Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Syntax
- The Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Syntax
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I General Issues in Acceptability Experiments
- Part II Experimental Studies of Specific Phenomena
- 8 Resumptive Pronouns in English
- 9 Island Effects
- 10 The That-Trace Effect
- 11 Anaphora: Experimental Methods for Investigating Coreference
- 12 Constituent Order and Acceptability
- 13 Acceptability Judgments at the Syntax–Semantics Interface
- Part III Experimental Studies of Specific Populations and Language Families
- Part IV Experimental Syntax beyond Acceptability
- Index
- References
12 - Constituent Order and Acceptability
from Part II - Experimental Studies of Specific Phenomena
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 December 2021
Edited by
Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Syntax
- The Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Syntax
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I General Issues in Acceptability Experiments
- Part II Experimental Studies of Specific Phenomena
- 8 Resumptive Pronouns in English
- 9 Island Effects
- 10 The That-Trace Effect
- 11 Anaphora: Experimental Methods for Investigating Coreference
- 12 Constituent Order and Acceptability
- 13 Acceptability Judgments at the Syntax–Semantics Interface
- Part III Experimental Studies of Specific Populations and Language Families
- Part IV Experimental Syntax beyond Acceptability
- Index
- References
Summary
The relation between the constituent order of a sentence and its acceptability score is a complex one. This is due to the fact that both the crucial independent variable, constituent order, and the dependent one, acceptability judgments, are inherently multifactorial. This contribution seeks to disentangle this relation by (i) enumerating the factors that contribute to the ordering of constituents in non-canonical orders, i.e. orders that deviate from the unmarked order of a given language, (ii) giving an explanation of how these factors interact in terms of the notion of contextual licensing, and (iii) providing a survey of the experimental evidence accrued so far both in favor of and against such an explanation for a number of different constructions. An outlook on possibilities for further research concludes the chapter.
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- The Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Syntax , pp. 315 - 340Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
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