A Note on the Factorial Definition of Island Effects

Abstract

Sprouse's (2007) factorial definition of island effects has been widely used in experimental research on island phenomena. The popularity it enjoys is mainly due to its ability to isolate and quantify island effects by controlling for two important processing factors known to affect the acceptability of island-violating constructions. Despite this and other merits, the factorial design has its limitations: 1) it does not control for other important non-syntactic factors and thus 2) it has little to say about the exact nature of island effects. Researchers employing the factorial design, however, often fail to consider these limitations, resulting in biased interpretations of the results of their experiments. This problem is inevitable unless one takes a balanced view on the source of island effects.