Analyzing Across-the-Board Wh-movement in Sanandaji Kurdish:A Parallel Merge Approach

The present study investigates across the board wh-movement in Sanandaji Kurdish language, based on parallel merge approach of Citko (2005) in multidominant structure. The evidence in the data indicates that, wh-arguments in the object position of the transitive verb (inside vp), which contain essential information, do not move to the scope position of wh-phrase and behave in-situ and remain in their base generated position, in this case we can say that, ATB-movement cannot affect wh-questions in the object position. Also, the data showed that, wh-arguments can be preposed to the left periphery of the structure, if they are shared between two conjuncts. On the other hand, data containing conjuncts with a single pair reading does not impair the absolute assumption of wh-in-situ in Sanandaji Kurdish and in this sense, it cannot be claimed that the wh-questions exhibit mixed behavior. Likewise, in Sanandaji Kurdish, the ATB-movement of the wh – adjuncts to the left periphery is the result of topicalization and focusing, which often occupies the specifier position within a Focus phrase. In addition, the data showed that the movement of the wh-adjuncts, in the coordinate configuration in Sanandaji Kurdish is optional and is conducted in the logical form (LF) and receives information focus.