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The functions of structural priming
Abstract
Structural priming refers to speakers' tendency to produce sentences with previously heard or produced syntactic structures. We review arguments and evidence for three common accounts of the functions of structural priming. One is that structural priming enhances fluency. Only some (reaction time and fluency measure) evidence supports this view. A second account argues that structural priming stems from implicit learning of how features of meaning are linked to syntactic configurations. We describe evidence suggesting that structural priming exhibits effects characteristic of both learning and implicitness. A third account claims that structural priming is an aspect of coordination or alignment among interlocutors. Consistent with this, some evidence shows that structural priming involves a shorter-term component that is broadly sensitive to repeated bindings of wide-ranging types of knowledge. Together, these observations suggest that structural priming is likely a multifaceted force that reflects implicit learning and, possibly independently, alignment among interlocutors.
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“There is also laboratory evidence for syntactic priming, with speakers’ likelihood of using a given structure increasing after recent experience of that structure. This holds in particular for relatively infrequent structures”
From Timing in Conversation (2023) · cites this paper as Ferreira & Bock, 2006
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Metadata
- Authors
- Ferreira, V. S., & Bock, K.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- ORCID
- Ferreira, Victor S.
- Venue
- Language and Cognitive Processes
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2006-11
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 7-8
- Pages
- 1011-1029
- ISSN
- 0169-0965 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-0732
- OpenAlex
- W2031473602
- Cited by
- 266
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 5.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Language and Cognitive Processes (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH064733, R01MH066089)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD051030, R01HD021011)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Keywords
- structural priming, syntactic priming, implicit learning, speech fluency, reaction time, coordination, binding, sentence production, syntactic structure
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