Multiple wh-fronting feeds multiple sluicing: The case of Basque

This paper analyses multiple sluicing in Basque. I first describe three strategies for multiple wh-questions available in this language: multiple wh-fronting, the mixed strategy and single wh-fronting. By showing the effects of the Superiority Condition and the Clausemate Condition exhibited throughout those strategies, I argue that the only plausible question-forming mechanism to feed multiple sluicing in Basque is multiple wh-fronting. Deletion of syntactic structure, therefore, narrows down the number of strategies that can be otherwise employed for multiple wh-questions in Basque. This has significant theoretical implications: ellipsis is more constrained than overt syntax when it comes to certain phenomena.