This volume examines subordinate wh-clauses that lack an interrogative interpretation, particularly those in which the wh-word seems to deviate from its literal meaning. These include subordinate manner wh-clauses that have a declarative-like meaning, locative wh-clauses expressing kinds, and headed relatives that serve as recognitional cues, among many others. While regular interrogative embedding has been widely studied in recent years, little is known about the circumstances under which non-interrogative (subordinate) wh-clauses are licensed, nor why some, but not all, wh-phrases can be polyfunctional. The chapters in the book combine the study of cross-linguistic variation in patterns of subordination with formal semantic and syntactic analyses, with data drawn from a wide range of languages including Basque, Czech, English, Mandarin, Romanian, and Taiwan Southern Min. They provide novel insights into the ways in which wh-phrases can be used to introduce complements, relative clauses, and adverbial clauses, and show how the meanings associated with wh-words are exploited beyond their standard distribution. The findings have implications for our understanding of both the phenomenon of subordination as a whole and the relationship between form and meaning in wh-clauses.

This volume examines subordinate wh-clauses that lack an interrogative interpretation, particularly those in which the wh-word seems to deviate from its literal meaning. These include subordinate manner wh-clauses that have a declarative-like meaning, locative wh-clauses expressing kinds, and headed relatives that serve as recognitional cues, among many others. While regular interrogative embedding has been widely studied in recent years, little is known about the circumstances under which non-interrogative (subordinate) wh-clauses are licensed, nor why some, but not all, wh-phrases can be polyfunctional. The chapters in the book combine the study of cross-linguistic variation in patterns of subordination with formal semantic and syntactic analyses, with data drawn from a wide range of languages including Basque, Czech, English, Mandarin, Romanian, and Taiwan Southern Min. They provide novel insights into the ways in which wh-phrases can be used to introduce complements, relative clauses, and adverbial clauses, and show how the meanings associated with wh-words are exploited beyond their standard distribution. The findings have implications for our understanding of both the phenomenon of subordination as a whole and the relationship between form and meaning in wh-clauses.

This study provides the first description-oriented, theoretically-unaligned account ofwh-clauses in Modern English. The author employs a data-based approach to examine aspects of both generative and non-generative work as regards their relative strengths and weaknesses. Wh-clauses in English: Aspects of Theory and Description is a unique combination of statistical findings and qualitative analysis. It is not only underpinned by a systematic investigation of the Brown University corpus but also includes attested material from other sources such as the British National Corpus, the CobuildDirect corpus as well as material gleaned from the internet. The qualitative and quantitative analyses are combined to approach a wide range of theoretical and descriptive issues, such as wh-movement, landing-sites for moved wh-XPs, vacuous movement, island constraints, among others. Not insignificantly, many questions of indeterminacy are addressed, such as the interface of conjunctions and relative words, the problems of demarcation between interrogatives and free relatives as well as structural ambiguities between interrogatives and exclamatives.

Introducing English Grammar introduces readers to the methodology and terminology needed to analyse English sentences. The approach taken is in line with current research in grammar, a particular advantage for students who may go on to study syntax in more depth. All the examples and exercises use real language taken from both standard and non-standard geographical areas and dialects, and include excerpts from Australian and British newspaper articles. Students are encouraged to think about the terminology as a tool kit for studying language and to test what can and cannot be described using these tools. This new edition has been fully updated and features: an expanded introduction; new texts and exercises that include data from social media; revised material on 'Grammar at work' and 'English worldwide'; more suggestions for further reading at the end of the book; updated online resources with extensive further reading and answers to the exercises, which can be found at https://www.routledge.com/9781138635319. Written for readers with no previous experience of grammatical analysis, Introducing English Grammar is suited to anyone beginning a study of linguistics, English language or speech pathology, as well as to students whose interests are primarily literary but who need a better understanding of the structure of English.

This highly successful text has long been considered a standard introduction to the practical analysis of English sentence structure. As in previous editions, key concepts such as constituency, category and function are carefully explained as they are introduced. Tree diagrams are used throughout to help the reader visualise the hierarchical structure of sentences. The final chapter sets the analysis in the context of generative grammar. In this third edition, Analysing Sentences has been thoroughly revised. It has an attractive new layout, more examples, clearer explanations and summaries of major points. A major change concerns the analysis of auxiliary verbs, which has been revised to bring it more in line with current thinking. Clear development from chapter to chapter, together with the author’s accessible style, make this book suitable for readers with no previous experience of sentence analysis. A practical and reader-friendly text, it includes many in-text exercises and end-of-chapter exercises, all with answers, and Further Exercises, making it suitable for self-directed study as well as for taught courses. Noel Burton-Roberts is Professor of English Language and Linguistics at Newcastle University. He is the author of The Limits to Debate: a Revised Theory of Semantic Presupposition (CUP 1989), the editor of Phonological Knowledge: Conceptual and Empirical Issues (OUP 2000) and Pragmatics (Palgrave, 2007), and the author of numerous articles on various aspects of linguistics and the English language.

The book offers a new account of the distribution of the various types of wh-clauses in Classical Greek based on new findings regarding their syntax and semantics: their (non)identificational status, but not the traditional categories (relatives, interrogatives) is relevant.