Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

On how how is used instead of that

  • Published:
Natural Language & Linguistic Theory Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article examines a construction in English which has hitherto escaped attention in the linguistic literature, whereby a declarative embedded clause is introduced by how rather than that. We investigate the properties of this construction, revealing that it consists of a definite DP, rather than a simple embedded CP.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Caponigro, Ivano, and Maria Polinsky. 2008. Relatively speaking (in Circassian). In Proceedings of the 27th west coast conference on formal linguistics, eds. Natasha Abner and Bishop Jason, 81–89. Cascadilla Proceedings Project: Somerville.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frege, Gottlob. 1892. Uber Sinn und Bedeutung. Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Philosophische Kritik 100: 25–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grimshaw, Jane. 1979. Complement selection and the lexicon. Linguistic Inquiry 10: 279–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huddleston, Rodney, and Geoffrey K. Pullum. 2002. The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kayne, Richard S. 2008. Why isn’t this a complementizer? New York University, manuscript.

  • Legate, Julie Anne. 2002. The hows of wh-scope marking in Warlpiri. Paper presented at the North East Linguistics Society 33. MIT, Cambridge, November 8, 2002.

  • Legate, Julie Anne. 2010. Warlpiri wh-scope marking. Syntax (to appear).

  • Levin, Beth. 1993. English verb classes and alternations: a preliminary investigation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pesetsky, David. 1991. Zero syntax: vol. 2: infinitives. MIT, manuscript.

  • Ross, Haj. 1984. Inner islands. In Proceedings of the tenth annual meeting of the berkeley linguistics society, eds. Claudia Brugman, Monica Macauley, et al., 258–265. Berkeley: Berkeley Linguistics Society, University of California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, Bertrand. 1905. On denoting. Mind 14: 479–493.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strawson, P.F. 1950. On referring. Mind 59: 320–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsai, Wei-Tien Dylan. 1999. The hows of why and the whys of how. In UCI Working Papers in Linguistics 5, eds. Francesca Del Gobbo and Hidehito Hoshi, 155–184.

  • Tsai, Wei-Tien Dylan, and Melody Yayin Chang. 2010. Two types of Wh-adverbials: a typological study of how and why in Tsou. The Linguistic Variation Yearbook.

  • van Riemsdijk, Henk. 2005. Free relatives: a syntactic case study. In The Blackwell Companion to Syntax, eds. Martin Everaert and Henk van Riemsdijk, Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warlpiri Dictionary Project. 1993. Warlpiri Dictionary. Ongoing work with numerous contributers. Machine-readable data files, deposited at ASEDA, AIATSIS.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

    Julie Anne Legate

Authors
  1. Julie Anne Legate
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julie Anne Legate.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Legate, J.A. On how how is used instead of that . Nat Lang Linguist Theory 28, 121–134 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-010-9088-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-010-9088-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation