Resumption in Standard Arabic revisited

Abstract

Objectives: This study investigates prevailing assumptions concerning resumption in Standard Arabic (SA) based on corpus and experimental data. The focus is on the actual use of gap and resumption strategies, sensitivity to islands, and the availability of reconstruction effects in wh-interrogatives and relative clauses.
 Methods: To address these issues, two South African (SA) corpora were examined, and both a grammaticality judgment task and a forced-choice task were conducted. The study sample consisted of 70 females and 55 males, ranging in age from 25 to 63 years (with a median age of 48). The task was emailed to the participants, who were instructed to complete it at their convenience and then return it via email to the researcher.
 Results: The results reveal that, first, both wh-interrogatives and relative clauses pattern similarly in these issues. Second, both gap and resumption strategies show sensitivity to strong islands. Third, resumption does not ameliorate constructions with strong islands. Fourth, reconstruction is available in the absence of strong islands.
 Conclusions: These results imply that both SA constructions are derived via the same movement.