Incrementality in Comprehension Speed and Accuracy.

Incrementality in Comprehension

Speed and Accuracy

Measures of Speed

• Measures of speed of processing– Speech-Shadowing:

– Eye-tracking

– Speed-accuracy Tradeoff (SAT)

– Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)

Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff (SAT)

McElree & Griffith (1995)

- grammatical- subcategorization- thematic- syntactic

Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)

s1 s2 s3

John is laughing.

Event-Related Potentials

• Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) are derived from the electroencephalogram (EEG) by averaging signals that are time-locked to a specific event.

• Scalp voltages provide millisecond-accuracy, promise detailed timing information about syntactic computation, plus information about amplitude and scalp topography

ERP Sentence Processing

• Developing understanding of N400 is informative

• Response to ‘violations’

N400

I drink my coffee with cream and sugarI drink my coffee with cream and socks

Kutas & Hillyard (1980)

Morpho-Syntactic violations

Every Monday he mows the lawn.

Every Monday he *mow the lawn.

The plane brought us to paradise.

The plane brought *we to paradise.(Coulson et al., 1998)

(Slide from Kaan (2001)

he mowshe *mow

P600


he mowshe *mow

P600

Left Anterior Negativity (LAN)


Neville et al., 1991

The scientist criticized a proof of the theorem.

The scientist criticized Max’s of proof the theorem.

500ms/word

Hahne & Friederici, 1999

Das Baby wurde gefüttertThe baby was fed

Das Baby wurde im gefüttertThe baby was in-the fed

Hahne & Friederici, 1999

ELAN

How Fast?

• Various types of evidence for processes above the word level within 200-400 msec (conservatively) of the start of a word.

• How are we able to compute so quickly?

• What is it that is computed so quickly?– Rough-and-ready structural analysis?

– Richer syntactic analysis?

Long-distance DependenciesBasic Paradigms

When are gaps posited?

Parsing wh-constructions: evidence for on-line gap location

Laurie Stowe (1986)

English Filled Gap Effect

who

My brother wanted to know

Crain & Fodor 1985, Stowe 1986


who

Ruth




who

Ruth

will




who

Ruth

will

bring gap




who

Ruth

will

bring

us


home to atChristmas

Slowdown


Readers slow down upon encountering an NPwhere a gap was expected, relative to a controlstructure, in which no gap was expected.

Stowe results

• My brother wanted to know…

…if Ruth will bring us home to Mom at Christmas.…who __ will bring us home to Mom at Christmas.…who Ruth will bring __ home to Mom at Christmas.…who Ruth will bring us home to __ at Christmas.

• Ruth us MomIF 661 755 755Wh-S -- 801 812Wh-O 680 -- 833Wh-P 689 970 --

Crain & Fodor 1985

• Filled-Gap Paradigm

– Who had the little girl expected us to sing those stupid French songs for __ at Christmas.

– The little girl had expected us to sing those stupid French songs for Cheryl at Christmas.

Garnsey et al. 1989

• ERP recordings, plausibility manipulation

The businessman knew which article the secretary called __ at home.The businessman knew which customer the secretary called __ at home.

N400 at called.

Argument Structure

remind

V NP

V NP IP

(Boland et al. 1995)

Argument Structure

Samuel asked whether Mark reminded them to watch the child.

Which child did Mark remind them to watch ___?

Which movie did Mark remind them to watch ___?

remind

V NP

V NP IP

(Boland et al. 1995)

Boland et al., 1995

1a. Which client did the salesman visit while in the city?

b. Which prize did the salesman visit while in the city?

2a. Which child did your brother remind to watch the show?

b. Which movie did your brother remind to watch the show?

Traxler & Pickering 1996

• Plausibility manipulation - eye-tracking– That’s the {pistol/garage} with which the heartless killer shot the hapless

man yesterday afternoon.

– That’s the {garage/pistol} in which the heartless killer shot the hapless man yesterday afternoon.

ERPs and Long-DistanceSyntactic Dependencies

Colin PhillipsNina KazaninaShani Abada

(Kaan, Harris, Gibson, & Holcomb, 2000)

Kaan et al. (2000)

WH Emily wondered who the performer in the concert had imitated for the audience’s amusement.

Control Emily wondered whether the performer in the concert had imitated a pop star for the audience’s amusement.

P600 reflects normal structure-building processes.

“P600 amplitude is an index of syntactic integration difficulty.”

P600 amplitude should covary with integration difficulty.

Experiment Design

a. Short controlThe actress wished that the producers knew that the witty host would tell the jokes during the party.b. Short WHThe actress wished that the producers knew which jokes the witty host would tell __ during the party.

c. Long controlThe producers knew that the actress wished that the witty host would tell the jokes during the party.d. Long WHThe producers knew which jokes the actress wished that the witty host would tell __ during the party.

Embedded Verb

The actress wished that the producers knew that the witty host would tell …The actress wished that the producers knew which jokes the witty host would tell…The producers knew that the actress wished that the witty host would tell …The producers knew which jokes the actress wished that the witty host would tell…

Sussman & Sedivy (2003)

(Sussman & Sedivy, 2003)

Where to look for gaps

‘Active’ Gap Creation

Filler vs. Gap-Driven Parsing

• Fodor 1978

– Gap-driven: construct a wh-dependency only once a ‘doubtless’ gap has been identified

– Filler-driven: construct a wh-dependency once a filler and a possible gap position have been identified

‘Active Filler Strategy’

• Active Filler Strategy (Frazier & Clifton, 1989: 95)

When a filler has been identified, rank the option of assigning it to a gap over all other options.

