Experimentally testing the interpretation of multiple sluicing and multiple questions in Hungarian

Abstract

Abstract Hungarian multiple sluicing has been claimed to only be allowed in contexts that set up a pair-list, but not a single-pair reading. This has been taken as evidence that multiple sluicing is derived from multiple wh-fronting questions, which only license pair-list, but not single-pair answers. Providing novel experimental evidence, we show that all three relevant constructions in Hungarian – multiple sluicing, single wh-fronting questions, and multiple wh-fronting questions – in fact pattern alike in their answerhood conditions: both pair-list and single-pair readings are allowed, with a modest preference for single-pair readings. Based on our results, we thus argue that answerhood conditions are not sufficient to determine the source of multiple sluicing.