Left dislocations and long topicalizations in Czech: An acceptability judgements study

Abstract

Summary This study investigates the acceptability of left dislocations (LD) and long topicalizations (LT) in Czech across different registers. While previous research has suggested a potential association between these constructions and specific language use situations, empirical studies examining distribution of LD and LT in Czech remain scarce. The objective of this study is to examine how the situational context influences the acceptability judgements of LDs and LTs. An online acceptability judgement study was conducted, involving 60 native speakers of Czech who assessed the acceptability of sentences containing LDs and LTs presented in various situational contexts. The LDs were evaluated in spontaneous, prepared, static, and dynamic situations, while the LTs were assessed in written formal and spoken informal contexts. Regression models were employed to analyze the collected data, revealing that both LDs and LTs generally had a negative impact on sentence acceptability compared to control sentences lacking these constructions. Importantly, the situational context significantly influenced the acceptability ratings, with LTs being notably less acceptable in written formal contexts and LDs showing lower acceptability in static contexts compared to the other situations. These findings underscore the influence of situational context on the acceptability of syntactic constructions in Czech, emphasizing the need for further research in this area.