Language II:Syntax and Sentences Flashcards
The way ambiguity is resolved gives insight to how the mind represents language? Lexical ambiguity resolved by…
Lexical ambiguity
- Resolved by context
- Resolved by meaning dominance
There is also syntactic ambiguity
Syntactic Ambiguity? Sentences have structure
Sentences have structure
- Surface structure: the words we see
- Deep structure: the underlying syntactic structure
Surface structure and deep structure linked by application of “transformation rules” (Chomsky, 1957)
parsing? Syntactic Ambiguity
Process of determining deep structure from surface structure is known as parsing
“After the musician played the piano was wheeled off stage.”
How Does the Mind Resolve Syntactic Ambiguity?
Garden path sentence:
Initially seems to mean one thing but eventually means something else
Garden path model of parsing
- People use heuristics to infer structure during reading/hearing
- (heuristic = shortcut decision making)
- Late closure: new words default to current phrase (Will be on exam)
Temporary ambiguity: (resolved by end of sentence)
Parsing constrained by word meaning?
“The dog buried in the sand was hidden.”
“The treasure buried in the sand was hidden.”
Some words reduce ways to parse a sentence
Parsing constrained by story context?
“The horse raced past the barn fell.”
“Two jockeys raced their horses. One raced his horse through the garden, the other raced his horse past the barn. The horse raced past the barn fell.”
Parsing constrained by scene context? (Tanenhauset al., 1995)
Participants looked at a scene and listened to an instruction
IV: instruction ambiguity
DV: attention (eyetracking)
Ambiguous: “Place the apple on the towel in the box.”
Unambiguous: “Move the apple that’s on the towel to the box.”
Parsing constrained by scene context? (Tanenhauset al., 1995)
Participants looked at a scene and listened to an instruction
IV: instruction ambiguity
DV: attention (eyetracking)
Ambiguous: “Place the apple on the towel in the box.”
Unambiguous: “Move the apple that’s on the towel to the box.”
Changing the scene resolved the ambiguirty
Role of Imagery in Understanding Language? (Situation model)
Resolving ambiguity isn’t purely linguistic
The mind spontaneously imagines sentences
Situation model:
Imagined simulation of sentence
Stanfield & Zwaan(2001)
Participants read sentences and the viewed image
IV: match vs. mismatch of sentence/image
DV: RT (does image appear in sentence?)
Results suggest images created during reading
Real-time Language Processing?
Metusalemet al. studied real-time brain responses to unexpected language (2012)
Participants read a passage such as:
– “The band was very popular and Joe was sure the concert would be sold out. Amazingly, he was able to get a seat down in front. He couldn’t believe how close he was when he saw the group walk out onto the _____”
IV: “stage” vs. “guitar” vs. “barn”
DV: N400 ERP
ERP Component: N400 = Response to unexpected words heard or read - SURPISE!
~400 milliseconds after stimulus onset
Central parietal lobes
Results:
Related words (“stage”) don’t cause N400
Unrelated words (“barn”) cause N400
-> Suggests semantic priming affects processing in real-time
Related words that don’t make sense (“guitar”) also cause N400
-> Suggests fit into context processed quickly
Syntactic Priming?
Sentence structure can be primed
Important for writing: parallel structure
Example:
“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.” -> Feels Natural, Good Sentence
“Sometimes you win, but you lose sometimes.” -> Feels Unnatural, Bad Sentence
Parallel structure also facilitates conversation?
Branigan et al. studied how people choose syntax (2000)
- Participants had a “conversation” through a screen
- Take turns describing cards on the table
Results: Ps matched structure of partner’s sentence 78% of the time
-> Coordination of syntax simplifies conversation
