Semantic indeterminacy in object relative clauses

Abstract

This article examined whether semantic indeterminacy plays a role in comprehension of complex structures such as object relative clauses. Study 1 used a gated sentence completion task to assess which alternative interpretations are dominant as the relative clause unfolds; Study 2 compared reading times in object relative clauses containing different animacy configurations to unambiguous passive controls; and Study 3 related completion data and reading data. The results showed that comprehension difficulty was modulated by animacy configuration and voice (active vs. passive). These differences were well correlated with the availability of alternative interpretations as the relative clause unfolds, as revealed by the completion data. In contrast to approaches arguing that comprehension difficulty stems from syntactic complexity, these results suggest that semantic indeterminacy is a major source of comprehension difficulty in object relative clauses. Results are consistent with constraint-based approaches to ambiguity resolution and bring new insights into previously identified sources of difficulty.

Effects of Animacy and Noun-Phrase Relatedness on the Processing of Complex Sentences

“…This pattern replicates previous work that has examined ORC-SRC differences using eye-tracking methodology (e.g., Gordon et al, 2006;Johnson et al, 2011;Traxler et al, 2002Traxler et al, , 2005. In addition, these results are consistent with previous claims that ORCs are easier to process when NP1 is inanimate and NP2 is animate (Gennari & MacDonald, 2008;Traxler et al, 2002Traxler et al, , 2005. Previous work has compared these structures to ORCs with the reverse animacy configuration (i.e., animate NP1, inanimate NP2) and with different embedded verbs.…”

“…Thus, the comparison of (4a) and (4b) provides evidence about how ORC-SRC differences affect performance in sentences that are otherwise matched, whereas comparison of (4b) and (4c) provides evidence about how the animacy of NP1 in ORC sentences affects performance in sentences that are otherwise matched. Gennari and MacDonald's (2008) self-paced reading experiment provided evidence that having an inanimate NP1 facilitated ORC processing early in sentence comprehension during the reading of NP2. In contrast, Traxler et al's report of their eye-tracking data does not allow the exact locus of the difficulty to be pinpointed because they reported reading times for the RC region as a whole but not for individual words.…”

“…This manipulation aids in ORC processing because the meaning of the sentence is consistent with what we know about the world (e.g., The robber stole; The fireman rescued), whereas a reverse pairing of NPs and verbs (e.g., The robber rescued; The fireman stole) would be inconsistent with world knowledge. In contrast, an ORC with arbitrary NP-verb pairings (e.g., The robber watched; The fireman detested) is more difficult to process because the NP-verb relationships are pragmatically reversible, making it impossible for readers to rely on their world knowledge to facilitate processing.Other semantic/pragmatic approaches to RC processing have examined how the ORC-SRC asymmetry is moderated by broader semantic classes, such as NP animacy, in cases where world knowledge does not provide specific information about meaningful NP-verb links (Gennari & MacDonald, 2008Mak, Vonk, & Schriefers, 2002Traxler et al, 2002Traxler et al, , 2005. For example, Tralxer et al (2005) conducted an eye-tracking-while-reading experiment using sentences like those in (2).…”

“…Recent work has identified a variety of lexical, semantic, and pragmatic factors that moderate the ORC-SRC asymmetry (e.g., Gennari & MacDonald, 2008;Gordon, Hendrick, & Johnson, 2001, 2004Gordon, Hendrick, Johnson, & Lee, 2006;Johnson, Lowder, & Gordon, 2011;King & Just, 1991;Traxler, Morris, & Seely, 2002;Traxler, Williams, Blozis, & Morris, 2005;Warren & Gibson, 2002), with these findings being used in the evaluation of competing theoretical explanations of complex-sentence processing (see , for a review). One class of these explanations has focused on semantic and/or pragmatic factors that influence the relationships between key aspects of RC sentences.…”

“…Other semantic/pragmatic approaches to RC processing have examined how the ORC-SRC asymmetry is moderated by broader semantic classes, such as NP animacy, in cases where world knowledge does not provide specific information about meaningful NP-verb links (Gennari & MacDonald, 2008Mak, Vonk, & Schriefers, 2002Traxler et al, 2002Traxler et al, , 2005. For example, Tralxer et al (2005) conducted an eye-tracking-while-reading experiment using sentences like those in (2).…”