Theoretical Postscript

Abstract

This study has had two major theoretical concerns. The first has been to demonstrate that unbounded deletion as well as unbounded leftward movement is a possible rule of Constituent Question Formation. The second has been to demonstrate the viability and attractiveness of a marriage between transformational syntax and Montague semantics. These two concerns are, of course, entirely independent and one could perfectly well be persuaded of the correctness of one thesis while remaining entirely unconvinced by the other. The two concerns do, however, meet in an interesting way when we come to consider the question of supplying a universal language-independent characterization of the class of constituent questions.