2026/05/06 by Chung-hye Han, Trevor Block, Holly Gendron +4 · 1 voice
Neuroscience · Psychology · #Language Development and Disorders #Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism #Phonetics and Phonology Research
paper · doi:10.5070/g6011.52828
openalex publication_date 2026/05/06 · openalex created_date 2026/05/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
We investigated the processing of resumptive pronouns in English relative clauses. We asked whether resumptive pronouns in complex relative clauses formed from islands and non-islands establish dependencies with head nouns in incremental processing. Based on the findings from two reading time experiments using the Maze task with the gender-mismatch paradigm, as well as an off-line comprehension study, we conclude that (i) a dependency is formed with the head noun immediately upon encountering the resumptive pronoun; (ii) dependency formation is easier across islands than across non-islands; (iii) dependency formation privileges the head noun over intervening noun phrases; and (iv) these dependencies are maintained in off-line comprehension. The data suggest that although resumptive pronouns are judged to be unacceptable in English, comprehenders automatically and immediately integrate them using routines similar to filler-gap dependencies. We discuss the implications of our findings for the question of whether resumptive pronouns facilitate filler dependency formation in comparison to gaps, a possible reason why dependencies would be easier to establish across islands than across non-islands, and how the use of resumptive pronouns may benefit listeners as well as speakers.