The D-linking effect on extraction from islands and non-islands

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Linguistic Theory
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• "D-linked" wh-phrases, like "which car," improve sentence acceptability with island violations.
• A prominent theory links this to working memory, proposing easier retrieval of D-linked fillers near gaps.
• This working memory account predicts a general effect across non-trivial wh-dependencies, not just island contexts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test if D-linking enhances acceptability in both island and non-island wh-dependencies.
• To investigate the role of working memory in the D-linking effect.
• To determine if the island effect is attributable to working memory.

Main Methods:

• An experiment presenting participants with wh-questions featuring D-linked and bare wh-phrases.
• Inclusion of both island and non-island embedded clauses within the wh-questions.
• Participants rated sentence acceptability on a 7-point scale.

Main Results:

• D-linking significantly increased sentence acceptability in both island and non-island environments.
• The ameliorating effect of D-linking was uniform across both clause types.
• This uniformity challenges the notion that working memory is the sole driver of the island effect.

Conclusions:

• D-linking improves acceptability irrespective of island constraints, supporting working memory-based explanations.
• The uniform effect across environments suggests island constraints may not primarily stem from working memory limitations.
• Further research is needed to fully elucidate the mechanisms behind island effects and wh-dependency processing.