Neural correlates of semantic and syntactic processes in the comprehension of case marked pronouns: evidence from German and Dutch

BMC Neuroscience
Monique LamersT F Münte

Abstract

It is well known that both semantic and syntactic information play a role in pronoun resolution in sentences. However, it is unclear what the relative contribution of these sources of information is for the establishment of a coreferential relationship between the pronoun and the antecedent in combination with a local structural case constraint on the pronoun (i.e. case assignment of a pronoun under preposition governing). In a prepositional phrase in German and Dutch, it is the preposition that assigns case to the pronoun. Furthermore, in these languages different overtly case-marked pronouns are used to refer to male and female persons. Thus, one can manipulate biological/syntactic gender features separately from case marking features. The major aim of this study was to determine what the influence of gender information in combination with a local structural case constraint is on the processing of a personal pronoun in a sentence. Event-related brain potential (ERP) experiments were performed in German and in Dutch. In a word by word sentence reading study in German and Dutch, gender congruency between the antecedent and the pronoun was manipulated and/or case assignment by the preposition was violated while ERPs of young nat...Continue Reading

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Citations

Dec 12, 2012·PloS One·Anna Siyanova-ChanturiaCristina Cacciari
Aug 14, 2012·Psychophysiology·Juan Silva-PereyraManuel Carreiras
Sep 21, 2017·Frontiers in Psychology·Mikel SantestebanItziar Laka
Apr 6, 2021·Frontiers in Psychology·Adrián García-SierraNoelle Wig

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