Ambiguity resolution has been a topic of debate in language processing models. The present study investigated the impact of punctuation and working memory in Garden Path structures and related...Show moreAmbiguity resolution has been a topic of debate in language processing models. The present study investigated the impact of punctuation and working memory in Garden Path structures and related these concepts with assumptions made under the Good Enough parsing approach. A word-by-word self-paced reading task was used to assess the effects. A backwards digit span and a reading span task were administered to measure the participant’s working memory capacity. The study found evidence for the presence of Garden Path effects in Late Closure structures. In the form of response accuracy to the comprehension questions, the data supports the Good Enough parsing approach’s assumption that ambiguities are not fully resolved. The scores on the backwards digit span task correlated positively with response accuracy on comprehension questions while reading span scores did not. Punctuation did not impact reading time of the disambiguating region nor response accuracy.Show less
There are different theories on the nature of sentence processing. Early research argued for implementation of old material into a known structure, but more recent theories argue that the language...Show moreThere are different theories on the nature of sentence processing. Early research argued for implementation of old material into a known structure, but more recent theories argue that the language processing facility is predictive and tries to construct sentences before completely receiving the input. This study investigates two different predictive accounts to language processing, the Hyper-active Gap Filling account and the Garden Path model, by presenting native English participants with an online self-paced reading task containing sentences with differing degrees of ambiguity. Analyses of reading time data in key regions were carried out to assess whether the parsing difficulty predicted by these theories could be elicited. The Garden Path analysis was further complemented by questions testing for a lingering reanalysis. The experiment showed significant results for the Hyper-active Gap Filling account as well as for the Garden Path model.Show less
This study aimed to investigate how Dutch natives with a different exposure to English as a second language process Dutch sentences with a preposition stranding structure. It reacts on an earlier...Show moreThis study aimed to investigate how Dutch natives with a different exposure to English as a second language process Dutch sentences with a preposition stranding structure. It reacts on an earlier study by Koopman (2010), who reported that P-stranding is only grammatical with r-pronouns and not with non-r DPs. Preposition stranding with non-r DPs is grammatical in English, and English is becoming more and more present as a second language in the Netherlands. Therefore, the present study tested whether preposition stranding in Dutch could be undergoing a shift towards the English structure, and whether we could see this reflected in the processing strategies of on the one hand, a group of students with a high exposure to English and on the other hand, a group of student with a low exposure to English. Two groups of students were tested in a word-by-word self-paced reading task, and the results showed a clear difference between the two groups. Even if at first the obtained results seemed contradictory with the hypothesized results, as the high proficient group showed a bigger slowdown after the stranded P than the low proficient group, after critical reflection on the stimuli and the data, evidence was found that the high proficient group uses an English processing mode while reading Dutch sentences with a seemingly English structure.Show less