• Active Filler Strategy (Clifton & Frazier, 1989: 292)

When a filler of category XP has been identified in a nonargument position, such as COMP [complementizer], rank the option of assigning its corresponding gap to the sentence over the option of identifying a lexical phrase of category XP

Subject Gaps

• Most evidence from English involves complement positions of verbs

• Subject gaps in German & Dutch (e.g. Frazier, 1987)– Karl hielp de mijnwerkers die de boswachter vonden.

K helped the mineworkers who the forester found.pl

– Karl hielp de mijnwerkers die de boswachter vond.K helped the mineworkers who the forester found.sg.

Analyses of mean raw word-by-word reading time revealed no significant difference in reading time for 'Susan' between (2a) and (2b) but a significant difference between (2c) and (2d). The longer reading time for 'Susan' in (2c)was highly localised in that neither in the four-word adjunct region before,nor at the verb after, 'Susan' was there a significant reading time difference between (2c) and (2d). This highly localised effect will be taken as afilled-gap effect in the subject position after alternative explanations in terms of the frequency of use and/or markedness of the sentence structures involved, the noun phrase accessibility hierarchy and semantic/thematic processing have been considered and dismissed. Implications of the subject filled-gap effect for the debate between gap-based and gap-free accounts of sentence processing and for processing theories which claim to predict Stowe's original null finding will be discussed.

Examples:

(1) a. My brother wanted to know who Ruth will bring us home to at Christmas. b. My brother wanted to know if Ruth will bring us home to Mom at Christmas.

(2) a. That is the book which Susan asked her students not to quote from. b. That is the book from which Susan asked her students not to quote. c.That is the book which, for no apparent reason, Susan asked her students not to quote from. d. That is the book from which, for no apparent reason, Susan asked her students not to quote.

(Ming-Wei Lee, 2003)

Types of Dependencies

Gaps?

Competing Theories

What do Englishmen cook gap/trace/copy

What do Englishmen cook

Direct AssociationHPSG/GPSGCategorial GrammarDependency Grammaretc.

Indirect AssociationTransformational Grammar(--> Projection Principle)

Competing Theories

What do Englishmen cook gap/trace/copy

What do Englishmen cook

Direct AssociationHPSG/GPSGCategorial GrammarDependency Grammaretc.

Indirect AssociationTransformational Grammar(--> Projection Principle)

Attempts to distinguish between these theoriesusing evidence from language processing…

1. English Filled-Gap Effect

My brother wanted to know who Ruth will bring

us home to at Christmas

My brother wanted to know if Ruth will bring

us home to Mom at Christmas

(Stowe 1986)

1. English Filled-Gap Effect

My brother wanted to know who Ruth will bring

us home to at Christmas

My brother wanted to know if Ruth will bring

us home to Mom at Christmas

(Stowe 1986)

Surprise at pronoun following verb iscompatible with both theories!

2. Trace Reactivation Studies

Which boy did the old man from Osaka meet at the station?

(e.g. Nicol & Swinney 1989, Bever & McElree 1988, MacDonald 1989)



boy

girl

boy

girl

faster decision

same speed




boy

girl

boy

girl

faster decision

same speed


Both theories can account for reactivation at or after the verb!

Pickering & Barry 1991

3. Verb Position vs. Trace Position

(Pickering & Barry 1991)

give NP PP



give NP PP

To which child did the teacher give [a long speech about the importance of honesty] ___?



give NP PP


Various diagnostics indicate that the dependencyis formed at the verb, not at the trace position.



give NP PP


Various diagnostics indicate that the dependencyis formed at the verb, not at the trace position.

Still compatible with both theories!

WH

CP

C IP

VP

NP

V

…

WH

CP

C IP

VP

NP

V

…

Direct Association Gap-based Approach

gap

Effects at Verb Position

#1

#1

#2

Pre-Verbal Gap Effects

• The two theories could be distinguished by effects of dependency formation associated with argument positions that precede the verb of a clause.

• Filled-gap effect expected at pre-verbal position only under indirect association/gap-based theory.

Updates

Questions arising last week…

How General is Active Gap Creation?

Lee (2004)

• Subject filled gap effect

– That is the laboratory which (on two different occasions) Irene used a courier to deliver samples to __.

– That is the laboratory to which (on two different occasions) Irene used a courier to deliver samples __.

Intermediate Verb

The actress wished that the producers knew that the witty host would tell …The actress wished that the producers knew which jokes the witty host would tell…The producers knew that the actress wished that the witty host would tell …The producers knew which jokes the actress wished that the witty host would tell…

Argument Structure & Gap Creation

Stowe et al. (1991)

• Manipulating subcategorization frequency of verb

– The teacher wondered which book the students read quietly about.

– The teacher wondered which song the students read quietly about.

– The teacher wondered which patient the orderly hurried quickly towards.

– The teacher wondered which bed the orderly hurried quickly towards.

Pickering & Traxler (2003)

• Mean PP completion rate - 0.78– That’s the cat that the dog worried compulsively about __ after going to

the vet because of an injury.

– That’s the car that the dog worried compulsively about __ after going to the vet because of an injury.

• Mean PP completion rate - 0.12– That’s the general that the soldier killed enthusiastically for __ during the

war in Korea.

– That’s the country that the soldier killed enthusiastically for __ during the war in Korea.

Grodner, Gibson, & Tunstall (2002)

• Trueswell et al., 1994

– The defendant examined by the lawyer turned out to be unreliable.

– The evidence examined by the lawyer turned out to be unreliable.

• Grodner et al., 2002

– The witness who the evidence {that was} examined by the lawyer implicated seemed to be very nervous.

– The witness thought that the evidence {that was} examined by the lawyer implicated his next door neighbor.

Boland et al., 1995

1a. Which client did the salesman visit while in the city?

b. Which prize did the salesman visit while in the city?

2a. Which child did your brother remind to watch the show?

b. Which movie did your brother remind to watch the show?

Motivations

What is driving gap creation?

Two approaches for processing wh-phrases

Strategy-driven Approach:

Active Filler StrategyWhen a wh-phrase has been identified, rank the option of assigning it to a gap above all other options.

(Crain & Fodor 1985, Frazier & Clifton 1989, among others)

Principle-based Approach

Online interpretation of wh-phrases is driven by independently motivated grammatical requirements, e.g. thematic role assignment.

(Gibson 1991, Pritchett 1992, among others)

Two approaches for processing wh-phrases: head-initial languages

Strategy-based

gap

WH

CP

C IP

VP

NP

V

…

the first possible gap position = complement of the first verb

Grammatical principle-based

gap

WH

CP

C IP

VP

NP

V

…

the first possible gap position = complement of the first verb

Two approaches for processing wh-phrases: head-final languages

Strategy-based Grammatical principle-based

WH

C

CP

VP

IP

NP …

WH

C

V

CP

VP

IP

NP …

gap

gap V

CP

NPVP

The first opportunity to satisfy thematic requirements occurs at the embedded clause.

…

V

the first possible gap position

CP

Long-distance Wh-scrambling

Japanese wh-phrases are canonically in-situ, but they can be fronted by means of scrambling.

Dare-ni Taro-wa [Jiro-ga t atta-ka] itta.

Who-dat Taro-top Jiro-nom met-Q said

‘Taro said who Jiro met.’

Typing Mismatch Effects

Edson MiyamotoShoichi Takahashi

Question FormationJapanese uses question particles (Q-particles) to mark questions.

John-nom the book-acc read.John-nom the book-acc read-Q [yes/no question]

Sally-top John-nom what-acc read-declC said-Q [root question]‘What did Sally say that John read?’

Sally-top John-nom what-acc read-Q said [embedded question]‘Sally said what John read.’

Q-Particles

…John-ga hon-o

yonda-to (Declarative)

yonda-ka (Q-Particle)

…John-nom book-acc read

Q-Particles

…John-ga hon-o



Normally, a Q-particle is unexpected relative to the high frequency declarative marker.


Q-Particles

…John-ga hon-o



…John-ga nani-o




…John-nom what-acc read


Q-Particles

…John-ga hon-o



…John-ga nani-o




In a clause in which a wh-phrase is interpreted, the expectations are reversed.

…John-nom what-acc read


Design & Procedure

• 2 x 2 factorial design• 4 lists were created by distributing 24 items in a Latin

Square design• 48 filler sentences• Comprehension questions: matching a subject with a

predicate• Self-paced reading task, Moving Window display• 48 native speakers of Japanese

Self-paced reading task

----- --- --- ---- ---- --- ------ -------


どの子供に --- --- ---- ---- --- ------ -------


----- 叔母は --- ---- ---- --- ------ -------


----- --- 母親が ---- ---- --- ------ -------


----- --- --- ケーキを ---- --- ------ -------


----- --- --- ---- 焼いたと --- ------ -------


----- --- --- ---- ---- 台所で ------ -------


----- --- --- ---- ---- --- お手伝いさんに -------


----- --- --- ---- ---- --- ------ 知らせましたか。

Experiment 1: Results In-situ Condition

b. <INSIT+DECLC>

NP-top [NP-nom Wh-dat NP-acc V-DeclC] … Verb-Q

d. <INSIT+Q>

NP-top [NP-nom Wh-dat NP-acc V-Q] … Verb

In-situ

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Region

Reading Time

DeclC

QP

F1 (1, 47) = 5.5, p <.01 F2 (1, 18) = 2.8, p = 0.09

V-DeclC/Q

Miyamoto & Takahashi’s observation is replicated.

Experiment 1: Results Scrambled Condition

a. <SCRAM+DECLC>

Wh-dat NP-top [NP-nom NP-acc V-DeclC] … Verb-Q

c. <SCRAM+Q>

Wh-dat NP-top [NP-nom NP-acc V-Q ] … Verb.

