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In their discussion of what they mention that as a pronoun it’s non-personal and as a determinative it’s “neutral with respect to the personal vs non-personal distinction.” I’d say that here too this acts the same

No it does not. Compare:

1. This guy is buying groceries.
2. This is the guy buying groceries.
3. What guy is buying groceries?
4. * What is buying groceries?

(1) and (2) are both correct. This is usually non-personal when used without a following noun, since we would typically use he, she, or they instead. But it can be used to refer to a person, as (2) shows.

On the other hand, while (3) is correct, (4) is not. When what is used on its own, it is always non-personal, making (4) incorrect (with the relevant interpretation). So (4) can't be seen as a fused determiner-head, since what has a different meaning here than it does as a determiner.

Edit: There is a further complication here, as Huddleston & Pullum note on p. 904. What can occur as a predicative complement with the ascriptive be, as in Araucaria's "If Mitch is the ringleader, what is Alphabet?" example. Here the expected answer is not a referential noun phrase denoting a person, so this does not violate the general rule.

In their discussion of what they mention that as a pronoun it’s non-personal and as a determinative it’s “neutral with respect to the personal vs non-personal distinction.” I’d say that here too this acts the same

No it does not. Compare:

1. This guy appears to be in charge.
2. This appears to be the guy in charge.
3. What guy appears to be in charge?
4. * What appears to be the guy in charge?

(1) and (2) are both correct. This is usually non-personal when used without a following noun, since we would typically use he, she, or they instead. But it can be used to refer to a person, as (2) shows.

On the other hand, while (3) is correct, (4) is not. When what is used on its own, it is always non-personal, making (4) incorrect (with the relevant interpretation). So (4) can't be seen as a fused determiner-head, since what has a different meaning here than it does as a determiner.

Edit: There is a further complication here, as Huddleston & Pullum note on p. 904. What can occur as a predicative complement with the ascriptive be, as in Araucaria's "If Mitch is the ringleader, what is Alphabet?" example. Here the expected answer is not a referential noun phrase denoting a person, so this does not violate the general rule.

In their discussion of what they mention that as a pronoun it’s non-personal and as a determinative it’s “neutral with respect to the personal vs non-personal distinction.” I’d say that here too this acts the same

No it does not. Compare:

1. This is the guy buying groceries.
2. This guy is buying groceries.
3. What guy is buying groceries?
4. * What is buying groceries?

(1) and (2) are both correct. This is usually non-personal when used without a following noun, since we would typically use he, she, or they instead. But it can be used to refer to a person, as (1) shows.

On the other hand, while (3) is correct, (4) is not. When what is used on its own, it is always non-personal; (4) makes no sense unless grocery shopping is being done by robots. So (4) can't be seen as a fused determiner-head, since what has a different meaning here than it does as a determiner.

Edit: There is a further complication here, as Huddleston & Pullum note on p. 904. What can occur as a predicative complement with the ascriptive be, as in Araucaria's "If Mitch is the ringleader, what is Alphabet?" example. Here the expected answer is not a referential noun phrase denoting a specific person, so this does not violate the general rule.

In their discussion of what they mention that as a pronoun it’s non-personal and as a determinative it’s “neutral with respect to the personal vs non-personal distinction.” I’d say that here too this acts the same

No it does not. Compare:

1. This guy is buying groceries.
2. This is the guy buying groceries.
3. What guy is buying groceries?
4. * What is buying groceries?

(1) and (2) are both correct. This is usually non-personal when used without a following noun, since we would typically use he, she, or they instead. But it can be used to refer to a person, as (2) shows.

On the other hand, while (3) is correct, (4) is not. When what is used on its own, it is always non-personal, making (4) incorrect (with the relevant interpretation). So (4) can't be seen as a fused determiner-head, since what has a different meaning here than it does as a determiner.

Edit: There is a further complication here, as Huddleston & Pullum note on p. 904. What can occur as a predicative complement with the ascriptive be, as in Araucaria's "If Mitch is the ringleader, what is Alphabet?" example. Here the expected answer is not a referential noun phrase denoting a person, so this does not violate the general rule.

In their discussion of what they mention that as a pronoun it’s non-personal and as a determinative it’s “neutral with respect to the personal vs non-personal distinction.” I’d say that here too this acts the same

No it does not. Compare:

1. This is the guy buying groceries.
2. This guy is buying groceries.
3. What guy is buying groceries?
4. * What is buying groceries?

(1) and (2) are both correct. This is usually non-personal when used without a following noun, since we would typically use he, she, or they instead. But it can be used to refer to a person, as (1) shows.

On the other hand, while (3) is correct, (4) is not. When what is used on its own, it is always non-personal; (4) makes no sense unless grocery shopping is being done by robots. So (4) can't be seen as a fused determiner-head, since what has a different meaning here than it does as a determiner.

In their discussion of what they mention that as a pronoun it’s non-personal and as a determinative it’s “neutral with respect to the personal vs non-personal distinction.” I’d say that here too this acts the same

No it does not. Compare:

1. This is the guy buying groceries.
2. This guy is buying groceries.
3. What guy is buying groceries?
4. * What is buying groceries?

(1) and (2) are both correct. This is usually non-personal when used without a following noun, since we would typically use he, she, or they instead. But it can be used to refer to a person, as (1) shows.

On the other hand, while (3) is correct, (4) is not. When what is used on its own, it is always non-personal; (4) makes no sense unless grocery shopping is being done by robots. So (4) can't be seen as a fused determiner-head, since what has a different meaning here than it does as a determiner.

Edit: There is a further complication here, as Huddleston & Pullum note on p. 904. What can occur as a predicative complement with the ascriptive be, as in Araucaria's "If Mitch is the ringleader, what is Alphabet?" example. Here the expected answer is not a referential noun phrase denoting a specific person, so this does not violate the general rule.