John Benjamins Publishing Company
How linear distance and structural distance affect the processing of gap-filler dependencies in head-final relative clauses
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Abstract
For sentences involving long-distance dependencies like relative clauses (RCs), there are two ways to view the distance between the head noun and the gap. One is the linear way and the other is the structural way. This study examines the respective roles of linear distance and structural distance and their interaction in processing long-distance dependencies in head-final RCs where the gap precedes the head noun. We measured Mandarin speakers’ eye-movements on reading sentences with subject-gap RCs in pseudo-cleft constructions. Overall, the findings suggest that structural distance affects the initial stage of processing and it interacts with linear distance, and that the factor of linear distance might need to be reconsidered in the processing of gap-filler dependencies in head-final RC structures.
Abstract
For sentences involving long-distance dependencies like relative clauses (RCs), there are two ways to view the distance between the head noun and the gap. One is the linear way and the other is the structural way. This study examines the respective roles of linear distance and structural distance and their interaction in processing long-distance dependencies in head-final RCs where the gap precedes the head noun. We measured Mandarin speakers’ eye-movements on reading sentences with subject-gap RCs in pseudo-cleft constructions. Overall, the findings suggest that structural distance affects the initial stage of processing and it interacts with linear distance, and that the factor of linear distance might need to be reconsidered in the processing of gap-filler dependencies in head-final RC structures.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
- Subjecthood in Chinese 23
- Characteristic syntactic patterns of Mandarin Chinese 49
- The origins of Sinitic 73
- Classifier choices in discourse across the seven main Chinese dialects 101
- The painted word 127
- Tone realization in younger versus older speakers of Nanjing dialect 147
- Evaluating the emergence of [ʋ] in modern spoken Mandarin 171
- The semantic constraints on the verb + zhe nouns in Mandarin Chinese 189
- The semantic type system of event nouns 205
- Semantic reanalysis in grammaticalization in Chinese 223
- How linear distance and structural distance affect the processing of gap-filler dependencies in head-final relative clauses 247
- Variation in Mandarin Tone 3 Sandhi 271
- The role of instruction in developing pragmatic competence in L2 Chinese 293
- Author index 309
- Subject index 311
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
- Subjecthood in Chinese 23
- Characteristic syntactic patterns of Mandarin Chinese 49
- The origins of Sinitic 73
- Classifier choices in discourse across the seven main Chinese dialects 101
- The painted word 127
- Tone realization in younger versus older speakers of Nanjing dialect 147
- Evaluating the emergence of [ʋ] in modern spoken Mandarin 171
- The semantic constraints on the verb + zhe nouns in Mandarin Chinese 189
- The semantic type system of event nouns 205
- Semantic reanalysis in grammaticalization in Chinese 223
- How linear distance and structural distance affect the processing of gap-filler dependencies in head-final relative clauses 247
- Variation in Mandarin Tone 3 Sandhi 271
- The role of instruction in developing pragmatic competence in L2 Chinese 293
- Author index 309
- Subject index 311
