Willem M. Mak

Discourse structure and relative clause processing

Studies in several languages have shown that subject-relative clauses are easier to process than object-relative clauses. Mak, Vonk, and Schriefers (2006) have proposed the topichood hypothesis to account for the preference for subject-relative clauses. This hypothesis claims that the entity in the relative clause that is most topicworthy will be chosen as the subject. By default, the antecedent of the relative clause will be chosen as the subject of the relative clause, because it is the topic of the relative clause. However, when the noun phrase (NP) in the relative clause is also topicworthy, the preference for the antecedent to be the subject will disappear. This was confirmed in two experiments. In Experiment 1, we tested relative clauses with a personal pronoun in the relative clause. We obtained a preference for object-relative clauses, in line with the assumption that personal pronouns refer to a discourse topic and are thus topicworthy. In Experiment 2, the discourse status of the NP in the relative clause was manipulated; either it was not present in the preceding context, or it was the discourse topic. The experiment showed that when the NP in the relative clause refers to the discourse topic, the difficulty of object-relative clauses is reduced, in comparison with relative clauses with an NP that is new in the discourse, even in the absence of any explicit cue in the relative clause itself. The experiments show that discourse factors guide processing at the sentence level.

Causal connectives in discourse processing: How differences in subjectivity are reflected in eye movements

Causal connectives are often considered to provide crucial information about the discourse structure; they signal a causal relation between two text segments. However, in many languages of the world causal connectives specialise in either subjective or objective causal relations. We investigate whether this type of (discourse) information is used during the online processing of causal connectives by focusing on the Dutch connectives want and omdat, both translated by because. In three eye-tracking studies we demonstrate that the Dutch connective want, which is a prototypical marker of subjective CLAIM–ARGUMENT relations, leads to an immediate processing disadvantage compared to omdat, a prototypical marker of objective CONSEQUENCE–CAUSE relations. This effect was observed at the words immediately following the connective, at which point readers cannot yet establish the causal relation on the basis of the content, which means that the effect is solely induced by the connectives. In Experiment 2 we demonstrate that this effect is related to the representation of the first clause of a want relation as a mental state. In Experiment 3, we show that the use of omdat in relations that do not allow for a CONSEQUENCE–CAUSE interpretation leads to serious processing difficulties at the end of those relations. On the basis of these results, we argue that want triggers a subjective mental state interpretation of S1, whereas omdat triggers the construction of an objective CONSEQUENCE–CAUSE relation. These results illustrate that causal connectives provide subtle information about semantic-pragmatic distinctions between types of causal relations, which immediately influences online processing.

The role of causality in discourse processing: Effects of expectation and coherence relations

Research on the processing of causality has shown that causally related sentences lead to faster reading, better recall, and better comprehension than sentences that are not causally related. In this study, we investigate two ways in which causality can influence processing: through the expectation that readers may have of a causal relation and the ease with which the sentences can be related in a causal way on the basis of their content. We ran two eye tracking experiments to investigate the online effects of these factors. In the experiments we looked at the influence of these factors on the process of establishing referential and relational coherence. Experiment 1 shows that immediate effects of causal relatedness on referential processing occur even with a connective that is not explicitly causal (when). Moreover, the results show that the early effect only occurs when readers expect a causal relation. Experiment 1 also shows that causal expectations facilitate the processing of causally related sentences. Experiment 2 shows that this is only the case when the content of the second clause actually allows a causal interpretation. The data show that causal expectations have differential effects on the processing of referential and relational coherence. Referential coherence is influenced proactively by the focusing of one of the referents in the context. Relational coherence, on the other hand, is influenced retroactively: only when there turns out to be a causal link between the sentences is processing facilitated by causal expectation.

Advanced learners' comprehension of discourse connectives: The role of L1 transfer across on-line and off-line tasks

Discourse connectives are important indicators of textual coherence, and mastering them is an essential part of acquiring a language. In this article, we compare advanced learners’ sensitivity to the meaning conveyed by connectives in an off-line grammaticality judgment task and an on-line reading experiment using eye-tracking. We also assess the influence of first language (L1) transfer by comparing learners’ comprehension of two non-native-like semantic uses of connectives in English, often produced by learners due to transfer from French and Dutch. Our results indicate that in an off-line task transfer is an important factor accounting for French- and Dutch-speaking learners’ non-native-like comprehension of connectives. During on-line processing, however, learners are as sensitive as native speakers to the meaning conveyed by connectives. These results raise intriguing questions regarding explicit vs. implicit knowledge in language learners.

Incremental discourse processing: How coherence relations influence the resolution of pronouns

The importance of the discourse level for the study of language and linguistics can hardly be overestimated. The study of text and discourse has become an increasingly important area over the last decades, both in linguistics and in psychology. In this paper we report on experiments which add to our understanding of a crucial process in discourse interpretation: the way in which the integration of clauses takes place. It shows that the position at which the integration takes place depends on the particular coherence relation that holds between sentences. The results once again emphasize the special status of causal relations in discourse processing and representation.

