The study of WH-questions in ASL has generated a fair amount of attention. This is because of the diversity of question types available, leading to debate regarding the proper analysis of questions in general. The issue has importance for syntactic theory, because at the heart is a dispute as to the possible range of phrase structures available across languages. Since Chomsky (1986), it has generally been assumed that WH-movement brings WH-phrases to the specifier of CP ([Spec, CP]). Cross-linguistic generalizations about WH-movement to [Spec, CP] have been challenged by analyses of WH-questions in ASL, and the issue is not settled. Whatever its outcome, it is highly relevant for syntactic theories attempting to account for universal properties of language.

A further reason for interest in sign language WH-questions comes from the increasing attention being paid to the role of intonation in grammatical structure. Although intonation has been considered from the phonological side for some time, recently, more and more generative linguists have recognized that intonational properties have relevance to syntactic structure, whether they adopt an analysis which represents aspects of intonation in the syntax or not (e.g. Zec and Inkelas 1990, Truckenbrodt 1999, Cheng and Rooryck 2000, Bošković 2001, 2002). Recall from Chapter 15 that sign language non-manuals can be fruitfully analyzed as intonation on the phonological side. Some sign language syntacticians are beginning to take note of this analysis as well.