Editing Wh-movement (section)

=== French ===
In French, multiple wh-questions have the following patterns:

'''a) In some French interrogative sentences, <u>wh-movement can be optional.</u>'''<ref name=":22">{{Cite journal|last=Rudin|first=Catherine|date=1988|title=On Multiple Questions and Multiple Wh Fronting|journal=Natural Language and Linguistic Theory|volume=6|issue=4|pages=445–501|doi=10.1007/BF00134489|s2cid=170344200}}</ref>

'''1.'''The closest wh-phrase to Spec-CP can be fronted (i.e., moved to Spec-CP from its covert base position in deep structure to its overt phonological form in surface-structure word order);

'''2.''' Alternatively, wh-phrases can remain in-situ''.''<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Bošković|first=Željko|date=Summer 2002|title=On Multiple Wh-Fronting|journal=Linguistic Inquiry|volume=33 |issue=3|pages=351–352|doi=10.1162/002438902760168536|s2cid=123577882}}</ref>

{{interlinear|number= ex. 1
|Qu' as- tu envoyé à qui?
|what have you sent to whom
|}}

{{interlinear|number= ex. 2
|Tu as envoyé quoi à qui?
|you have sent what to whom
|'What have you sent to who(m)?'}}

In the example sentences above, examples #1 and #2 are both grammatical and share the same meaning in French. Here, the choice of using one form of question over the other is optional; either sentence can be used to ask about the two particular DP constituents expressed by two wh-words.<ref name=":22" /> In French, the second sentence could also be used as an ''[[echo question]]''. ''<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mathieu|first=Eric|date=1999|title=WH in situ and the intervention effect.|journal=UCL Working Papers in Linguistics|volume=11|pages=441}}</ref>'' By contrast, in English, the grammatical structure of the second sentence is only acceptable as an ''echo question'': a question we ask to clarify the information we hear (or mishear) in someone's utterance, or that we use to express our shock or disbelief in reaction to a statement made by someone.<ref name=":12" /> For echo questions in English, it is typical for speakers to emphasize the wh-words prosodically by using rising intonation (e.g.,''You sent WHAT to WHO?''). These special instances of using multiple wh-questions in English are essentially "requests for the repetition of that utterance".<ref name=":12" />

'''b) In other French interrogative sentences, <u>wh-movement is required.</u>'''<ref name=":3" />

The option of using wh-in-situ in French sentences with multiple wh-questions is limited to specific conditions. There exists "a very limited distribution" of its usage.<ref name=":3" />

French wh-in-situ can occur only:

# in matrix clauses (aka main clauses)
# in matrix clauses that do not have an overt complementizer (i.e., complementizer is 'phonologically null')
# in 'short-distance' questions (i.e., wh-movement not blocked by a '''[[Extraction island|wh''-''island constraint]]''')

Wh-in-situ usage is not allowed in French when these criteria are not met.<ref name=":3" />