Structural priming can inform syntactic analyses of partially grammaticalized constructions

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Cognitive Science
• Computational Linguistics

Background:

• Structural priming is a robust phenomenon demonstrating the influence of prior linguistic experience on subsequent language production and comprehension.
• Psychologically plausible theories of syntax and semantics benefit from empirical evidence, such as that provided by structural priming.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the utility of structural priming in determining syntactic reanalysis in partially grammaticalized constructions undergoing semantic change.
• To explore the limitations of structural priming in distinguishing between competing syntactic analyses.

Main Methods:

• Review and discussion of Branigan & Pickering's (B&P) approach to structural priming.
• Application of B&P's framework to analyze cases of semantic change and potential syntactic reanalysis.
• Examination of specific linguistic examples where priming evidence is ambiguous for syntactic analysis.

Main Results:

• Structural priming can provide valuable evidence for assessing syntactic reanalysis alongside semantic change in constructional grammar.
• Priming effects are not always sufficient to resolve ambiguities between competing syntactic analyses, particularly in complex linguistic scenarios.

Conclusions:

• Structural priming is a powerful tool for constraining psycholinguistic theories of grammar, particularly concerning constructional change.
• Further research is needed to refine methods for interpreting priming data in cases of syntactic ambiguity.