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Acceptability and processing of long-distance dependencies in Danish

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2008

Mads Poulsen
Mads Poulsen*
Affiliation:
Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen, Njalsgade 120, DK-2300 Copenhagen, [email protected]
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Abstract

Long-distance dependencies have been the object of much theoretical interest in the Scandinavian languages and in general, but the empirical foundation for theorizing has been limited. The present paper investigates extraction from complement and adverbial clauses in Danish using acceptability judgment and reading-time measures. Extraction from adverbial clauses was found to be rated near the bottom of the scale and to be associated with a processing cost. This was also true of extraction in adverbial clauses in semantically cohesive sentences, which Jensen (2001a, b) has suggested is acceptable. It is concluded that under the conditions investigated extraction from adverbial clauses in Danish is associated with a processing cost and very low acceptability ratings, despite semantic cohesion.

Keywords

acceptabilityDanishextractiongrammaticalityisland constraintsjudgmentlanguage processinglong-distance dependencies
Type
Research Article
Information
Nordic Journal of Linguistics , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , June 2008 , pp. 73 - 107
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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