J. Kathryn Bock

Toward a Cognitive Psychology of Syntax: Information Processing Contributions to Sentence Formulation

it is widely acknowledged that characteristics of the general information processing svstem in which sentence formulation occurs mav provide constraints on syntax in language use. This paper proposes one possibli&urce of such constraints. Evidence is reviewed indicating that the syntax of sentences may .to some degree reflect the transient processing demands of lexical retrieval, suggesting an interaction between syntactic and lexical processing. Specifically, the syntactic structure of utterances appears to be sensitive to the accessibility of lexical information, with phrases containing more accessible information occurring earlier in sentences. The existence of such an interaction argues that the utterance formulation system is not strictly hierarchical, as most current approaches to sentence production imply. A broad framework for models of production is outlined that incorporates these interactions within a limited-capacity processing system. This framework also permits a resolution of contradictions in the literature on pragmatic determinants of constituent order in adult language use.

Conceptual accessibility and syntactic structure in sentence formulation

Abstract The grammatical relations of noun phrases in sentences are ordered in a hierarchy that is reflected in a wide array of linguistic phenomena. The hypothesis explored in this paper is that this hierarchy is related to the conceptual accessibility of the intended referents of noun phrases that commonly occur in particular relational roles, with relations higher in the hierarchy typically occupied by noun phrases representing more accessible concepts. An experiment on the formulation of sentences examined the relationship betweeen conceptual accessibility and grammatical relations for three levels in the hierarchy, the subject, direct object, and indirect object. There was a strong and systematic influence of conceptual accessibility on the surface syntactic structure of sentences. The attribution of this effect to grammatical role assignments, rather than to serial ordering mechanisms, was supported by the absence of an effect of conceptual accessibility on the order of nouns in conjunctive noun phrases. This pattern of results can be explained within current theories of sentence production.

Syntactic effects of information availability in sentence production

Two experiments investigated sentence production processes underlying the tendency for given information to precede new information in a sentence. The factors hypothesized to contribute to this effect were referential availability and lexical availability. Experiment 1 found that information coreferential with an antecedent referring expression tended to occur earlier in produced sentences than new information. This effect was more pronounced when the information was lexically identical to its antecedent. Experiment 2 found lexical availability effects when referential functions were minimized. These results may be accounted for by assuming that both referential availability and lexical availability contribute to the speed of lexicalization processes in sentence production, and that the order in which constituents become available after lexicalization influences surface syntactic organization processes.

Intonational marking of given and new information: some consequences for comprehension.

The role of intonation in conveying discourse relationships in auditory sentence comprehension was investigated in two experiments. Using the simple comprehension time paradigm, Experiment 1 found that sentences with accented new information were understood faster than sentences with a neutral intonation contour and that the presence of accent in context sentences facilitated comprehension of subsequent targets. Both experiments showed faster comprehension times in conditions in which accent placement was appropriate for the information structure of the sentence. In Experiment I, comprehension times were faster when the accent fell on the information focus than when it fell elsewhere in the sentence. In Experiment 2, faster times resulted when new information was accented and given information was not, compared to conditions in which this accent pattern was reversed. This effect held for both active and passive sentences, and whether the new information occurred in the subject or object position.

Prototypicality in a Linguistic Context: Effects on Sentence Structure

tences in recall, preference ratings, and natural dictionary definitions. The first experiment showed that sentences were systematically changed in retail to allow prototypical instances of categories to be mentioned before nonprototypical instances. In the second experiment, sentences in which the prototype preceded the nonprototype were judged more natural than sentences with the opposite order. Finally, an examination of dictionary definitions of categories found that prototypes tended to occur before nonprototypes. These results can be explained in terms of the sensitivity of sentence production processes to the lexical or conceptual accessibility of prototypes. Such processes appear to adjust serial positions

Effects of Information Structure Cues on Visual Word Processing

Four experiments examined effects of cues for given and new information on word processing in reading. Article definiteness (the versus a) was varied preceding target nouns which were either new or repeated from referring expressions in prior sentences. Lexical decisions on the targets were faster for repeated than for new words, but this effect was enhanced by the: in all four experiments, repetition facilitation was greater for definite than for indefinite determination. This effect held whether the article was presented before the target word or simultaneously with it, and was more consistent when targets appeared in surface subject rather than object position. These results suggest that appropriate cues for given information facilitate the processing of words conveying that information. 307 This paper examines effects of certain cues for information structure on the processing of individual words during reading. The information structure of a sentence represents relationships between components of the sentence and prior or subsequent discourse (Halliday, 1970). Discourse integration requires a reader to extract novel information from a text and appropriately incorporate it into the memory representation of what was read previously. Individual sentences in discourse can make the nature of the appropriate incorporation

The development of directives: how children ask and tell

The ability to differentiate the directive senses of ask and tell was investigated using a production task in an experimental setting with children between the ages of 2; 6 and 6; 6. Results showed that the children at all ages distinguished the verbs along dimensions sensitive to adult ratings of politeness. There was a trend towards increased politeness with age under ask instructions, but not with tell instructions. Analyses of structural features of the directives produced showed that the interrogative form was more likely to be used with ask instructions, as was the word please , while tell instructions elicited the imperative, with less frequent use of please . The findings suggest that children before the age of 7; 0 are able to differentiate the illocutionary forces of utterances which have the same communicative intention.

Comprehension and memory of the literal and figurative meaning of proverbs

Proverbs were used to examine recognition memory for four types of sentence information (figurative meaning, literal meaning, lexical information, syntactic information) with two levels of comprehension. Forced-choice recognition tasks showed that subjects were successful in remembering all four types of information. Recognition scores for the figurative meaning of unfamiliar proverbs presented in isolation were above chance and were also significantly improved when procedures were employed which encouraged comprehension of this level of meaning. The results are most consistent with theories of comprehension which provide for different types of processing for figurative and literal language.