Sentence Structure cliff notes online
What is Parsing?
the process of assigning words to a phrase structure
ex. While Sarah bathed her baby played on the floor
Sentence comprehension involves two processes…
1) syntactic analysis of sentence structure
2) semantic interpretation of sentence meaning
Two models of sentence comprehension…
1) garden path model
2) constraint-based model
What is the garden path model of sentence comprehension?
a two-stage model: (1) syntactic analysis; (2) semantic interpretation
we use heuristics (mental shortcuts) to analyze syntax quickly
Heuristic 1 -
Heuristic 2 -
1) late closure
2) minimal attachment
What is a garden path sentence?
One that deviates significantly from the expected structure, making it difficult to process
(while Sarah bathed her baby played on the floor
did Sarah bathe her baby? Who played on the floor?)
What is Heuristic 1 - Late Closure?
a syntactic parsing strategy that continues to add new words to the current structure unless there is sufficient evidence that a new structure should begin
What is Heuristic 2 - Minimal Attachment?
a syntactic parsing strategy that assumes the simplest possible sentence structure
(i shot an elephant in my pajamas…
who wore the pajamas?)
What is high attachment?
a parsing strategy of attaching a prepositional phrase to the verb
(i shot an elephant in my pajamas…
hence, the speaker was wearing pajamas)
What is low attachment?
a parsing strategy of attaching a prepositional phrase to the object
(i shot an elephant in my pajamas…
hence, the elephant was wearing the pajamas)
High attachment has ___________ structure than low attachment. Hence, it’s considered minimal.
simpler
Listeners will use either high or low attachment based on the _________.
context
What is the constraint-based model of sentence comprehension?
the proposal that syntactic analysis and semantic interpretation occur simultaneously and influence each other
in other words, syntax and semantics constrain each other as the listener interprets the intended meaning of the sentence
Constraint-Based Approach Analysis:
What does the visual world paradigm tell us? (context of the scene)
-eye movements change when information suggests a revision of the interpretation of the sentence is necessary
-linguistic and nonlinguistic information used simultaneously
What is the visual world paradigm?
- apple on a towel, a pencil, another towel, and a box
- the ambiguous condition is “Place the apple on the towel in the box”
- interested in how frequently people looked to the wrong location (the towel)
- above 50% of the time this happened
- unambiguous: “put the apple that’s on the towel into the box”
-second condition: apples on a towel and a napkin; it gives info on which towel to select
-now, “on the towel” alone is enough information to know what to do
What is syntactic priming?
-the tendency to repeat previously heard sentence structure
-supports the garden path model
What is a lexical boost?
- an increase in syntactic priming when the verb is repeated in prime and target sentences
- supports constraint-based model
What is cloze probability?
the likelihood that a person will complete a sentence with a particular word
(I take my coffee with cream and…
the cloze probability of answering sugar is nearly 100%)
N400- Semantic Violations
ERP component elicited after ____________ ____________ stimulus.
“She spreads her toast with socks”
semantically inconsistent
P600 - Syntactic Violations
ERP component elicited after ______________ _______________ stimulus.
“The broker persuaded to sell the stock”
syntactically inconsistent
What is the Serial Model of Sentence Production?
all processing at one step needs to be completed before moving on to the next step
What is the Parallel Model of Sentence Production?
processing occurs at one step simultaneously with same processing at other steps
What is the Incremental Model of Sentence Production?
- processing at one step is still underway when processing at the next step begins
- most evidence supports the incremental model
