Wh-movement In English Research Articles

An Experimental Study on Scrambling out of Islands: To the Left and to the Right

This paper presents an experimental study to examine whether scrambling out of an island is (im-)possible in Korean. It is shown that scrambling out of an island may trigger occasional additive degradation in acceptability, but no super-additive degradation is obtained in leftward or rightward scrambling (or right-dislocation), contrary to wh-movement in English. Our results also show that strong islands may cause additive degradation whereas weak islands do not. The current study poses a new challenge to a processing approach to islands which solely relies on linear dependencies, and demonstrates that the role and type of island structures must be considered. Our research also suggests that a factorial-design experiment needs to be employed to examine potential interactions among scrambling, the direction of movement, and island effects in language.

Dynamic antisymmetry for labeling

The main question raised in this article is why movement of a phrase makes its copy left behind invisible for labeling. Adopting the assumption that movement consists of Copy and Merge, I propose that copying a phrase makes the original inactive in syntactic computation. I argue that this makes it possible (i) to derive the effects of the Phase-Impenetrability Condition on the assumption that Transfer involves Copy, (ii) to provide an account of that-trace effects in English, and (iii) to account for Rizzi's (2006) criterial freezing, as manifested in overt wh-movement in English. I further argue that the proposed system of labeling can be made compatible with the Agree-less approach, recently advocated by Hornstein (2009), with the assumption that feature-checking is conducted in labeling in terms of agreeing features. This brings us a nice consequence of properly dealing with the optionality of raising to object in the English ECM construction.

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.

The Role of Grammar Awareness in Learning English Wh-Movement by Chinese L2 Learners

This experimental study aimed at examining the role of grammar awareness in learning English wh-movement by Chinese EFL learners. Eighty adult native speakers of Chinese took grammaticality judgment tests (GJT) in order to find out whether they were constrained by Chinese wh-in-situ parameters. The mean scores of the GJT in the pretest and posttest were compared to observe the effect of the grammar awareness-raising model (GARM) guided instruction on wh-movement. Both within-group and between-group comparisons showed that when L2 learners were aware of the target linguistic phenomenon, their performance in judging the grammaticality of the wh-movement was improved. It is concluded that the role of grammar awareness in learning English wh-movement is positively related to the subjects’ performance in GJT.

The Effect of Exposure on Chinese Learners’ Processing of English Wh-movement Sentences

The study is to examine the effect of exposure on Chinese learners’ differences in the comprehension of three types of wh -movement structural sentences in English, such as Who did the boy think pinched the goat ? Chinese learners with 10 years’ (group 1) and 5 years’ (group 2) amount of formal exposure with English and one control group with 10 years exposure to English participated both off-line and on-line comprehension tests. Findings indicated that the two Chinese groups had the same comprehension accuracy as the control group, but differ in reading times. In spite of having longer comprehension times, group 2 got relatively lower comprehension scores, indicating that there is a strong correlation between Chinese learners’ response times and comprehension accuracy and the amount of formal exposure. These findings are discussed regarding the role of formal amount of exposure in complex English sentence processing, and conclusions are drawn on Chinese learners’ comprehension of complex English syntactic structures.

The Interpretability Hypothesis again: A partial replication of Tsimpli and Dimitrakopoulou (2007)

Tsimpli and Dimitrakopoulou (2007) propose the Interpretability Hypothesis (IH), according to which uninterpretable features present an insurmountable difficulty in adult second language acquisition. The experimental study supporting the IH examines Greek native speakers’ knowledge of gaps versus resumptive pronouns in English wh-movement. A crucial assumption is that Greek allows resumptives optionally. Alexopoulou and Keller’s (2002, 2007) findings confirm that assumption. In our replication of Tsimpli and Dimitrakopoulou’s study, we divide Spanish native speakers into those who accept resumptives and those who do not; then we look at their acceptance of gaps and resumptives in English. The results indicate that both groups of advanced learners, those that do and those that don’t have resumptives in their individual grammars, have acquired the ungrammaticality of resumptives in English, although there may be lingering native language effects. The effects of d-linking, animacy, syntactic function of the resumptive/gap (subject vs. object), and presence of the complementizer that are also examined.

WH-movement in English and Persian within the Framework of Government and Binding Theory

The present study is an attempt to compare WH-movement in English and Persian. In so doing, Chomsky's Government and Binding Theory has been used as the framework. Through the analysis of the examples provided, the researchers conclude that the application of WH-movement in English is to some extent similar to its application in Persian. Case filter principle, theta criterion and the dominance of case-generator over WH-word are among the similarities. The study also reveals some differences between English and Persian as far as generating interrogative sentences with question word is concerned. Mandatory nature of WH-movement rule in English as opposed to its optional nature in Persian, syntactic movement of question word in English as opposed to its non-syntactic nature in Persian, syntactic trigger of WH-movement in English as opposed to its pragmatic trigger in Persian and finally the fixed syntactic position of complimentizer phrase specifier for WH-words in English as opposed to different syntactic positions question words might have in Persian are among the differences.

