Korean wh-Island Sentences: Individual Differences in Acceptability Judgments and Working Memory

Abstract

While it has been claimed that scrambling in East Asian languages is not subject to <italic>wh-</italic>island effects, studies into theoretical and experimental syntax have suggested that native Korean speakers vary in their acceptance of island constructions. This study addresses the individual differences in the acceptability judgments of Korean <italic>wh-</italic>island sentences in terms of working memory. In order to determine if the varied judgments of acceptability are attributable to differences in individuals’ working memory, an acceptability judgment test on various Korean <italic>wh-</italic>island constructions, and two memory span tests—a reading span test and a digit span test—were administered to 66 adult Korean native speakers. Pearson correlation analysis and a factor analysis were then performed on the participants’ acceptability judgment ratings and memory spans. The results revealed that the individuals’ acceptability judgments for <italic>wh-</italic>island sentences were not correlated with their reading span or digit span, although the group’s mean acceptability of the constructions gradually decreased as their expected processing complexity increased. These findings indicate that differences in individuals’ working memory are not the source of the observed acceptability variation.