scholarly journals How speakers select synthetic and analytic forms of English comparatives: An experimental study

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Enzinna
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Inhibitory Effect ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Forced Choice ◽  
Token Frequency ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

This research examines the influence of prosodic shape, token frequency, and recency on comparative form preferences in English. To examine this, participants completed an unprimed and a primed forced-choice acceptability-judgment task. While the unprimed study’s results show that comparative form selection is largely influenced by an adjective’s prosodic shape and token frequency, the primed study shows that recency also plays a role in comparative form selection. More specifically, when primed with a synthetic comparative, participants were less likely to choose the comparative form that the adjective typically occurs in. These results are paralleled by the reaction time results, suggesting that recency of a synthetic comparative may cause either a facilitatory or inhibitory effect when selecting a comparative form.

Present/future tense variation in contemporary Italian

Revue Romane ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Mark R. Hoff
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Forced Choice ◽  
Future Tense ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
The Future ◽  
Present Tense ◽  
Adverbial Clauses ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

Abstract According to normative descriptions of Italian future-framed adverbial clauses, the future tense is the only option (Quando verrai [F], ti presterò il libro ‘When you come, I’ll lend you the book’). However, the present tense may also be used (Quando vieni [P], ti presto il libro). I demonstrate that choice and acceptance of the present in future-framed adverbials are conditioned by the speaker’s presumption of settledness; that is, in every future world compatible with the speaker’s beliefs the eventuality necessarily occurs. The data come from an online questionnaire consisting of a forced-choice and an acceptability judgment task completed by 429 native speakers of Italian, and were analyzed using mixed-effects regression. Results show that the present is chosen most and rated highest when the future eventuality is presumed settled ([+certain, +immediate, +temporally specific]). These findings demonstrate that speakers use the present to express confidence in the realization of future eventualities.

scholarly journals The effect of givenness and referring expression on dative alternation in Norwegian: A reaction time study

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Marta Velnić ◽  
Merete Anderssen
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Time Study ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Contextual Dependency ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

Abstract This study investigates how givenness and pronominality affect the dative alternation in Norwegian. Previous studies have found givenness to influence the Double Object Dative (DOD) but not the Prepositional Dative (PD). Thirty-one Norwegian native speakers completed a speeded acceptability judgment task, in which given objects were expressed by definite DPs or pronouns, and either preceded or followed the new referent. DODs were found to be highly sensitive to givenness. Surprisingly, PDs also showed contextual dependency. Referring expressions affected the two structures differently: reaction times were faster with pronouns in DODs and slower in PDs. This suggests that the alternates have different processing biases, with the former preferring pronouns and the latter DPs. The results are further considered in relation to the notion of harmonic alignment, as PDs, in which the typically animate recipient is always the second object, and will thus consistently represent a suboptimal and non-harmonious order when givenness is adhered to.

Quantity judgment and the mass-count distinction across languages: Advances, problems, and future directions for research

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Barner ◽  
Alan Bale
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Scientific Enterprise ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Quantity Judgment ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Linguistic Cognition

We review advances in the experimental study of the mass-count distinction and highlight problems that have emerged. First, we lay out what we see to be the scientific enterprise of studying the syntax and semantics of mass-count distinction, and the assumptions we believe must be made if additional progress is to occur, especially as the empirical facts continue to grow in number and complexity. Second, we discuss the new landscape of cross-linguistic results that has been created by widespread use of the quantity judgment task, and what these results tell us about the nature of the mass-count distinction. Finally, we discuss the relationship between the mass-count distinction and non-linguistic cognition, and in particular the object-substance distinction.

scholarly journals An experimental study of preference construction using a perceptual judgment task（２）

2012 ◽  
Vol 76 (0) ◽  
pp. 3AMB02-3AMB02
Author(s):  
Takashi IDENO ◽  
Mikiya HAYASHI ◽  
Takayuki SAKAGAMI ◽  
Satoshi FUJII ◽  
Shigetaka OKUBO ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Perceptual Judgment ◽  
Preference Construction

scholarly journals Intonational effects on English scopally-ambiguous sentences

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 13-36
Author(s):  
Mien-Jen Wu ◽  
Tania Ionin
Keyword(s):  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Universal Quantifier ◽  
Sentential Negation ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

This paper examines the effect of intonation contour on two types of scopally ambiguous constructions in English: configurations with a universal quantifier in subject position and sentential negation (e.g., Every horse didn’t jump) and configurations with quantifiers in both subject and object positions (e.g., A girl saw every boy). There is much prior literature on the relationship between the fall-rise intonation and availability of inverse scope with quantifier-negation configurations. The present study has two objectives: (1) to examine whether the role of intonation in facilitating inverse scope is restricted to this configuration, or whether it extends to double-quantifier configurations as well; and (2) to examine whether fall-rise intonation fully disambiguates the sentence, or only facilitates inverse scope. These questions were investigated experimentally, via an auditory acceptability judgment task, in which native English speakers rated the acceptability of auditorily presented sentences in contexts matching surface-scope vs. inverse-scope readings. The results provide evidence that fall-rise intonation facilitates the inverse-scope readings of English quantifier-negation configurations (supporting findings from prior literature), but not those of double-quantifier configurations.

Experimental study of the inhibitory effect of gantai capsule on HBsAg and HBeAg expression

2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-58
Author(s):  
Yan-ling Zhao ◽  
Hai-long Yuan ◽  
Xiao-he Xiao ◽  
Lin Hu ◽  
Cheng-shan He
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Inhibitory Effect

Limits on semantic prediction in the processing of extraction from adjunct clauses

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dustin Alfonso Chacón
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Maze Task ◽  
Serial Search ◽  
Conceptual Semantic ◽  
Syntactic Islands ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

Processing filler-gap dependencies (‘extraction’) depends on complex top-down predictions. This is observed in comprehenders’ ability to avoid resolving filler-gap dependencies in syntactic island contexts, and in the immediate sensitivity to the plausibility of the resulting interpretation. How complex can these predictions be? In this paper, we examine the processing of extraction from adjunct clauses. Adjunct clauses are argued to be syntactic islands, however, extraction is permitted if the adjunct clause and main clause satisfy specific compositional and conceptual semantic criteria. In an acceptability judgment task, we found that this generalization is robust. Additionally, our results show that this is a property specific to adjunct clauses by comparing adjunct clauses to conjunct VPs, which are similarly argued to permit extraction depending on semantic factors. However, in an A-Maze task, we found no evidence that this knowledge is deployed in real-time sentence processing. Instead, we found that comprehenders attempted to resolve a filler-gap dependency in an adjunct clause regardless of its island status. We propose that this is because deploying this linguistic constraint depends on a second-order serial search over event schemata, which is likely costly and time-consuming. Thus, comprehenders opt for a riskier strategy and attempt resolution into adjunct clauses categorically.

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