Syntax encodes information structure: Evidence from on-line reading comprehension
Syntax encodes information structure: Evidence from on-line reading comprehension
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jml.2011.08.006
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发表时间：
2012-01-01
影响因子：
4.3
通讯作者：
Gibson, Edward
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Brown, Meredith;Savova, Virginia;Gibson, Edward
虽然人们认为，当给定信息先于新信息时，句子通常更容易处理，但仔细研究发现，这些偏好只在某些句法结构中表现出来。在这里，我们研究了给定信息和新信息的相对顺序（信息结构）对介词-宾语（PO）和双宾语（DO）与格句在线理解的影响。实验1表明，使用自定节奏阅读，在线理解DO结构比在线理解PO结构更困难。实验2评估了对带有动画主题的加句的理解，以评估这种相互作用的两个潜在来源：句法表示中编码的信息结构约束（论点结构假设）和词对词的偶然性统计（线性位置假设）。在实验2中，句法结构和信息结构的交互作用仍然存在。综上所述，这些结果表明句法表示可以在其论点上包含信息结构约束。(C) 2011爱思唯尔公司版权所有。
Although sentences are thought to be generally easier to process when given information precedes new information, closer examination reveals that these preferences only manifest within some syntactic structures. Here, we examine the consequences of the relative ordering of given and new information (information structure) for the on-line comprehension of prepositional-object (PO) and double-object (DO) dative sentences. Experiment 1 demonstrated using self-paced reading that the on-line comprehension of DO structures, but not PO structures, is more difficult with new-before-given information structure. Experiment 2 assessed the comprehension of dative sentences with animate themes to evaluate two potential sources of this interaction: information-structural constraints encoded within syntactic representations (argument structure hypothesis) vs. word-to-word contingency statistics (linear position hypothesis). Despite experiment-wise differences in word-to-word contingency statistics, the interaction between syntactic structure and information structure persisted in Experiment 2. Taken together, these results suggest that syntactic representations can include information-structural constraints on their arguments. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.