scholarly journals Complement Coercion

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Argyro Katsika ◽  
David Braze ◽  
Ashwini Deo ◽  
Maria Mercedes Piñango
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Semantic Classes ◽  
Semantic Difference ◽  
Processing Cost ◽  
Aspectual Verbs ◽  
Psychological Verbs ◽  
Type Shifting

Although Complement Coercion has been systematically associated with computational cost, there remains a serious confound in the experimental evidence built up in previous studies. The confound arises from the fact that lexico-semantic differences within the set of verbs assumed to involve coercion have not been taken into consideration. From among the set of verbs that have been reported to exhibit complement coercion effects we identified two clear semantic classes — aspectual verbs and psychological verbs. We hypothesize that the semantic difference between the two should result in differing processing profiles. Aspectual predicates (begin) trigger coercion and processing cost while psychological predicates (enjoy) do not. Evidence from an eye-tracking experiment supports our hypothesis. Coercion costs are restricted to aspectual predicates while no such effects are found with psychological predicates. These findings have implications for how these two kinds of predicates might be lexically encoded as well as for whether the observed interpolation of eventive meaning can be attributed to type-shifting (e.g., McElree, Traxler, Pickering, Seely, & Jackendoff, 2001) or to pragmatic-inferential processes (e.g., De Almeida, 2004).

scholarly journals I'm done my homework: Complement Coercion and Aspectual Adjectives in Canadian English

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Canadian English ◽  
Event Description ◽  
Processing Cost ◽  
Aspectual Verbs ◽  
Type Shifting

Self-paced reading and eye-tracking studies have generally found that combining aspectual verbs (like ‘begin’ and ‘finish’) with entity nouns (like ‘the book’ or ‘the coffee’) is associated with increased reading times on and around the noun (McElree et al. 2001; Traxler et al. 2002; Pickering et al. 2005). This processing cost is widely interpreted as evidence of complement coercion—aspectual verbs semantically select for an event (like ‘dancing’ or ‘the dance’) and can take entity objects only if they are coerced into an event through a computationally costly process of type-shifting (Pustejovsky 1995; Jackendoff 1997). This paper presents an eye-tracking study of the Canadian English ‘be done NP’ construction, e.g., ‘I am done/finished my homework’ (not to be confused with the dialect-neutral ‘I am done/finished WITH my homework’) to mean ‘I have finished my homework’. Results suggest a processing penalty for entity-denoting nouns like ‘the script’ (compared to event description nouns like ‘the audition’) in this construction, which supports Fruehwald & Myler’s (2015) proposal that ‘done’ and ‘finished’ in this construction are aspectual adjectives that behave like aspectual verbs in requiring complement coercion and type-shifting for entity-denoting nouns.

scholarly journals Fatores determinantes de custo de processamento e suas implicações para a aquisição da linguagem (Factors affecting processing cost and their implications to language acquisition)

2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Letícia Maria Sicuro Corrêa ◽  
Marina R. A. Augusto
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Line Model ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Processing Cost ◽  
On Line ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Formal Features

Fatores determinantes de custo de processamento são apontados, os quais incluem custo computacional, definido em função do modelo de computação on-line em Corrêa e Augusto (2007), e custo decorrente do processamento nas interfaces fônica e semântica. Suas implicações para a aquisição da linguagem são consideradas, no contexto de uma teoria procedimental de aquisição da língua (CORRÊA, 2006). Grau de visibilidade de distinções morfofonológicas na interface fônica, distinções conceptuais-intencionais relevantes na especificação de traços formais do léxico, mediante processamento na interface semântica, e peso da carga imposta à memória de trabalho na análise do material lingüístico são fatores especificamente discutidos.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Aquisição da Linguagem. Bootstrapping. Custo de Processamento. Minimalismo. ABSTRACT Factors affecting processing cost are presented, which include computational cost, defined in relation to an on-line model of syntactic computation (CORRÊA; AUGUSTO, 2007) and the cost derived from processing at the phonetic and semantic interfaces. Their implications to language acquisition are considered, in the light of a procedural theory of language acquisition (CORRÊA, 2006). The degree of visibility of morphophonological distinction at the phonetic interface, conceptual-intentional distinctions at the processing of the semantic interface, which contribute to the specification of formal features in the lexicon, and memory load are the factors discussed here.KEYWORDS: Language Acquisition. Boostrapping. Processing Cost. Minimalism.

