Mandarin Chinese wh-in-situ argument–adjunct asymmetry in island sensitivity: Evidence from a formal judgment study

• Published in: Frontiers in psychology Vol. 13; p. 954175
• Main Authors: Tian, Qilin, Park, Myung-Kwan, Yang, Xiaodong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A 09.09.2022
• Subjects: acceptability judgment; argument–adjunct asymmetry; experimental syntax; island; pragmatic constraint; Psychology; wh-in-situ
• ISSN: 1664-1078; 1664-1078
• DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.954175

Unlike adjunct wh’s -in-situ, argument wh’s -in-situ do not seem to be subject to island constraints in Chinese and other East Asian languages. This difference in island sensitivity between argument and adjunct wh’s -in-situ is known as argument–adjunct asymmetry in the theoretical literature. Recently, this long-established asymmetry is challenged by a formal judgment study. It was claimed in the study that this asymmetry is an illusion and both argument and adjunct wh’s -in-situ are subject to island constraints. The present study demonstrates that such a claim is not convincing because it is based on problematic experimental design. We designed two experiments to test the island effects on Chinese wh’s -in-situ. The results reaffirm that the argument–adjunct asymmetry in Chinese wh’s -in-situ is indeed present, contrary to the findings of previous formal judgment study, and they also corroborate our assumption that when object wh’s -in-situ like shénme ‘what’ are located inside a relative clause, they are subject to a pragmatic constraint, suggesting that the VP (formed by a verb and its wh-object) in the relative clause tends to describe the prominent/salient feature of the relativized nominal head.