An Empirical Test of Argument-Adjunct Asymmetries in Long Wh-Movement in English: Only Subject Behave Differently

An Empirical Test of Argument-Adjunct Asymmetries in Long Wh-Movement in English: Only Subject Behave Differently

The influence of Chinese Focused Cleft wh-constructions on Chinese speakers’ L2 knowledge of English wh-movement

Previous studies of Mandarin speakers’ intuitions about grammatical and ungrammatical wh-movement constructions in L2 English have produced mixed results. Some studies show that such speakers neither fully accept grammatical wh-constructions, nor fully reject constructions that violate locality constraints. The present study examines the possibility that learners may be transferring the Chinese Focused Cleft wh-construction (FCW) into their English grammars, and that transfer is persistently influential. It is argued that the FCW, which produces structures superficially similar to English wh-movement questions, does not involve movement. Two experimental studies are reported. The first tests native Mandarin Chinese speakers’ intuitions about the FCW in order to provide evidence bearing on lack of movement in the FCW. The second tests the intuitions about grammatical and ungrammatical English wh-movement of advanced L2 learners of English whose L1 was Mandarin. The results support the claim that advanced Chinese learners of English interpret English wh-constructions like Chinese FCWs.

On Bridge Requirements in English

On Bridge Requirements in English A minimalist analysis of island conditions and bridge requirements on wh-movement in English is proposed. It has been traditionally assumed within the generative framework that wh-movement is impossible or degraded across a range of structurally analysable configurations (islands) and acceptable elsewhere (bridges). Structures meeting the configurational requirements but nevertheless having a degraded grammaticality status (non-bridge constructions) were, not rightly, banished from the scope of syntactic research proper. With the advent of minimalism, a syntactic account of non-bridge constructions can be achieved. The paper employs and modifies ideas from, among others, Chomsky (1998 and 1999), Uriagereka (1999), and Franks (2000) to show that the time of merging of a given constituent is crucial for its islandhood. Thanks to a minimalist perspective taken here, unification of bridge and island conditions seems possible. Also, a reinvestigation of Erteschik's (1973) verb typology is offered with an interim conclusion that that factivity of verbs with complement clauses is a decisive factor for their island status.

On the “Undoing” Property of Scrambling: A Response to Bošković

Bošković (2004) argues that what defines scrambling in languages such as Japanese is its ‘‘undoing’’ property (Saito 1989). Bošković (2004) and Bošković and Takahashi (1998) argue that this ‘‘undoing’’ property shows the way for scrambling to count as a last-resort operation, instead of being purely optional as is widely believed. In this article, I give empirical evidence that ‘‘undoing’’ does not occur and that the reconstruction effect simply reflects a normal property of Ā-movements like wh-movement in English. I further show that the condition that governs optional scrambling is Fox’s (2000) Scope Economy.

Essays on the Representational and Derivational Nature of Grammar: The Diversity of Wh-constructions (review)

Reviewed by: Essays on the representational and derivational nature of grammar: The diversity of wh-constructions by Joseph Aoun and Yen-hui Audrey Li Jamal Ouhalla Essays on the representational and derivational nature of grammar: The diversity of wh-constructions. By Joseph Aoun and Yen-hui Audrey Li. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003. Pp. xi, 289. ISBN 0262511320. $30. This book is an attempt to identify the nature and range of diversity of wh-constructions and to explore their implications for current theoretical issues, in particular the representation versus derivation debate. Although wh-movement (or operator movement) is involved in more constructions, as is well known since at least Chomsky 1977, the discussion is restricted to wh-questions and relatives. However, the need to bring out all of the major patterns of diversity meant having to investigate these constructions in at least three languages: Chinese, English, and Lebanese Arabic. The complexity that arises from involving three languages is skillfully dealt with in a clear style of writing and presentation that makes frequent use of reminders, summaries, detailed lists of properties, and other helpful devices. The main theoretical conclusion reached is that grammar should incorporate both derivational and representational mechanisms. In other words, chains can be formed derivationally in terms of Move or representationally in terms of Match. The risk of redundancy, often invoked as a major argument in favor of an exclusively derivational or representational model (see Brody 1995), is partly addressed with an attempt to demonstrate that the two mechanisms are independent of each other: Move(ment) is a bottom-up process while Match is a top-down process. The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 deals with wh-interrogatives and includes three chapters on superiority and movement, superiority and the minimal match condition, and superiority and interpretation. The first two chapters outline evidence against reducing superiority to movement and in favor of a representational approach in terms of the minimal match condition (MMC). The third chapter, which focuses on the interpretation of wh-phrases, shows that although an approach in terms of MMC is desirable, it still does not account for all available interpretations, of which three are identified: functional, distributive, and pair-list. A proper account of all three readings would need to appeal to the internal constituent structure of wh-phrases. To be precise, if wh-interrogatives are assumed to have a tripartite structure that consists of question, quantification, and restriction, the three readings can be shown to be a function of the distribution of the three constituents. For example, the availability or not of the pair-list reading reduces to whether quantification is base-generated along with restriction or not. More generally, variation can operate on the basis of whether question, quantification, and restriction are all base-generated together within a nominal projection or separately from each other. In English and Lebanese Arabic, all three parts are base-generated together. In Japanese, only quantification and restriction are base-generated together, with question located higher in the structure. In Chinese, restriction alone is base-generated inside the nominal projection, with both quantification and question located higher in the structure. In addition, variation can operate along a different dimension having to do with wh-movement: whether the three constituents move together as one unit (wh-movement in English and Lebanese Arabic), whether quantification alone moves (Japanese), and whether all three constituents remain in situ (wh-in-situ in Lebanese Arabic and English). The classification allows for the possibility that a language may lack anything corresponding to wh-movement, which is apparently the situation in Chinese. Part 2 deals with relatives and consists of four chapters on head-initial relative constructions, head-final relative constructions, adjunction structure and derivation, and typology of relativization. The most surprising aspect of this part is that it proposes and defends radically different structures for head-initial and head-final relatives. Head-initial relatives have a complementation structure where the relative clause is the complement of D. The head-initial order is derived in one of two ways depending on whether the head moves to the initial position from the relativized position (the promotion analysis) or is base-generated in the...

