scholarly journals Pragmatic effects of `more than' and `at least' in incremental interpretation

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 680
Author(s):  
Stavroula Alexandropoulou ◽  
Jakub Dotlačil ◽  
Rick Nouwen
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Epistemic State ◽  
Pragmatic Reasoning ◽  
Reading Experiment ◽  
Incremental Interpretation

We investigate the incremental interpretation of comparative and superlative numeral modifiers by manipulating the speaker’s epistemic state in an eye-tracking reading experiment. The results reveal a different processing profile for two types of numeral modifiers. We take this difference to point to a difference in the source and nature of the attested effects (e.g., Quantity- vs. Manner-based pragmatic reasoning). Our findings inform the existing theoretical landscape, invalidating a number of accounts of speaker ignorance effects with numeral modifiers and giving support to Quantity-based accounts of such effects with superlative modifiers.

scholarly journals Incrementality and efficiency shape pragmatics across languages

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (24) ◽  
pp. 13399-13404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Rubio-Fernandez ◽  
Julian Jara-Ettinger
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Context Information ◽  
Visual Context ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Pragmatic Information ◽  
Incoming Information ◽  
Speaker Intentions ◽  
Pragmatic Reasoning

To correctly interpret a message, people must attend to the context in which it was produced. Here we investigate how this process, known as pragmatic reasoning, is guided by two universal forces in human communication: incrementality and efficiency, with speakers of all languages interpreting language incrementally and making the most efficient use of the incoming information. Crucially, however, the interplay between these two forces results in speakers of different languages having different pragmatic information available at each point in processing, including inferences about speaker intentions. In particular, the position of adjectives relative to nouns (e.g., “black lamp” vs. “lamp black”) makes visual context information available in reverse orders. In an eye-tracking study comparing four unrelated languages that have been understudied with regard to language processing (Catalan, Hindi, Hungarian, and Wolof), we show that speakers of languages with an adjective–noun order integrate context by first identifying properties (e.g., color, material, or size), whereas speakers of languages with a noun–adjective order integrate context by first identifying kinds (e.g., lamps or chairs). Most notably, this difference allows listeners of adjective–noun descriptions to infer the speaker’s intention when using an adjective (e.g., “the black…” as implying “not the blue one”) and anticipate the target referent, whereas listeners of noun–adjective descriptions are subject to temporary ambiguity when deriving the same interpretation. We conclude that incrementality and efficiency guide pragmatic reasoning across languages, with different word orders having different pragmatic affordances.

scholarly journals Eye-tracking evidence for active gap-filling regardless of dependency length

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wing Yee Chow ◽  
Yangzi Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Critical Region ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Gap Filling ◽  
Reading Experiment ◽  
Actual Location

Previous work on real-time sentence processing has established that comprehenders build and interpret filler-gap dependencies without waiting for unambiguous evidence about the actual location of the gap (“active gap-filling”) as long as such dependencies are grammatically licensed. However, this generalisation was called into question by recent findings in a self-paced reading experiment by Wagers and Phillips (2014; W&P14) which may be taken to show that comprehenders do not interpret the filler at the posited gap when the dependency spans a longer distance. In the present study we aimed to replicate these findings in an eye-tracking experiment with better controlled materials and increased statistical power. Crucially, we found clear evidence for active gap-filling across all levels of dependency length. This diverges from W&P14’s findings but is in line with the long-standing generalisation that comprehenders build and interpret filler-gap dependencies predictively as long as they are grammatically licensed. We found that the effect became smaller in the long dependency conditions in the post-critical region, which suggests the weaker effect in the long dependency conditions may have been undetected in W&P’s study due to insufficient statistical power and/or the use of a self-paced reading paradigm.

scholarly journals What Are the Modulators of Cross-Language Syntactic Activation During Natural Reading?

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Vingron ◽  
Pauline Palma ◽  
Jason W. Gullifer ◽  
Veronica Whitford ◽  
Deanna Friesen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Target Language ◽  
English Reading ◽  
Language Effects ◽  
Reading Experiment ◽  
Language Activation ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
Multiple Languages

Bilinguals juggle knowledge of multiple languages, including syntactic constructions that can mismatch (e.g., the red car, la voiture rouge; Mary sees it, Mary le voit). We used eye-tracking to examine whether French-English (n = 23) and English-French (n = 21) bilingual adults activate non-target language syntax during English L2 (Experiment 1) and L1 (Experiment 2) reading, and whether this differed from functionally monolingual English reading (Experiment 3, n = 26). People read English sentences containing syntactic constructions that were either partially shared across languages (adjective-noun constructions) or completely unshared (object-pronoun constructions). These constructions were presented in an intact form, or in a violated form that was French-consistent or French-inconsistent. For both L2 and L1 reading, bilinguals read French-consistent adjective-noun violations relatively quickly, suggesting cross-language activation. This did not occur when the same people read object-pronoun constructions manipulated in the same manner. Surprisingly, English readers exposed to French in their lifetime but functionally monolingual, also read French-consistent violations for adjective-noun constructions faster, particularly for some items. However, when we controlled for item differences in the L2 and L1 reading data, cross-language effects observed were similar to the original data pattern. Moreover, individual differences in L2 experience modulated both L2 and L1 reading for adjective-noun constructions, consistent with a cross-language activation interpretation of the data. These findings are consistent with the idea of syntactic cross-language activation during reading for some constructions. However, for several reasons, cross-language syntactic activation during comprehension may be overall more variable and challenging to investigate methodologically compared to past work on other forms of cross-language activation (i.e., single words).

