinate structure constraint is the product of functional > >parameters or darwinian selectional pressures. It just appears to be an > >arbitrary side-effect of language design. > > Does this constraint also apply to languages where wh-words aren't fronted?
Surely not, because it doesn't apply to English: I wonder who ate bread and what. According to modern chemistry, lead and which other element are dangerous when inhaled? I take Matt's point about the ATB constraint, & am mulling it over. --And.