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Person-based prominence guides incremental interpretation: Evidence from obviation in Ojibwe
Christopher Hammerly1, Adrian Staub2, Brian Dillon3
1Department of Linguistics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
Cognition
|April 23, 2022
Summary
Prominence scales in language processing are generalizable. Obviation in Ojibwe shows proximate nouns are assumed agents, unlike obviative nouns, supporting common processing constraints.
Area of Science:
- Linguistic processing
- Psycholinguistics
- Indigenous language studies
Background:
- Person and animacy distinctions influence grammar and processing via prominence scales.
- The generalizability of these scales across languages is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the generalizability of prominence scales using the typologically uncommon obviation distinction in Ojibwe.
- To investigate how obviation affects incremental parsing and interpretation under ambiguity.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a visual world paradigm to observe real-time language processing.
- Examined the processing of proximate and obviative noun phrases in Ojibwe.
Main Results:
- Proximate nouns in Ojibwe were incrementally processed as agents of actions.
- Obviative nouns did not elicit strong incremental interpretation commitments.
- Findings align with prominence theories in linguistic processing.
Conclusions:
- Obviation in Ojibwe influences parsing and interpretation, supporting the role of prominence.
- Processing effects stem from aligned scales of person, syntax, and thematic roles.
- This research validates prominence scale generalizability across diverse linguistic structures.
Keywords:
Algonquian languagesField psycholinguisticsFiller-gap dependenciesObviationPerson-animacy hierarchyRelative clausesMore Related Videos
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