Resumptive pronouns form on-line dependencies with fillers in English: Evidence from the Maze task

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.