| Titre | Avoiding gaps in Romance: a processing foundation for the Merge over Move principle? |
| Publication Type | Article de revue |
| Année de publication | 2020 |
| Authors | Konrad, Ingrid, Massimo Burattini, Carlo Cecchetto, Francesca Foppolo, Adrian Staub, and Caterina Donati |
| Journal | Syntax |
| Abstract | Existing evidence suggests that the parser avoids positing a movement dependency if the grammar allows it. By investigating the processing of two syntactic ambiguities that have not been previously studied, we provide more conclusive evidence for this parsing bias in two Romance languages: French and Italian. In two acceptability judgment experiments and two self-paced reading studies, we found that sentences that involved a filler-gap dependency (indirect questions in Italian and free relatives in French) were dispreferred compared to sentences involving the same lexical material but no filler-gap dependency (declarative complement clauses in both languages). Crucially, the filler-gap dependency was not dispreferred when there was no available competitor. We discuss these results as also relevant for syntactic theory and for the questionable status of Merge over Move as a grammatical principle. |
Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle – UMR 7110 CNRS et Université Paris Cité – RNSR : 200112497J
Adresse géographique : Bât. Olympe de Gouges, 5ème étage. 8, Rue Albert Einstein 75013 Paris
Envoyer un courrier : Case Postale 7031 – 5, rue Thomas Mann – F-75205 Paris Cedex 13
Transports : Métro ligne 14 : arrêt "Bibliothèque François Mitterrand" – Tram T3A : arrêt "Avenue de France" – Bus n°89 et 62 : arrêt "Porte de France"
Téléphone : (+33) (0)1 57 27 57 64 – Télécopie : (+33) (0)1 57 27 57 81
Directeur de la publication : Heather Burnett – Dernière mise à jour : 2025-12-08