An Unnoticed Reading for WH-Questions: Elided Answers and Weak Islands

1 The Scope of Quantified Elided Answers

Consider the following question-answer pair:

(1)

1. a. Which books must Jack read?

2. b. The French or the Russian novels.

(1b) can be understood in two ways:

(2)

1. a. Jack must read the French novels or Jack must read the Russian novels (I don't know which).

2. b. Jack has the following obligation: reading the French novels or the Russian novels (it is up to him which).

This type of ambiguity is quite systematic: the phrase the French or the Russian novels, if used as an answer to the questions in (3)–(7), can be interpreted either as taking maximal scope (high reading, as in (2a)) or as taking scope in the position from which the corresponding wh-phrase has been extracted (low reading, as in (2b)). The reader can check that the same is true for other quantified elided answers, such as More than two novels by Balzac.

(3) Which books did Jack demand that we read? The French or the Russian novels.

High reading: Jack demanded that we read the French novels, or he demanded that we read the Russian novels.

Low reading: Jack demanded that we either read the French novels or the Russian novels.¹

(4) Which books is Jack certain that Mary read? The French or the Russian novels.

High reading: Jack is certain that Mary read the French novels, or he is certain that Mary read the Russian novels.

Low reading: Jack is certain that Mary either read the French novels or the Russian novels.

(5) Which books does Jack expect Mary to read? The French or the Russian novels.

High reading: Jack expects Mary to read the French novels, or he expects her to read the Russian novels.

Low reading: Jack expects Mary to either read the French novels or the Russian novels.

(6) Which books is it sufficient to read? The French or the Russian novels.

High reading: It is sufficient to read the French novels, or it is sufficient to read the Russian novels.

Low reading: It is sufficient to either read the French novels or the Russian novels.

(7) Which books is Jack allowed to read? The French or the Russian novels.

High reading: Jack is allowed to read the French novels, or he is allowed to read the Russian novels (implicature: Jack is not both allowed to read the French novels and allowed to read the Russian novels).

Low reading: Jack is allowed to read the French novels or the Russian novels (free choice interpretation: Jack is allowed to read the French novels and he is allowed to read the Russian novels).²

Yet the low reading is not always available, as (8)–(13) illustrate (I am again considering the possible readings of the elided answer The French or the Russian novels).

(8) Which books didn't Jack read?

Unavailable: Jack didn't read the French novels or the Russian novels (understood as 'Jack read neither the French novels nor the Russian novels').

(9) Which books does Sue know that Jack read?

Unavailable: Sue knows that Jack either read the French novels or the Russian novels.

(10) Which books does Sue know that Jack must read?

Unavailable: Sue knows that Jack must either read the French novels or the Russian novels.

(11) Which books did Sue discover that Jack read?

Unavailable: Sue discovered that Jack either read the French novels or the Russian novels.

(12) (?)Which books did Sue ask whether Jack read?

Unavailable: Sue asked whether Jack either read the French novels or the Russian novels.

(13) (?)Which books does Sue wonder why Jack read?

Unavailable: Sue wondered why Jack either read the French novels or the Russian novels.

The low reading is blocked when the following elements intervene between the surface position of the wh-phrase and its base position: negation, factive verbs, interrogative embedding verbs. This typology sounds familiar: these are the elements that induce weak islands—in other words, those that block the extraction of some, but not all, interrogative phrases (how-phrases, degree operators, adjuncts in general; see...