scholarly journals Interactions Between Lower- and Higher-Level Processing when Reading in a Second Language: An Eye-Tracking Study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annina Hessel ◽  
Sascha Schroeder
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Expository Texts ◽  
Online Interactions ◽  
Inconsistent Information ◽  
Difficult Condition ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Processing Difficulty

This experiment investigated interactions between lower- and higher-level processing when reading in a second language (L2). We conducted an eye-tracking experiment with the within-subject manipulation inconsistency (to tap higher-level coherence-building) crossed with a within-subject manipulation of word processing difficulty (to alter the ease of lower-level processing), both manipulated on the text level. Sixty-three L2 learners read 48 short expository texts containing inconsistencies created through mismatches between pre-targets such as soya and targets such as corn, or consistent controls. Word processing difficulty was manipulated by inserting either shorter and higher-frequency words such as often, or longer and lower-frequency words such as increasingly. We found evidence of interactions between lower-level word processing difficulty and higher-level coherence-building, as revealed by reduced inconsistency go-past durations and rereading in the difficult condition. This effect did not, however, extend to targeted regressions into inconsistent information. Our findings provide first experimental evidence for online interactions between lower-level word processing and higher-level coherence-building.

scholarly journals Composition of multiple dimension representations in context during real-time comprehension

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yao-Ying Lai ◽  
David Braze ◽  
Maria Mercedes Piñango
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Semantic Representations ◽  
Multiple Dimension ◽  
Processing Cost ◽  
Additional Processing ◽  
Movement Study ◽  
Aspectual Verbs

We investigate the role of context in the comprehension of competing semantic representations of sentences with aspectual verbs (AspVs). On the Structured Individual Hypothesis, AspVs select for structured individuals as their complement, construed as a directed axis along various dimensions. During comprehension, the verb’s lexical functions are exhaustively retrieved and the AspV+complement composition yields multiple mutually exclusive dimension representations, which are later constrained by context. Results from this eye-movement study show that AspV sentences engender additional processing cost independent of context. That is, while processing multiple dimension representations is costly, the exhaustive lexical retrieval and dimension composition are initially encapsulated from context.

scholarly journals Ignorance in context: The interaction of modified numerals and QUDs

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthijs Westera ◽  
Adrian Brasoveanu
Keyword(s):  
Lower Bound ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Context Sensitivity ◽  
Exact Answer ◽  
Processing Cost ◽  
Experimental Semantics ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Pragmatic Account ◽  
Question Under Discussion ◽  
Modified Numerals

<p>We argue for a purely pragmatic account of the ignorance inferences associated with superlative but not comparative modifiers (at least vs. more than). Ignorance inferences for both modifiers are triggered when the question under discussion (QUD) requires an exact answer, but when these modifiers are used out of the blue the QUD is implicitly reconstructed based on the way these modifiers are typically used, and on the fact that "at least n", but not "more than n", mentions and does not exclude the lower bound "exactly n". The paper presents new experimental evidence for the context-sensitivity of ignorance inferences, and also for the hypothesis that the higher processing cost reported in the literature for superlative modifiers is context-dependent in the exact same way.</p><p>Keywords: superlative vs. comparative modifiers, ignorance inferences, questions under discussion, experimental semantics and pragmatics</p>

scholarly journals Analysis of the Risk Sensitive Value Iteration Algorithm

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Oliveira Borges ◽  
Karina Valdivia Delgado ◽  
Valdinei Freire
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Risk Attitude ◽  
Discount Factor ◽  
Iteration Algorithm ◽  
Value Iteration ◽  
Extreme Risk ◽  
Risk Sensitive ◽  
Processing Cost ◽  
Low Computational Cost

This paper shows an empirical study of Value Iteration Risk Sensitive algorithm proposed by Mihatsch and Neuneier (2002). This approach makes use of a risk factor that allows dealing with different types of risk attitude (prone, neutral or averse) by using a discount factor. We show experiments with the domain of Crossing the River in two different scenarios and we analyze the influence of discount factor and risk factor under two aspects: optimal policy and processing time to convergence. We observed that: (i) the processing cost in extreme risk policies is high with both risk-averse and risk-prone attitude; (ii) a high discount increases time to convergence and reinforces the chosen risk attitude; and (iii) policies with intermediate risk factor values have a low computational cost and show a certain sensitivity to risk based on the discount factor.

