How Does Topicality Affect the Choice of Referential Form? Evidence From Mandarin

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Psycholinguistics
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• The Topichood Hypothesis posits that speakers use reduced referential forms (e.g., pronouns) to signal a referent's topicality.
• However, the exact relationship between topicality and referential form, and the underlying mechanisms, remain unclear.
• Investigating these factors is crucial for understanding natural language production and processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how topicality influences the choice between null and overt pronouns in Mandarin Chinese.
• To explore the role of predictability in the relationship between topicality and referential form.
• To determine whether an accessibility mechanism better explains the observed effects.

Main Methods:

• Experiment 1 manipulated topicality using a left-dislocation structure in Mandarin.
• Experiment 2 further examined the influence of referent predictability on pronoun choice.
• Participant responses regarding referential form usage were analyzed.

Main Results:

• Increased topicality led to a higher frequency of null pronoun use, but did not affect overt pronoun usage.
• Less predictable referents were associated with a greater use of null pronouns.
• These findings suggest that topicality's effect on referential form is mediated by referent accessibility.

Conclusions:

• Topicality in Mandarin primarily promotes the use of the most reduced referential form available (null pronouns).
• The observed topicality effect is better explained by a mechanism of referent accessibility rather than solely by topicality itself.
• This study contributes to a deeper understanding of how cognitive factors influence grammatical choices in language.