Scrambled

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Region

Reading Time

DeclC

QP

F1 (1, 47) = 6.1, p <.01F2 (1, 18) = 5.6, p <.01

V-DeclC/Q

Readers also exhibit Typing Mismatch effect in Scrambled Condition.

Results: Scrambled Condition

• Readers create a gap position

in the embedded clause.

• Wh-phrase is associated with the first verb that readers encounter.

• This finding is expected under the grammatical principle-based approach.

NP-top

Verb

CP

gap

NP-nom

Verb

VP

WH-dat

Japanese Filled-Gap Effect

Position of the unexpected NP is before the verb.

Second NP-dat is unexpected if the first NP-dat has already been interpreted in embedded clause.

WH-dat

NP-top

CP

gap

NP-nom

Verb

VP

NP-dat

Slowdown

Verb


WH-dat

NP-top

CP

NP-nom VP

WH-nom

NP-dat

CP

NP-nom

Verb

VP

NP-dat

target control

gap

VerbNP-dat

Slowdown

Verb Verb


WH-dat

NP-top

CP

NP-nom VP

WH-nom

NP-dat

CP

NP-nom

Verb

VP

NP-dat

target control

gap

VerbNP-dat

Slowdown

Verb Verb

Kamide & Mitchell 1999


WH-dat

NP-top

CP

NP-nom VP

WH-nom

NP-dat

CP

NP-nom

Verb

VP

NP-dat

target control

gap

VerbNP-dat

Slowdown

Verb Verb

Japanese readers exhibit Filled Gap effect. Confirms that theyinterpret a sentence-initial wh-phrase in the embedded clause,before reaching the embedded verb (Region 7).

Filled Gap

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1200

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

filled

non-filled

F1 (1, 33) = 11.9, p <.01F2 (1, 19) = 6.4, p <.05

NP-dat

Comprehension accuracy: 86.3%

Verb

Sentence Completion Task

• Sentence fragments

– which man-DAT boy-NOM woman-NOM …

• In spontaneous completions, wh-phrase treated as long-distance scrambled 61% of the time

– Evidence:#1: Q-particles on embedded verb#2: Ditransitive embedded verb

How could this happen?

Structure building in Japanese

John-ga Mary-ni atta. -nom -dat met

John-ga Mary-ni atta

John-ga Mary-ni

• Incremental structure-building

N’

NP

attaV

NP Det N’

Det John-no [Case: Gen]

[Case: Gen]

attaV

[Case: Gen, Left]

• Feature-based left-corner parsing algorithm Schneider (1999)

John-no [Case: Gen]


John-ga

• Predicted head is projected.

Mary-ni

ExistingStructure

IncomingMaterial

[ T ]

[ T ]

Mary-ni

[Case: Dat]

[Case: Dat]

• Each word (head) has a bundle of features.

[Case: Nom, Left]

[Case: Dat, Left]

John-ga

[ T ]

[ T ]

Mary-ni

[Case: Dat]

[Case: Dat]

[ T ]

[Case: Dat]

[Case: Nom]

Schneider (1999)

ExistingStructure

IncomingMaterial

John-ga [T]

[T]

[T][Case: Dat]

Mary-ni[Case: Dat]

John-ga T'

TP

Tatta

Mary-ni attaatta


• Subsumption relation: predicted heads are replaced by licensing heads. Schneider (1999)

T

atta T[Case: Dat, left]

Parsing steps

When new material arrives, …

• Step 1: Replace the leftmost predicted head. ELSE

• Step 2: Merge the new material. ELSE

• Step 3: Build a new predicted head for the new material. [and return to Step 1.] ELSE

Insertion principle:Insert new structure to the left of all predicted

heads.

ExistingStructure

IncomingMaterial

C

[ X ]

[ X ]A

[ X ][ Y ]

[ Y ]B[ X ]A

[ X ][ Y ]

[ Y ]B

[ X ]

[ Y ]C


heads.

ExistingStructure

IncomingMaterial

C

[ X ]

[ X ]A

[ X ][ Y ]

[ Y ]B [ X ]A

[ X ]

[ Y ]

[ Y ]B

[ X ]

C

[ X ]

Incorrect word order!


heads.

ExistingStructure

IncomingMaterial

C

[ X ]

[ X ]A

[ X ][ Y ]

[ Y ]B [ X ]A

[ X ][ Y ]

[ Y ]B

[ X ]

C [ X ]

[Y] would never be confirmed!


heads.

ExistingStructure

IncomingMaterial

C

[ X ]

[ X ]A

[ X ][ Y ]

[ Y ]B[ X ]A

[ X ][ Y ]

[ Y ]B

[ X ]

[ Y ]C

Parsing a non-canonical word order

Dare-ni John-gaWho-dat John-nom

Mary-ga tdare-ni atta-ka sitteiru.

Mary-nom met-Q knows‘John knows whom Mary met.’

[Case: Nom, Left]

[T]

John-ga[Case: Nom] John-ga

IncomingMaterial

ExistingStructure

dare-ni

[T]

?

