Multiple wh-fronting

It is well known that Standard Modern Greek does not allow multiple wh-fronting, as shown in (1b):

  1. a. Pjos eðose ti se pjon?                                                                                                             (SMG)
         who gave.3SG what to whom
        “Who gave what to whom?”
    b. *Pjos ti (se pjon) eðose?                                                                                                        (SMG)
          who what to whom gave.3SG

Interestingly, however, Romeyka, and Pontic Greek in general allow multiple wh-fronting:

  1. a. O Mehmetis tinan doγna eðotše?                                                                                      (ROf)
         the.NOM Mehmet.NOM whom what gave.3SG
         “Mehmet gave what/which one to whom?
    b. Tinan pion ospit eðiksises?                                                                                  (Pontic Greek)
         whom which house showed.2SG
         “Which house did you show to whom?”
    c. *Pion ospit eðiksises tinan?                                                                                  (Pontic Greek)
          which house showed.2SG whom

Crucially, Romeyka seems to exhibit Superiority effects (3a–b), which show that multiple wh-fronting is strictly order-preserving, as in Bulgarian (3c–d), albeit not otherwise identical (see Bošković 1997, Michelioudakis & Sitaridou 2012):

  1. a. Pios tinan aγapai?                                                                                                                     (ROf)
         who whom love.3SG
         “Who loves whom?”
    b. *Tinan pios aγapai?                                                                                                                  (ROf)
         whom who love.3SG
    c. Koj kogo obia?                                                                                                                  (Bulgarian)
         who whom love.3SG
         “Who loves whom?”
    d. *Kogo koj obia?                                                                                                                (Bulgarian)
         whom who love.3SG

 

References in which this material appears:

Michelioudakis, D. & I. Sitaridou. (to appear). ‘Recasting the multiple-wh typology: Evidence from Pontic Greek varieties’. Glossa.
Michelioudakis, D. & I. Sitaridou. (2013). ‘Multiple wh-fronting in Romeyka’. In A. Ralli, B. Joseph & M. Janse (eds.), Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference of Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory (MGDLT5), Ghent, 20-22 September 2012. pp. 353-378.
Michelioudakis, D. & I. Sitaridou. (2012). ‘Syntactic microvariation: Dative Constructions in Greek’. InR. Etxepare & B. Fernández (eds.), Datives in variation: a micro-comparative perspective. Oxford: OUP. pp. 212-255.