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Hebrew is generally considered a language with grammaticized resumption, in which resumptive pronouns (RPs) and gaps alternate freely in direct object position. The current study investigates whether and how speakers’ acceptability judgments of direct object RPs in Hebrew are affected by the position of the relative clause in the main clause and the modality in which the sentences are presented. A hundred and eight Hebrew speakers completed an acceptability rating survey which included sentences with relative clauses modifying the main clause subject, direct, or indirect object, with either a gap or a resumptive pronoun. Modality of presentation was visual for half of the participants, and auditory for the other half. Results show that Hebrew speakers consistently judge direct object resumptives as less natural than gaps, particularly when sentences are presented in written form. The position of the relative clause does not interact with the acceptability of the RP. We discuss how different processing considerations may have contributed to the pattern of results observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [⿢] Provides a detailed discussion of gaps and resumptive pronouns in Welsh unbounded dependencies. [⿢] Highlights problems for transformational approaches. [⿢] Develops an HPSG analysis in which resumptive pronouns are ordinary pronouns. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper explores the relation of grammaticality to acceptability through a discussion of the use of resumptive pronouns in spoken English. It is argued that undergeneration by some grammar of observed linguistic phenomena such as these is as serious a problem for theoretical frameworks as overgeneration, and that it has consequences for the way in which grammaticality and acceptability are to be construed. Using the framework of Dynamic Syntax, a theoretical account of relative clauses and anaphora construal is provided from which the use of resumptive pronouns in English emerges as a natural consequence. The fact that examples are considered by native speakers to be unacceptable in neutral contexts is argued to follow from pragmatic effects, explicable from a Relevance Theoretic perspective. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]