Wh-islands in degree questions: A semantic approach

Abstract

It is proposed that wh-islands with degree questions are unacceptable because they cannot be given a most informative true answer. Wh-islands thus are shown to be similar to other cases of weak islands which have been argued to result from Maximization Failure, in particular negative islands (cf. Fox & Hackl 2007). Permanent DOI link: http://dx.doi.org/10.3765/sp.4.5 BibTeX info

Keywords

• questions
• weak islands
• degree semantics
• question-embedding verbs