Processing WH-questions

Most linguistic analyses treat different kinds of interrogatives as different kinds of constructions. Here again, this demonstration shows that different patterns in interrogatives can be explained as a side-effect of language processing. More specifically, WH-interrogatives require finite verb to follow the topic/focus of the question. DO-support is called only when no auxiliary can be recruited.

Parsing "who saw the woman"

Applying
CONSTRUCTION SET (24)
in direction ←

Found a solution

initial structure
application process
applied constructions
resulting structure

Meaning:

((inquire-about-human-referent ?ref-1 ?context-4) (discourse-topic ?ref-1) (frame ?ev-5 [act]) (actor ?ev-5 ?ref-1) (undergoer ?ev-5 ?entity-2) (determined ?entity-2 ?set-5) (woman ?set-5 ?context-5) (deictic-perspective ?ev-5 ?ref-1) (inquire-about ?ev-5 ?ref-1) (inquire-about-human-referent ?ref-1 ?context-4))

Parsing "who did the man see"

Applying
CONSTRUCTION SET (24)
in direction ←

Found a solution

initial structure
application process
applied constructions
resulting structure

Meaning:

((inquire-about-human-referent ?seen-1 ?context-4) (discourse-topic ?seen-1) (frame ?ev-5 [act]) (actor ?ev-5 ?seer-1) (undergoer ?ev-5 ?seen-1) (determined ?seer-1 ?set-5) (man ?set-5 ?context-5) (see ?ev-5) (seer ?ev-5 ?seer-1) (seen ?ev-5 ?seen-1) (deictic-perspective ?ev-5 ?seer-1) (inquire-about ?ev-5 ?seen-1) (inquire-about-human-referent ?seen-1 ?context-4))

Producing 

((inquire-about ev-1 a-person) (discourse-topic a-person) (deictic-perspective ev-1 a-person) (inquire-about-human-referent a-person context) (see ev-1) (seer ev-1 a-person) (seen ev-1 the-man) (determined the-man men) (man men context) (frame ev-1 [act]) (actor ev-1 a-person) (undergoer ev-1 the-man))

Applying
CONSTRUCTION SET (24)
in direction →

Found a solution

initial structure
application process
applied constructions
resulting structure

Utterance: "who saw the man"

Producing 

((inquire-about ev-1 a-person) (discourse-topic a-person) (deictic-perspective ev-1 the-man) (inquire-about-human-referent a-person context) (see ev-1) (seer ev-1 the-man) (seen ev-1 a-person) (determined the-man men) (man men context) (frame ev-1 [act]) (actor ev-1 the-man) (undergoer ev-1 a-person))

Applying
CONSTRUCTION SET (24)
in direction →

Found a solution

initial structure
application process
applied constructions
resulting structure

Utterance: "who did the man see"