Comprehension of disaster pictorials across cultures

Abstract In different countries, the use of pictorial information symbols to convey warnings and instructions is becoming more common. An important reason for this is that people from a variety of cultures can understand graphical symbols. However, symbols developed in one culture may not have the same meaning for people from other cultures. This study compared the comprehension of Dutch and Chinese participants of 30 pictorials from a series of ‘universal’ disaster pictorials by Dutch designers. Participants completed a Web survey measuring comprehension levels and judgements of five design features (semantic closeness, familiarity, meaningfulness, simplicity and concreteness) of the pictorials. Furthermore, the effect of showing context pictures on comprehension was investigated. Dutch participants showed a better comprehension of the pictorials than Chinese, indicating that the designers probably used conventions more familiar to Dutch than to Chinese people. However, the relative comprehensibility of different pictorials was similar: generally, the same pictorials were easier or more difficult to understand for both groups. Photographs conveying context information improved comprehension levels for Dutch and Chinese participants. This kind of contrastive research is useful for exploring interpretation differences of pictorials intended for use in different cultures.

Semantics of Connectives Guides Referential Expectations in Discourse: An Eye-Tracking Study of Dutch and Russian

This study aims to establish whether connectives can create referential expectations in discourse, and, if so, what these expectations are based on: connective semantics or frequency distributions in language use. This was tested by comparing the processing of the connectives “and” and “but” in Dutch and Russian by means of an eye-tracking experiment using the visual world paradigm. A corpus study showed that in terms of frequency distributions, the Russian connectives are very similar to the Dutch connectives (“and” more often introduces reference maintenance and “but” more often introduces reference shift). In terms of semantics, the two languages are different, because only the Russian connectives are specified for maintenance/shift. The experimental results indicate that only Russian connectives are informative about referential development of discourse. Irrespective of frequency distributions, connectives are only used as processing instructions for referential development if reference maintenance or shift is specified in their semantics.

English as a lingua franca versus lingua receptiva in problem-solving conversations between Dutch and German students

Abstract In most universities, English as a lingua franca (ELF) is used for international courses. To promote linguistic diversity and facilitate first language education, some universities have experimented with lingua receptiva (LaRa). However, it is not clear yet which mode is most effective. This study compared the effectiveness of LaRa and ELF in conversations between Dutch and German students. Eight pairs of students, each consisting of one native Dutch and one native German, solved four maze puzzles: two using ELF and two using LaRa. Conversations were videotaped and compared quantitatively and qualitatively, and participants completed a questionnaire about their proficiency in and attitude towards the languages used. Problem-solving effectiveness was significantly higher using ELF than using LaRa. However, participants were also more proficient in English than in the native language of their conversation partner. Analysis showed that it was this difference in proficiency and not the language mode that explained the higher effectiveness of ELF. Language attitude and previous exposure did not have a significant effect on effectiveness. The study shows that linguistic prior-knowledge is an important factor to take into account when choosing a multilingual communication constellation.

Analogical effects in reading Dutch verb forms

Previous research has shown that the production of morphologically complex words in isolation is affected by the properties of morphologically, phonologically, or semantically similar words stored in the mental lexicon. We report five experiments with Dutch speakers that show that reading an inflectional word form in its linguistic context is also affected by analogical sets of formally similar words. Using the self-paced reading technique, we show in Experiments 1–3 that an incorrectly spelled suffix delays readers less if the incorrect spelling is in line with the spelling of verbal suffixes in other inflectional forms of the same verb. In Experiments 4 and 5, our use of the self-paced reading technique shows that formally similar words with different stems affect the reading of incorrect suffixal allomorphs on a given stem. These intra- and interparadigmatic effects in reading may be due to online processes or to the storage of incorrect forms resulting from analogical effects in production. We thank Harald Baayen, Dominiek Sandra, and Rob Schreuder for their comments on earlier versions of this article. Correspondence relating to this article may be sent to M. Ernestus, Max Planck Institute for

Three-year-olds can predict a noun based on an attributive adjective: evidence from eye-tracking.

This paper investigates whether three-year-olds are able to process attributive adjectives (e.g., soft pillow) as they hear them and to predict the noun (pillow) on the basis of the adjective meaning (soft). This was investigated in an experiment by means of the Visual World Paradigm. The participants saw two pictures (e.g., a pillow and a book) and heard adjective-noun combinations, where the adjective was either informative (e.g., soft) or uninformative (e.g., new) about the head-noun. The properties described by the target adjectives were not visually apparent. When the adjective was uninformative, the looks at the target increased only upon hearing the noun. When the adjective was informative, however, the looks at the target increased upon hearing the adjective. Three-year-olds were as fast as adult controls in predicting the upcoming noun. We conclude that toddlers process adjective-noun phrases incrementally and can predict the noun based on the prenominal adjective.