volume: 15 (2022)
pages: 40–49
author: Marcel den Dikken
title: ‘They are what define us’, ‘You are what make us great’: Plural-agreeing what in free relatives serving as predicates
DOI: http://doi.org/10.57133/evenyrbk.22di
keywords: free relative, headless relative, what, plural agreement, silent noun, licensing
abstract: This paper explores the syntax of number agreement in sentences of the type They are what define us, in which a free relative serves as the predicate of a plural subject and the what introducing the relative controls plural agreement with the finite verb of the relative clause (something that what cannot do elsewhere in English). The key to the explanation for the number agreement facts is the postulation of a plural silent noun ‘THINGS’ as the head of the relative clause. The fact that this silent noun is subject to licensing requirements accommodates the distributional restrictions imposed on the construction. The hypothesis that plural-agreeing what is the exponent of the combination of the silent noun and the operator in the relative clause accounts for the fact that plural-agreeing what relatives exist in English but not in closely related Dutch.
PDF: full text
raw text: 22di-raw
refs: ⟨BibTeX⟩
⟨RIS⟩
⟨txt⟩