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Achieving incremental semantic interpretation through contextual representation.

J C Sedivy1, M K Tanenhaus, C G Chambers

  • 1Department of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. julie_sedivy@brown.edu

Cognition
|August 13, 1999
PubMed
Summary
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Listeners use context to interpret adjectives incrementally, even before hearing the full noun phrase. This research shows early integration of contextual information in semantic processing.

Area of Science:

  • Psycholinguistics
  • Cognitive Science
  • Computational Linguistics

Background:

  • Limited research on online semantic interpretation compared to syntactic processing.
  • Context plays a crucial role in resolving syntactic ambiguities during language comprehension.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how and when listeners utilize context-defined contrast in interpreting prenominal adjectives.
  • To examine the incremental nature of semantic interpretation in real-time language processing.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the eye-tracking paradigm with spoken language and visual contexts.
  • Conducted experiments with intersective adjectives (Experiment 1) and vague scalar adjectives (Experiments 2-3).
  • Manipulated visual displays to control for contrastive information and object typicality.

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Main Results:

  • Listeners incrementally process intersective adjectives, assuming a contrastive interpretation.
  • Listeners integrate context-specific contrast for scalar adjectives before processing the head noun.
  • Contextual contrast significantly reduces or eliminates typicality effects for scalar adjectives.

Conclusions:

  • Semantic interpretation, like syntactic processing, occurs incrementally.
  • Language processing involves early and efficient integration of contextual information.
  • Listeners actively use contextual cues to refine adjective meaning during comprehension.