Language 4

Question 1

Immediacy principle

Answer 1

When we first see or hear a word, we access its meaning from permanent memory, identify its likely referent, and fit it into the syntactic structure of the sentence

Question 2

Minimal attachment strategy

Answer 2

The theory that listeners and readers initially attempt to interpret sentences in terms of the simplest syntactic structure consistent with the input that’s known at the moment.

Question 3

Late closure

Answer 3

Keep working on/adding to the node you are currently in for as long as possible

Question 4

Two-stage model of parsing

Answer 4

1. Syntactic category of each incoming word is established
2. Based on the category labels, a syntactic structure is constructed

Question 5

Modular approach of parsing during reading/listening

Answer 5

Grammatical processing is independent from other language comprehension processes.

Question 6

Interactive approach of parsing during reading/listening

Answer 6

To parse a sentence readers/listeners use all information they have at their disposal from the start.
Grammatical processing is not independent from semantics.
Constraint based model.

Question 7

ERP for syntactic processing

Answer 7

P600

Question 8

P600 effect semantic bias

Answer 8

P600 effect for singular verb is still present in the semantic bias condition.
Semantics does not change the application of syntactic rules.
Evidence for modular approach

Question 9

Animacy

Answer 9

The quality in a noun of referring to something animate

Question 10

Mak, Vonk & Schriefers (2002) study results about animacy

Answer 10

Animacy provides a strong semantic constraint.
This semantic constraint overrules minimal attachment.
Semantic information does have a direct effect on parsing.

Evidence for constraint-based approach.

Question 11

Prosody

Answer 11

The rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech

Question 12

Steinhauer et al. (1999) study on prosody results

Answer 12

If the prosody indicates a specific syntactic structure, people start constructing that syntactic structure.

If subsequently, the sentence continues with a word that conflicts with the prosodically indicated syntactic path, that word evokes an increased N400 followed by a larger P600

Indicating syntactic and semantic processing problems.
Evidence for constraint-based model

Question 13

Types of constraints that influence parsing

Answer 13

• Semantic (computers stealing burglars)
• Discourse/pragmatic (two horses/two safes)
• Prosodic (pauses in the sentence)

Question 14

Two-stage syntactic model

Answer 14

• Modular
• One syntactic structure is started
• If that structure does not pan out -> new structure

Question 15

Constraint based syntactic model

Answer 15

• Interactive model
• Multiple syntactic structures are constructed at the same time
• Competition between structures

Question 16

Race-based parsing

Answer 16

• Modular
• Multiple syntactic structures are constructed at the same time
• Each structure receives more activation as the input matches
• One structure wins the race
• No competition between structures

Question 17

Modular vs constraint-based parsing

Answer 17

If constraint-based processing is correct then minimal attachment strategy is overruled by semantic context.
If modular syntactic processing is correct then minimal attachment strategy is automatically preferred.