When actions and looks don’t line up

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 623-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Contemori ◽  
Lucia Pozzan ◽  
Phillip Galinsky ◽  
Paola E. Dussias
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Adult Child ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Prepositional Phrase ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Garden Path ◽  
Processing Cost ◽  
Presence And Absence

Abstract In two eye tracking experiments, we investigate how adult child-L2 speakers of English resolve prepositional phrase (PP) attachment ambiguity in their dominant language (English), and whether they use prosodic information to aid in the process of garden-path recovery. The findings showed an increased processing cost associated with the revision of temporary ambiguous sentences for the child-L2 adults relative to the native English speakers. When prosody was informative, the child-L2 adults were able to use prosodic information to guide the interpretation of their later acquired, dominant language. However, they performed revision significantly less successfully than the native speakers. Although processing was similar for the native English speakers and the adult child-L2 speakers of English, when it comes to sensitivity to prosodic information and referential context, the two groups differed with regards to reanalysis both in the presence and absence of salient prosodic and referential information.

At least ignorance inferences come at a processing cost: Support from eye movements

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 795 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stavroula Alexandropoulou ◽  
Jakub Dotlačil ◽  
Rick Nouwen
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Scalar Implicatures ◽  
Processing Cost ◽  
Covert Movement ◽  
Reading Study

We present results of an eye-tracking reading study that directly probes ignorance effects of the superlative numeral modifier at least in embedding and unembedding environments. We find that interpreting a numeral (phrase) modified by at least in a context with an ignorant speaker is costlier than in a context with a knowledgeable speaker, regardless of whether at least is in an embedding environment or not. In line with online studies testing scalar implicatures using a similar paradigm, this finding is taken to suggest that the observed processing cost is due to the derivation of ignorance interpretations via a pragmatic mechanism. Our results, given the paradigm we employ, further enable us to adjudicate not only between semantic and pragmatic accounts of ignorance, but also among various pragmatic proposals, favouring neo-Gricean accounts that derive ignorance as a quantity implicature (Büring 2008; Cummins & Katsos 2010; Schwarz 2013; Kennedy 2015). We find no evidence indicating that ignorance with at least in interaction with a universal modal involves an extra operation, like covert movement.

scholarly journals Didn't hear that coming: Effects of withholding phonetic cues to code-switching

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 1020-1031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Shen ◽  
Susanne Gahl ◽  
Keith Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Switch Cost ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Auditory Comprehension ◽  
Processing Cost ◽  
Average Proportion ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
Phonetic Cues

AbstractCode-switching has been found to incur a processing cost in auditory comprehension. However, listeners may have access to anticipatory phonetic cues to code-switches (Piccinini & Garellek, 2014; Fricke et al., 2016), thus mitigating switch cost. We investigated effects of withholding anticipatory phonetic cues on code-switched word recognition by splicing English-to-Mandarin code-switches into unilingual English sentences. In a concept monitoring experiment, Mandarin–English bilinguals took longer to recognize code-switches, suggesting a switch cost. In an eye tracking experiment, the average proportion of all participants' looks to pictures corresponding to sentence-medial code-switches decreased when cues were withheld. Acoustic analysis of stimuli revealed tone-specific pitch contours before English-to-Mandarin code-switches, consistent with previous work on tonal coarticulation. We conclude that withholding anticipatory phonetic cues can negatively affect code-switched recognition: therefore, bilingual listeners use phonetic cues in processing code-switches under normal conditions. We discuss the implications of tonal coarticulation for mechanisms underlying phonetic cues to code-switching.

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