Symmetric and Asymmetric Aspects in Superiority Effects

This paper is to argue that Superiority effects and non-Superiority effects in multiple wh-questions follow from the Minimality Condition that the u[F] is (bi-directionally) valued by the closest valued matching feature. This Minimality Condition covers both single Agree and multiple Agree, regardless of whether multiple Agree takes place simultaneously or not. This paper will show that Superiority effects take place only in case there are multiple goals (i.e., WHs) for a single unvalued probe u[F], while no Superiority effects arise in case there is only a single valued probe i[F] for multiple unvalued goals (i.e., WHs). In the former case there is a minimality among WHs while in the latter case there is no minimality among WHs, according to the Minimality Condition.