Dare-ni John-ga ...

who-dat John-nom … a. Build a predicted structure whose head is a possible licenser.

b. Add a feature on the potential scrambler, *[Category, T, Right]

If the current element is a potential scrambler,

dare-ni

John-ga[Case: Nom]

[T]

[T]John-ga

dare-ni

[T]

[Case: Dat]

[dare-ni]

[T]

[Case: Dat]

dare-ni [Case: Dat]

[dare-ni] [Case: Dat]

*[Category, T, Right]

[Case: Nom, Left]

[T]

John-ga [T]

http://tshirtgiant.site.yahoo.net/trv8001.html

Parsing steps

When new material arrives, …

• Step 1: Replace the leftmost predicted head. ELSE

• Step 2: Merge the new material. ELSE

• Step 3: Build a new predicted head for the new material. [and return to Step 1.] ELSE

• Step 4: Create a scrambling structure.

This is when unforced reanalysis of gap-creation occurs.

Mary-ga

dare-ni

John-ga

[T]

[T]

[T]

[T][Case: Dat]


Dare-ni John-ga Mary-ga …

who-dat John-nom Mary-nom …

The model can predict this reanalysis without any additional assumptions.

Insertion principle: Insert new material to the left of all predicted heads.

…

Unforced reanalysis

Mary-ga

dare-ni

John-ga

[T]

[T]

[T]

[T]

[Case: Dat]


…

Mary-ga

dare-ni

John-ga

[T]

[T]

[T]

[T][Case: Dat]


…

NP-subj

NP-subj

Ditransitive Verb

NP-dat

gap

Reanalysis as a last resort operation

Japanese readers prefer to interpret the dative NP as a matrix argument, preserving the initial attachment.

Kamide & Mitchell (1999)

Ditransitive Verb Transitive Verb Slowdown

John-ga kodomo-ni Mary-ga …

John-nom child-dat Mary-nom

ExistingStructure

IncomingMaterial

Mary-ga[Case: Nom]

[T]

[T]

[Case: Dat]

[Case: Dat]kodomo-ni

John-ga

[T][T]

[T]John-ga

[T]

[Case: Dat, Acc]

kodomo-ni

[T]

[T]

Mary-ga

[C]

[C]

[Case: Dat, Acc]

[Case: Dat, Acc]

Mary-ga

…

Parsing attachment and reanalysis

The same insertion principle is applied to both cases.

[T]

[T]

[Case: Dat]

[Case: Dat]kodomo-ni

John-ga

[T]

[T]

[T]John-ga

dare-ni

[T]

[Case: Dat]

[dare-ni]

[T]

[Case: Dat]

Mary-ga Mary-ga

Reanalysis is allowed. Reanalysis is avoided.

Traces (again)

WH

CP

C IP

VP

NP

V

…

WH

CP

C IP

VP

NP

V

…

Direct Association Gap-based Approach

gap

Effects at Verb Position

#1

#1

#2

Traces (again)

• Does pre-verbal dependency formation implicate gaps/traces?

– Yes!If direct association to verb requires presence of verb

– No!If verb position is built in advance of overt verb

More on the Importance of Dependency Completion

Frazier, Clifton & Randall 1983

• Null elements that could be trace or PRO

– The mayor is the crook who the police chief wanted __ to leave town.

– The mayor is the crook who the police chief wanted __ to leave town with __.

– The mayor is the crook who the police chief tried __ to leave town with __.

– The mayor is the crook who the police chief forced __ to leave town.

• Claim: PRO is preferred in first empty position, regardless of verb subcategorization. [claims for unambiguous cases challenged by Boland et al., 1990.]

Constraints on Gap Positions

Sentence Matching

• HOUSEHOUSE

• HSEUOHSEUO

• HOUSEHORSE

• HSEUOHSERO

(Freedman & Forster 1985)

Sentence Matching

• DOGS GROWLDOGS GROWL

• GROWL DOGSGROWL DOGS


Sentence Matching

• Specificity constraint violations

– Who did the duchess sell a portrait of?– *Who did the duchess sell Turner’s portrait of?

• Other violations

– Mary were writing a letter to her husband.– Where does bears usually hibernate?

– The baby ate his cereal up all.– Lesley’s parents are chemical engineers both.


Stowe 1986

• Experiment 1

My brother wanted to know …

…if Ruth will bring us home to Mom at Christmas…who Ruth will bring us home to at Christmas

• Experiment 2

The teacher asked …

…if [the silly story about Greg’s older brother] was supposed to mean anything.…what [the silly story about Greg’s older brother] was supposed to mean.

Stowe 1986

• The teacher asked …

…if [the silly story about Greg’s older brother]……what [the silly story about Greg’s older brother]…

…if the team laughed about Greg’s older brother……what the team laughed about Greg’s older brother…

• the silly story about Greg’sif-S 611 677 752 750 798wh-S 616 698 760 880 800if-V 613 735 754 678 782wh-V 608 698 736 755 1063

Traxler & Pickering 1996

• Plausibility manipulation, subject islands

– WAITING FOR A PUBLISHING CONTRACTThe big city was a fascinating subject for the new book.

– We like the book that the author wrote unceasingly and with great dedication about while waiting for a contract.

– We like the city that the author wrote unceasingly and with great dedication about while waiting for a contract.

– We like the book that the author who wrote unceasingly and with great dedication saw while waiting for a contract.

– We like the city that the author who wrote unceasingly and with great dedication saw while waiting for a contract.

