The processing mechanisms of Mandarin wh-questions
Yang Yang, Leticia Pablos, Lisa Lai‐Shen Cheng · Journal of Chinese linguistics · 2023
Wh-question phrases in Mandarin remain in-situ at their base position (e.g., John bought what?). Although theoretical studies show that there is a covert dependency between the in-situ question word/phrase and SpecCP, little is known how this dependency is evidenced in the processing of Mandarin wh-in-situ questions. In addition, bare Mandarin wh-phrases like shéi 'who' are different from complex ones like nǎge tóngxué 'which classmate', as the former are known as wh-indeterminates, on a par with indefinites (Cheng 1991), while the latter are considered on a par with definites (Rullmann and Beck 1998). To uncover the processing mechanism of wh-in-situ questions, we conducted two self-paced reading studies where we compared their processing behavior with that of their declarative counterparts. Specifically, and due to the claims made in the literature regarding the nature of bare and complex wh-questions, we compared bare wh-questions with declarative counterparts that contained indefinites, and complex wh-questions with declarative counterparts that contained definites. Our findings show that, regardless of their bare or complex nature, wh-questions were in general processed with more cost (i.e., reading delay) than their declarative counterparts, providing evidence that a covert-dependency is built in wh-questions. In particular, based on our results we claim that after reading the core whelement, the parser immediately starts the process of resolving the wh-question interpretation by establishing the covert dependency.