Functional theories of island phenomena: The case of Japanese

This paper examines island effects in Japanese in four extraction types -relativization, topicalization, postposing, and wh-question formation - in terms of the "aboutness" condition claimed by Haig (1996). The condition is supported for relativization and topicalization; however, further specification is necessary for postposing and wh-question formation. It is also demonstrated that the proposed construction-specific conditions are all related to the same cognitive theory of island phenomena (Deane 1991), which reflects the mechanism of attention and short-term memory. The cognitive description thus provides insights as to why there are island effects in a putative "island-free" language.