A novel argument for the universality of parsing principles

TY - JOUR

T1 - A novel argument for the universality of parsing principles

AU - Grillo, Nino

AU - Costa, João

PY - 2014/7/14

Y1 - 2014/7/14

N2 - Previous work on Relative Clause attachment has overlooked a crucial grammatical distinction across both the languages and structures tested: the selective availability of Pseudo Relatives. We reconsider the literature in light of this observation and argue that, all else being equal, local attachment is found with genuine Relative Clauses and that non-local attachment emerges when their surface identical imposters, Pseudo Relatives, are available. Hence, apparent cross-linguistic variation in parsing preferences is reducible to grammatical factors. The results from two novel experiments in Italian are presented in support of these conclusions.

AB - Previous work on Relative Clause attachment has overlooked a crucial grammatical distinction across both the languages and structures tested: the selective availability of Pseudo Relatives. We reconsider the literature in light of this observation and argue that, all else being equal, local attachment is found with genuine Relative Clauses and that non-local attachment emerges when their surface identical imposters, Pseudo Relatives, are available. Hence, apparent cross-linguistic variation in parsing preferences is reducible to grammatical factors. The results from two novel experiments in Italian are presented in support of these conclusions.

KW - Sentence Processing

KW - Locality

KW - Attachment Preferences

KW - Universality of Parsing Principles

KW - Relative Clauses

KW - Pseudo Relatives

U2 - 10.1016/j.cognition.2014.05.019

DO - 10.1016/j.cognition.2014.05.019

M3 - Article

SN - 0010-0277

VL - 133

SP - 156

EP - 187

JO - Cognition

JF - Cognition

IS - 1

ER -