Why is why unique : its syntactic and semantic properties Why is ‘Why’ Unique Its Syntactic and Semantic Properties considers the behaviour of this peculiar wh element across many different languages including Ewe Trevisan Italian Basque German Dutch Cantonese Mandarin English and Hebrew. In ten original chapters the authors explore various aspects of why questions such as the way why interacts with V2 constructions in Basque with a subject clitic in Trevisan or how its morpho syntactic make up determines its merge position in Ewe to mention but a few. Furthermore a clear cut distinction is established between high and low reason adverbials which are subsequently examined in why stripping environments in Dutch. Beyond why proper the book explores a special class of wh expressions in some in situ languages which give rise to unexpected why construals with a touch of whining force. The objective is to explain the unusual syntactic position of these wh expressions as well as their association with peculiar pragmatics. The questions are addressed for Cantonese: are what initial sentences genuine questions To what extent are Cantonese what initial sentences similar to how initial sentences in Mandarin Beside these what as why questions a special class of rhetorical questions the doubly marked interrogatives in Hebrew come under scrutiny. Why is ‘why’ unique also concerns the interface with prosody and several experimental studies investigate precisely this aspect Frontmatter Contents Introduction Part 1: Why in a Gbe language Reason questions as a complementizer domain phenomenon: Evidence from Ewe Part 2: Towards a cartography of high and low reason adverbials On ‘why’ in situ in Northern Italian dialects: Evidence from Trevisan Why questions break the residual V2 restriction (in Basque and beyond) Is German warum so special after all Why in Dutch On why stripping and high and low adverbials Part 3: Wh in Situ languages: Whys hows and whats On applicative Why questions in Chinese What as Why sentences in Cantonese Part 4: Some syntactic aspects of how come How come questions and diary English Part 5: A special class of why rhetorical questions: Semantics and pragmatics Why rhetorical questions Part 6: Why and the syntax prosody interface On some special properties of why in syntax and prosody Index of subjects