arXiv:2504.15688cs.CL2025-04

发现主语在多种句式中仍构成语法禁区,支持语法独立于语用的理论。

Subject islands do not reduce to construction-specific discourse function

  • 通过三类句式大规模测试,检验主语是否仅在疑问句中为语法禁区
  • 三种结构下均出现主语提取违例,即使信息结构不冲突
  • 结果支持语法抽象表征理论,反对语用功能解释

语言学中的‘岛’指从某短语中提取成分会导致句子不合法的现象(Ross, 1967)。主语被视为岛,因从中提取子成分会引发语法错误,尽管语义清晰(如:‘哪一话题让那篇关于的文章启发了你?’)。生成语法传统认为此现象源于抽象移动依赖关系;而功能语言学则主张语法约束可由不同构式的信息组织方式解释。Abeillé等(2020)提出,主语岛效应仅存在于疑问句中,因该类句式存在信息结构冲突,主语并非普遍岛,而是聚焦时因话语背景性形成。本研究通过三个大规模可接受性实验,采用超加法设计,在疑问句、定语从句和话题化三类句式中检验该预测。结果显示,三类结构中均存在主语岛效应,即便仅疑问句存在信息结构冲突。这表明主语岛效应可能根植于抽象句法表征,而非特定语用功能。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

The term islands in linguistics refers to phrases from which extracting an element results in ungrammaticality (Ross, 1967). Grammatical subjects are considered islands because extracting a sub-part of a subject results in an ill-formed sentence, despite having a clear intended meaning (e.g., "Which topic did the article about inspire you?"). The generative tradition, which views syntax as autonomous of meaning and function, attributes this ungrammaticality to the abstract movement dependency between the wh-phrase and the subject-internal position with which it is associated for interpretation. However, research on language that emphasizes its communicative function suggests instead that syntactic constraints, including islands, can be explained based on the way different constructions package information. Accordingly, Abeillé et al. (2020) suggest that the islandhood of subjects is specific to the information structure of wh-questions, and propose that subjects are not islands for movement, but for focusing, due to their discourse-backgroundedness. This predicts that other constructions that differ in their information structure from wh-questions, but still involve movement, should not create a subject island effect. We test this prediction in three large-scale acceptability studies, using a super-additive design that singles out subject island violations, in three different constructions: wh-questions, relative clauses, and topicalization. We report evidence for a subject island effect in each construction type, despite only wh-questions introducing what Abeillé et al. (2020) call "a clash in information structure." We argue that this motivates an account of islands in terms of abstract, syntactic representations, independent of the communicative function associated with the constructions.

句法岛语用功能语法独立性

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