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Syntactic Priming As a Test of Argument Structure: A Self-paced Reading Experiment

Using data from a behavioral structural priming experiment, we test two competing theoretical approaches to argument structure, which attribute different configurations to (in)transitive structures. These approaches make different claims about the relationship between unergatives and transitive stru...

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Autores principales: Oltra-Massuet, Isabel, Sharpe, Victoria, Neophytou, Kyriaki, Marantz, Alec
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5559723/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28861010
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01311
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author Oltra-Massuet, Isabel
Sharpe, Victoria
Neophytou, Kyriaki
Marantz, Alec
author_facet Oltra-Massuet, Isabel
Sharpe, Victoria
Neophytou, Kyriaki
Marantz, Alec
author_sort Oltra-Massuet, Isabel
collection PubMed
description Using data from a behavioral structural priming experiment, we test two competing theoretical approaches to argument structure, which attribute different configurations to (in)transitive structures. These approaches make different claims about the relationship between unergatives and transitive structures selecting either a DP complement or a small clause complement in structurally unambiguous sentences, thus making different predictions about priming relations between them. Using statistical tools that combine a factorial 6 × 6 within subjects ANOVA, a mixed effects ANCOVA and a linear mixed effects regression model, we report syntactic priming effects in comprehension, which suggest a stronger predictive contribution of a model that supports an interpretive semantics view of syntax, whereby syntactic structures do not necessarily reflect argument/event structure in semantically unambiguous configurations. They also contribute novel experimental evidence that correlate representational complexity with language processing in the mind and brain. Our study further upholds the validity of combining quantitative methods and theoretical approaches to linguistics for advancing our knowledge of syntactic phenomena.
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spelling pubmed-55597232017-08-31 Syntactic Priming As a Test of Argument Structure: A Self-paced Reading Experiment Oltra-Massuet, Isabel Sharpe, Victoria Neophytou, Kyriaki Marantz, Alec Front Psychol Psychology Using data from a behavioral structural priming experiment, we test two competing theoretical approaches to argument structure, which attribute different configurations to (in)transitive structures. These approaches make different claims about the relationship between unergatives and transitive structures selecting either a DP complement or a small clause complement in structurally unambiguous sentences, thus making different predictions about priming relations between them. Using statistical tools that combine a factorial 6 × 6 within subjects ANOVA, a mixed effects ANCOVA and a linear mixed effects regression model, we report syntactic priming effects in comprehension, which suggest a stronger predictive contribution of a model that supports an interpretive semantics view of syntax, whereby syntactic structures do not necessarily reflect argument/event structure in semantically unambiguous configurations. They also contribute novel experimental evidence that correlate representational complexity with language processing in the mind and brain. Our study further upholds the validity of combining quantitative methods and theoretical approaches to linguistics for advancing our knowledge of syntactic phenomena. Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-08-15 /pmc/articles/PMC5559723/ /pubmed/28861010 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01311 Text en Copyright © 2017 Oltra-Massuet, Sharpe, Neophytou and Marantz. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Oltra-Massuet, Isabel
Sharpe, Victoria
Neophytou, Kyriaki
Marantz, Alec
Syntactic Priming As a Test of Argument Structure: A Self-paced Reading Experiment
title Syntactic Priming As a Test of Argument Structure: A Self-paced Reading Experiment
title_full Syntactic Priming As a Test of Argument Structure: A Self-paced Reading Experiment
title_fullStr Syntactic Priming As a Test of Argument Structure: A Self-paced Reading Experiment
title_full_unstemmed Syntactic Priming As a Test of Argument Structure: A Self-paced Reading Experiment
title_short Syntactic Priming As a Test of Argument Structure: A Self-paced Reading Experiment
title_sort syntactic priming as a test of argument structure: a self-paced reading experiment
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5559723/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28861010
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01311
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