Processing Chinese relative clauses in context
This paper presents a self-paced reading experiment comparing the processing of subject-extracted relative clauses (SRCs) and object-extracted relative clauses (ORCs) in supportive contexts in Chinese. It is argued that lack of a consistent pattern in the literature for the comparison between Chines...
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2012
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/73970 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5912-883X |
| _version_ | 1826194644513325056 |
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| author | Gibson, Edward A. Wu, H.-H. Iris |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Gibson, Edward A. Wu, H.-H. Iris |
| author_sort | Gibson, Edward A. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | This paper presents a self-paced reading experiment comparing the processing of subject-extracted relative clauses (SRCs) and object-extracted relative clauses (ORCs) in supportive contexts in Chinese. It is argued that lack of a consistent pattern in the literature for the comparison between Chinese SRCs and ORCs is due to potential temporary ambiguity in these constructions in null contexts. By placing the materials in contexts biased towards a relative clause (RC) interpretation, we limit the effects of temporary ambiguity. The results of the experiment demonstrate that SRCs are read more slowly than ORCs in supportive contexts. These results provide evidence for working memory-based sentence processing theories whereby processing difficulty increases for connecting sentence elements that are further apart. Some convergent evidence that strengthens these conclusions comes from recent research on aphasic populations where a dissociation between English and Chinese RC processing has been revealed: whereas English aphasic patients have more difficulty with ORCs and Chinese aphasic patients have more difficulty with SRCs (Su, Lee, & Chung, 2007). Taken together, these results support the idea that sentence processing is constrained by working memory limitations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:59:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/73970 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:59:44Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/739702022-09-30T18:09:29Z Processing Chinese relative clauses in context Gibson, Edward A. Wu, H.-H. Iris Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Gibson, Edward A. Gibson, Edward A. This paper presents a self-paced reading experiment comparing the processing of subject-extracted relative clauses (SRCs) and object-extracted relative clauses (ORCs) in supportive contexts in Chinese. It is argued that lack of a consistent pattern in the literature for the comparison between Chinese SRCs and ORCs is due to potential temporary ambiguity in these constructions in null contexts. By placing the materials in contexts biased towards a relative clause (RC) interpretation, we limit the effects of temporary ambiguity. The results of the experiment demonstrate that SRCs are read more slowly than ORCs in supportive contexts. These results provide evidence for working memory-based sentence processing theories whereby processing difficulty increases for connecting sentence elements that are further apart. Some convergent evidence that strengthens these conclusions comes from recent research on aphasic populations where a dissociation between English and Chinese RC processing has been revealed: whereas English aphasic patients have more difficulty with ORCs and Chinese aphasic patients have more difficulty with SRCs (Su, Lee, & Chung, 2007). Taken together, these results support the idea that sentence processing is constrained by working memory limitations. National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant No. 0844472) 2012-10-15T16:04:37Z 2012-10-15T16:04:37Z 2011-03 2010-10 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0169-0965 1464-0732 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/73970 Gibson, Edward, and H.-H. Iris Wu. “Processing Chinese Relative Clauses in Context.” Language and Cognitive Processes (2011): 1–31. Web. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5912-883X en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01690965.2010.536656 Language and Cognitive Processes Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ application/pdf Taylor & Francis Group Gibson via Courtney Crummett |
| spellingShingle | Gibson, Edward A. Wu, H.-H. Iris Processing Chinese relative clauses in context |
| title | Processing Chinese relative clauses in context |
| title_full | Processing Chinese relative clauses in context |
| title_fullStr | Processing Chinese relative clauses in context |
| title_full_unstemmed | Processing Chinese relative clauses in context |
| title_short | Processing Chinese relative clauses in context |
| title_sort | processing chinese relative clauses in context |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/73970 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5912-883X |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gibsonedwarda processingchineserelativeclausesincontext AT wuhhiris processingchineserelativeclausesincontext |