Processing of Turkish Complex Sentences with Wh-Phrases

Abstract

This study analyses the processing of complex sentences with wh-phrases in Turkish with two eye tracking experiments. Experiment 1 is conducted with kim-E (to whom), while experiment 2 is conducted with when (ne zaman). The study aimed at pointing out whether the Turkish processor makes an initial syntactic analysis or uses the semantic and syntactic information provided by the verb simultaneously during processing, the effect of the linear or structural distance between the default, scrambled, and the LF position of a wh-phrase, and the effect of the type of the wh-phrase interacting with the verb type in processing. It is found that the Turkish processor does not make an initial syntactic analysis, but uses the verbal information in a parallel fashion. The linear distance is a major determinant in processing prevailing the structural distance, and, wh-arguments are processed more easily than wh-adjuncts except the case showing linear proximity with a transitive embedded verb.