ERIC Number: EJ1008773
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Mar
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0278-7393
EISSN: N/A
Against Structural Constraints in Subject-Verb Agreement Production
Gillespie, Maureen; Pearlmutter, Neal J.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, v39 n2 p515-528 Mar 2013
Syntactic structure has been considered an integral component of agreement computation in language production. In agreement error studies, clause-boundedness (Bock & Cutting, 1992) and hierarchical feature-passing (Franck, Vigliocco, & Nicol, 2002) predict that local nouns within clausal modifiers should produce fewer errors than do those within phrasal modifiers due to structural differences; however, Gillespie and Pearlmutter (2011b) suggested structure might play a more limited role. Two studies examined whether the clause-boundedness effect would occur when prepositional phrase modifiers and relative clause modifiers were matched in properties likely to influence the timing of planning (Gillespie & Pearlmutter, 2011b; Solomon & Pearlmutter, 2004). In both studies, more errors occurred for plural local nouns, but the clause-boundedness effect was not observed. These findings suggest that agreement computation during production does not involve a hierarchical component. (Contains 6 tables, 2 figures, and 5 footnotes.)
Descriptors: Nouns, Language Processing, Grammar, Structural Analysis (Linguistics), Syntax, Error Analysis (Language), Language Research, Phrase Structure, Role, Form Classes (Languages), Morphemes, Verbs, Undergraduate Students, Scoring, Recall (Psychology), Statistical Analysis, Speech Communication
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
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