On recursive parsing
On recursive parsing
The processing of a linguistic expression, when viewed as a complex of (Specifier)-Head-Complement(s) phrases (SHCs), whilst suggestive of a recursive solution—that is, a sentence is a matrix SHC (subject-verb-object) composed of internal SHCs and the completion of the overall task is divisible into smaller but equivalent subtasks—in fact proceeds iteratively. This is here shown by manipulating the memory load of processing SHCs and measuring the reaction times of participants to extraneous tones placed at specific places within a sentence. The results show that there is a decreasing tendency in reaction times across a sentence, this pattern being explained in terms of two different types of uncertainty, a linguistic type and a more perceptual type. The results are discussed in the context of classic results with the tone-monitoring technique and future work along these lines is announced.
Keywords: recursive solution, head-complement phrase, memory load, tone-monitoring technique, uncertainty
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
