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The paper investigates the distribution of English if and whether as complementizers for polar qu... more The paper investigates the distribution of English if and whether as complementizers for polar questions in extensional contexts, and specifically the restriction of if-questions to negative contexts. I will criticize the recent analysis by and suggest that markedness of embedded if-questions in certain contexts arises through the conspiracy of several factors. I follow Bolinger (1979) in assuming that the question "if S" presupposes an (ir-)relevance asymmetry between the proposition denoted by S and its negation. I argue that this leads to competition between embedded if-questions and that-clauses in the relevant constellations, which in turn excludes the if-question as the less optimal variant.
The paper investigates the distribution of English if and whether as complementizers for polar qu... more The paper investigates the distribution of English if and whether as complementizers for polar questions in extensional contexts, and specifically the restriction of if-questions to negative contexts. I will criticize the recent analysis by and suggest that markedness of embedded if-questions in certain contexts arises through the conspiracy of several factors. I follow Bolinger (1979) in assuming that the question "if S" presupposes an (ir-)relevance asymmetry between the proposition denoted by S and its negation. I argue that this leads to competition between embedded if-questions and that-clauses in the relevant constellations, which in turn excludes the if-question as the less optimal variant.