Mass and count in language and cognition : some evidence from language comprehension

In linguistics and the philosophy of language, the mass/count distinction has traditionally been regarded as a bi-partition on the nominal domain, where typical instances are nouns like "beef" (mass) vs."cow" (count). In the present paper, we argue that this partition reveals a system that is based on both syntactic features and conceptual features, and present experimental evidence suggesting that the discrimination of the two kinds of features has a psychological reality

The mental representations of light verbs

The Light Verb Construction gives us a window into the mental lexicon: John takes a cup -> agent=John, theme = a cup John takes a walk -> agent = John, theme=

Argument structure in nominalizations : the case of the light verb construction in German

The predicate associated with the verb fails to express its full argument structure, while the predicate associated with the nominalization preserves its original argument structure

Searching for specific sentence meaning in context: the conceptual relation between participants

We test the hypothesis that the interpretation of aspectual-verb sentences with an animate subject and an entity-denoting complement like “Sue finishes the book” is the result of an evaluation based on one key conceptual property: the degree of asymmetry in control power between the participants of a situation denoted by the sentence. We argue that this evaluation is not necessarily based on some inherent property of the participants but on the possible construal that the sentential context affords. Control asymmetry is thus proposed as one conceptual constraint on meaning specification in an otherwise semantically underspecified linguistic construction. In “Sue finishes the book”, high control asymmetry between “Sue” and “book” leads to an agentive or actor-undergoer interpretation (e.g., Sue is doing something that involves the book). By contrast, low control asymmetry leads to a constitutive or part-whole interpretation (e.g., The story about Sue is the last one in the book). Which reading emerges depends on whether or not the contextual cues lead to a specific control-asymmetry evaluation by the comprehender. Results of a questionnaire show that otherwise perfectly acceptable but semantically underspecified aspectual-verb sentences (i) receive multiple plausible readings in a control-asymmetry neutral context and (ii) are judged as significantly less acceptable than their control asymmetry-biased counterparts. Contrary to the conventional view which leaves out the constitutive reading, we show that (iii) the constitutive reading exists as part of the core reading of aspectual-verb sentences, and is subject to context modulation and control asymmetry calibration, unifying with the agentive reading. We argue that this pattern of contextual modulation is determined by the context’s ability to convey specific control-asymmetry possibilities. In a control-asymmetry neutral context (i.e. the control relation between the two participants is not specified), the search space within the control-asymmetry continuum is unconstrained, resulting in a computationally costlier search process. This is manifested as a more effortful and therefore less desirable comprehension experience, resulting in a lower acceptability rating, as compared to the control-asymmetry context-biased counterparts. Altogether the findings represent a clear example of sentence acceptability being susceptible to meaning composition complexity metrics emerging from lexically-driven semantic demands, above and beyond morphosyntactically-based ones

The role of the anterior left hemisphere in real-time sentence comprehension: Evidence from split intransitivity

We investigate Broca’s sentence comprehension as an impairment on normal syntactic composition: the slow-syntax hypothesis (SSH). Experiment 1 examines comprehension of object-relative clauses (Wh-movement). Experiment 2 examines comprehension of sentences with unaccusative verbs (NP-movement), which like passives, base-generate their theme-argument in object position. Guided by the SSH, both experiments test the prediction that syntax-dependent effects such as “gap-filling” are observable but in a delayed fashion. Results show that whereas no priming was obtained at the point of the trace, antecedent reactivation emerged 650 and 800 ms after the verb (for Wh- and NP-movement respectively). This shows, contrary to dependency-based generalizations, that Broca’s patients are able to successfully implement dependencies, albeit in a protracted manner. Given the localization value provided by Broca’s aphasia, this supports the notion that the temporal implementation of syntactic structure formation (i.e., the requirement that it be fast and automatic) depends on the integrity of the anterior left hemisphere

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

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

The time-course of context modulation for underspecified meaning: an eye-movement study

Sentences such as “The pop singer began the album” are ambiguous between an agentive reading (The pop singer began recording/listening to/etc. the album) and a constitutive reading (The pop singer’s song was contained in the first track of the album). The ambiguity is rooted in the meaning specification of a semantic class, the “aspectual verb class.” This semantic verb class demands that its complement be construed as a structured individual along a dimension (e.g., spatial, informational, eventive...). In the case of “begin the album,” the complement “the album” can be construed as a set of singing eventualities (a structured individual construed along the eventive dimension) or as a set of songs (a structured individual construed along the informational dimension). Previous work has shown that real-time sentence composition profile of these verbs is consistent with the implementation of two processes (a) exhaustive lexical-function retrieval and (b) construal of multiple dimension-specific structured individuals, leading to agentive and constitutive readings. Which dimension-specific structured individual is chosen ultimately depends on which dimension biases are present in the context. Understanding the real-time behavior of aspectual-verb composition under different contexts (agentive vs. constitutive) provides a glimpse into the time-course of context modulation during real-time sentence comprehension. Results from an eye-tracking study comparing agentive vs. constitutive readings of these sentences show not only the standard effect of the aspectual-verb composition, previously reported for the agentive readings, but also a comparable processing profile for the constitutive readings, a novel finding supporting the unified linguistic analysis and corresponding processing implementation of the two readings. Results also show that regardless of reading, the aspectual-verb composition effect is observable even after the complement has been retrieved, and interpretation has been disambiguated, thus indicating that the above two-step process is a nonnegotiable component of the interpretation of the verb+complement composition and therefore must take place before preceding context can serve as a sentence-external constraining force. Moreover, the sustained nature of the cost suggests that all possible dimension-specific structured individuals are being construed at least immediately after the complement has been retrieved, consistent with comprehenders’ intuitions. This suggests that although not directly relevant for the interpretation at issue those meaning construals are not incompatible with the complement’s conceptual representation, and therefore need not be “pruned.” Overall, the pattern observed suggests a model of comprehension whereby context is allowed to modulate sentence interpretation once the fundamental lexico-semantic compositional processes of the sentence have taken place

Contextual dependency and overuse of estar in the acquisition of Spanish copula verbs

The delayed acquisition of Spanish ser and estar is generally understood as rooted in the cognitive demands imposed by the integration of semantic-pragmatic and world-knowledge factors associated with their lexical meanings. Here we ask (1) what is the nature of this language world-knowledge integration? and (2) what is the developmental trajectory including its age distribution? We examine Spanish copula production and comprehension in 142 children (age range: 4–12years) and 26 adults. Using two tasks, sentence-selection (comprehension) and sentence repetition (production), we test the hypothesis that estar use is constrained by an ability to construe an alternative to the explicit predication; an ability that develops with life experience. We test estar/ser use in two contexts: alternative-supporting, favoring estar use; and alternative-neutral, neutral regarding estar use, and possibly favoring ser use. The results show that for comprehension, children do not reveal adult-level sensitivity to context, exhibiting instead over-selection of estar sentences. For production, all children over-produce the estar sentence, even after having just chosen the ser counterpart. However, in this task, the 10- to 12-year-olds do behave similarly to adults and differently from 4- to 6-year-olds, consistent with our hypothesis. Alternative construal requires exposure to entities and properties in a variety of situations; exposure that older children are more likely to exhibit. Collectively, these results (1) support the properties of estar use hypothesized to underlie the language-world-knowledge integration, and (2) delineate a potential developmental trajectory whereby mastery of the copula may not begin to manifest until 10–12years of age, not because of any one linguistic factor but rather due to specific world-knowledge exposure constraints