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Updated: Apr 26, 2026

Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks
Published on: September 5, 2019
A novel argument for the Universality of Parsing principles
1Centro de Linguística da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Av. de Berna 26-C, 1069-61 Lisboa, Portugal.
Abstract:
Previous work on Relative Clause attachment has overlooked a crucial grammatical distinction across both the languages and structures tested: the selective availability of Pseudo Relatives. We reconsider the literature in light of this observation and argue that, all else being equal, local attachment is found with genuine Relative Clauses and that non-local attachment emerges when their surface identical imposters, Pseudo Relatives, are available. Hence, apparent cross-linguistic variation in parsing preferences is reducible to grammatical factors. The results from two novel experiments in Italian are presented in support of these conclusions.
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