Syntax I						Fall 2009
Problem 10

A.  Certain verbs take as their complement a clause introduced by either
'if' or 'whether':

(1)  I was wondering if the packages would arrive on time.
(2)  I was wondering whether the packages would arrive on time.
(3)  Harvey asked me if the monkey had been vaccinated.
(4)  Harvey asked me whether the monkey had been vaccinated.

To what category would you assign 'if' and 'whether'?  Provide a proposed
structure for (3).

Notice also:

(5)  *Harry denied whether he was a wizard.
(6)   Harry denied that he was a wizard.
(7)  *Harry claimed if he was innocent.
(8)   Harry claimed that he was innocent.

Explain exactly how you propose to account for the differences in exx (5-8).

B.  Now consider examples like the following:

(9)   Will she open the door?
(10)  Has the monkey washed his feet?

In standard American English, the particular word order found in (9-10)
is found only in root clauses:

(11) *Do you think will she open the door?				[SAE]
(12) *I wonder has the monkey washed his feet?				[SAE]

But there are varieties of English (one of which is spoken by at least one
member of our very own faculty) in which it happens in certain embedded
contexts too (we will label such varieties "NSE"):`

(13) *Do you think will she open the door?				[NSE]
(14)  I wonder has the monkey washed his feet.				[NSE]
(15)  They asked me could I talk to Owen.				[NSE]
(16) *Frank denied could he have taken a flight to Dallas.		[NSE]

In these varieties, (17) and (18) are also grammatical alongside (14) and (15):

(17)  I wonder if the monkey has washed his feet.			[NSE]
(18)  They asked me whether I could talk to Owen.			[NSE]

But things like (19) and (20) are complete garbage:

(19) *I wonder if has the monkey washed his feet.			[NSE]
(20) *They asked me whether could I talk to Owen.			[NSE]

Construct an analysis of the indicated phenomenon for the NSE varieties,
making sure to be fully explicit about phrase structure, lexicon, and
movement.  Make sure it conforms to whatever assumptions we have adopted in
class, or diverges with very good reason.

C.  Note also:

(21) *I wonder talk she might to Owen.					[NSE]
(22) *I wonder washed the monkey has his feet.				[NSE]
(23) *I wonder washed the monkey his feet.				[NSE]
(24) *They asked me been she had running the washing machine.		[NSE]

Does your analysis account for these facts?  If it doesn't, you'd better
say why.

D.  Return now to the analysis of root questions in standard English:

(9)   Will she open the door?
(10)  Has the monkey washed his feet?

Can you construct an analysis which will unify the standard and
non-standard varieties, the root and complement questions as much as
possible? 

Under your analysis, what exactly is the difference between SAE and NSE?