wh-movement
[/ˈdʌbəljuː eɪtʃ ˈmuːvmənt/]
nounpl: wh-movements
movimento-wh
1. A syntactic phenomenon in linguistics where question words (wh-words) move from their base position to the beginning of a clause, typically to the specifier of the complementizer phrase in generative grammar
In the sentence 'What did you eat?', wh-movement moves 'what' from the object position to the front of the sentence.
Na sentença 'O que você comeu?', o movimento-wh move 'o que' da posição de objeto para o início da sentença.
2. A transformation rule in transformational grammar that derives surface structures from deep structures by moving interrogative elements to sentence-initial position
Wh-movement is one of the core mechanisms in Chomskyan syntactic theory.
O movimento-wh é um dos mecanismos principais da teoria sintática de Chomsky.
This is a highly specialized linguistic term used primarily in academic settings, particularly in departments of linguistics and cognitive science. The term originates from Noam Chomsky's transformational grammar theory and is fundamental to modern generative syntax. While the English term 'wh-movement' is widely recognized internationally, Portuguese-speaking linguists typically use 'movimento-wh' when writing in Portuguese, though the English term is often retained in technical discussions due to its widespread adoption in the global linguistic community.
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