The influence of verb-bound syntactic preferences on the processing of syntactic structures

J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2014 Sep;40(5):1448-60. doi: 10.1037/a0036796. Epub 2014 May 5.

Abstract

Speakers sometimes repeat syntactic structures across sentences, a phenomenon called syntactic priming. We investigated the influence of verb-bound syntactic preferences on syntactic priming effects in response choices and response latencies for German ditransitive sentences. In the response choices we found inverse preference effects: There were stronger syntactic priming effects for primes in the less preferred structure, given the syntactic preference of the prime verb. In the response latencies we found positive preference effects: There were stronger syntactic priming effects for primes in the more preferred structure, given the syntactic preference of the prime verb. These findings provide further support for the idea that syntactic processing is lexically guided.

MeSH terms

  • Female
  • Humans
  • Language*
  • Linguistics*
  • Male
  • Photic Stimulation
  • Reaction Time / physiology
  • Verbal Behavior / physiology*
  • Young Adult