IslandsNon-Islands

The Real-Time Status of Island Constraints

Colin PhillipsBeth Rabbin

Leticia PablosKaia Wong

Island Constraints

What do few people believe anybody who claims that Englishmen cook gap

Relative Clause

Real-time Status of Island Constraints

• Are island constraints respected in real-time syntactic computation?

• Many studies - conflicting results(various techniques, various island-types, etc.)

• …but, it is not even true of the grammar that it disallows long-distance dependencies that cross islands…

Parasitic Gaps

which school did the proposal to expand the school ultimately overburdened the teachers.

Parasitic Gaps

which people did the proposal to expand the school ultimately overburdened the teachers.

Parasitic Gaps


Parasitic Gaps


Generalization (Subject Island Constraint)No long-distance dependencies across subject boundaries

Parasitic Gaps


Generalization (informal)Violations can be rescued by subsequent well-formed gaps.

Parasitic Gaps


which school did the proposal that expanded the school ultimately overburdened the teachers.

Updated Generalization (informal)A subclass of violations can be rescued by subsequent gaps.

Grammaticality Ratings

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Good Bad Both

Gap Type

Acceptability Rating

INFFIN

Parasitic Gaps


which school did the proposal that expanded the school ultimately overburdened the teachers.

which students…

which students…

implausible at ‘expand’plausible at ‘overburden’

plausible at ‘expand’plausible at ‘overburden’

Materials

a) The school superintendent learned which schools the proposal to expand drastically and innovatively upon the current curriculum would overburden during the following semester. [INF, Plaus]

b) The school superintendent learned which high school students the proposal to expand … [INF, Implaus]

c) The school superintendent learned which schools the proposal that expanded …[FIN, Plaus]

d) The school superintendent learned which high school students the proposal that expanded … [Fin, Implaus]

Experiment 3 - Infinitive

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INF, ImplausINF, Plaus

… which schools/students the proposal to expand …

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Experiment 3 - Finite

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… which schools/students the proposal that expanded …

n.s

Implications - Previous Findings

• This experiment (and another that I did not present here) showed violation of one type of island, and non-violation of another type of island: same task, same participants

• Suggests that variability in previous results cannot just be attributed to methodological artifacts

• Incrementality and accuracy preserved

• Can variability in previous results be due to choice of islands tested, and to possibility of parasitic gaps?

Implications - ‘Parsing Accounts’

• Repeated attempts to reduced movement constraints to artifacts of ‘processing constraints’ (working memory, etc.)

• The existence of parasitic gaps shows that it’s not true that dependencies that cross islands are always impossible.

• If subject parasitic gaps were only marginally acceptable, or were processed non-incrementally, this would be compatible with ‘parsing accounts’ of islands

• But since parasitic gaps are constructed immediately, this is more problematic for ‘processing accounts’ of islands

Implications - ‘Parsing Accounts’



Any ‘processing based’ account of why this is bad…

…will fail to explain why the first gap can be created here…

(cf. Deane, 1991; Pritchett, 1991)

Therefore…

• The notion that long-distance dependencies cannot cross islands is an over-simplification

• The parser appears to be well aware of this

• Creates a challenge for attempts to ‘explain away’ island phenomena as artifacts of processing

• Further evidence that a good deal of what we know about language is deployed immediately in language processing

Early Warning Signalsfor Japanese Islands

Masaya YoshidaSachiko Aoshima

Colin Phillips

John-ga …

John-nom …

(Mazuka & Itoh 1995)

John-ga Mary-ni …

John-nom Mary-dat …


John-ga Mary-ni ringo-o …

John-nom Mary-dat apple-acc …


John-ga Mary-ni ringo-o tabeta …

John-nom Mary-dat apple-acc ate …


John-ga Mary-ni ringo-o tabeta inu-o ageta

John-nom Mary-dat apple-acc ate dog-acc gave


John-ga Mary-ni [[ti ringo-o tabeta] inu-oi] ageta

John-nom Mary-dat [apple-acc ate dog-acc] gave

‘John gave Mary the dog that ate the apple


Japanese Relative Clauses

• Notorious garden paths arise because relative clauses are head final in Japanese.

• But: overt movement/scrambling in Japanese is subject to (roughly) the same island constraints as English

Time-course of gap creation

Gap-creation takes place before the verb is processed. Structures are built incrementally.

Gap is posited in the most deeply embedded clause.

Embedded clause could be an island (e.g. relative clause)

How could island violations ever be avoided in real-time computation?

What evidence could allow a speaker to learn about avoiding islands?

NP-subj

VerbCP

gap

NP-subj

Verb

VP

WH-dat

gap

Early Warning

• Japanese numeral classifiers

– san-satsu hon3-cl book

– san-nin gakusei3-cl students

• Numeral classifiers and Relative Clauses

– John-ga san-satsu-no [RC … ] hon-o yondaJohn-nom 3-cl [RC … ] book-acc read

Early Warning

• Japanese numeral classifiers

– san-satsu hon3-cl book

– san-nin gakusei3-cl students

• Numeral classifiers and Relative Clauses

– John-ga san-satsu-no [RC gakusei-ga … ] hon-o yondaJohn-nom 3-cl [RC student-nom… ] book-acc read

Early Warning

• Can numeral classifiers be used to detect relative clauses?

