Doubling trouble: some remarks on wh-concord in Swiss German

Abstract

The notion “doubling” is widespread in linguistics. But it is mostly used as a pre-theoretical notion that potentially covers an enormous range of phenomena. If the notion is to be of some use, we must, gradually, work our way towards a definition (or a set of definitions) of “doubling”. In order to do so, specific cases that might be subsumed under the term doubling must be studied in detail and analyzed and be made amenable to an account in terms of current theorizing. After a general overview of what might conceivably be called doubling in linguistics, the article zooms in on one specific construction, viz. wh-concord in Swiss German.

Keywords

• AGREE
• Swiss German
• doubling
• multiple copy spell-out
• sluicing
• wh-concord
• wh-scope marking