Lexical Constraints and Prepositional Phrase Attachment

Authors: Boland J.E.; Boehm-Jernigan H.

Source: Journal of Memory and Language, Volume 39, Number 4, November 1998 , pp. 684-719(36)

Publisher: Academic Press

Abstract:

Six experiments investigated how lexical constraints influence syntactic analysis during an ambiguous region of an isolated sentence. We focused on prepositional phrase (PP) attachment ambiguities in dative sentences such as “John gave a letter to his son …” to test some predictions of constraint-based lexicalist models. Processing difficulty was measured using word-by-word sensibility judgments (Experiments 1–3 and 5) and word-by-word reading times (Experiments 4 and 6). We found that both the timing and the type of lexical constraint information governed how it was used. A syntactic commitment was made early in the ambiguous region when one structure was supported by multiple constraints at the point of ambiguity. Thus, garden path effects were found for both “John gave a letterto his sonto a friend” and “Paul gave the scriptto the playto a girl.” (the locally ambiguous PP is italicized). The amount of processing difficulty experienced during the second PP was greatly reduced when the preposition in the first prepositional phrase was inconsistent with the verb's constraints on “recipient” PP's (e.g., “John gave a letter for/about his son to a friend”). In contrast, manipulating probabilistic constraints of the preposition had little effect on either judgments or reading times. These results support a constraint-based view of parsing in which those constraints that are encoded in competing lexical forms influence the strength with which syntactic alternatives are made available, while noncompeting constraints play a secondary role in ambiguity resolution.Copyright 1998 Academic Press.

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: The Ohio State University

Publication date: 1998-11-01

• In this: publication
• By this: publisher
• In this Subject: Language & Linguistics ,  Psychology
• By this author: Boland J.E. ;  Boehm-Jernigan H.

Website © Publishing Technology. Article copyright remains with the publisher, society or author(s) as specified within the article.

• Terms and conditions
• Privacy policy
• Information for advertisers