The influence of first language on the processing of wh-movement in English as a second language

Adult learners of English as a second language who speak Chinese ( n = 30), Japanese ( n = 28) or Spanish ( n = 46) as a first language (L1), and a comparison group of native speakers ( n = 22) read sentences that contain: (a) ungrammatical wh-extractions that violate island constraints; and (b) grammatical long-distance Subject and Object extractions from finite and nonfinite clauses. Word-by-word reading times for each sentence were collected using the self-paced reading technique. Results suggest that the presence or absence of wh-movement in the L1 and the headedness of the verb phrase in the L1 are unable to explain all of the variation between the nonnative speaker groups. Severe garden path effects were observed in Subject extractions from finite clauses, but not in extractions from nonfinite clauses, suggesting that two finite verbs next to one another may be an important factor in causing parsing break-down. Individual variation in reading time was not predictable from measures of reading span or word span in either the first or second language.

Total Reconstruction, PF Movement, and Derivational Order

Theories of total reconstruction have generally supposed that movement can be followed by an undoing operation like LF lowering (May 1977, 1985) or deletion of higher copies (Chomsky 1993). We argue that reconstruction effects can be derived only if the original movement is purely phonological. There are no undoing operations. We present three distinct arguments, based on an interaction between raising and wh-movement in English, facts from agreement with group terms in British English, and multiple scrambling in Japanese. The arguments imply that the T-model is correct in supposing that movement that affects both LF and PF must precede movement that affects only PF.

From Hell to Polarity: “Aggressively Non-D-Linked” Wh-Phrases as Polarity Items

Pesetsky's (1987) “aggressively non-D-linked”wh-phrases (likewho the hell; hereinafter, wh-the-hell phrases) exhibit a variety of syntactic and semantic peculiarities, including the fact that they cannot occur in situ and do not support nonecho readings when occurring in root multiple questions. While these are familiar from the literature (albeit less than fully understood), our focus will be on a previously unnoted property of wh-the-hell phrases: the fact that their distribution (in single wh-questions) matches that of polarity items (PIs). We lay out the key data supporting this claim, embed the PI nature of wh-the-hell phrases in the theory of polarity developed in Giannakidou 1998, 1999, 2001, and establish the link between the lexical content of these phrases and their PI status by identifying wh-the-hell as a dependent PI. We subsequently exploit the PI status of wh-the-hell to explain the more familiar puzzles mentioned above, showing that these are not peculiarities specific to wh-the-hell but manifestations of the general properties of the class of PIs that wh-the-hell belongs to. The syntactic aspects of the polarity analysis of wh-the-hell are shown to have important consequences for the fundamental properties of wh-movement in English.

Wh-Subjects in English and the Vacuous Movement Hypothesis

In this squib I consider the Vacuous Movement Hypothesis (henceforth VMH), the notion that in English local overt wh-movement takes place except for subjects (George 1980, Chomsky 1986). There is considerable evidence that a wh-subject does not move locally to [Spec, CP] in English. However, the notion that overt wh-movement in English involves feature licensing/clausal typing with C (Rizzi 1996, Cheng 1991) implies that even in the case of wh-subjects, movement to the domain of C must still occur. Furthermore, wh-islands involving a wh-subject in the embedded clause have raised problems for the VMH under the classical treatment of wh-islands that attributes them to Subjacency. I propose to reconcile the evidence for and against the VMH via a simplification of the feature-checking system advanced in Chomsky 1995 and a treatment of overt movement that separates a feature chain (CHFF) from a category chain (CHCAT). The proposal resolves the discrepancies observed with English wh-subjects in a conceptually desirable way.