Long-distance Wh-movement Research Articles

On the distribution of English long-distance Wh-movement in complex syntactic conditions by Korean Learners

This article investigates the correlation between avoidance strategies and the activation of English long-distance (LD) wh-movement among L2 Korean learners. To expand the pool of resources that have already been produced and accepted on this subject, this experimental task was carried out in several complicated syntactic conditions such as definiteness and grammatical position, weight of the wh-phrase, and negative barrier. The data were elicited from 30 Korean learners who were divided into high and low-proficiency groups based on their TOEIC scores, with the aim of providing more independent results. This article suggests that L2 learners, in the process of the English LD wh-movement, are ineluctably bound to use avoidance strategies due to the difficulties related to derivational complexity and associated processing pressures.

Syntactic and prosodic effects of long-distance wh-movement in Italian

Syntactic and prosodic effects of long-distance wh-movement in Italian

Long-distance extraction attraction: A production-based account of an unexpected cross-linguistic structure

The focus of this paper is a grammatically unexpected long-distance (LD) extraction structure in which the extracted element morphologically articulates with the verb of the clause where it is pronounced rather than with the verb of the extraction clause. The structure manifests itself differently cross-linguistically, depending on the language’s morphosyntax. I suggest that this grammatical possibility evolved in response to the sentence planning challenge posed by LD wh-movement. Specifically, LD movement structures conflict with the incremental clause-by-clause planning production process; the fronted element relates to a clause whose internal structure isn’t planned at the outset. The unexpected structure is seen as a consequence of production pressures playing a role in shaping grammars.

Alternatives to Long-distance Wh-movement in L2 English by Korean Learners

This article investigated Korean EFL learners’ interlanguage with regard to the production of complex wh-questions employing long-distance wh-movement. It asked what alternative structures Korean learners of English would produce in their attempts to make complex wh-questions and whether and how alternative structures would change as learners

Scope-marking strategies in the acquisition of long-distance wh-movement in L2 English by adult Mongolian speakers

Scope-marking strategies in the acquisition of long-distance wh-movement in L2 English by adult Mongolian speakers

An fMRI study on the processing of long-distance wh-movement in a second language

Recent behavioural evidence from second language (L2) learners has suggested native-like processing of syntactic structures, such as long-distance wh-dependencies in L2. The underlying processes are still largely debated, while the available neuroimaging evidence has been restricted to native (L1) processing. Here we test highly proficient L2 learners of English in an fMRI experiment incorporating a sentence reading task with long-distance wh-dependencies, including abstract syntactic categories (empty traces of wh-movement). Our results suggest that long-distance wh-dependencies impose increased working memory (WM) demands, compared to control sentences of equal length, demonstrated as increased activation of the superior and middle temporal gyri bilaterally. Additionally, our results suggest abstract syntactic processing by the most immersed L2 learners, manifested as comparable left temporal activity for sentences with wh-traces and sentences with no wh-movement. These findings are discussed against current theoretical proposals about L2 syntactic processing.

Long-distance wh-movement and long-distance wh-movement avoidance in L2 English: Evidence from French and Bulgarian speakers

This article investigates spoken productions of complex questions with long-distance wh-movement in the L2 English of speakers whose first language is (Canadian) French or Bulgarian. Long-distance wh-movement is of interest as it can be argued that it poses difficulty in acquisition due to its syntactic complexity and related high processing load. Adopting the derivational complexity hypothesis, which has so far been applied to long-distance (LD) wh-movement in L1 acquisition and child second language acquisition, I argue that adult L2 learners also show evidence that questions with LD wh-movement are often replaced by alternative utterances with lower derivational complexity. I propose that such utterances, which are sometimes of equivalent length and with similar meaning to the targeted LD wh-structures, are avoidance strategies used by the learners as an intermediate acquisition resource. That is, such strategies are used as an escape-hatch from the derivational complexity of LD wh-movement. Overall, the results of this research indicate that the link between the number and complexity of derivational steps in a given structure is a fruitful area with strong potential in the second language acquisition field.

