Perceptual salience and structural ambiguity resolution

IF 2.4 2区文学 Q1 LINGUISTICS

Applied Psycholinguistics Pub Date : 2023-10-16 DOI:10.1017/s0142716423000383

Jeffrey Witzel, Naoko Witzel

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Abstract

Abstract This study investigates whether the perceptual salience of grammatical morphemes influences the online processing of temporarily ambiguous sentences during adult first-language (L1) comprehension. In a bidirectional self-paced reading task, adult L1 English participants ( N = 44) read sentences with time adjuncts that were in a structural position in which they could attach either to the most recent verb phrase (VP) or to a VP in a higher clause. Consistent with previous findings, the reading times on these sentences indicated processing difficulty when this adjunct allowed only for high attachment. Crucially, this effect was modulated by the perceptual salience of the grammatical morphemes used to indicate time reference in these clauses. Specifically, the processing cost for high attachment was larger when time in the lower clause was indicated by the auxiliary verb will compared to when it was indicated by the relatively less salient past - ed morpheme. These findings were taken to indicate that the influence of perceptual salience extends beyond the acquisition of and sensitivity to grammatical morphemes during L1 and L2 development. Rather, the perceptual salience of these forms also appears to affect online structural processing during adult L1 sentence comprehension.

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感知显著性与结构歧义解决

摘要本研究旨在探讨语法语素的感知显著性是否会影响成人第一语言(L1)理解过程中暂时歧义句的在线加工。在一项双向自定节奏阅读任务中，成年L1英语参与者(N = 44)阅读了带有时间修饰词的句子，这些时间修饰词位于一个结构位置，他们既可以连接到最近的动词短语(VP)，也可以连接到高级从句中的VP。与之前的研究结果一致，当这个辅词只允许高度依恋时，这些句子的阅读时间表明处理困难。至关重要的是，这种效应是由这些分句中用于表示时间参考的语法语素的感知显著性调节的。具体来说，当助动词will表示下句中的时间时，高依恋的加工成本要大于用相对不那么突出的过去式语素表示时。这些发现表明，在第一语言和第二语言的发展过程中，感知显著性的影响超出了对语法语素的习得和敏感。相反，这些形式的感知显著性似乎也会影响成人L1句子理解过程中的在线结构加工。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Applied Psycholinguistics Multiple-

CiteScore

3.90

自引率

4.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： Applied Psycholinguistics publishes original research papers on the psychological processes involved in language. It examines language development , language use and language disorders in adults and children with a particular emphasis on cross-language studies. The journal gathers together the best work from a variety of disciplines including linguistics, psychology, reading, education, language learning, speech and hearing, and neurology. In addition to research reports, theoretical reviews will be considered for publication as will keynote articles and commentaries.