Keywords

reference resolution, adjunct control, pronouns, prediction, structural information

Abstract

The comprehension of anaphoric relations may be guided not only by discourse, but also syntactic information. In the literature on online processing, however, the focus has been on audible pronouns and descriptions whose reference is resolved mainly on the former. This paper examines one relation that both lacks overt exponence, and relies almost exclusively on syntax for its resolution: adjunct control, or the dependency between the null subject of a non-finite adjunct and its antecedent in sentences such as Mickey talked to Minnie before ___ eating. Using visualworld eyetracking, we compare the timecourse of interpreting this null subject and overt pronouns (Mickey talked to Minnie before he ate). We show that when control structures are highly frequent, listeners are just as quick to resolve reference in either case. When control structures are less frequent, reference resolution based on structural information still occurs upon hearing the non-finite verb, but more slowly, especially when unaided by structural and referential predictions. This may be due to increased difficulty in recognizing that a referential dependency is necessary. These results indicate that in at least some contexts, referential expressions whose resolution depends on very different sources of information can be resolved approximately equally rapidly, and that the speed of interpretation is largely independent of whether or not the dependency is cued by an overt referring expression.

Original Publication Citation

Green, J. & McCourt, M. & Lau, E. & Williams, A., (2020) “Processing adjunct control: Evidence on the use of structural information and prediction in reference resolution”, Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 5(1): 112. doi: https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.1133

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2020

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/8873

Publisher

Open Library of Humanities

Language

English

College

Humanities

Department

Linguistics

University Standing at Time of Publication

Assistant Professor

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