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Utilization of prosodic information in syntactic ambiguity resolution
1Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Arizona, 1131 E. Second Street, P.O. Box 210071, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. gdede@arizona.edu
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research
|December 25, 2009
Summary
Prosody, or speech rhythm, influences how we understand ambiguous sentences. This study shows that both word meaning and speech patterns interact to resolve syntactic ambiguity during language processing.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Computational Linguistics
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Syntactic ambiguity resolution is a key aspect of sentence comprehension.
- Prosodic phrasing, including intonation and pauses, is hypothesized to play a role in resolving such ambiguities.
- Previous research has explored lexical and structural cues, but the specific contribution of prosody requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of prosodic phrasing in resolving syntactic ambiguity.
- To examine the interaction between lexical bias, plausibility, and prosodic cues in sentence processing.
- To test how different prosodic conditions affect the interpretation of early closure sentences.
Main Methods:
- Two self-paced listening experiments were conducted.
- Stimuli included early closure sentences with varying lexical biases (transitive vs. intransitive verbs) and object plausibility.
- Two prosodic conditions were manipulated: subject-biased (marked clausal boundary) and object-biased (unmarked clausal boundary).
Main Results:
- Lexical and prosodic cues interact at the subordinate verb during ambiguity resolution.
- Object plausibility influences processing at the ambiguous noun.
- Prosodic phrasing significantly affects how syntactic ambiguities are resolved.
Conclusions:
- Prosody is an integral component in the dynamic process of syntactic ambiguity resolution.
- The findings support models where prosodic information is integrated early in sentence comprehension.
- Lexical information and prosody work in concert, modulated by semantic plausibility, to guide interpretation.
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