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Cited by 380Neurobiology of Language and BilingualismSyntax, Semantics, Linguistic VariationReading and Literacy Development

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 45 of the 46 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Probabilistic constraints and syntactic ambiguity resolution

MacDonald, Maryellen C.·1994·Language and Cognitive Processes
DOI 10.1080/01690969408402115
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Abstract

Natural languages contain probabilistic constraints that influence the resolution of ambiguities. Current models of sentence processing agree that probabilistic constraints affect syntactic ambiguity resolution, but there has been little investigation of the constraints themselves-what they are, how they differ in their effects on processing, and how they interact with one another. Three different types of probabilistic constraints were investigated: “pre-ambiguity” plausibility information, information about verb argument structure frequencies, and “post-ambiguity” constraints that arrive after the introduction of the ambiguity but prior to its disambiguation. Reading times for syntactically ambiguous sentences were compared to reading times for unambiguous controls in three self-paced reading experiments. All three kinds of constraints were found to be helpful, and when several constraints converged, ambiguity resolution was facilitated compared to when constraints conflicted. The importance of these constraint interactions for ambiguity resolution models is discussed.

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Research works printed but not linked: 17

  1. Altmann G. T. M., Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition.
  2. Berg G., 1991, Learning recursive phrase structure: Combining the strengths of PDP and x-bar syntax.
  3. Bever T. G., 1970, Cognitive development of language.
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  5. Burgess, C. and Hollbach, S. C. A computational model of syntactic ambiguity as a lexical process. Proceedings of the 10th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. pp.263–269. pp.
  6. Carlson G. N., 1988, Syntax and semantics, Vol. 21: Thematic relations.
  7. Ford M., 1982, The mental representation of grammatical relations.
  8. Hawkins J. A., 1990, Linguistic Inquiry, 21, 223
  9. 10.1037/0096-3445.111.2.228 · DOI
  10. Kawamoto A., 1988, Lexical ambiguity resolution: Computational, linguistic, and psychological perspectives.
  11. Levin B., 1986, Linguistic Inquiry, 17, 623
  12. Maslin J., 1991, New York Times, C8
  13. 10.1037/0278-7393.18.1.69 · DOI
  14. Pearlmutter, N. J. and MacDonald, M. C. Plausibility and syntactic ambiguity resolution. Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Society. pp.498–503. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. In, pp.
  15. Trueswell, J. C. and Tanenhaus, M. K. Consulting temporal context during sentence comprehension: Evidence from the monitoring of eye movements in reading. 14th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. pp.492–497. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. In, pp.
  16. Trueswell J. C., Journal of Memory and Language.
  17. Tyler L. K., 1989, Lexical representation and process.

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Metadata

Authors
MacDonald, M. C.
Affiliations
University of Southern California (US)
Corresponding author
MacDonald, Maryellen C.
ORCID
MacDonald, Maryellen C.
Venue
Language and Cognitive Processes
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
1994-05
Volume
9
Issue
2
Pages
157-201
ISSN
  • 0169-0965 (ISSN-L)
  • 1464-0732
DOI
10.1080/01690969408402115
OpenAlex
W2154590657
Cited by
379
References
46
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 8
FWCI
5.74
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Language and Cognitive Processes (publishedVersion)
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 › Reading and Literacy Development
Keywords
syntactic ambiguity resolution, chance constraints, constraint interaction, reading time, self-paced reading, sentence processing, ambiguity disambiguation

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