When initial thematic role attribution lingers
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Sandra Villata
Abstract
In Italian, relative clauses are syntactically ambiguous between a subject and an object reading when the subject and the object have the same number. In the absence of disambiguating cues, the parser analyzes the sentence as a subject relative clause, as subject relative clauses are easier to process than object relative clauses. However, the object reading can be triggered by morpho-syntactic and syntactic cues, such as agreement and word order. In two self-paced reading experiments, we investigate the effectiveness of these cues in triggering an object reanalysis by comparing cues that appear at an early processing stage (inside the relative clause) and cues that appear at a late processing stage (after the relative clause). Results show that reanalysis is attained more effortlessly for early cues, while late cues appears to trigger little or no reanalysis, suggesting that the longer the processor has been committed to the incorrect analysis, the harder is to undo the initial commitment (digging-in effect; Tabor & Hutchins, 2004; see also Ferreira & Henderson, 1991). From these results, we argue that one critical factor that affects ease of parsing is the processing stage at which a cue is made available in the input. We conclude with a discussion on the self-organized sentence processing model (SOSP), which provides a framework to capture these effects.
Abstract
In Italian, relative clauses are syntactically ambiguous between a subject and an object reading when the subject and the object have the same number. In the absence of disambiguating cues, the parser analyzes the sentence as a subject relative clause, as subject relative clauses are easier to process than object relative clauses. However, the object reading can be triggered by morpho-syntactic and syntactic cues, such as agreement and word order. In two self-paced reading experiments, we investigate the effectiveness of these cues in triggering an object reanalysis by comparing cues that appear at an early processing stage (inside the relative clause) and cues that appear at a late processing stage (after the relative clause). Results show that reanalysis is attained more effortlessly for early cues, while late cues appears to trigger little or no reanalysis, suggesting that the longer the processor has been committed to the incorrect analysis, the harder is to undo the initial commitment (digging-in effect; Tabor & Hutchins, 2004; see also Ferreira & Henderson, 1991). From these results, we argue that one critical factor that affects ease of parsing is the processing stage at which a cue is made available in the input. We conclude with a discussion on the self-organized sentence processing model (SOSP), which provides a framework to capture these effects.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Relative clauses
- Case(mis)matching in German free relative clauses in the self-paced reading paradigm 11
- Integrating the filler 35
- When initial thematic role attribution lingers 57
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Empty categories
- Brain responses elicited by implausible fillers and filled object gaps in German 75
- Gone with a trace? 91
- Priming paradigmatic gaps 117
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Determiner Phrases
- A good-enough representation is not good enough 137
- Processing of pronoun gender by Dutch-Russian simultaneous bilinguals 153
-
Language impairment
- A syntactically based treatment of relative clauses 177
- Language impairment in an Italian child with Trisomy X 209
- Sentence reading in older adults with and without Mild Cognitive Impairment 239
- The comprehension of wh -questions and passives in German children and adolescents with Down syndrome 279
- Index 303
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Relative clauses
- Case(mis)matching in German free relative clauses in the self-paced reading paradigm 11
- Integrating the filler 35
- When initial thematic role attribution lingers 57
-
Empty categories
- Brain responses elicited by implausible fillers and filled object gaps in German 75
- Gone with a trace? 91
- Priming paradigmatic gaps 117
-
Determiner Phrases
- A good-enough representation is not good enough 137
- Processing of pronoun gender by Dutch-Russian simultaneous bilinguals 153
-
Language impairment
- A syntactically based treatment of relative clauses 177
- Language impairment in an Italian child with Trisomy X 209
- Sentence reading in older adults with and without Mild Cognitive Impairment 239
- The comprehension of wh -questions and passives in German children and adolescents with Down syndrome 279
- Index 303
