Singlish questions

Colloquial Singapore English forms a content question three interchangeable ways ([Sat13]): full wh-movement (What you think Natalie is baking at 3am ah?), partial movement to an intermediate Spec-CP (You think what Natalie is baking at 3am ah?), and wh-in-situ (You think Natalie is baking what at 3am ah?), with do-support optional and the clause-final particle ah keeping an in-situ question from an echo reading. On the analysis of [SN17], partial movement reaches matrix Spec-CP by a covert second step, which is sensitive to islands, and an in-situ wh-phrase is bound unselectively and never moves. The-hell adjoins to the wh-head and moves only with it ([CS26]).

References

• [Sat13]
• [SN17]
• [CS26]

def Singlish.Questions.ah : Particle

ah: the clause-final particle that blocks the echo reading of a wh-in-situ question.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Singlish.Questions.theHell : WhModifier

the hell: adjoined to the wh-head, so it reaches Spec-CP only on the wh-phrase.

Equations

• Singlish.Questions.theHell = { form := "the hell", gloss := "the-hell", mobility := WhModifier.Mobility.parasitic }