Ch. 6 Sentences

Question 1

Sentence Structure cliff notes online

Question 2

What is Parsing?

Answer 2

the process of assigning words to a phrase structure
ex. While Sarah bathed her baby played on the floor

Question 3

Sentence comprehension involves two processes…

Answer 3

1) syntactic analysis of sentence structure
2) semantic interpretation of sentence meaning

Question 4

Two models of sentence comprehension…

Answer 4

1) garden path model
2) constraint-based model

Question 5

What is the garden path model of sentence comprehension?

Answer 5

a two-stage model: (1) syntactic analysis; (2) semantic interpretation
we use heuristics (mental shortcuts) to analyze syntax quickly

Question 6

Heuristic 1 -
Heuristic 2 -

Answer 6

1) late closure
2) minimal attachment

Question 7

What is a garden path sentence?

Answer 7

One that deviates significantly from the expected structure, making it difficult to process
(while Sarah bathed her baby played on the floor
did Sarah bathe her baby? Who played on the floor?)

Question 8

What is Heuristic 1 - Late Closure?

Answer 8

a syntactic parsing strategy that continues to add new words to the current structure unless there is sufficient evidence that a new structure should begin

Question 9

What is Heuristic 2 - Minimal Attachment?

Answer 9

a syntactic parsing strategy that assumes the simplest possible sentence structure
(i shot an elephant in my pajamas…
who wore the pajamas?)

Question 10

What is high attachment?

Answer 10

a parsing strategy of attaching a prepositional phrase to the verb
(i shot an elephant in my pajamas…
hence, the speaker was wearing pajamas)

Question 11

What is low attachment?

Answer 11

a parsing strategy of attaching a prepositional phrase to the object
(i shot an elephant in my pajamas…
hence, the elephant was wearing the pajamas)

Question 12

High attachment has ___________ structure than low attachment. Hence, it’s considered minimal.

Answer 12

simpler

Question 13

Listeners will use either high or low attachment based on the _________.

Answer 13

context

Question 14

What is the constraint-based model of sentence comprehension?

Answer 14

the proposal that syntactic analysis and semantic interpretation occur simultaneously and influence each other
in other words, syntax and semantics constrain each other as the listener interprets the intended meaning of the sentence

Question 15

Constraint-Based Approach Analysis:
What does the visual world paradigm tell us? (context of the scene)

Answer 15

-eye movements change when information suggests a revision of the interpretation of the sentence is necessary
-linguistic and nonlinguistic information used simultaneously

Question 16

What is the visual world paradigm?

Answer 16

• apple on a towel, a pencil, another towel, and a box
• the ambiguous condition is “Place the apple on the towel in the box”
• interested in how frequently people looked to the wrong location (the towel)
• above 50% of the time this happened
• unambiguous: “put the apple that’s on the towel into the box”
  -second condition: apples on a towel and a napkin; it gives info on which towel to select
  -now, “on the towel” alone is enough information to know what to do

Question 17

What is syntactic priming?

Answer 17

-the tendency to repeat previously heard sentence structure
-supports the garden path model

Question 18

What is a lexical boost?

Answer 18

• an increase in syntactic priming when the verb is repeated in prime and target sentences
• supports constraint-based model

Question 19

What is cloze probability?

Answer 19

the likelihood that a person will complete a sentence with a particular word
(I take my coffee with cream and…
the cloze probability of answering sugar is nearly 100%)

Question 20

N400- Semantic Violations
ERP component elicited after ____________ ____________ stimulus.
“She spreads her toast with socks”

Answer 20

semantically inconsistent

Question 21

P600 - Syntactic Violations
ERP component elicited after ______________ _______________ stimulus.
“The broker persuaded to sell the stock”

Answer 21

syntactically inconsistent

Question 22

What is the Serial Model of Sentence Production?

Answer 22

all processing at one step needs to be completed before moving on to the next step

Question 23

What is the Parallel Model of Sentence Production?

Answer 23

processing occurs at one step simultaneously with same processing at other steps

Question 24

What is the Incremental Model of Sentence Production?

Answer 24

• processing at one step is still underway when processing at the next step begins
• most evidence supports the incremental model

Question 25

Explaining inconsistency in sentence production data…
__________ ___________ may bias particular planning scope
___________ ___________ may vary according to processing demands.
Different levels of ____________ may have different planning scopes.

Answer 25

experimental procedure; planning scope; processing

Question 26

check slides

Question 27

What is the intonational phrase boundary?

Answer 27

• a prosodic cue signaling the end of a syntactic phrase
• there’s a drop in pitch and lengthening of the final syllable

Question 28

What is prosodic bootstrapping?

Answer 28

• the use of prosodic patterns to identify syntactic structure
• young children’s sensitivities to prosody and syntax grow together

Question 29

Infants use pauses to detect phrase boundaries.
3-year-olds are sensitive to SLIDES

Question 30

What is syntactic bootstrapping?

Answer 30

• the use of syntactic information to infer word meaning

Question 31

Generativist approach model of syntax

Answer 31

• syntax acquisition is driven by innate mechanisms

Question 32

Poverty-of-the-stimulus argument

Answer 32

• the position that linguistic input children receive is insufficient for them to learn the language

Question 33

language acquisition device

Answer 33

hypothetical brain module containing universal set of grammar rules
guides language development

Question 34

usage-based framwork

Answer 34

• the position that a child uses general cognitive mechanisms like pattern detection and categorization
• gradually builds an understanding of the grammar of the language

Question 35

U-shaped learning curve for plural and past-tense inflections

Answer 35

• at first, children produce bothr egular and irregular forms correctly (walk-walked, go-went)
• later, overgeneralization - treating irregular words as if regular (walk-walked, go- goed)
• eventually, they sort out regular and irregular forms

Question 36

acquisition of third-person singular

Answer 36

• 2 year olds likely to say “There he goes” but “He go now”
• difficult to reconcile with rule-based account
• Seems to be based on ease of perception and production

Question 37

Collocation

Answer 37

• is a sequence of words that frequently go together
• Brush your teeth; Three blind mice
• Young children will use collocations, but say tooths or mouses in other contexts

Question 38

usage-based theorists view adult errors and incomplete sentences as ___________ to language learning.

Answer 38

unchanging

Question 39

______________ forms are structurally simpler

Answer 39

noncanonical

Question 40

noncanonical forms provide…

Answer 40

scaffolding for learning more complex structures

Question 41

children learn syntactic structures that are _____________ to them. (verbs important in driving development of syntax)

Answer 41

meaningful

Question 42

action verbs teach…

Answer 42

canonical word order - subject, verb, object
(Mommy likes flowers)

Question 43

Mental state verbs teach…

Answer 43

sentence embedding
(I know Mommy likes flowers)

Question 44

Passive voice

Answer 44

• often interpret passive as active: the cat was chased by the dog –> the dog chased the cat

Question 45

Truncated passives come _________ full passives.
(The window was broken; The window was broken by the boy)

Answer 45

before