How to resolve grammatical judgment variability

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24720181
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Linguistics
• Research Institution: Aichi Prefectural University
• Principal Investigator: MORITA Hisashi 愛知県立大学, 外国語学部, 准教授 (30381742)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: wh-question / intervention effect / pair-list reading / multiple wh-question / pied-piping / quiz question / minimal link condition / unselective binding

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research attempts to explain why grammatical judgment differs among native speakers and provide methods to resolve such an issue. There is a phenomenon called the intervention effect in Japanese Linguistics. Examples are ??{daremo/dareka/Ken-ka Mary}-ga nani-o katta no?everyone/someone/Ken or Mary-Nom what-Acc bought Q'What did {everyone/someone/Ken or Mary} bought?'
However, grammatical judgment of the phenomenon is variable among speakers, and this fact leads some researchers to a pragmatic account. Nevertheless, the current research has shown that the phenomenon is indeed syntactic, and the variability arises because the intepretation of the sentence is ambiguous between an ordinary wh-question and a quiz wh-question, both of which are identical phonologically. Accordingly, native speakers cannot decide which questions they have been asked, unless they are provided with proper contextual information.

Free Research Field

統語論