The position of subjects in Germanic and Romance questions

This chapter discusses a difference between Germanic and Romance languages in the syntax of subjects: While in Germanic wh-questions, full subjects can occur in the canonical, preverbal position (English: where has John gone?), in Romance, this is impossible, in either order (Italian: *dove è Gianni andato? / *dove Gianni è andato?). The same restriction holds in the Romance languages with overt subject pronouns. Verb – subject inversion is not allowed with full subjects but only with pronouns (French: *où est Jean allé? vs. où est-il allé?). Furthermore, full subjects cannot precede the verb when it does not raise across the subject; only pronouns can (French: *où Jean est allé? vs. où il est allé?). The difference between Germanic and Romance languages is attributed here to the interaction between verb movement and subject placement. In Germanic, the verb/auxiliary raises to C in wh-questions and makes subject movement to Spec-Subj necessary to satisfy the Subject Criterion. In Romance, the verb/auxiliary raises to lower positions, which makes the movement of full subject DPs impossible in wh-questions. Deficient pronouns are exempted from the Subject Criterion, which makes them possible in wh-questions in all languages.