Semantic Selection of Interrogatives in Turkish Nominalized Clauses

Abstract

This study investigates patterns of finite nominalized clauses in Turkish, focusing on s(emantic)-selection of interrogative clauses. Finite nominalized clauses in Turkish require verbal disjunction to be s-selected as polar-interrogatives. I argue that this pattern is due to a smaller size of nominalization, which represents TP and lacks the CP domain. I first demonstrate that verbal disjunction is a morphological reflex of a valued [Q]-feature in the v head, and further that this strategy has a Last Resort nature, as it is restricted to embedded nominalized contexts and is subject to syntactic locality. This claim, in turn, extends to scope of in-situ wh-elements that interacts with s-selection and types of interrogative operators.