Decomposing adverbs and complementizers: A case study of Dutch 'hoe' (how)

This chapter examines the syntax of the Dutch wh-element hoe ‘how’ in two of its grammatical uses: its use as an interrogative manner ‘adverb’ (hoeQ(uestion)), and its use as a non-interrogative conjunctive element (referred to as hoeE(ventive)). It is proposed that the two instances of hoe can be reduced to a single linguistic expression, namely a nominal expression. HoeQ starts out as the complement of a silent adposition which heads a PP. This PP is moved to the clausal left periphery, specifically to the Spec-position of a dummy adpositional ‘conjunction’ that surfaces as of ‘if/whether’ o... Mehr ...