When is a wh-in-situ question identified in standard Persian?

Figures & data

Table

(1)	a. Mary carries a book.
	b. What does Mary carry?

Table

(2)	a	mærjæm	ʔæsr	bɑzi- kærd.
		Maryam	afternoon	play- do.PAST.3SG.
		“Maryam played in the afternoon.”
	b	mærjæm	kej	bɑzi- kærd ?
		Maryam	when	play- do.PAST.3SG.
		“When did Maryam play?”

Figure 1. The acoustic correlates measured in the pre-wh part of a declarative sentence. In the second panel, the solid line is the pitch contour and the dotted line is the regression line. “L” and “H*” represent the valleys and the peaks of the realised pitch accents. The second tier represents the word boundaries. In the pitch stylised panel, only the points designating L and H* are kept and the irrelevant points are deleted. The vertical side of the triangle shows the excursion size of the pitch accents which is computed by subtracting the F0 value of H* (the peak of the accent) from the F0 value of L (the valley of the accent). The non-stylised pitch contour is presented along with the regression line.

Figure 2. The acoustic correlates measured in the pre-wh part of a question. In the second panel, the solid line is the pitch contour and the dotted line is the regression line. “L” and “H*” represent the valleys and the peaks of the realised pitch accents. The second tier represents the word boundaries. In the pitch stylised panel, only the points designating L and H* are kept and the irrelevant points are deleted. The vertical side of the triangle shows the excursion size of the pitch accents which is computed by subtracting the F0 value of H* (the peak of the accent) from the F0 value of L (the valley of the accent). The non-stylised pitch contour is presented along with the regression line.

Table

(3) Subj^6	Adv	Wh-phrase	Verb
(4) Subj	Adv	ADO/IDO/AdjT/AdjM/AdjP	Verb

Table

(5) a.	mohæmædʔæmin	pæriruz	ʔæsr	ʃenɑ- kærd.
	Mohamadamin	two days ago	afternoon	swim- do.PAST.3SG
	‘Mohammadamin swam in the afternoon two days ago.’
b.	mohæmædʔæmin	pæriruz	kej	ʃenɑ- kærd?
	Mohamadamin	two days ago	when	swim- do.PAST.3SG
	‘When did Mohamadamin swim two days ago?’

Figure 3. The seven gates of a declarative stimulus. The “L” and “H*” represent the valleys and the peaks of the realised pitch accents. The other tiers represent the gate boundaries. The letter g represents the word gate and the number designates the gate number.

Figure 4. The seven gates of a question stimulus. The “L” and “H*” represent the valleys and the peaks of the realised pitch accents. The other tiers represent the gate boundaries. The letter g represents the word gate and the number designates the gate number.

Table

(6)	a. mohæmædʔæmin   pæriruz
	“Mohammadamin      two days ago”
	b. mohæ  | mæd  | ʔæ  | min  | pæ  | ri  | ruz
	g1    | g2   | g3    | g4  | g5   |g6   | g7

Table 1. Perception of intended sentence type across gates and sentence type.

		Correct		Incorrect		Missing cases		Total
Gate number	Sentence type	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
Gate 1	Declaratives	325	81.25	69	17.25	6	1.5	400	100
	Wh-questions	279	69.75	119	29.75	2	0.5	400	100
Gate 2	Declaratives	352	88.00	47	11.75	1	0.25	400	100
	Wh-questions	317	79.25	82	20.50	1	0.25	400	100
Gate 3	Declaratives	359	89.75	40	10.00	1	0.25	400	100
	Wh-questions	329	82.25	71	17.75	0	0	400	100
Gate 4	Declaratives	369	92.25	29	7.25	2	0.5	400	100
	Wh-questions	345	86.25	55	13.75	0	0	400	100
Gate 5	Declaratives	363	90.75	31	7.75	6	1.5	400	100
	Wh-questions	346	86.50	54	13.50	0	0	400	100
Gate 6	Declaratives	379	94.75	21	5.25	0	0	400	100
	Wh-questions	345	86.25	53	13.25	2	0.5	400	100
Gate 7	Declaratives	384	96.00	16	4.00	0	0	400	100
	Wh-questions	348	87.00	51	12.75	1	0.25	400	100
CUV	Declaratives	398	99.50	2	0.50	0	0	400	100
	Wh-questions	390	98	8	2	0	0	400	100

Note: CUV = Complete unambiguous version of the stimuli.

Figure 5. Mean Aʹ scores across gates. CUV stands for complete unambiguous version of the stimuli.

Table 2. Results of pairwise comparison tests for response accuracy differences between gates (the result is based on Bonferroni correction test).

	p value
Gates	Gate 1	Gate 2	Gate 3	Gate 4	Gate 5	Gate 6	Gate 7	CUV
Gate 1		.000*	.000*	.000*	.000*	.000*	.000*	.000*
Gate 2	.000*		.154	.006*	.005*	.001*	.000*	.000*
Gate 3	.000*	.154		.663	.607	.013*	.006*	.000*
Gate 4	.000*	.006*	.663		1.000	1.000	1.000	.001*
Gate 5	.000*	.005*	.607	1.000		1.000	.092	.000*
Gate 6	.000*	.001*	.013*	1.000	1.000		1.000	.030*
Gate 7	.000*	.000*	.006*	1.000	.092	1.000		.036*
CUV	.000*	.000*	.000*	.001*	.000*	.030*	.036*

Note: *p < 0.05.

CUV = Complete unambiguous version of the stimuli.

Figure 6. Mean reaction time (in seconds) across gates. CUV stands for the complete unambiguous version of the stimuli.

Table 3. Mean reaction time (and standard deviation) (in s) for declaratives and wh-questions across gates.

		Reaction time
Gate number	Sentence type	Mean(SD)
Gate 1	Declaratives	1.40 (0.32)
	Wh-questions	1.48 (0.32)
Gate 2	Declaratives	0.67 (0.15)
	Wh-questions	0.71 (0.18)
Gate 3	Declaratives	0.53 (0.16)
	Wh-questions	0.54 (0.17)
Gate 4	Declaratives	0.41 (0.18)
	Wh-questions	0.46 (0.17)
Gate 5	Declaratives	0.28 (0.22)
	Wh-questions	0.39 (0.21)
Gate 6	Declaratives	0.29 (0.23)
	Wh-questions	0.31(0.19)
Gate 7	Declaratives	0.16 (0.30)
	Wh-questions	0.31 (0.22)
CUV	Declaratives	0.02 (0.29)
	Wh-questions	0.07 (0.25)

Note: CUV = Complete unambiguous version of the stimuli.

Figure 7. Mean confidence rating across gates. CUV stands for complete unambiguous version of the stimuli.

Table

1.	kej	mærjæm	bɑzi- kærd?
	when	Maryam	play-do.PAST.3SG.
	“When did Maryam play?”