On the Distribution of -kolwiek ‘ever’ in Polish Free Relatives

Abstract

This paper analyzes the distribution of the particle -kolwiek 'ever' in Polish free relatives. The empirical observation it builds on concerns the obligatory presence of -kolwiek in complex free relatives. I argue against accounts that reduce this requirement to purely semantic considerations and propose a syntactic account instead. This account rests on independently motivated claims about the structure of Polish noun phrases and the positive setting of the DP Parameter for Polish. The crucial innovation lies in the structure proposed for wh-phrases in free relatives; I argue that such wh-phrases have a more complex internal structure than wh-phrases in questions, in that they require the topmost head inside the nominal projection, the Q head, to be filled by an overt element in order to support the maximality operator associated with the interpretation of free relatives.