ABSTRACT
A third type of questions is the echo wh-phrase type. This type seeks neither information nor a yes/no answer but simply echoes a phrase/constituent in a previous statement or question: You invited who(m)? She went where? They bought what? In such questions the information is already known, and the point of using an in-situ wh-word has more to do with expressing an emotion (for instance, how surprised or horrifi ed one is). It may be useful here to compare such questions with the information-seeking questions presented earlier. Information-seeking questions, unlike echo wh-questions, involve some change in the unmarked surface word order which results not only in the displacement of the wh-phrase but also, especially in direct questions, of the auxiliary verb, e.g. You will buy what? as opposed to What will you buy?, He is meeting who at the party? as opposed to Who is he meeting at the party?, and so on.
