Use of semantic information to interpret thematic information for real-time sentence comprehension in an SOV language.

Recently, sentence comprehension in languages other than European languages has been investigated from a cross-linguistic perspective. In this paper, we examine whether and how animacy-related semantic information is used for real-time sentence comprehension in a SOV word order language (i.e., Japan...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Satoru Yokoyama, Kei Takahashi, Ryuta Kawashima
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3568076?pdf=render
_version_ 1811266236303015936
author Satoru Yokoyama
Kei Takahashi
Ryuta Kawashima
author_facet Satoru Yokoyama
Kei Takahashi
Ryuta Kawashima
author_sort Satoru Yokoyama
collection DOAJ
description Recently, sentence comprehension in languages other than European languages has been investigated from a cross-linguistic perspective. In this paper, we examine whether and how animacy-related semantic information is used for real-time sentence comprehension in a SOV word order language (i.e., Japanese). Twenty-three Japanese native speakers participated in this study. They read semantically reversible and non-reversible sentences with canonical word order, and those with scrambled word order. In our results, the second argument position in reversible sentences took longer to read than that in non-reversible sentences, indicating that animacy information is used in second argument processing. In contrast, for the predicate position, there was no difference in reading times, suggesting that animacy information is NOT used in the predicate position. These results are discussed using the sentence comprehension models of an SOV word order language.
first_indexed 2024-04-12T20:38:26Z
format Article
id doaj.art-9aef1efed5844643b08f41445b10b40c
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1932-6203
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-12T20:38:26Z
publishDate 2013-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj.art-9aef1efed5844643b08f41445b10b40c2022-12-22T03:17:30ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032013-01-0182e5610610.1371/journal.pone.0056106Use of semantic information to interpret thematic information for real-time sentence comprehension in an SOV language.Satoru YokoyamaKei TakahashiRyuta KawashimaRecently, sentence comprehension in languages other than European languages has been investigated from a cross-linguistic perspective. In this paper, we examine whether and how animacy-related semantic information is used for real-time sentence comprehension in a SOV word order language (i.e., Japanese). Twenty-three Japanese native speakers participated in this study. They read semantically reversible and non-reversible sentences with canonical word order, and those with scrambled word order. In our results, the second argument position in reversible sentences took longer to read than that in non-reversible sentences, indicating that animacy information is used in second argument processing. In contrast, for the predicate position, there was no difference in reading times, suggesting that animacy information is NOT used in the predicate position. These results are discussed using the sentence comprehension models of an SOV word order language.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3568076?pdf=render
spellingShingle Satoru Yokoyama
Kei Takahashi
Ryuta Kawashima
Use of semantic information to interpret thematic information for real-time sentence comprehension in an SOV language.
PLoS ONE
title Use of semantic information to interpret thematic information for real-time sentence comprehension in an SOV language.
title_full Use of semantic information to interpret thematic information for real-time sentence comprehension in an SOV language.
title_fullStr Use of semantic information to interpret thematic information for real-time sentence comprehension in an SOV language.
title_full_unstemmed Use of semantic information to interpret thematic information for real-time sentence comprehension in an SOV language.
title_short Use of semantic information to interpret thematic information for real-time sentence comprehension in an SOV language.
title_sort use of semantic information to interpret thematic information for real time sentence comprehension in an sov language
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3568076?pdf=render
work_keys_str_mv AT satoruyokoyama useofsemanticinformationtointerpretthematicinformationforrealtimesentencecomprehensioninansovlanguage
AT keitakahashi useofsemanticinformationtointerpretthematicinformationforrealtimesentencecomprehensioninansovlanguage
AT ryutakawashima useofsemanticinformationtointerpretthematicinformationforrealtimesentencecomprehensioninansovlanguage