Sentence processing
True or False:
The following sentence is in the passive voice.
The squirrel was eating my sandwich.
False, this is an active voice sentence!
Consider the following example, what kind of inferences does it illustrate?
Joan was delighted when Jim gave her a ring with a large stone in it. He had asked her to marry him, and now they were officially engaged.
A. Bridging inferences
B. Elaborative inferences
C. Presupposition
B. Elaborative inferences; you know a large stone here refers to a diamond
Which Maxim is flouted in the following example if the implicature is a request for someone opening the window?
Alex: Can you close the window?
A. Relevance/Relation
B. Quantity
C. Quality
D. Manner
A. Relevance/Relation
Consider the sentence below. Which of the following statements is true?
Our fish wears a shirt.
A. shirt would have a high cloze probability in this sentence
B. People may have a P600 response when reading the sentence
C. shirt would have a high surprisal in this sentence
D. People may have a N400 response when reading the sentence
E. All of the above
C. shirt would have a high surprisal in this sentence (and thus low cloze probability)
D. People may have a N400 response when reading the sentence
What kind of verb complement does the verb, accept, have in the following example?
The avengers accepted that ironman is dead
A. Noun phrase
B. Sentence/Clausal
B. Sentence/Clausal; the complement is a complete sentence, that ironman is dead
Consider the following example, what kind of inferences does it illustrate?
The car smashed the truck. The windshield shattered.
A. Bridging inferences
B. Elaborative inferences
C. Presupposition
A. Bridging inferences; "The car smashed the truck causing the windshield of the car to shatter" OR "The car smashed the truck causing the windshield of the truck to shatter"
Which Maxim is flouted in the following conversation if the implicature is that the student missed some important things?
Student: I was absent - did I miss anything important?
Teacher: Oh no, of course not, we never do anything important in class.
A. Relevance/Relation
B. Quantity
C. Quality
D. Manner
C. Quality
True or False
The garden path theory cannot account for the processing of sentences with global ambiguity.
False, the garden path theory CAN account for both global ambiguity and temporary ambiguity.
Consider the sentence below. What kind of ambiguity does this sentence represent? Explain why.
British Left Waffles on Falklands.
Global ambiguity (unclear if the British left waffles [noun] on the Falklands or if the British Left [noun] waffles [verb] on the Falklands)
Consider the following sentence, what kind of inferences does it illustrate?
When things go south, I buy nacho cheese to eat by the gallon.
A. Bridging inferences
B. Elaborative inferences
C. Presupposition
C. Presupposition; Things have gone south before.
Consider the following conversation. Identify the scale of the implicature and the resulting implicature.
Alice: Do you think the Red Wings will win?
Zac: It’s possible.
Scale: <possible, probable, certain>
Implicature: It is not probable and definitely not certain that the Red Wings will win.
Consider the following conversation. What Maxim(s) is being flouted? What is the resulting implicature?
Francis: How long have you two been married?
Anna: Four years, 45 days, and 17 hours.
Quantity; Implicature: Anna is very devoted to her spouse
Which of the following statement can best describe the constraint-based model?
It is mostly based on heuristics.
It predicts that all the garden path sentences would be difficult to process.
The process of meaning selection is an interaction among different variables.
Only one meaning is available for initial activation in the processing.
3. The process of meaning selection is an interaction among different variables.
How would the analogy theory suggest our understanding of the metaphor in “Serenity sings like a lark”?
We consider the superordinate-level category of larks
We suppress some information related to larks and boost other information
We recognize that conceptual structures related to serenity and larks overlap
We reject the literal meaning of the sentence
3. We recognize that conceptual structures related to serenity and larks overlap
Which Maxim is flouted in the following example if the implicature is that Max doesn't love syntax?
Betty: Max likes syntax OK.
A. Relevance/Relation
B. Quantity
C. Quality
D. Manner
B. Quantity (this is a scalar implicature!)
Consider the headline below. Identify (a) the kind of ambiguity for the headline and (b) explain why
Is Fish Heart Healthy Food? It Depends.
Temporary ambiguity (garden path sentence); Instead of grouping fish heart as a unit, it is whether fish a food that is healthy for heart
Fill in the blanks
When reading a sentence like, “The athlete pulled a muscle in his leg during the competition,” we wouldn’t expect a N400 effect when participants read muscle because it has __________ cloze probability and _________ surprisal.
When reading a sentence like, “The athlete pulled a muscle in his leg during the competition,” we wouldn’t expect a N400 effect when participants read muscle because it has ___high__ cloze probability and __low_____ surprisal.
What kind of process does the following conversation illustrate?
Rosé: I regret not having traveled to Dallas for the solar eclipse.
Gukesh: Was there a solar eclipse in Dallas?
This process is presupposition accommodation. The presupposition from Rosé is that a solar eclipse happened in Dallas. But Gukesh doesn't know that presupposition and needs to accept this information as background knowledge.
Consider the following notice. What Maxim(s) is being flouted? What is the resulting implicature?
Notice
We are presently not open because we are closed.
Manner; implicature: probably being humorous
Consider the following pair of sentence. What would be the most possible variable that may influence the processing difficulty?
(a) The window broke his hand because he slammed it shut too fast.
(b) Her husband broke his hand because he slammed it down too hard on the table.
1. Verb frame frequency
2. Argument structure
3. Verb voice frequency
4. Thematic relations
4. Thematic relations