Wh-movement (or
wh-fronting or
wh-extraction or
long-distance dependency) is a mechanism of syntax that helps express a question (or form a relative clause). Sentences or clauses containing a
wh-word (
interrogative word) show a special word order that has the
wh-word (or phrase containing the
wh-word) appearing at the front of the sentence or clause, e.g.
Who do you think about?, instead of in a more canonical position further to the right, e.g.
I think about you. The term
wh-movement is used because most English interrogative words start with
wh-, for example,
who(m),
whose,
what,
which, etc. Wh-movement often results in a
discontinuity, and in this regard, it is one of (at least) four widely acknowledged discontinuity types, the other three being
topicalization,
scrambling, and
extraposition. Wh-movement is found in many languages around the world, and of these various discontinuity types, wh-movement has been studied the most.