Investigating Variation in Island Effects: A Case Study of Norwegian Wh-Extraction

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Psycholinguistics
• Syntax

Background:

• Island constraints are grammatical rules that restrict movement.
• Previous observations suggested Norwegian speakers might accept violations of certain island constraints.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate wh-extraction acceptability from various island types in Norwegian.
• To test whether Norwegian speakers accept island constraint violations.

Main Methods:

• Large-scale formal acceptability judgment studies.
• Tested wh-extraction from five island types: whether-, complex NP, subject, adjunct, and relative clause (RC) islands.

Main Results:

• Clear evidence of subject and adjunct island effects.
• No evidence for complex NP and RC island effects; Norwegians found extraction equally unacceptable from these islands.
• Significant inter-individual variation in sensitivity to whether-island effects.

Conclusions:

• Norwegian island effects largely parallel those found in English and Italian.
• Findings challenge universalist approaches to island constraints.
• Suggests factors governing apparent island insensitivity require further investigation.