1.2.3.5. Position of wh-signs
In LSC, wh-signs canonically appear at the end of the sentence.
wh
a) cookie steal who
‘Who stole the cookie?’
wh
b) john steal yesterday what
‘What did John steal yesterday?’
(examples a-b based on Alba, 2016: 94)
Wh-expressions in LSC can also appear in their base position, where an non wh-expression would occur.
wh
a) who cookie steal
‘Who stole the cookie?’
wh
b) john what steal
‘What did John steal?’
(examples a-b based on Alba, 2016: 98)
When the wh-sign does not occupy the final position of the clause, non-manual marking must obligatorily spread from that point to the end of the clause. In the case of wh-objects occurring in their base position—they normally appear between the subject and the verb—, the spreading of the non-manual marking to the left of the wh-sign is optional.
( ) wh
john what steal
‘What did John steal?’
(based on Alba, 2016: 98)
Despite the general preference for LSC signers to place the wh-sign at the end of the clause, wh-expressions can also sometimes appear in initial position. This can be observed in the following sentence.
wh
what john steal
‘What did John steal?’
(based on Alba, 2016: 99)
This option is quite infrequent, but note that non-manual marking spreading is, then, compulsory until the end of the sentence.
For complex wh-expressions in LSC, such as which boy or which book, they follow the same distribution patterns as simple wh-expressions. Their canonical location is also the end of the sentence.
wh
a) cookie steal boy who
‘Which boy stole the cookie?’
wh
b) john steal book which
‘Which book did John steal?’
(examples a-b based on Alba, 2016: 104)
When the whole complex wh-expression is in final position, the restrictor can remain unaffected by the non-manual marking, since the only requirement is that the wh-sign is accompanied by the non-manual marking.
wh
cookie steal boy who
‘Which boy stole the cookie?’
(based on Alba, 2016: 104)
Complex wh-expressions may also appear in their base position, although this is not the preferred option. In this case, the spreading of the non-manual marking from the wh-expression to the end of the sentence is compulsory.
wh
john book which steal
‘Which book did John steal?’
(based on Alba, 2016: 104)