– John-ga san-nin-no gakusei-ga …John-nom 3-clhuman student-nom …

– John-ga san-satsu-no gakusei-ga …John-nom 3-clbooks etc. student-nom …

Early Warning


– John-ga [san-nin-no gakusei-ga …John-nom [3-clhuman student-nom …

– John-ga san-satsu-no [gakusei-ga …John-nom 3-clbooks etc. [student-nom …

complementclause

relativeclause

Early Warning


– John-ga [san-nin-no gakusei-ga …John-nom [3-clhuman student-nom …

– John-ga san-satsu-no [gakusei-ga …John-nom 3-clbooks etc. [student-nom …

• Experiment #1: sentence fragment completion (n = 64)rel. clause other

classifier match 1 566

classifier mismatch 483 91

complementclause

relativeclause

Early Warning


– John-ga san-nin-no [gakusei-ga … V] NP-o … VJohn-nom 3-clhuman [student-nom …

– John-ga san-satsu-no [gakusei-ga … V] NP-o … VJohn-nom 3-clbooks etc. [student-nom …

• Experiment #2: reading-times for relative clauses (n = 32)

– are relative clauses processed more easily following a mismatching classifier-noun sequence?

classifiermatch

classifiermismatch

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Mean RT (ms.)

GNC MathingGNC Mismatching

Early Warning

mismatch

RC verb + head

Direct signals of relative clause processed more easily inclassifier-mismatch (‘indicator’) condition.

Early Warning

• Experiment #3: Filled-gap Effect and Relative Clauses (n = 80)

– WH-DAT John-ga san-nin-no [gakusei-ga … NP-DAT John-nom 3-clhuman [student-nom …

– WH-DAT John-ga san-satsu-no [gakusei-ga … NP-DAT John-nom 3-clbooks etc. [student-nom …

GNC Mismatching Conditions

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Scr/GNC MismatchingNonScr/GNC Mismatching

GNC Matching Conditions

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Scr/GNC MatchingNonScr/GNC Matching

MatchingClassifier

MismatchingClassifier


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NP-nom ±match

MatchingClassifier



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NP-nom ±match

MatchingClassifier


NP-dat

Filled-gapEffect

Early Warning

• Yes - Japanese speakers can use numeral classifiers to

– pre-emptively construct relative clauses

– avoid island constraint violations

Coreference Relations

Parallel Issues

• Do constraints on binding restrict the search for antecedents for pronouns/anaphors? [cf. Island constraints]

• Is there a binding analog of active gap creation? [not relevant for forward anaphora]

– John thinks Bill is suspicious of him.

– While he was washing the dishes, John was watching TV.

Principle B-as-initial-filter

• Nicol (1988), Nicol & Swinney (1989): cross-modal priming study in which subjects had to make a lexical decision to a visually presented word while listening to sentences

– The boxer told the skier that the doctor for the team would blame him for the recent injury.

punch – facilitationslope – facilitationnurse - no effect

Principle A-as-initial-filter

• Nicol (1988), Nicol & Swinney (1989): cross-modal priming study in which subjects had to make a lexical decision to a visually presented word while listening to sentences

– The boxer told the skier that the doctor for the team would blame himself for the recent injury.

punch – no effectslope – no effectnurse - facilitation

Nicol 1993

• All visual dual-task priming

– The boxer said that the skier in the hospital had blamed himself for the recent injury.

– The boxer said that the skier in the hospital had blamed him for the recent injury.

– The boxer talked to the skier in the hospital and blamed him for the recent injury.

– The boxer talked to the skier in the hospital and blamed himself for the recent injury.

• Results of control: BT-incompatible

Principle B-as-initial-filter

• Clifton, Kennison & Albrecht (1997): self-paced reading task. The supervisor(s) is a binding-accessible antecedent for his in (c-d) (but there is a number-match only in (d)), but not for him in (a-b).

a) The supervisors paid him yesterday to finish typing the manuscript.b) The supervisor paid him yesterday to finish typing the manuscript.

c) The supervisors paid his assistant yesterday to finish typing the manuscript.d) The supervisor paid his assistant yesterday to finish typing the manuscript.

• A number mismatch/match effect found in (c) vs. (d), but not in (a) vs. (b) => support for PrB as initial filter hypothesis

fast

slow

Principle A-as-a-late-filter

• Badecker & Straub (2002)

a) Jane thought that Bill owed himself another opportunity to solve the problem.

b) John thought that Bill owed himself another opportunity to solve the problem.

• The two conditions are different only in the gender of the inaccessible antecedent of himself; yet reading times at the two words following himself were faster in (a) than in (b) => binding constraints did not immediately rule out binding-inaccessible positions from the consideration.

Runner et al. 2002

• Head-mounted eye-tracking

– “Look at Ken. Have Ken touch Harry’s picture of {him|himself}

– Him: almost all looks to correct picture

– Himself: ~25% of looks to incorrect picture

Sturt 2003Experiment 1

Accessible-mismatch/Inaccessible-mismatch

Jonathan was pretty worried at the City Hospital.

He remembered that the surgeon had pricked herself with a

used syringe needle. There should be an investigation soon.

