EMPTY CATEGORY PRINCIPLE AND MULTIPLE WH-QUESTIONS

This paper examines some concepts of proper governor proposed in the literature. It is argued that they are not useful for the purpose of describing the distribution of empty categories, and furthermore that even the latest version of the ECP in the framework of Chomsky 1987, which seems most promising for this purpose, cannot account for all the properties of multiple wh-questions. An alternative analysis is offered, in which it is claimed that an Absorption Principle must be utilized and that both this principle and the ECP will explain the properties of multiple wh-questions.