Chapter 14
Extra-syntactic factors in the that-trace effect
Using predictions from the Interface Hypothesis and the grammar of Spanish-English bilinguals, we test whether non-syntactic factors play a role in the that-trace effect. Though generally analyzed syntactically, some work on that-trace supports a syntax-prosody account (Kandybowicz, 2006). The Interface Hypothesis predicts that bilinguals will have difficulty with interface phenomena but not narrow syntax, such that testing bilinguals’ knowledge of that-trace provides a unique testing ground for comparing the two approaches. We demonstrate that bilinguals have the syntactic underpinnings necessary for both syntactic and syntax-prosody accounts of that-trace; however, they differ from the monolinguals with regard to that-trace, extending the phenomenon’s restriction on extraction to a new context, supporting a syntax-prosody account of that-trace.
Keywords: bilingualism, Interface Hypothesis, EPP, wh-questions, expletives, syntax-prosody interface, wh-question, wh-phrase,
that-trace effect, extraction, comp-trace effect, complementizer-trace effect, syntax-prosody interface, Interface Hypothesis, Extended Projection Principle, EPP, expletives
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.The that-trace effect
- 2.1Extraction restrictions in Spanish and English
- 2.2Syntactic accounts of the that-trace effect
- 2.3Interface-based accounts
- 3.The Interface Hypothesis
- 4.Subject placement and the that-trace effect
- 5.Experiment 1
- 6.Experiment 2
- 6.1Methods
- 6.2Results
- 6.3Interim discussion
- 7.Experiment 3
- 8.Discussion
- 9.Conclusions
-
Notes
-
References
References (42)
References
Bae, S. H. (2015). The syntax-phonology interface in native and near-native Korean. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Harvard University.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bresnan, J. (1977). Variables in the theory of transformations. In P. W. Culicover, T. Wasow, & A. Akmajian (Eds.), Formal syntax (pp. 157–196). New York, NY: Academic Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bullock, B. E. (2009). Prosody in contact in French: A case study from a heritage variety in the USA. International Journal of Bilingualism, 13(2), 165–194. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cabin, R. J., & Mitchell, R. J. (2000). To Bonferroni or not to Bonferroni: When and how are the questions. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, 81(3), 246–248.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
de Chene, B. (2000). Prosody and subject traces. Unpublished manuscript, Waseda University. Tokyo. <[URL]>
Chomsky, N. (1981). Lectures on government and binding. Dordrecht: Foris.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Colantoni, L., & Gurlekian, J. (2004). Convergence and intonation: Historical evidence from Buenos Aires Spanish. Bilingualism: Language and cognition, 7(2), 107–119. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Culicover, P. W. (1993). The adverb effect: Evidence against ecp accounts of the that-t effect. In A. J. Schafer (Ed.) Proceedings of the North East Linguistic Society 23 (pp. 97–111). University of Ottawa: Graduate Linguistic Student Association.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Donaldson, B. (2011). Nativelike right-dislocation in near-native French. Second Language Research, 27(3), 361–390. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ebert, S. (2014) The Morphosyntax of Wh-questions: Evidence from Spanish-English Code-switching. Doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Chicago.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ellis, R. (2005). Measuring implicit and explicit knowledge of a second language: A psychometric study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27(2), 141–172. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Elordieta, G. (2003). The Spanish intonation of speakers of a Basque pitch-accent dialect. Catalan Journal of Linguistics, 2, 67–95. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Elordieta, G. (2011). An overview of theories of the syntax-phonology interface. Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca “Julio de Urquijo”, 42(1), 209–286.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Garamszegi, L. Z. (2006). Comparing effect sizes across variables: Generalization without the need for Bonferroni correction. Behavioral Ecology, 17(4), 682–687. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
