Processing long-distance wh-dependency in the Kyengsang dialect of Korean: an ERP study.

Overview

1. Department of English Language and Literature, Dongguk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Abstract

Kyengsang Dialect Korean (KDK) is a wh-in-situ language that morphologically distinguishes content (or wh-) and polar questions via sentence-final question particles (QPs). This study investigates how KDK comprehenders build dependencies between wh-indeterminates and QPs, and how they compute question–answer concord. Two experiments−such as acceptability judgments and event-related potentials (ERPs) − tested sensitivity to feature matching and locality constraints. In the acceptability task, speakers showed robust interactions between QP type and wh-licensing configuration, with additional degradation in island environments. These patterns indicate that dependency resolution is guided by morpho-syntactic agreement while remaining sensitive to structural constraints, even in the absence of overt wh-movement. ERP recordings revealed three dissociable signatures that map onto successive stages of dependency formation. First, a right anterior negativity (RAN) emerged for feature mismatch between a wh-indeterminate’s [+WH] feature and a polar QP, consistent with the rapid detection of illicit licensing. Second, a left anterior negativity (LAN) indexed increased working-memory costs when the [+WH] feature had to be maintained or retrieved across an island boundary. Third, an extended anterior negativity (EXAN) reflected ongoing feature-match monitoring under question–answer discord. Together, the behavioral and neural results suggest that KDK speakers actively maintain and retrieve the [+WH] feature of an in-situ wh-indeterminate to establish syntactically licensed dependencies with matrix QPs, including configurations that challenge locality. Comparisons with Japanese and with wh-fronting languages (e.g., English/German) indicate that KDK engages similar incremental, feature-driven mechanisms for dependency resolution. The findings support a feature-based model in which the parser predicts and matches [+WH] with the appropriate QP at the earliest opportunity, providing neurocognitive evidence that wh-in-situ processing parallels filler–gap computation in wh-movement languages.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

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Data

Datasets cited

• osf:3pk7e, at OSF; found in “Data availability statement”

Data availability statement

The datasets and results for this study can be found in the OSF: https://osf.io/3pk7e/overview?view_only=e6e48998c7614163b8fa1aa44fedfe48.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

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Version 1, 29 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, pages, dates, 2 authors, 6 keywords, 58 references.

Cite

This paper

Chung, W., & Koo, K. (2026). Processing long-distance wh-dependency in the Kyengsang dialect of Korean: an ERP study. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 20, 1774932. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2026.1774932

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