A slightly revised version of this paper will paper in Sign Language & Linguistics WH-duplication in Italian Sign Language (LIS) Chiara Branchini a , Anna Cardinaletti a , Carlo Cecchetto b , Caterina Donati c , and Carlo Geraci d a Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, b Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, c Sapienza Università di Roma, d Institut Jean-Nicod CNRS Paris This paper focuses on those WH-questions in Italian Sign Language (LIS) featuring two lexically identical WH-signs. We show that WH 1 (the first WH in liner order) is shorter than WH 2 (the second WH in liner order). However, there is evidence that this different duration is due to a phrase-final lengthening, as WH 2 occupies a sentence-final position. We therefore conclude that the two WH- signs are identical full copies: one sitting in Spec,CP on the right in LIS and the other one sitting in Spec,FocP on the left. We show that this construction yields a (focused) cleft question interpretation and we speculate that both copies are phonologically realized because the WH-signs in Spec,CP and Spec,FocP are the heads of two distinct chains. Finally, we distinguish identical WH-duplication from improper WH-duplication, namely cases where one of the two WH-elements is what we call Q ARTICHOKE , an underspecified interrogative sign only surfacing in wh-questions. Keywords: sign language, Italian Sign Language (LIS), WH-questions, copy theory of traces, doubling, cleft questions