Accessible-mismatch/Inaccessible-match

Jennifer was pretty worried at the City Hospital.

She remembered that the surgeon had pricked herself with a

used syringe needle. There should be an investigation soon.

Experiment 1- Early processing: first-pass at reflexive region

Experiment 1- Later processing: Second-pass at pre-final region

Experiment 1- Later processing: second pass RT at reflexive region

Sturt 2003

Sturt 2003Experiment 2

Accessible-mismatch/Inaccessible-match

Jonathan was pretty worried at the City Hospital.

The surgeon [RC who treated Jonathan] had pricked herself with a used syringe needle. There should be an investigation soon.

Accessible-mismatch/Inaccessible-mismatch

Jennifer was pretty worried at the City Hospital.

The surgeon [RC who treated Jennifer] had pricked herself with a used syringe needle. There should be an investigation soon.

What does Pronoun Reactivate?

• Love & Swinney (1995)

– Jeff had read about problems with savings and loan institutions, so he went to the bank to ask about the safety that it provided with respect to Cd investments.

Backward Anaphora

Japanese

which of his children (DAT) the man (NOM) …

which of his children (NOM) the man (DAT) …

Japanese pronouns and their antecedents

Verb

the man-nom

NP-dat

which of his children



Verb

the man-nom

NP-dat


NP-dat




Verb

the man-nom

NP-dat


NP-dat


Verb

NP-nom



the man-dat


** ??



Gender Mismatch

the woman

the woman

Gender Mismatch paradigm: Carreiras et al. (1996); Osterhout et al. (1997); Sturt (2003)

Conditionsa. Scrambled - Gender Mismatch

Adverb / [his / which NP]-dat / Adverb / NP FEMALE-nom / Adverb / NP-acc /

verb-Q / NPMALE-top / verb

b. Scrambled - Gender Match

Adverb / [his / which NP]-dat / Adverb / NP MALE-nom / Adverb / NP-acc /

verb-Q / NPFEMALE-top / verb

c. Non-scrambled - Gender Mismatch

Adverb / [his / which NP]-nom / Adverb / NP FEMALE-dat / Adverb / NP-acc /

verb-Q / NPMALE-top / verb

d. Non-scrambled - Gender Match

Adverb / [his / which NP]-nom / Adverb / NP MALE-dat / Adverb / NP-acc /

verb-Q / NPMALE-top / verb.

Examples

a. 台所で　彼の　どの子供に　朝食後　叔母が　急いで　お弁当を　渡したか　父親は　覚えていた。

b. 台所で　彼の　どの子供に　朝食後　叔父が　急いで　お弁当を　渡したか　叔母は　覚えていた。

c. 台所で　彼の　どの子供が　朝食後　叔母に　急いで　お弁当を　渡したか　父親は　覚えていた。

d. 台所で　彼の　どの子供が　朝食後　叔父に　急いで　お弁当を　渡したか　父親は　覚えていた。

Design & Procedure

• 2 x 2 factorial design• 4 lists were created by distributing 24 items in a Latin

Square design• 56 filler sentences• Comprehension questions: matching a subject with a

predicate• Self-paced reading task, Moving Window display• 40 native speakers of Japanese

Results: Scrambled conditions

Slowdown at mismatching NP is observed.

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Scrambled, mismatch

F1(1, 39) = 8.6, p<.01;F2(1,23)=7.4, p<.01

± Match

his/her

Results: Non-scrambled conditions

Slowdown at mismatching NP only when NP is possible antecedent.

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Unscrambled, match

Unscrambled, mismatch

Fs<1± Match

his/her

Immediate Constraint Application

While she was taking classes full-time, Jessica was working two jobs to pay the bills.While she was taking classes full-time, Russell was working two jobs to pay the bills.

While she …Jessica …

Russell …

Self-Paced Reading, Gender Mismatch Paradigm

(Kazanina, Lau, Lieberman, Phillips, & Yoshida, 2004)

Immediate Constraint Application

While she was taking classes full-time, Jessica was working two jobs to pay the bills.While she was taking classes full-time, Russell was working two jobs to pay the bills.

She was taking classes full-time while Jessica was working two jobs to pay the bills.She was taking classes full-time while Russell was working two jobs to pay the bills.

While she …

She …

Jessica …

Russell …

while Jessica …

while Russell …

Self-Paced Reading, Gender Mismatch Paradigm

(Kazanina, Lau, Lieberman, Phillips, & Yoshida, 2004)

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because lastsemester

while-cd SHE wastaking

classes while-ab NAME wasworking

full-time to…

Residual Reading Times

nonPrC GM

nonPrc GMM

PrC GM

PrC GMM

Results

GME at the 2nd NP in non-PrC pair

while while Jessica

Russell

(Kazanina et al., 2004)

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because lastsemester

while-cd SHE wastaking

classes while-ab NAME wasworking

full-time to…

Residual Reading Times

nonPrC GM

nonPrc GMM

PrC GM

PrC GMM

Results

GME at the 2nd NP in non-PrC pair

NO GME at the 2nd NP in PrC pairCondition C – immediate

while while Jessica

Russell

(Kazanina et al., 2004)

Incrementality in Comprehension Speed and Accuracy.

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