Facteurs influençant la levée des ambiguïtés syntaxiques

The aim of this thesis was to answer two main questions concerning language comprehension:- What strategies do readers use when an ambiguity is encountered? - What kind of information do they use in such a case?A particular attention was granted to Relative Clause (RC) attachment preferences, for which no satisfactory model has been presented so far in the literature, especially if one takes into account all the cross-linguistic data that exists for this type of construction. A series of experiments was thus conducted in order to determine which factors are responsible for attachment decisions in the case of ambiguous RCs. Eye movement recording was used in order to track down the time course of processing. Experiments 1-4 suggested that constituent length influences attachment decisions. In order to account for this result, we hypothesised that some decisions can be delayed, or left under-specified, until the disambiguating information becomes available. We implemented a simulation model based on this idea and were able to account for our results as well as to make new predictions. These predictions were verified in Experiment 5. The idea syntactic decisions can be delayed is accepted in Frazier and Clifton's (1996) Construal theory. However, unlike our model, the Construal theory states that only one class of syntactic relations, namely the non-primary relations can be under-specified. As for primary relations, they are assumed to immediately receive a totally specified description. Experiments 6-11 suggested that the primary/non-primary distinction is probably irrelevant and that under-specification applies to both types of constructions, in line with our model.Cette thèse a pour objectif de répondre à deux questions fondamentales sur la compréhension du langage :Quelle stratégie adopte le lecteur lorsqu'il rencontre une ambiguïté ?Quelles sont les informations utilisées pour résoudre une ambiguïté syntaxique ?Les modèles actuels de la compréhension de phrases ne permettent pas de rendre compte de l'ensemble des données inter-langues observées dans le cas de l'attachement d'une Proposition Relative (PR) ambiguë. Une série d'expériences a donc été réalisée afin de déterminer les facteurs responsables de l'attachement d'une PR. Nous avons utilisé la technique d'enregistrement des mouvements oculaires afin d'appréhender le décours temporel des opérations qui ont lieu pendant la lecture. Nous avons observé que la longueur des constituants influence la préférence d'attachement d'une PR (Expériences 1-4). Pour rendre compte de ces résultats, nous faisons l'hypothèse que certains attachements peuvent être laissés en suspens (sous-spécifiés) en attendant que l'information désambiguïsatrice soit disponible. À partir de cette hypothèse, nous avons implémenté un modèle qui nous permet de simuler nos résultats et de faire de nouvelles hypothèses quant aux facteurs susceptibles d'influencer la préférence d'attachement d'une PR. Ces prédictions ont été vérifiées dans l'Expérience 5. L'idée qu'en cas d'ambiguïté syntaxique, la décision syntaxique peut être reportée est développée dans la théorie Construal (Frazier et Clifton, 1996). Cependant, contrairement à notre modèle qui prédit que tous les constituants peuvent recevoir une description sous-spécifiée, la Construal propose que seules les relations non primaires reçoivent une analyse sous-spécifiée, les relations primaires recevant immédiatement une analyse syntaxique unique et spécifiée. Les Expériences 6-11 révèlent que la distinction entre relations primaires et non primaires proposée par la Construal n'est pas pertinente et nous permettent de conclure en faveur de notre modèle

Length Matters: Informational Load in Ambiguity Resolution

International audienceIn this paper, we will compare prosodic and pragmatic approaches to the role of constituent length in attachment ambiguities. Lengthening a constituent affects its informativity: longer constituents are usually less predictable (Levy & Florian, 2007) and demand a higher processing load than shorter ones (Almor, 1999). Following neo-Gricean accounts (Levinson, 1987 and 1991), increased informational load needs to be justified. This justification is achieved more easily when the long constituent conveys new information and when it relates to central elements of the utterance. Informational load is, however, not a simple question of length in numbers of characters or syllables but more likely a question of amount of information. In three off-line experiments using a cloze task, we will compare the effect of lengthening ambiguous prepositional phrases as in [1a/b/c] either by lengthening a city name or by adding information about the city. We will show that only lengthening by adding information increases attachment to a more central element of the utterance. These results will be discussed based on prosodic and pragmatic factors explaining the role of constituent length for attachment ambiguities. [1] Peter met the doctor of the lawyer from a. Apt. / b. Aix-en-Provence / c. the beautiful city of Apt

La levée des ambiguïtés syntaxiques : apport des recherches inter-langues

The first section of this article presents three types of models as a function of the solutions they propose in case of syntactic ambiguity: (1) the parser forces the decision (e.g., in favour of the simplest structure); (2) the choice is postponed until more information is available; (3) the different structures are processed in parallel, together with other sources of information. The second section shows that these models cannot explain cross-linguistic differences observed in the resolution of syntactically ambiguous sentences. The third section presents a few new models that have been proposed to explain cross-linguistic data

Language specific preferences in anaphor resolution: Exposure or gricean maxims?

