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

Abstract

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’ or remains silent. HoeE is base-generated in [Spec, CP] and assigns substantive contents (‘manner/way’) to the clause. This nominal clause-marker moves to the specifier position of an adpositional conjunction within the clausal left periphery. Thus, although the base positions of the nominal expressions hoeQ and hoeE are configurationally asymmetric, their derived positions are configurationally symmetric.