Processing covert dependency: An eye-tracking study of scope interpretations of embedded Wh-questions in Mandarin.

ABSTRACT: Non-local dependency in Mandarin wh-questions has been extensively researched in theoretical linguistics, but it remains an under-studied topic in the field of language processing. Unlike languages that require wh-movement to form wh-questions, Mandarin is a wh-in-situ language, and hence is generally assumed to require a covert dependency between a wh-phrase and its scope-bearing position. Mandarin therefore provides an ideal linguistic environment in which to study not only cognitive-processing mechanisms, but also how different types of non-local dependency, especially covert dependency, can be handled by readers. This paper investigates the processing of such covert non-local dependency in multiple embedded clauses, that is, multiple complementizer phrases (CPs). In wh-in-situ sentence

SUBMITTER: Kong D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10194922 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature