Teaching English as a Foreign Language Journal
ISSN 2961-
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Exploring the subject, adjunct and Wh-island constraints in the usage of English in some selected Nigerian newspapers Lynda Chinenye Ambrose a,1,*.
Stela Igene b,2 Western Delta University.
Oghara.
Delta State.
Nigeria University of Benin.
Benin City.
Edo State.
Nigeria Elixirlove04@gmail.
com *.
2 igenestella@yahoo.
* corresponding author
ARTICLE INFO
Article history Received 13 January 2022 Revised 29 February 2022 Accepted 15 March 2022 Keywords English Nigerian newspapers Syntactic Constraints ABSTRACT This paper explores the subject, adjunct and Wh-island constraints in the usage of English in some selected Nigerian newspapers.
The purpose is to know the extent to which these constraints have adapted to the Nigerian English.
This study is based on the same code which is English language but of different varieties such as Nigerian English and English by the native speakers.
This research is qualitative in nature, it is based on textual analysis, data were purposively sampled from the reportage columns in some selected Nigerian newspapers such as the interview The theoretical framework used in this study is the Chomskyan Principles and Parameters theory with a focus on movement and bounding theories.
Findings show that writers of Nigerian newspaper columns use the subject island, adjunct island and wh-island constraints sparingly and this shows a tactful attempt to avoid expressions which permits long distant wh- movement in order not to violate the subjacency conditions and syntactic constraints.
Due to the tactful avoidance, this paper recommends that complex syntactic structures should be thought extensively at all stages in the Nigerian classrooms to enable L2 learners of English gain adequate competence and performance of the language.
This is an open access article under the CCAeBY-SA license.
How to Cite: Ambrose.
& Igene.
Exploring the subject, adjunt and Wh-island constraints in the usage of English in some selected Nigerian newspapers.
Teaching English as a Foreign Language Journal, 1.
, 42-55.
Introduction Syntactic Island constraints remain a core in syntactic studies to enable L2 learners of English gain adequate competence and performance of the English constructions, just like the ideal native speakers do.
This study has been necessitated by the fact that studying complex syntactic constraints can be onerous as stated by Phillips .
This on itself makes it tasking and difficult for the l2 learners to gain adequate competence and performance of the island constraints understudy.
Moreover.
Chomskyan approach to linguistic studies, especially syntax, has been over the years riddled with abstract representations which makes it impossible to assimilate his transitory syntactic models yet, it is a fully adequate grammar which typically explores the concept of the Universal grammar and its markedness.
It is important to note that subjacency/island constraints are typically based on locality movement and when movement takes place within a sentence, what happens is transformation.
The subjacency/ island constraints are not usually practical constructions on their own but are conditions/ constraints https://doi.
org/10.
12928/tefl.
http://journal1.
id/index.
php/tefl/index tefl@mpbi.
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Teaching English as a Foreign Language Journal Vol.
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respectively that push or control movement in a syntactic structure.
island constraints work in line with Chomskyan subjacency conditions.
In linguistics, these island constraints and subjacency conditions have to do with that element which stays or is bound to a constituent.
Ouhalla .
further explains that subjacency derives its effects from three conditions: .
cyclicity condition, i.
Wh-island condition, .
the complex noun phrase (CNPC).
Some examples from Ouhalla .
Which car [IP]did you think [CP ti .
[(LP] John would fix tiA ? CP .
hich ca.
IP[ do you wonder [CP when [IP John will fix tiA 1 CP.
hich car have [IP] you met [DP) someone [CP who [IP] can fix ti 1d?[ CP which car did [IP] you hear [(DP] the rumour [CP ti that [IP] Bill fixed tiA While explaining those sentences.
Ouhalla begins with the cyclicity condition as shown in 1a, subjacency forces movement of the wh-phrase from the embedded clause to the higher clause to operate in two steps, i.
successive cyclically.
Each step crosses only one bounding node, namely IP.
This negates the fact that movement of the wh- phrase to the root clause directly such as (Auwhich car, is what you think that John would fix tiAA.
in a single step would result in crossing two IP nodes the embedded IP and the root IP are therefore excluded.
This is the reason the subjacency derives the cyclic effect of wh-movement.
In a simple explanation, the cyclic effect entails movement / crossing one step at a time before another and still maintaining a grammatical effect.
