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9 - Island Effects

from Part II - Experimental Studies of Specific Phenomena

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2021

By
Jon Sprouse  and
Sandra Villata
Edited by
Grant Goodall
Grant Goodall
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
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Summary

Island effects are one of the most studied phenomena in experimental syntax. There are at least two reasons for this. First, they are a terrific case study for a number of foundational questions in linguistics, covering topics such as the complexity of the grammar, the variation of languages, the dynamics of sentences processing, and the acquisition of abstract constraints. Second, they are a valuable case study for illustrating the benefits of formal experiments, such as defining an effect, isolating the source of an effect, and increasing the precision of the empirical bases of linguistic theories. In this chapter, we illustrate these benefits of formal experiments for island effects by reviewing the major empirical contributions that formal experiments have made to theories of island effects over the past two decades. Along the way, we also provide a relatively comprehensive list of articles that have used formal experiments to explore island effects.

Keywords

island effectsisland constraintslong-distance dependenciesacceptability judgmentsgrammaticality judgmentsworking memorysatiationresumptioncross-linguistic variation
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Syntax , pp. 227 - 257
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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