Study on Chinese English Learners’ Acquisition of Wh-Movement Constraints

This paper mainly investigates Chinese university students’ acquisition of constraints on English Wh-movement, with the aim of providing some evidence of the accessibility of universal grammar (UG) in second language acquisition (SLA). One UG principle, the Subjacency Principle, puts constraints on English Wh-movement and this is the major study point of the present study. The author selects a certain number of Chinese university students as participants and carries out a grammaticality judgment test. Since there does not involve Wh-movement in Chinese language, and Chinese students have no access to the Subjacency Principle during their daily studies, then if it happens that the subjects shows certain degree of obedience to this principle, a conclusion could be drawn that UG is still accessible and operative in SLA. Abroad, numerous linguistic researchers in the field of SLA have done studies concerning the Subjacency Principle, while in China, scarce similar studies have been made. The author firstly checks Chinese participants’ acceptance of grammatical long-distance Wh-movement and their rejection of ungrammatical Wh-movement with violations of the Subjacency principle, with the latter one as the major point. The discussion of the study is focused on the participant’s responses to varying degrees of Subjacency violations. The experimental results show that the Chinese subjects have demonstrated a certain degree of acceptance of the long-distance Wh-movement and of rejection of Subjacency violations. Therefore, the author concludes that UG is still available and operative in SLA, while the extent to which it is accessible still requires to be further studied.

Partial Wh-Movement and Wh-Copying in Dutch: Evidence for an Indirect Dependency Approach

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt:This article reports on a magnitude estimation experiment investigating the grammatical status of partial wh-movement and wh-copying versus standard long-distance movement in Dutch. The results show that long-distance wh-movement is rated most acceptable, followed by wh-copying and finally partial wh-movement. Of interest is the significant difference in acceptability in partial wh-movement and wh-copying. It is argued that these results speak in favor of a so-called Indirect Dependency Approach to partial wh-movement in which partial wh-movement is analyzed as a structurally altogether different construction from long-distance wh-movement. Wh-copying, on the other hand, is argued to be a surface alternative to long-distance movement, where an intermediate movement copy has been spelled out.

Successive cyclicity as residual wh-scope marking

We argue that the syntactic structure of wh-scope marking questions understood in the sense of the Indirect Dependency Approach (Dayal, 1994) is utilized in standard long-distance wh-questions, with some important differences at the derivational level. In essence, long-distance questions involve an (abstract) wh-scope marker which initially forms a constituent with an embedded clause. Long-distance wh-movement becomes possible when the (abstract) wh-scope marker is able to undergo incorporation with the matrix verb, ‘freeing up’ the path for the wh-phrase originating in the embedded clause, to proceed beyond a finite clause boundary. The proposal formalizes a long-standing intuition behind an intuitive notion of ‘bridgehood’, and enables us to provide a simple and conceptually appealing explanation to the effect of ‘successive cyclicity’ in wh-movement, which has long resisted a satisfactory explanation in the literature. It also allows us to explain a near complementarity of the ‘long-distance’ and ‘ wh-scope marking’ strategies in languages of the world, stating the relevant parameter in terms of lexical properties of wh-scope markers.

Clausal pied-piping

In Basque, wh-movement can pied-pipe an entire clause. The surface syntax of clausal pied-piping structures suggests that their syntax and semantics should be similar to scope marking constructions as analyzed in the Indirect Dependency approach. However, data having to do with presupposition projection and the interpretation of how many-questions show that clausal pied-piping structures are actually more similar to their long-distance wh-movement counterparts than to scope marking constructions. I develop an analysis which takes into account these facts. Specifically, I show that pied-piped clauses must reconstruct, which makes the correct prediction that clausal pied-piping, unlike long-distance wh-movement, is sensitive to negative islands. Finally, I propose that reconstruction is forced by a condition on the interpretation of traces.