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Phrase Length and Prosody in On-Line Ambiguity Resolution
Ronit Webman-Shafran1,2, Janet Dean Fodor3
1, 49B Golomb Street, 4435749, Kefar Sava, Israel. Ronit.shafran@gmail.com.
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research
|March 11, 2015
Summary
This study on Hebrew sentence processing reveals that prosody influences how listeners interpret ambiguous structures. Specifically, a pause before a prepositional phrase (PP) signals a high attachment preference, impacting sentence comprehension.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Computational Linguistics
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Ambiguous grammatical structures pose challenges in language processing.
- The syntax-prosody interface, particularly how prosody guides structural ambiguity resolution, remains an active area of research.
- Previous studies on single prepositional phrase (PP) attachment have yielded mixed results.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the processing of ambiguous double-PP constructions in Hebrew.
- To examine the role of prosodic boundaries and phrase length in resolving structural ambiguity.
- To test the interplay between phrase length, structure-sensitivity, and the syntax-prosody interface.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a combined production-comprehension task involving ambiguous double-PP sentences in Hebrew.
- Manipulated the length of the second PP (PP2) and the presence of prosodic boundaries.
- Analyzed both sentence production (prosody) and comprehension (attachment preferences).
Main Results:
- Longer PP2s were more likely to be produced with a prosodic boundary preceding them compared to shorter PP2s.
- Comprehension results showed a preference for high PP2-attachment when a prosodic boundary was present before PP2, irrespective of PP2 length.
- Production data indicated sensitivity to phrase length influencing prosodic boundary placement.
Conclusions:
- Readers are sensitive to the structural implications of prosody during sentence processing.
- Prosodic cues, specifically boundaries, play a significant role in resolving structural ambiguity in complex sentences.
- Findings support theories positing an interaction between phrase length, structure-sensitivity, and the syntax-prosody interface in language comprehension.
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