González-Vilbazo, K., Bartlett, L., Downey, S., Ebert, S., Heil, J., Hoot, B., … Ramos, S. (2013). Methodological considerations in code-switching research. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 6(1), 119–138. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Han, Y., & Ellis, R. (1998). Implicit knowledge, explicit knowledge and general language proficiency. Language Teaching Research, 2(1):1–23. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ivanov, I. P. (2012). L2 acquisition of Bulgarian clitic doubling: A test case for the Interface Hypothesis. Second Language Research, 28(3), 345–368. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kandybowicz, J. (2006). Comp-trace effects explained away. In D. Baumer, D. Montero, & M. Scanlon (Eds.), Proceedings of the 25th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (pp. 220–228.) Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kandybowicz, J. (2009). Embracing edges: Syntactic and phono-syntactic edge sensitivity in Nupe. Natural Language Linguistic Theory, 27, 305–344. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Martinović, M. (2014). Wh-morphology and cyclicity in Wolof. Unpublished manuscript, University of Chicago. <[URL]>
Montrul, S. A. (2004). Subject and object expression in Spanish heritage speakers: A case of morpho-syntactic convergence. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 7, 125–142. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
O’Rourke, E. (2003). Peak alignment in two regional varieties of Peruvian Spanish intonation. In J. Auger, J. Clements, & B. Vance (Eds.), Contemporary approaches to Romance linguistics (pp. 321–341). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Perlmutter, D. (1971). Deep and surface structure constraints in syntax. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pesetsky, D. (2015). Complementizer-trace effects. In M. Everaert, & H. van Riemsdijk (Eds.), Companion to syntax. Malden, MA: Blackwell.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pesetsky, D. (1982). Complementizer-trace phenomena and the nominative islands condition. The Linguistic Review, 1, 297–344. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rice, W. R. (1989). Analyzing tables of statistical tests. Evolution, 43(1), 223–225. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rizzi, L. (1982). Negation, wh-movement and the null subject parameter. In L. Rizzi (Ed.), Issues in Italian syntax (pp. 117–185). Dordrecht: Foris. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schütze, C. T. (1996). The empirical base of linguistics: Grammaticality judgments and linguistic methodology. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Serratrice, L., Sorace, A., & Paoli, S. (2004). Crosslinguistic influence at the syntax – pragmatics interface: Subjects and objects in English – Italian bilingual and monolingual acquisition. Bilingualism: Language and cognition, 7(3), 183–205. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Slabakova, R., & Ivanov, I. (2011). A more careful look at the syntax-discourse interface. Lingua, 121(4), 637–651. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sorace, A., & Filiaci, F. (2006). Anaphora resolution in near-native speakers of Italian. Second Language Research, 22, 339–368. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sorace, A., & Serratrice, L. (2009). Internal and external interfaces in bilingual language development: Beyond structural overlap. International Journal of Bilingualism 13, 195–210. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Suñer, M., (1994). V-movement and the licensing of argumental wh-phrases in Spanish. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 12(2), 335–372. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tsimpli, I. M., & Sorace, A. (2006). Differentiating interfaces: L2 performance in syntax – semantics and syntax – discourse phenomena. In D. Bamman, T. Magnitskaia, & C. Zaller (Eds.), Proceedings of the 30th Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 653–664). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
White, L. (2009). Grammatical theory: Interfaces and L2 knowledge. In T. Bhatia, & W. Ritchie (Eds.), The new handbook of second language acquisition (2nd ed., pp. 49–68). Bingley: Emerald.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
White, E. J., Genesee, F., & Steinhauer, K. (2012). Brain responses before and after intensive second language learning: Proficiency based changes and first language background effects in adult learners. PloS one, 7(12), e52318. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wilson, F., Sorace, A., & Keller, F. (2009). Antecedent preferences for anaphoric demonstratives in L2 German. In J. Chandlee, M. Franchini, S. Lord, & G-M. Rheiner (Eds.), Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 634–645). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Kim, Boyoung & Grant Goodall
2024.
The source of the that-trace effect: New evidence from L2 English.
Second Language Research 40:1
► pp. 79 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Chomsky, Noam, T. Daniel Seely, Robert C. Berwick, Sandiway Fong, M. A. C. Huybregts, Hisatsugu Kitahara, Andrew McInnerney & Yushi Sugimoto
2023.
Merge and the Strong Minimalist Thesis,
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.