Study Guide for Chapter 7
Glossary:
ambiguity effect – the difference in performance on an ambiguous sentence vs. an unambiguous sentence that occurs when a comprehender initially assigns the incorrect structure to the ambiguous sentence
center embedded relative clause – a relative clause that modifies and follows the subject of the sentence
conceptual fit – the plausibility that an initial noun functions as the patient of the initial verb, as in the employee fired… vs. the employer fired…
homonymy – two words that have different meaning but the same name, as in the transitive vs. intransitive meanings of disintegrated
object relative advantage – the pattern of behavior in which comprehenders process an object relative clause faster than a subject relative clause due to its interpretation as a sentential complement
object relative clause – a relative clause that modifies a noun phrase that also serves as the object of the relative clause, as in The dog bit the boy1 that the girl likes t1
potentially intransitive – a verb such as disintegrate that may be used either transitively or intransitively (i.e., with or without an object)
prosodic pattern – within-sentence variations in loudness, pitch, and rate of speech
subject relative clause – a relative clause that modifies a noun phrase that also serves as the subject of the relative clause, as in The dog bit the boy1 that t1 likes the girl
transitive only – a verb that such as destroy that must be used transitively (i.e., with an object)
unaccusative – the property of an intransitive verb that depicts an action that “happens” to its subject without intentionality of the part of the subject, as in The butter melted
unergative – the property of an intransitive verb that depicts an action that its subject intentionally initiates, as in The horse raced
Questions:
1. How does LAST process each of the sentences below? What evidence did MacDonald provide on the comprehension of these sentences?
a. The ruthless dictator fought in the coup was hated.
b. The ruthless dictator captured in the coup was hated.
c. The ruthless dictator overthrown
in the coup was hated.
2. Why should animacy affect the strength of the garden
path in sentences with a reduced relative? Describe experimental evidence on
this issue.
3. What is the Altmann & Steedman hypothesis about the role of context in processing reduced relatives? What evidence supports their theory and what problem does it have?