Free relatives in Croatian: An argument for the comp account

Gracanin-Yuksek M.

LINGUISTIC INQUIRY, cilt.39, sa.2, ss.275-294, 2008 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 39 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2008
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1162/ling.2008.39.2.275
  • Dergi Adı: LINGUISTIC INQUIRY
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.275-294
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: free relatives, relative clauses, Croatian, clitics
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The article argues for the Comp account (e.g., Groos and Van Riems-dijk 1981) over the head account (e.g., Bresnan and Grimshaw 1978) of free relatives (FRs), on the basis of several converging arguments from Croatian. Evidence from reconstruction effects shows that the wh-phrase introducing a free relative (WHFR) originates inside the relative clause and wh-moves to its surface position. In addition, arguments from clitic placement show that the derived position of the WHFR is no higher than Spec,CP of the FR.