On the existence of scrambling in the grammar of Japanese elementary EFL learners

Abstract

This paper examines the representation of English WH-phrase movement in the grammars of Japanese elementary and intermediate EFL learners. It argues that elementary level speakers allow movement of the kind *How manyi did Bill think ti students are smart? and that this is because they treat WH-movement as scrambling. By contrast, intermediate EFL learners do not allow such movement. Given that scrambling is optional, the elementary subjects should also allow WH-phrases in situ. However, this is not the case for some of the speakers. It is suggested that in these cases, informants have an obligatory stylistic WH-fronting rule. It was also found that while the intermediate proficiency EFL learners have acquired the movement property of English WH-phrases, they have not acquired their quantificational force. It is argued that this follows if the Fquant Absorption parameter proposed by Watanabe (2000) has not been reset from its Japanese value.