Work

Specificity vs. lexical restriction

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: In this study, we follow up on the theoretical debate on the alleged syntactic effects of D-linking. We tried to tease apart the discourse-related component from the morphosyntactic effects driven by complex wh- phrases by (i) operationalizing D-linking as specificity and (ii) by comparing the acceptability of extraction of wh-items with and without D-linking, but crucially always bearing some form of lexical restriction. We present here three novel acceptability judgment tasks inspecting the role of D-linking and lexical restriction in the amelioration of Italian wh-island effects. Our results weaken the hypothesis that a discourse factor alone may modulate wh-island violations, while demanding deeper scrutiny on the role of lexical restriction.

Source: BieJournals

DOI: 10.11576/glow-1237

Authors: Bressan, Veronica, Belletti, Adriana, Chesi, Cristiano

Institutions: Ca' Foscari University of Venice, University of Siena, Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori di Pavia

Language: English

Topic: Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

Subfield: Language and Linguistics

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W7155487325

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