When language comprehension reflects production constraints: resolving ambiguities with the help of past experience.

Memory & Cognition
Maryellen C Macdonald, Robert Thornton

Abstract

A key assumption in language comprehension is that biases in behavioral data, such as the tendency to interpret John said that Mary left yesterday to mean that yesterday modifies the syntactically local verb left, not the distant verb said, reflect inherent biases in the language comprehension system. In the present article, an alternative production-distribution-comprehension (PDC) account is pursued; this account states that comprehension biases emerge from different interpretation frequencies in the language, which themselves emerge from pressures on the language production system to produce some structures more than others. In two corpus analyses and two self-paced reading experiments, we investigated these claims for verb modification ambiguities, for which phrase length is hypothesized to shape production. The results support claims that tendencies to produce short phrases before long ones create distributional regularities for modification ambiguities in the language and that learning over these regularities shapes comprehenders' interpretations of modification ambiguities. Implications for the PDC and other accounts are discussed.

References

Jun 1, 1995·Cognition·M Spivey-Knowlton, J C Sedivy
Oct 1, 1994·Clinical Science·J G FoxJ M Boulton-Jones
Mar 10, 2000·Journal of Psycholinguistic Research·R ThorntonJ E Arnold
Apr 11, 2001·Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition·N J Pearlmutter, E Gibson
Jun 15, 2004·Cognitive Psychology·Eric S Solomon, Neal J Pearlmutter
Dec 15, 2004·The Behavioral and Brain Sciences·Martin J Pickering, Simon Garrod
Apr 28, 2006·Psychological Review·Franklin ChangKathryn Bock
May 13, 2006·Journal of Psycholinguistic Research·Joel Pynte
Oct 17, 2008·Cognitive Psychology·Justine B WellsMaryellen C MacDonald
Feb 14, 2009·Cognition·Silvia P Gennari, Maryellen C Macdonald
Jan 1, 2008·Journal of Memory and Language·Silvia P Gennari, Maryellen C Macdonald

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Citations

Feb 14, 2009·Cognition·Silvia P Gennari, Maryellen C Macdonald
Jul 4, 2017·Journal of Memory and Language·Rosa E Guzzardo TamargoPaola E Dussias

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