从生成语法看whether和if的区别

Differences between ‘Whether’ and ‘If’ in Terms of Generative Grammar

从生成语法的角度探讨了 whether和 if的句法功能。指出 whether和 if分属不同的语法范畴。Whether是疑问副词,在嵌套疑问句中充当疑问标志语,而 if则是显性疑问标句词,引导嵌套疑问小句。一些在传统语法看来是属于whether和if的用法差异,实际上是if和隐性疑问标句词φ之间的功能差异。

This article discusses different functions of ‘whether’ and ‘if’ in terms of generative grammar, claiming that ‘whether’ and ‘if’ belong to different syntactic categories. ‘Whether’ is an interrogative adverb, serving as an interrogative specifier in an embedded clause while ‘if’ is an overt interrogative complementizer, introducing an embedded interrogative clause. Some usage differences between ‘whether’ and ‘if’ in terms of traditional grammar are in fact the differences between ‘if’ and the covert interrogative complementizer in syntactic functions.