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Question Embedded Phrase (QembP)

Ó˦ In main clauses Focus and Wh-elements cannot co-occur (see FocusP, and IntP for items like ±è±ð°ù³¦³óé 'why'). In Embedded questions, the co-occurence is ''at least marginally possible in the order Focus – Wh'' (Rizzi & Bocci forthcoming). Evidence from Italian in (1):
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(1) ÌýÌý a.ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý ?Mi domando A GIANNI che cosa abbiano detto, non a Piero
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý ‘I wonder TO GIANNI what they said, not to Piero’
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ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý b.ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý ÌýÌý * Mi domando che cosa A GIANNI abbiano detto, non a Piero’
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý ‘I wonder what TOP GIANNI they said, not to Piero’

(Italian, Rizzi & Bocci, 2016 – 27)

Ó˦ Italian allows for the presence of a position dedicated to wh-elements only in embedded clauses,the position is lower than theÌýcontrastive Focus position. Lower, but not adjacent, as some adverbials can be interpolated, as illustrated in (2):

(2)ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý ? Mi domando A GIANNI, ieri, che cosa abbiano detto, non a Piero
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý ‘I wonder TO GIANNI, yesterday, what they said, not to Piero’

(Italian, Rizzi & Bocci, 2016 – 27)

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Ó˦ Qemb seems one of the root/non-root asymmetries involving the left periphery of the clause (Haegeman 2012).

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Main ReferencesÌý: Haegeman (2012), Rizzi L. & Bocci G. (2016)

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