On Wh -Fronting in Russian

Abstract

this paper I argued that no wh-movement in the traditional sense takes place in Russian. The superficial appearance of such movement is due to the fact that all wh-phrases are fronted in Russian for reasons of checking their focus feature. This conclusion is reached on the basis of an economy-driven approach to Superiority adopted in the present work. I also suggested that the structural configuration in which wh-phrases in Russian end up in relation to the interrogative Q is reminiscent of the one found with regard to the anaphors and their antecedents, under the LF anaphor movement hypothesis.