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Article: Syntactic ambiguity resolution and the prosodic foot: Cross-language differences

TitleSyntactic ambiguity resolution and the prosodic foot: Cross-language differences
Authors
KeywordsLinguistics psychology Medical sciences
Psychiatry and neurology
Issue Date2006
PublisherCambridge University Press. The Journal's web site is located at http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=APS
Citation
Applied Psycholinguistics, 2006, v. 27 n. 3, p. 301-333 How to Cite?
AbstractIn this study we examined syntactic ambiguity resolution in two different Chinese languages, Cantonese and Mandarin, which are relatively similar grammatically but very different phonologically. We did this using four-character sentences that could be read using two, two-syllable sequences (2-2) or a structure where the first syllable could be read by itself. The results showed that when both potential readings were semantically congruent, Mandarin speakers had a strong preference for the 2-2 structure and they preferred that structure much more than Cantonese speakers did. We attribute this to Mandarin having a more dominant bisyllabic prosodic foot than Cantonese. When the 2-2 meaning was semantically in congruent, however, the alternative structure was preferred by both Mandarin and Cantonese speakers. Overall, the results suggest that, in silent reading tasks and semantically neutral conditions, the prosodic foot is generated automatically and can affect syntactic choices when ambiguity arises. © 2006 Cambridge University Press.
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/44896
ISSN
2023 Impact Factor: 2.4
2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.875
ISI Accession Number ID
References

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorPerry, Cen_HK
dc.contributor.authorKan, MKen_HK
dc.contributor.authorMatthews, Sen_HK
dc.contributor.authorWong, RKSen_HK
dc.date.accessioned2007-10-30T06:12:51Z-
dc.date.available2007-10-30T06:12:51Z-
dc.date.issued2006en_HK
dc.identifier.citationApplied Psycholinguistics, 2006, v. 27 n. 3, p. 301-333en_HK
dc.identifier.issn0142-7164en_HK
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/44896-
dc.description.abstractIn this study we examined syntactic ambiguity resolution in two different Chinese languages, Cantonese and Mandarin, which are relatively similar grammatically but very different phonologically. We did this using four-character sentences that could be read using two, two-syllable sequences (2-2) or a structure where the first syllable could be read by itself. The results showed that when both potential readings were semantically congruent, Mandarin speakers had a strong preference for the 2-2 structure and they preferred that structure much more than Cantonese speakers did. We attribute this to Mandarin having a more dominant bisyllabic prosodic foot than Cantonese. When the 2-2 meaning was semantically in congruent, however, the alternative structure was preferred by both Mandarin and Cantonese speakers. Overall, the results suggest that, in silent reading tasks and semantically neutral conditions, the prosodic foot is generated automatically and can affect syntactic choices when ambiguity arises. © 2006 Cambridge University Press.en_HK
dc.format.extent446189 bytes-
dc.format.extent2096 bytes-
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf-
dc.format.mimetypetext/plain-
dc.languageengen_HK
dc.publisherCambridge University Press. The Journal's web site is located at http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=APSen_HK
dc.relation.ispartofApplied Psycholinguisticsen_HK
dc.rightsApplied Psycholinguistics: psychological and linguistic studies across languages and learners. Copyright © Cambridge University Press.en_HK
dc.subjectLinguistics psychology Medical sciencesen_HK
dc.subjectPsychiatry and neurologyen_HK
dc.titleSyntactic ambiguity resolution and the prosodic foot: Cross-language differencesen_HK
dc.typeArticleen_HK
dc.identifier.openurlhttp://library.hku.hk:4550/resserv?sid=HKU:IR&issn=0142-7164&volume=27&issue=3&spage=301&epage=333&date=2006&atitle=Syntactic+ambiguity+resolution+and+the+prosodic+foot:+cross-language+differencesen_HK
dc.identifier.emailMatthews, S: matthews@hkucc.hku.hken_HK
dc.identifier.authorityMatthews, S=rp01207en_HK
dc.description.naturepublished_or_final_versionen_HK
dc.identifier.doi10.1017/S0142716406060292en_HK
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-33749326423en_HK
dc.relation.referenceshttp://www.scopus.com/mlt/select.url?eid=2-s2.0-33749326423&selection=ref&src=s&origin=recordpageen_HK
dc.identifier.volume27en_HK
dc.identifier.issue3en_HK
dc.identifier.spage301en_HK
dc.identifier.epage333en_HK
dc.identifier.isiWOS:000238893100001-
dc.publisher.placeUnited Kingdomen_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridPerry, C=7402124610en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridKan, MK=14824810500en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridMatthews, S=9278061600en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridWong, RKS=14826018400en_HK
dc.identifier.issnl0142-7164-

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