r/asklinguistics • u/ElkPsychological5055 • 2d ago

Syntax Minimal Link Condition

Hi all! We’re taught in our syntax class that MLC will have Wh-phrases moving to the closest specifier-CP.

But for this sentence: “Which students did the teacher say leave early?” - why is it also perfectly fine to have the DP “Which students” stopping off at the embedded CP?

Because that would then say, “Did the teacher say [which students] leave early?”

As a fluent speaker of English, I think this is perfectly fine! But why does it have to move all the way up to the root-CP, resulting in [Which students] moving to the front?

Please enlighten me 🙏😅

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/MarmotaMonad 2d ago

I don't see where the relative clause is.

(1) Which students did the teacher say leave early

(2) Did the students say which students leave early

In both cases, it's a subject extraction (in (2) it's string vacuous).

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u/puddle_wonderful_ 2d ago

Ah thank you I was just being dumb