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Published on: November 30, 2018
Cross-linguistic differences in case marking shape neural power dynamics and gaze behavior during sentence planning
Aitor Egurtzegi1, Damián E Blasi2, Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky3
1Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Switzerland; English Department, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Case marking influences sentence planning. Basque speakers commit to case structure earlier than German speakers, revealing cross-linguistic differences in neural dynamics for language production.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Neuroscience
- Linguistic Typology
Background:
- Languages vary in grammatical case marking, affecting how verb-argument dependencies are signaled.
- Basque uses ergative case for agents, while German uses unmarked nominative case for subjects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of case marking on the temporal dynamics of sentence planning.
- To compare sentence planning processes in Basque and Swiss German using eye tracking and EEG.
Main Methods:
- An eye tracking and electroencephalography (EEG) study involving picture description tasks.
- Analysis of fixation patterns to agents and event-related synchronization/desynchronization (ERS/ERD) in theta, alpha, and beta bands.
Main Results:
- Case marking significantly influenced early sentence planning stages.
- Basque speakers showed earlier structural commitment when planning sentences with ergative-marked agents.
- German speakers with unmarked agents exhibited delayed structural commitment, a pattern observed across both languages for unmarked agents.
Conclusions:
- Findings support hierarchically incremental models of sentence planning.
- Cross-linguistic variations in case marking shape the neural dynamics of language production.
- Early structural commitment is modulated by the presence and type of case marking.
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