scholarly journals HEAT MAPS AND SCAN PATHS: QUALITATIVE EYE-TRACKING EVIDENCE ON HOW THE QUR’AN IS MEMORIZED THROUGH READING

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 318-334
Author(s):  
Khazriyati Salehuddin ◽  
Mizhanim Mohamad Shahimin ◽  
Mohamed Zain Sulaiman ◽  
Rasyiqah Batrisya Md Zolkapli
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Heat Maps ◽  
Arabic Speakers ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Scan Paths ◽  
Read Word ◽  
Reading Experiment ◽  
Unknown Words

The process of memorizing the Qur’an typically takes place through reading its printed version (mus’haf). The Qur’an is read word by word so that the process of recalling the memorized verses or chapters is done accurately and fluently. Memorizing the Qur’an may be a great challenge to non-Arabic speakers because of their lack of knowledge in the Arabic vocabulary and grammar; yet more and more non-Arabic speakers continue to memorize the Qur’an for various reasons. In order to scientifically investigate how non-Arabic speakers memorize the Qur’an, a reading experiment was conducted to achieve this aim. Sixty-four (21 Male, 43 Female) native speakers of Malay who have memorized a portion of the Qur’an (10 juzu’ and below) participated in this experiment. Using the Tobii TX300 eye-tracking machine, participants’ eye movements, as they read to memorize four verses of the Qur’an (two with and two without Malay translations), were tracked, and their gaze plots were analysed qualitatively (via heat maps and scan paths). Results show evidence that Malay non-Arabic speakers’ act of reading the Qur’an to memorize it went beyond what is usually known as “cramming”; instead, the process involved finding the meaning of unknown words, so that the process of recalling the memorized verses can be done accurately and fluently.   Keywords: Cognitive processes, eye movements, memorization, psycholinguistics, Qur’an   Cited as: Salehuddin, K., Shahimin, M. M., Sulaiman, M. Z., & Md Zolkapli, R. B. (2019). Heat maps and scan paths: Qualitative eye tracking evidence on how the Qur’an is memorized through reading. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 4(2), 318-334. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol4iss2pp318-334

scholarly journals Eye-tracking evidence for active gap-filling regardless of dependency length

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (6) ◽  
pp. 1297-1307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wing-Yee Chow ◽  
Yangzi Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Critical Region ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Gap Filling ◽  
Reading Experiment ◽  
Actual Location

Previous work on real-time sentence processing has established that comprehenders build and interpret filler-gap dependencies without waiting for unambiguous evidence about the actual location of the gap (“active gap-filling”) as long as such dependencies are grammatically licensed. However, this generalisation was called into question by recent findings in a self-paced reading experiment by Wagers and Phillips, which may be taken to show that comprehenders do not interpret the filler at the posited gap when the dependency spans a longer distance. In the present study, we aimed to replicate these findings in an eye-tracking experiment with better controlled materials and increased statistical power. Crucially, we found clear evidence for active gap-filling across all levels of dependency length. This diverges from Wagers and Phillips’s findings but is in line with the long-standing generalisation that comprehenders build and interpret filler-gap dependencies predictively as long as they are grammatically licensed. We found that the effect became smaller in the long dependency conditions in the post-critical region, which suggests the weaker effect in the long dependency conditions may have been undetected in Wagers and Phillips’s study due to insufficient statistical power and/or the use of a self-paced reading paradigm.

THE EFFECT OF GLOSS TYPE ON LEARNERS’ INTAKE OF NEW WORDS DURING READING

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 883-906 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Warren ◽  
Frank Boers ◽  
Gina Grimshaw ◽  
Anna Siyanova-Chanturia
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Reading Behaviors ◽  
New Words ◽  
Posttest Performance ◽  
Reading Experiment

AbstractA reading experiment combining online and offline data evaluates the effect on second language learners’ reading behaviors and lexical uptake of three gloss types designed to clarify word meaning. These are (a) textual definition, (b) textual definition accompanied by picture, and (c) picture only. We recorded eye movements while intermediate learners of English read a story presented on-screen and containing six glossed pseudowords repeated three times each. Cumulative fixation counts and time spent on the pseudowords predicted posttest performance for form recall and meaning recognition, confirming findings of previous eye-tracking studies of vocabulary acquisition from reading. However, the total visual attention given to pseudowords and glosses was smallest in the condition with picture-only glosses, and yet this condition promoted best retention of word meaning. This suggests that gloss types differentially influence learners’ processing of novel words in ways that may elude the quantitative measures of attention captured by eye-tracking.

scholarly journals Partículas discursivas y cognición: por tanto y la conexión argumentative

2016 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Óscar Loureda ◽  
Laura Nadal ◽  
Inés Recio Fernández
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Discourse Particles ◽  
Total Reading Time ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Reading Experiment ◽  
Lexical Content ◽  
Present Experimental Evidence

AbstractIn this paper we present experimental evidence on how the Spanish consecutive connective por tanto (en. “furthermore”) rearranges inferential routes in comprehension processes and guides the reader towards amental representation. Por tanto does not generate an argumentative relation between the discourse segments it combines. Rather, under normal circumstances, it simply makes such a relation explicit, since the segments are already argumentatively co-oriented due to their lexical content. In an eye-tracking reading experiment we compared the processing patterns of utterances in which discourse segments were connected by means of por tanto versus utterances with juxtaposed segments. A speed-up effect of por tanto on the second segment was found for the total reading time, thus confirming that, due to their procedural meaning, discourse particles add information to utterances, while, at the same time, they guide, facilitate and rearrange processing.

scholarly journals L2 Knowledge of the Obligatory French Subjunctive: Offline Measures and Eye Tracking Compared

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Amber Dudley ◽  
Roumyana Slabakova
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Grammatical Knowledge ◽  
Real Time Processing ◽  
Time Processing ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Reading Experiment ◽  
Computational Resources ◽  
L1 And L2

Extensive research has shown that second language (L2) learners find it difficult to apply grammatical knowledge during real-time processing, especially when differences exist between the first (L1) and L2. The current study examines the extent to which British English-speaking learners of French can apply their grammatical knowledge of the French subjunctive during real-time processing, and whether this ability is modulated by the properties of the L1 grammar, and/or proficiency. Data from an acceptability judgment task and an eye-tracking during reading experiment revealed that L2 learners had knowledge of the subjunctive, but were unable to apply this knowledge when reading for comprehension. Such findings therefore suggest that L2 knowledge of the subjunctive, at least at the proficiency levels tested in this study, is largely metalinguistic (explicit) in nature and that reduced lexical access and/or limited computational resources (e.g., working memory) prevented learners from fully utilising their grammatical representations during real-time processing.

scholarly journals The effect of gloss type on learners’ intake of new words during reading: evidence from eye-tracking

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Warren ◽  
F Boers ◽  
Georgina Grimshaw ◽  
Anna Siyanova
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Reading Behaviors ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
New Words ◽  
Posttest Performance ◽  
Reading Experiment

Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018. A reading experiment combining online and offline data evaluates the effect on second language learners' reading behaviors and lexical uptake of three gloss types designed to clarify word meaning. These are (a) textual definition, (b) textual definition accompanied by picture, and (c) picture only. We recorded eye movements while intermediate learners of English read a story presented on-screen and containing six glossed pseudowords repeated three times each. Cumulative fixation counts and time spent on the pseudowords predicted posttest performance for form recall and meaning recognition, confirming findings of previous eye-tracking studies of vocabulary acquisition from reading. However, the total visual attention given to pseudowords and glosses was smallest in the condition with picture-only glosses, and yet this condition promoted best retention of word meaning. This suggests that gloss types differentially influence learners' processing of novel words in ways that may elude the quantitative measures of attention captured by eye-tracking.

scholarly journals Processing gapping: Parallelism and grammatical constraints

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (5) ◽  
pp. 781-798
Author(s):  
Nayoun Kim ◽  
Katy Carlson ◽  
Mike Dickey ◽  
Masaya Yoshida
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Coordination Structure ◽  
Online Processing ◽  
Acceptability Rating ◽  
Reading Experiment ◽  
General Preference

This study aims to test two hypotheses about the online processing of Gapping: whether the parser inserts an ellipsis site in an incremental fashion in certain coordinated structures (the Incremental Ellipsis Hypothesis), or whether ellipsis is a late and dispreferred option (the Ellipsis as a Last Resort Hypothesis). We employ two offline acceptability rating experiments and a sentence fragment completion experiment to investigate to what extent the distribution of Gapping is controlled by grammatical and extra-grammatical constraints. Furthermore, an eye-tracking while reading experiment demonstrated that the parser inserts an ellipsis site incrementally but only when grammatical and extra-grammatical constraints allow for the insertion of the ellipsis site. This study shows that incremental building of the Gapping structure follows from the parser’s general preference to keep the structure of the two conjuncts maximally parallel in a coordination structure as well as from grammatical restrictions on the distribution of Gapping such as the Coordination Constraint.

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