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Beyond Verb Meaning: Experimental Evidence for Incremental Processing of Semantic Roles and Event Structure.
Markus Philipp1, Tim Graf1, Franziska Kretzschmar1
1Institute of German Language and Literature I, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
This study on German sentences found that identifying the agent (who is doing the action) is not determined by the subject
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Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Psycholinguistics
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Understanding how semantic roles and event structures interact with verb meaning is crucial for psycholinguistics.
- German verb-final clauses with motion verbs present unique challenges due to indeterminate agentivity and event structure.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the interaction between semantic roles, event structure, and verb meaning in German.
- To determine when agent identification occurs in German verb-final clauses.
Main Methods:
- Event-related potentials (ERP) study using German verb-final clauses.
- Manipulation of subject noun phrase animacy (animate vs. inanimate) to test agentivity.
- Manipulation of adverbial phrases (goal vs. locative) to alter event structure (telic vs. atelic).
Main Results:
- Inanimate subjects elicited an N400 effect compared to animates at the clause-initial position.
- N400 effects were observed at the adverbial phrase and verbal lexeme, varying with animacy and event structure.
- Agent identification appears to be completed at the verbal lexeme, not solely by clause-initial animacy.
Conclusions:
- Clause-initial animacy is insufficient for agent identification in German.
- Processing costs increase with inanimate subjects or goal arguments due to role/event structure restrictions.
- Findings challenge the assumption that change of locational state defines the patient role.