The D-Linking Effect on Wh-Extractions from Islands and Non-Islands in L1 Speakers and L2 Learners of English

Abstract

This study examines the effect of discourse-linked (d-linked) wh-phrases on acceptability of whextractions from islands and non-islands. Native speakers of English (n = 27) and Najdi Arabic learners of English (n = 31) rated on a 7-point scale their acceptability of wh-questions with bare and d-linked wh-extractions from islands and non-islands (e.g., *what i /*which movie i does she wonder [why he might hate __ i ]?). Learners, like native speakers, showed sensitivity to island constraints as reflected in their low acceptability ratings of wh-extractions from islands. Learners, like native speakers, were also more sensitive to strong (universal constraints) than to weak islands (language-specific constraints), as predicted by Belikova and White's (2009) proposal. Moreover, both native speakers and learners exhibited a d-linking effect on whextractions from wh-islands, rating d-linked higher than bare wh-extractions. As for the source of this d-linking effect, the results of native speakers rather than learners, who could have been misled by the semantic cues of d-linked wh-phrases, suggest that this d-linking effect is more likely caused by the d-linked wh-phrase's denotation of discrete individuals as claimed by the semantic account of d-linking effect.