WH-MOVEMENT AND THE POSITION OF SPEC-CP: EVIDENCE FROM AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Syntax
• Sign Language Linguistics

Background:

• The directionality of wh-movement in American Sign Language (ASL) has been a subject of debate.
• Some researchers propose rightward wh-movement in ASL, challenging the general trend of leftward wh-movement observed in many languages.

Purpose of the Study:

• To challenge the claim of rightward wh-movement in ASL.
• To propose that wh-movement in ASL is leftward, specifically to a leftward specifier of the Complementizer Phrase (CP).
• To provide an alternative explanation for the appearance of rightward wh-elements in ASL.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of syntactic and discourse factors influencing wh-element placement in ASL.
• Examination of direct and indirect wh-questions in ASL.
• Comparison with cross-linguistic generalizations on wh-movement.

Main Results:

• Wh-movement in ASL is demonstrated to be leftward, moving to a specifier of CP.
• The appearance of wh-elements in sentence- or discourse-final positions is attributed to independent syntactic and discourse factors, not rightward movement.
• The proposed analysis accounts for various ASL wh-questions.

Conclusions:

• The study concludes that wh-movement in ASL is leftward, consistent with cross-linguistic tendencies.
• Independent syntactic and discourse mechanisms explain apparent rightward wh-element placement.
• This analysis reconciles ASL wh-question structures with broader linguistic theories.