In other words.
Authe cyclicity condition imposes a successive cyclic derivation on .
nstances of lon.
wh-movement, with each step targeting the nearest spec CP PositionAy (Ouhalla 1.
Sentence 1b illustrates the wh Aeisland constraints.
It is obvious that this condition reduces to the cyclicity because in a Auwh- island construction, an element cannot be moved anyhow.
In 1b, the spec.
CP of the embedded clause is filled.
The AowhAo phrase is forced to move directly to the root clause in a single step, thereby crossing two IPs .
ounding node.
The complex noun phrase condition illustrated in 1c and 1d also reduces to subjacency.
In 1c, the wh-phrase is forced to move in a single step to the root clause, thereby crossing two IPs .
ounding node.
The concept of constraint is really complex to study, this idea was explicated by Phillips .
, who states that Aunatural language grammars would probably be simpler if there were no island constraints.
Ay Phillips claimed that they are Auobscure and often complex and present a potentially daunting challenge for language learners.
Ay 1sland constraints explicate such structures that are isolated from the entire sentence because of some rules.
these rules are often embedded as AomovementsAo in grammar, and these movement are restricted based on the nature of boundedness.
Falk .
studied the island constraints and categorized them as AoAoeither pragmatically driven or syntactically Ay His major focus was on the unparallel prominence condition analysis to justify the grammaticality of complex noun phrase constraints (CNPC), thus, he investigated the Iraqi Arabic Falk found that AoAoregardless of the syntactic identity of Aowhat,Ao the crucial point is that the construction (Iraqi sentence.
obey the complex noun phrase constraints (CNPC).
AoAo Iraqi Arabic English translations Mona it manna tis tiri se no? --------Ie Mona hoped to buy what? What did Mona hope to buy? Erteschik-Shir .
explored the CNPC in Danish and observed that the judgments on CNPC violations match the pragmatic status of the said language, they found that AoAothe CNPC as it applies to relative clause has undergone grammaticalization in English and not in Danish.
AoAo Some examples given in Danish by Erteschik-Shir are:
Ambrose.
& Igene.
(Exploring the subject, adjunt and Wh-island constraint.
Teaching English as a Foreign Language Journal Vol.
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Danish
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English translations Dethargeg drill etange hargjort -------Ie That have I made fun of many who have done.
----Ie That.
I have made fun of many have .
Carnie .
explored subjacency/MLC .
inimal link conditio.
effects in Mandarin Chinese.
He found that Aowh-phrase move just as in English, but they move covertly that one does not hear the AoAo This means that the movement is implied even though it is not syntactically Carnie compared two hypotheses, one is the covert movement hypothesis which he observed that (Mandarin Chinese wh- phrase move just as in English but they move covertl.
The other hypothesis, simply observed that wh-phrases do not move in Mandarin.
His argument was that Aoisland effects are seen in English precisely because there is movement.
Ay Carnie also concludes that Autoo long a movement violating subjacency causes the sentence to be ill- formed.
Ay This long movement of the wh-phrase or word is what second language learners of English avoid but it is important to study this complexity in syntactic constructions to avoid violations in subjacency conditions and maintain an island constraint effect.
CarnieAos idea was that when there is no movement, obviously, no violation of the subjacency condition will occur.
He further expatiates his findings using these sentences in Mandarin Chinese.
Mandarin Chinese Hufei xiang-zhidaowei shnme shengi? English translations ----Ie Hufei want to know who why get angry.
----IeFor what reason .
does Hufei wonder who gets angry ti? Bruhn .
explored LF .
ogical for.
wh- movement in Mongleng.
Mongleng is a language of the Hmong people of Laos in Thailand and Vietnam.
He explained that Mongleng is a wh-in- situ language and utilizes no wh-particle to type its wh question.
He further explained that with matrix verb AopaubAo .
, long distance readings are unavailable or marginal.
DanielAos focus was on the non-bridge verb with complement.
He explained that English and German, in constrast to Mongleng, utilize overt fronting of wh-constituents to form wh-questions and that AoCNP.
Adjunct island, clausal subject island and wh island which exist in English are also present in German.
AoAo Mowarin and Oduaran .
studied constructive inquiry into wh-interrogative in English and Nigerian Pidgin.
Their focus was on the wh-words/phrases that function as wh-markers in the two languages with highlights on the derivations of wh- interogation in direct and embedded clauses and, the constraints surrounding each derivation.
They explain that there are two types of movement in English, which are: .
Head-to-head or head movement.
Operator movement or movement.
However, according to them.
AuNigerian Pidgin bestrides the two cross linguistic variations of whmovement since it involves both the overt wh- movement and also occur in- situ like the Chinese/Japanese.
AoAo Mowarin and Akpofure stated further that Auwh-in-situ questions in Nigerian pidgin NP .
oun phras.
are quite different from those of English which occur only in echoic Ay Cheng and Rooryck .
investigated French language and found that AoFrench employs optional wh-movement in questions and in- situ-wh-arguments are not allowed inside islands such as.
CNP .
omplex noun phras.
AoAo Akira and Yoshida .
, also studied the Japanese language and observed that.
AoAoJapanese exhibit wh- island effects.
AoAo This means that there is obvious wh movement in Japanese.
Bruening and Tran .
studied the Vietnamese, examining the complex noun phrase, clausal subject island and adjunct islands.
They presented two types of wh-in-situ questions in the said language claiming that AoAoone type is immune to Islands while the second type is sensitive.
AoAo Ambrose.
& Igene.
(Exploring the subject, adjunt and Wh-island constraint.
ISSN 2961-9963 Teaching English as a Foreign Language Journal Vol.
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Megerdomain and Ganjavi .
, studied eastern Armenian and Persian languages with a focus on clausal subject islands and wh- islands.
they found that Auboth languages utilize optional whmovement and that they are sensitive to islands, but, unexpectedly, wh-in- situ shares this Ay Uwalaka .
investigated the wh-movement in Igbo, a language spoken in the eastern part of Nigeria.
She found that the Igbo language presents the LF wh-movement .
n-sit.
and also presents the syntactic wh-movement.
Okeke .
, in line with Uwalaka, also examined traces in the Igbo language especially those associated with wh- and NP- movements using the theoretical framework of ChomskyAos Revised Extended Standard Theory (REST).
Okeke observes that Igbo allows a proposed wh-phrase to co-occur with an overt complementiser (CP) inwh-direct He also states that the Igbo wh- phrases can remain in- situ and can also move to a clausal initial position.
Stating further.
Okeke observes that a situation of moved wh-phrase to a clausal initial position such as these examples in Igbo sentences below where example .
is a case of LF .
ogical for.
- movement.
However, from the scholarly reviews above, apart from linguists such as Bruhn .
who investigated island constraints in German and English.
Cheng and Rooryck .
who investigated island constraints in French and Macaulay and Oduaran .
who worked on wh-interrogative in Nigerian Pidgin, others explored the syntactic island constraints in notable indigenous languages.
Investigating the indigenous languages will definitely show a -clear-cut area of divergence and convergence of the island constraints because the constraints are predicated upon English of the native speakers.
However, this study is based on the same code which is English but of different varieties i.
Nigerian English.
Nigerian Pidgin among others, no sufficient research has explored subject, adjunct and wh- island constraints in the usage of English in some selected Nigerian newspapers to see the extent to which the Nigerians English has conformed to the complex syntactic constraints of the native speakersAo English.
1 Movement Theory and Transformations Akira and Yoshida .
explain that Aumovement is an operation that was introduced by transformational theories of generative grammar to characterize so-called displacement phenomena, as seen in wh-questions.
Ay Newmeyer .
, posits that there are three basic properties that characterize wh-movement constructions in language: .
there is a gap.
There is unboundedness.
There are constraints on the potential unboundedness.
Ouhalla .
explains that Aumovement as it is, is the traditional transformational means of overcoming the discontinuities associated with wh-fronting, topicalization, extra position, scrambling, inversion.
DP movement.
Heavy NP shift.
Quantifier raising.
L-Lowering.
V-raising Lraising.
Do support.
Ore Yusuf explain the concept of move U .
thus:Aumove anything (U) over a variable X or Y A move U .
here U could be a wh-phrase and NP.
U VP.
PP.
CP, indeed anything .
e XP) to the left, right, beginning or end of a phras.
Ay Chomsky .
explains this further by explaining that move has been used to replace other movement theories explicated within the P P theory.
This theory which is also labeled principles and parameters theory is a more advanced theory of universal grammar.
This structure represents the way grammar is organized in the theory as Chomsky posits.
Figure 1.
ChomskyAos D-structure Ambrose.
& Igene.
(Exploring the subject, adjunt and Wh-island constraint.
Teaching English as a Foreign Language Journal Vol.
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This further illustrates that at the D-structure in this PPT model retains most the features of deep structure in ST and D-structure in REST, the move-a also relates to them as well.
Consequently.
Dstructure and S- structure maintain their identities as they are in REST.
2 Island Constraints The island constraint is simply a list of stipulations and they sharply raise the question of whether it is possible to reduce them to fewer, deeper structural principle (Newmeyer, 2.
In other words, island constraints work in line with Chomskyan subjacency conditions.
It is obvious that some syntactic structures are islands.
Ross .
explicated this by stating that Aucertain syntactic structures are islands i.
e they are effectively isolated from the rest of the sentence.
They are in for the purpose of various kinds of rules.
Ay Ross .
further explains that these rules involve movement rules.
Typical examples are: whquestion formation .
hich involves the AumovementAy of wh-interrogative pronoun to the beginning of a sentenc.
and Relation Clause Formation .
hich has to do with the movement of relative pronoun to the beginning of the claus.
Ay Some examples are:
John gave a pen to Mary.
John gave Mary a pen.
John threw the pen to Mary John threw Mary the pen.
According to Ross, this kind of rule above is called a cyclic rule.
They are often governed by the Equi-Np Deletion and subject-raising are all types of cyclic rule.
It is important to note that cyclic rules have lexical exceptions and islands are not relevant concept because its scope is Examples of rules where syntactic concept of island is relevant are:
Freddy wants to start reading Daniel steelAos book What book does Freddy want to start reading? .
h-Question formatio.
Doe thinks you said that I heard that Kloe claimed that the US Army detests the new age The new age is the monster Aei who Doe thinks you said that I heard that Kloeclaimed that the US Army detests-I The idea of AoislandAo comes from the fact that in the iib, movement cannot occur over an island boundary, otherwise, the consequence will be ungrammatical.
Ross discussed several types of islands in his seminal dissertation in 1967.
They are grouped 1 Wh-Islands Wh Islands are weaker than adjunct islands, although the extraction is quite awkward most times, they are not necessarily considered to be ungrammatical by all speakers.
Examples:
Doe wonders where Erica went to buy a pair of socks.
?? What does Doe wonder where Erica went to buy -? .
his extraction seems margina.
Fred asked why John was waiting for Frank.
*Who did Fred ask why John was waiting Frank? The attempt to extract out of a wh-island Doe wonders where Fox went to buy the schoolbag *?? What does Doe wonder where Fox went to buy .
his extraction seems margina.
Ambrose.
& Igene.
(Exploring the subject, adjunt and Wh-island constraint.
ISSN 2961-9963 Teaching English as a Foreign Language Journal Vol.
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In sentence 1b, 2b and 3b, the attempt to extract an expression out of wh-island is unacceptable.
1b and 3b are strongly marginal, while 2b is unacceptable.
However, non-finite wh-islands are weak.
Santorini .
explains a possible derivation for wh-movement .
ong-distanc.
in Figure 2.
What did she claim that he was eating? Figure 2.
Derivation for wh-movement .
ong-distanc.
From the tree in Fig.
2, every trace on the DP node is an indication of a moved AowhAo which is or has become otherwise fronted.
Ouhalla .
on explicating the concept of long distant whmovement and subjacency conditions states that subjacency is basically Aua condition on movement .
ove Ae.
rather than a condition on representations derived by movement.
Ay It is partly due to the fact that it is a condition on movement that subjacency is sometimes thought to belong to a separate module of grammar called bounding theory.
2 Bounding theory There is no mention of boundedness in grammar without the mention of Aubarrier,Ay the concept of AubarrierAo and bounding node are similar.
They are all in a bid to restrict unnecessary movement in a clausal constituent.
Barriers are used in the definition of government and it is also used to replace the notion of bounding node in the definition of subjacency.
Bounding theory in relation to bounding node plays an important role in government and proper government of syntactic constituent.
It is also important to note that bounding nodes and barrier all work in line with subjacency.
IPs .
nflectional phrase.
are arguably seen as barriers and assume a bounding category as explained by Heageman .
a when will John fix the car? b who do you think John will fill the car? (CP when.
will (IP John fix the car t.
? An obvious explanation of the sentences mentioned is that from the actual kernel or basic sentence.
Aowhen Ao is generated, hence, the trace ti after the NP Ao the carAo or VP.
Aofix the car.
Ao However, the movement of AowhenAo crosses only IP ( INFL (TNS AGR).
But here, the IP is not a barrier and thus the wh- movement does not violate subjacency.
So it could be said that on the bases of short movement, most crossing of barriers or bounding nodes may not necessary affect or violate subjacency, however, a look at the examples 21 below, as explained by Heageman explicates this Ambrose.
& Igene.
(Exploring the subject, adjunt and Wh-island constraint.
Teaching English as a Foreign Language Journal Vol.
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ISSN 2961-9963
(When.
do (IP you ( VP think CP ti ( IP John will fix the car t.
)? In the above construction the ECP (Empty category principl.
has been violated, the intermediate trace is not theta-governed and therefore must be antecedent- governed at LF .
ogical for.
, in essence, two barriers intervene between the trace and its purported antecedent.
However, this use is marginal and conversationally acceptable, though grammatically, the empty space which leaves a trace that lacks an obvious co- indexation or antecedent government must be properly filled, such that this example:
When.
do (IP you ( VP think CP ti .
( IP John will fix the car t.
3 Subject Island In most subjects, the wh-movement is not .
r hardl.
According to Ivan and Kluendir, .
Ao AoNo elements can be extracted from a clause that functions as subjectAoAo That Sue went home is likely.
*Who is thati went home likely? Ae .
he extraction fails abov.
The story about Frank was false ?? Who was the story about i false? (This is margina.
That Sue is celibate is unbelievable *Who is that is celibate unbelievable? .
xtraction fail.
Consequently.
Anna and Marcel .
claim thatAunon-finite wh-islands are weak.
Ay 4 Adjunct Island This type of island is centered on adjunct clause.
Wh-movement cannot take place in an adjunct AoBecauseAo.
AoifAo, whenAo and relative clauses in most cases introduce adjunct clauses.
Examples:
John went home because she needed to do that? *What did John go home because? he need to do i? In the above b sentence, an attempt to move wh out of an adjunct clause fails.
However, according to Anna and Marcel .
, adjunct islands are strong islands.
John went out because Doe hurt him *What did John go out because.
In the above d sentence, an attempt to move wh out of an adjunct clause fails.
3 Use of English in Nigeria The controversy of the evidence of Nigerian English is a futile one, in the sense that AoNew EnglishesAo have emerged as a result of indigenization and nativisation of the English Language on a new soil.
Bamgbose .
attests to this when he opines that certain expression in our speech or writing is in Nigerian form found in British English.
Walsh states that the varieties of English spoken by educated Nigerians, no matter their language, has enough feature in common to mark off a general type, which may be called Nigerian English (Bamgbose, 2.
However.
Banjo .
states that Auit is important to note that the English Language is spoken by about 600 million people in the world, though only half of that number speak it as their mother tongue.
Ay In essence, the definition of New English would Auapply in every detail to English as a Second LanguageAy (Dadzie & Awonusi, 2.
According to Banjo .
, this Nigerian use of English has become a second language and it is marked by these circumstances: developed through the education system.
developed in an area where a native variety of English was not originally spoken.
used for a range of functions among the users.
become AolocalizedAo or AonativizedAo by adopting some language features of its own.
Ambrose.
& Igene.
(Exploring the subject, adjunt and Wh-island constraint.
ISSN 2961-9963 Teaching English as a Foreign Language Journal Vol.
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The basic argument here is that there exist as Nigerian English.
It is important at this juncture to mention that many scholars have attempted to state the sub-categories or varieties of the English spoken in Nigeria.
However, it is also important to note that explains that Aueducational parameter has proved much more productive.
This is because the type of English spoken and written by Nigerians manifestly varies according to the level of general education attained.
Research Method This research is qualitative, it is based on textual analysis where data were purposively sampled from the reportage columns such as interviews because they represent movements of the wh-words.
Excerpts drawn from these selected newspapers were sampled and analyzed using the rules of island constraints and subjacency mapped by bounding and movement theories.
The newspaper columns were thoroughly read to identify the constraints under study.
The syntactic island constraints were selected, highlighted and analyzed based on violations or non violations of each constraints.
Labeled brackets were used to further explain each syntactic constructions.
The scope of this study is limited to the subject island, wh- island and Adjunct island out of the seven island constraints identified by Ross .
, the other constraints are: subject island, wh- island, left branch island.
Adjunct island, complex noun phrase island, non-bridge verb island and co-ordinate structure island.
The data for this study were taken from the newspaper variety because they present factual events, news, interviews, reportage, from all facets of life.
These Nigerian based newspapers and magazines are The Guardian.
Vanguard.
Punch.
The Daily independence.
Daily post.
Allure vanguard and This day style.
spanning from 2011-2016.
The framework used in this study is the Chomskyan Principles and Parameters Theory popularly referred to as the Government and Binding Theory.
Within this study, the focus is on the movement theory/Bounding theory which is anchored in syntactic islands and subjacency conditions.
Findings and Discussion Adjunct Island Constraints This type of island is centered on adjunct clause.
Wh-movement cannot take place in an adjunct AoBecauseAo.
AoifAo, whenAo and relative clauses in most cases introduce adjunct clauses.
Szabolasi and Dikken .
like: John went home because she needed to do that? *What did John go home because? he need to do i? In the above b sentence, an attempt to move wh out of an adjunct clause fails.
However, according to Szabolasi and Dikken,.
adjunct islands are strong islands.
John went out because Doe hurt him *What did John go out because.
In d sentence, an attempt to move wh out of an adjunct clause fails.
Politics: S-court Aoll do justice- Okpara.
(Clifford Ndujide in an interview with Mr.
James Okpara, a lawyer.
As a lawyer, if you were to preside over the appeal, what would you have done? (Vanguard.
Feb 3, 2016.
The constraints on the adjunct construction is centered on the adjunct clause.
Wh-movement cannot take place out of an adjunct clause.
These include.
Aybecause,Ay Auif,Ay AuwhenAy and relative clauses which introduces adjunct clauses in most cases.
From the above data, it is clear that there is a careful attempt to avoid the violation of these said constraints.
The Wh-word has been moved directly to ask the intended question without using complex structures.
However, the subjacency condition has not been violated.
Ambrose.
& Igene.
(Exploring the subject, adjunt and Wh-island constraint.
Teaching English as a Foreign Language Journal Vol.
No.
March 2022, pp.
ISSN 2961-9963
SP.
IP.
ould you have done?]] Muyiwa Adeyemi in an interview with Alao Ae Akala AuWhat are those things you will do differently if given the chance to govern the state againAy (The Guardian Friday.
March 6, 2.
This construction above with the adjunct clause has been stated in a way to tactfully avoid the violation of the adjunct Island constraints.
However, the subjacency condition has not been violated 2 Subject Island In relation to Subject Island Constraints, in most subjects, the wh-movement is not .
r hardl.
According to Ivan and Kluendir, .
Ao AoNo elements can be extracted from a clause that functions as subjectAoAo That Sue went home is likely.
*Who is thati went home likely? Ae .
he extraction fails abov.
( The story about Frankwas false ?? Who was the story about i false? (This is margina.
That Sue is celibate is unbelievable *Who is that is celibate unbelievable? .
xtraction fail.
Consequently.
Anna and Marcel .
claim thatAunon-finite wh-islands are weakAy Law: distinction between barristers, solicitors getting blurred in UK, says Scholar Crisp.
(Joseph Onyekwere interview with the Dean.
Faculty of Law.
BPP University.
London.
Prof.
Peter Crisp.
AoAoWhat are the qualifying examinations which the solicitors do in order to be given the right of audience in court?AoAo (Guardian.
March 3, 2015.
The constraints on the subject island entail that the wh-movement is hardly possible in a clause that functions as subject.
In the above sentence, there is no violation of the subject island.
possible positive statement for this above question is:
The qualifying examinations which the solicitors do in order to be given the right of audience in court? If the subject .
was moved such as this example i below: It can be said to have violated the SI constraint.
What, are done in order to be given the right of audience in court? However, the sentence i above is an informal conversational construction, this makes it marginal, though not ungrammatical, but has violated the subject island.
This is because the clause that functions as subject which would have made the wh-word more meaningful has been moved.
The first wh-word AowhatAo occupy the spec .
positions, while the second wh-word AowhichAo occupy the CP position, in other words, there is no subjacency violation in the above construction.
Ambrose.
& Igene.
(Exploring the subject, adjunt and Wh-island constraint.
ISSN 2961-9963 Teaching English as a Foreign Language Journal Vol.
No.
Marrch 2022, pp.
SP.
IP.
re the qualifying examination.
CP.
hich the solicitors d.
IP.
n order to be given the right of audience in court?]]]] Interview with Oluwafeyijimi Sodipo (Miss Nigeria, 2.
AoAoWhat is one item of makeup that you canAot do without?AoAo(Tuesday Style.
May 20, 2012.
The sentence above has not violated the subject island constraints.
The subject .
ominal categor.
of the sentence above has not been moved to feature within the wh-question word.
such as this below.
What is it that you canAot do without?AoAo In ii above, the subject of the construction has been moved and replaced with the wh-word in the spec (CP) position.
However, this construction can be used, it is grammatical but marginally used, especially in a conversational context.
There is also non-violation of the sunjacency condition in the above as well.
SP.
DP.
s one item of makeu.
CP.
hat you canAot do without?]]] Interview with Chief Iwuanyanwu by Jude Opara (Saturday Vanguard Feb 6, 2.
AuHow Federal Government College Warri Changed my lifeAy In most subjects, wh-movement is hardly possible.
Subject Island constraints stipulates that no element can be extracted from a clause that functions as subject.
From the above, the subject island has not been violated because the wh-moved item is appropriately placed in its usual canonical CP The SI would have been violated if the moved item is this construction below:
*Whose - changed my life? Consequently, the Subjacency condition has not been violated in the initial construction.
Joseph Onyekwere interview with the Dean faculty of Law.
BPP University London Prof.
Peter Crisp.
AuWhat is your view about the separation of solicitors from the barristers in UK?AoAo (The Guardian March 3, 2.
Again, the subject Island has not been violated in the above construction neither has the subjacency condition too.
No element has been extracted from the above clause AoAoyour view about the separation of solicitorsAAoAo A violation would have been this construction below.
*What is yours- about the separation of solicitors from the barristers in UK? In the same interview with Prof.
Peter Crisp.
AyWhat are the qualifying examination which the solicitors do in other to be given the right of audience in court?Ay (The Guardian March 3, 2.
There is no violation of the subject island constraints and the subjacency condition in the above No extraction has been made out of the subject clause.
An extraction which will signal an ungrammatical sentence and an obvious violation of the SI could be this construction below.
Ambrose.
& Igene.
(Exploring the subject, adjunt and Wh-island constraint.
Teaching English as a Foreign Language Journal Vol.
No.
March 2022, pp.
ISSN 2961-9963
*What are qualifying-which solicitors doA? 3Wh-island constraints:
Wh Islands are weaker than adjunct islands, although the extraction is quite awkward most times, they are not necessarily considered to be ungrammatical by all speakers (Szabolasi & Dikken Examples:
Doe wonders where Erica went to buy a pair of socks.
?? What does Doe wonder where Erica went to buy -? .
his extraction seems margina.
Fred asked why John was waiting for Frank.
*Who did Fred ask why John was waiting Frank? The attempt to extract out of a wh-island 3 a.
Doe wonders where Fox went to buy the schoolbag *?? What does Doe wonder where Fox went to buy .
his extraction seems margina.
In sentence 1b,2b and 3b, the attempt to extract an expression out of wh-island is 1b and 3b are strongly marginal, while 2b is unacceptable.
However, non-finite whislands are weak.
Politics.
Governance and Development: Buhari too weak to rule, says Alao-Akala.
In an interview with MuyiwaAdeyemi.
AoAoI will compare what is happening to him now to what happened to him in 1983 when he became the Head of State.
AoAo(The Guardian.
March 6, 2.
Although this is not a moved wh-word which forms a question, but it is an example of a whmovement /construction.
Extraction of a wh-word out of a wh-construction looks quite awkward but not necessarily considered to be ungrammatical.
There are three wh-words in this construction, each occupying CP positions respectively.
However, there is a subjacency violation in the above because the successive cyclicity does not hold between the first wh-word and the second wh-word AowhatAo.
The second wh-word seem awkward and redundant.
The sentence could be this below.
I will compare what is happening to him to 1983 when he became the Head of State.
In this sentence ii above, the subjacency condition has been observed.
CP.
IP.
s happening to him no.
IP.
o what happened to him in 1.
CP.
hen he became the Head of Stat.
]] Muyiwa Adeyemi in the same interview with Alao Ae Akala.
Alao Ae Akala response to BuhariAos governance.
AuI will compare what is happening to him now to what happened to him in 1983 when he became the head of stateAy (The Guardian Friday .
March 16, 2.
Violation of the wh-Island constraints does not necessarily yield ungrammatical constructions.
Looking at this construction above, the moved wh-word may seem awkward but it is an acceptable construction, the wh island constraints has not been violated and the cyclicity effect has also been maintained hence there is no violation of the subjacency condition.
Nonye Odife comments on Financial Vanguards Ambrose.
& Igene.
(Exploring the subject, adjunt and Wh-island constraint.
ISSN 2961-9963 Teaching English as a Foreign Language Journal Vol.
No.
Marrch 2022, pp.
AuWho is deceiving who? It is better I keep my dollars with me than to freely give it to CBN, thuis is what you get when everyone relies on oil we put all our eggs in one basket.
AoAo(Vanguard Feb 22, 2.
Although this construction seems off the appropriate grammatical construction, it is passable within the discourse terrain, however, the moved wh word has not crossed more than one bounding node signifying that the subjacency condition has not been outrightly violated.
However, looking at the sentence pragmatically, these subjacency effect is taken on the bases of reanalysis and reanalysis is acase of subjacency that does not permit double extraction.
And, there is a constraint on reanalysis as subjacency.
This sentence however seem to have failed syntactically but not Ramon Oladimeji in an interview with the senior Advocate of Nigerai in the year 2000.
Chief Felix Fagbohungbe , comments on the ethics of legal profession and his views.
Ramon puts this question forward:
AuRecently there has been allegations of money exchanging hands between lawyers and judges, what is the limit of the relationship that a lawyer can have with a judge, especially bearing in mind that they are in the same profdfession?AoAo (Punch, 2010:.
Violation of the wh-island does not necessarily spell ungrammaticality, here in the construction above the subjacency condition has not been violated because the move wh Aeword is in its usual CP positions , however the that Aeclauses are placed in a way that it licenses grammaticality.
3 Discussions Writers of Nigerian newspaper columns avoid long wh movement and sparingly employ the adjunct island and subject island constraints in order not to violate the constraints.
However, taking a look at the subject island, wh-islands and adjuncts islands, it is obvious that the subject island restricts extractions out of a clause that functions as subject island constraints, this type of constraints is minimally used or violated in the Nigerian newspaper columns as shown in the The wh-island which is said to be weaker than the adjunct island, restricts movement out of wh construction although they are not necessarily considered as ungrammatical, they can appear awkward and it usage is minimal, thus, findings show a tactful attempt by the Nigerian newspapers columnists to not make expressions which permit long distant wh- movement in order not to violate the subjacency condition.
The adjunct island which is centered on adjunct clause entails that movement cannot take place in an adjunct clause.
Most often, these clauses are introduced by because, if, when and relative However, the adjunct clauses occur sparingly in the excerpts, this study reveals that there is a careful attempt at not violating the constraints of Adjunct Island in the selected Nigerian newspaper columns.
Conclusion It is clear that the level of variation between the syntactic performance and competence of the ideal native speakers of English and that of the near native speakers of English in Nigeria is Thus, the research consolidates the fact that the Nigerian English does not deviate out rightly from the complex syntactic structures of the ideal native speakers of English.
However, varieties in terms of syntactic representation may abound but there is no form of ungrammaticality This can be plausible based on Lamidi .
who opines that Authe average Nigerian user of English language avoids the task of errors and Aosounding Nigeria.
Ay Lamidi further concludes by stating that instead of deviating from the main, a Nigerian tags it accommodation.
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