Contextual predictions and syntactic analysis: the case of ambiguity resolution
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36505/ExLing-2016/07/0010/000269Keywords:
contextual prediction, syntactic analyses, referent activationAbstract
We test the hypothesis that syntactic analysis is based on contextual predictions and is guided by discourse salience of the referents. The head of the complex noun phrase tends to be more prominent in discourse as native speakers expect the continuation of the story to refer to N1 more often than to N2. It corresponds to the data on adjunct attachment interpretation.
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