Multiple wh-fronting in Spanish?
I discovered, to my surprise, that multiple wh-fronting is sometimes possible in Spanish:
(1) ¿Cómo, por qué, para qué, a quién enseñamos Español?
This literally means: "How, why, to what, to whom do (we) teach Spanish?"
Furthermore, the order of wh-phrases is actually free in these cases. However, multiple fronting is blocked if the subject is questioned:
(2) * Quién cómo compró?
Direct Object questions also seems to have a blocking effect:
(3) *¿Qué cómo compraste?
but they can be ameliorated with a resumptive clitic and coordination (to my judgement, anyway):
(4) ¿(Dime) qué y cómo lo compraste?
And DO-IO questions are not bad (I think):
(5) Qué (y) a quién (le) compraste?
So, when we question non arguments, we can freely front wh-phrases, but with arguments it seems to be some restrictions. I was thinking about that. Do you know if this has been noticed (not only for Spanish, but other languages)?
2 Comments:
is your first example an oral one? Or is it taken from a written document?
The examples 4 and 5 are more like two sentences that share the same verb.
Comó lo compraste? y Por qué lo compraste?
reduced to
Comó y por qué lo compraste?
The y is a trace for there a 2 sentences because the y fit two phrases that are similar (in general two main sentences )
This paralelisms happens very often in classic latin
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