Wh-island

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An island (phrase from which a wh-word cannot be extracted) created by an embedded sentence that is a dependent clause introduced by a wh-word.

    "Extraction of a non-argument XP from a wh-island typically gives rise to strong deviance […]"

Example

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"Extraction of a non-argument XP from a wh-island typically gives rise to strong deviance […]"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.