Wh-questions in Malay: an explanation for the restriction of extraction to subject position with yang

In wh-question formation in standard Malay, only extraction from the subject position is possible. This is in contrast to the English language, where extraction is possible from positions lower than the subject position. In fact, in Malay, any argument in a position lower than that of a subject has...

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Main Author:	Wong, Bee Eng
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM 2008
Online Access:	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1081/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1081/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1081/1/6-Wong_Bee_Eng_6.pdf

id	ukm-1081
recordtype	eprints
spelling	ukm-10812016-12-14T06:28:46Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1081/ Wh-questions in Malay: an explanation for the restriction of extraction to subject position with yang Wong, Bee Eng In wh-question formation in standard Malay, only extraction from the subject position is possible. This is in contrast to the English language, where extraction is possible from positions lower than the subject position. In fact, in Malay, any argument in a position lower than that of a subject has to be passivised to become a derived subject before extraction can occur. When an extraction occurs, from an embedded clause in question formation, the verb in the matrix clause has to be passivised as well. In this paper, an explanation is offered to account for this phenomenon in standard Malay. The framework adopted to explain the phenomenon is based on the principles and parameters approach (see Chomsky, 1981a, 1981b, 1986a, 1991), and the Minimalist Programme (See Chomsky, 1995). In particular, Rizzi’s theory of relativised minimality and its conjunctive notion of the Empty Category Principle (ECP) (1990) are referred to. Additionally, Shlonsky’s treatment of Palestinian Arabic relativisation (1992) is extended to Malay wh-question formation. The motivation for such an exercise is that this will have implications in terms of contribution to the body of literature in Malay linguistics, particularly from the generative perspective. Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM 2008 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1081/1/6-Wong_Bee_Eng_6.pdf Wong, Bee Eng (2008) Wh-questions in Malay: an explanation for the restriction of extraction to subject position with yang. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 14 . pp. 109-126. ISSN 0128-5157 http://www.ukm.my/~ppbl/3L/3LHome.html
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building	UKM Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
description	In wh-question formation in standard Malay, only extraction from the subject position is possible. This is in contrast to the English language, where extraction is possible from positions lower than the subject position. In fact, in Malay, any argument in a position lower than that of a subject has to be passivised to become a derived subject before extraction can occur. When an extraction occurs, from an embedded clause in question formation, the verb in the matrix clause has to be passivised as well. In this paper, an explanation is offered to account for this phenomenon in standard Malay. The framework adopted to explain the phenomenon is based on the principles and parameters approach (see Chomsky, 1981a, 1981b, 1986a, 1991), and the Minimalist Programme (See Chomsky, 1995). In particular, Rizzi’s theory of relativised minimality and its conjunctive notion of the Empty Category Principle (ECP) (1990) are referred to. Additionally, Shlonsky’s treatment of Palestinian Arabic relativisation (1992) is extended to Malay wh-question formation. The motivation for such an exercise is that this will have implications in terms of contribution to the body of literature in Malay linguistics, particularly from the generative perspective.
format	Article
author	Wong, Bee Eng
spellingShingle	Wong, Bee Eng Wh-questions in Malay: an explanation for the restriction of extraction to subject position with yang
author_facet	Wong, Bee Eng
author_sort	Wong, Bee Eng
title	Wh-questions in Malay: an explanation for the restriction of extraction to subject position with yang
title_short	Wh-questions in Malay: an explanation for the restriction of extraction to subject position with yang
title_full	Wh-questions in Malay: an explanation for the restriction of extraction to subject position with yang
title_fullStr	Wh-questions in Malay: an explanation for the restriction of extraction to subject position with yang
title_full_unstemmed	Wh-questions in Malay: an explanation for the restriction of extraction to subject position with yang
title_sort	wh-questions in malay: an explanation for the restriction of extraction to subject position with yang
publisher	Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM
publishDate	2008
url	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1081/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1081/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1081/1/6-Wong_Bee_Eng_6.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T19:32:18Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T19:32:18Z
_version_	1777405042607783936

Wh-questions in Malay: an explanation for the restriction of extraction to subject position with yang

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