International audienceIn this paper we will present evidence for language specific preferences in anaphor resolution from two series of experiments in English, German, and French. For within sentence anaphor resolution with "before" subclauses, we will show that English and German follow the generally assumed preference for the first mentioned NP or subject of the sentence, whereas French shows a clear preference for the object of the matrix clause. We will argue that our data can most easily be explained by a usage-based account, linking comprehension preferences to production preferences

Facteurs influençant la levée des ambiguïtés syntaxiques

The aim of this thesis was to answer two main questions concerning language comprehension:- What strategies do readers use when an ambiguity is encountered? - What kind of information do they use in such a case?A particular attention was granted to Relative Clause (RC) attachment preferences, for which no satisfactory model has been presented so far in the literature, especially if one takes into account all the cross-linguistic data that exists for this type of construction. A series of experiments was thus conducted in order to determine which factors are responsible for attachment decisions in the case of ambiguous RCs. Eye movement recording was used in order to track down the time course of processing. Experiments 1-4 suggested that constituent length influences attachment decisions. In order to account for this result, we hypothesised that some decisions can be delayed, or left under-specified, until the disambiguating information becomes available. We implemented a simulation model based on this idea and were able to account for our results as well as to make new predictions. These predictions were verified in Experiment 5. The idea syntactic decisions can be delayed is accepted in Frazier and Clifton's (1996) Construal theory. However, unlike our model, the Construal theory states that only one class of syntactic relations, namely the non-primary relations can be under-specified. As for primary relations, they are assumed to immediately receive a totally specified description. Experiments 6-11 suggested that the primary/non-primary distinction is probably irrelevant and that under-specification applies to both types of constructions, in line with our model.Cette thèse a pour objectif de répondre à deux questions fondamentales sur la compréhension du langage :Quelle stratégie adopte le lecteur lorsqu'il rencontre une ambiguïté ?Quelles sont les informations utilisées pour résoudre une ambiguïté syntaxique ?Les modèles actuels de la compréhension de phrases ne permettent pas de rendre compte de l'ensemble des données inter-langues observées dans le cas de l'attachement d'une Proposition Relative (PR) ambiguë. Une série d'expériences a donc été réalisée afin de déterminer les facteurs responsables de l'attachement d'une PR. Nous avons utilisé la technique d'enregistrement des mouvements oculaires afin d'appréhender le décours temporel des opérations qui ont lieu pendant la lecture. Nous avons observé que la longueur des constituants influence la préférence d'attachement d'une PR (Expériences 1-4). Pour rendre compte de ces résultats, nous faisons l'hypothèse que certains attachements peuvent être laissés en suspens (sous-spécifiés) en attendant que l'information désambiguïsatrice soit disponible. À partir de cette hypothèse, nous avons implémenté un modèle qui nous permet de simuler nos résultats et de faire de nouvelles hypothèses quant aux facteurs susceptibles d'influencer la préférence d'attachement d'une PR. Ces prédictions ont été vérifiées dans l'Expérience 5. L'idée qu'en cas d'ambiguïté syntaxique, la décision syntaxique peut être reportée est développée dans la théorie Construal (Frazier et Clifton, 1996). Cependant, contrairement à notre modèle qui prédit que tous les constituants peuvent recevoir une description sous-spécifiée, la Construal propose que seules les relations non primaires reçoivent une analyse sous-spécifiée, les relations primaires recevant immédiatement une analyse syntaxique unique et spécifiée. Les Expériences 6-11 révèlent que la distinction entre relations primaires et non primaires proposée par la Construal n'est pas pertinente et nous permettent de conclure en faveur de notre modèle

Competition between primary and non-primary relations during sentence comprehension

The four eye-tracking experiments reported examined the way in which Adjunct Predicates (APs) located at the beginning of French sentences of the type "Tired (feminine/masculine) of calling the woman (s/he) left the room" are interpreted and interact with syntactic parsing strategies. The results suggest that the first NP (the woman) was initially interpreted as the potential AP gender controller. Moreover, in the case of gender agreement (the woman is the one who is tired) the syntactic status of the first NP (either the object of the preceding verb or the subject of the main verb) apparently remained ambiguous until the main verb was reached. The implications of these results for Frazier and Clifton's (1996) Construal Theory are discussed

Decoupling syntactic parsing from visual inspection: The case of relative clause attachment in French

Three eye-tracking experiments were conducted in order to further examine French readers' attachment preferences for N1-of-N2-Relative clause (RC) constructions. Experiment 1 manipulated the relative lexical frequency of N1 and N2. Disambiguation was provides by an adjective located within the RC, whose gender agreed either with N1 or N2. First-fixation durations recorded at that point were found to be shorter when gender forced attachment to the lower-frequency noun. The aim of Experiments 2 and 3 was to examine attachment preferences in the case of a short RC (e.g. the relative pronoun followed by an intransitive verb). A general preference for low attachment was found in this case. A tentative explanation, likely to account for both frequency and length effects, is presented, based on the assumption that syntactic parsing can be decoupled from visual inspection in expert reading

Facteurs influençant la levée des ambiguïtés syntaxiques

AIX-MARSEILLE1-BU Lettres (130012101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Anaphoric expressions in French and Spanish learners of German: Over-explicitness is influenced by proficiency

International audienc