Active search for antecedents in cataphoric pronoun resolution

Abstract

Cataphoric dependencies where a pronoun precedes its antecedent appear to call on different mechanisms in language comprehension from forward dependencies where the antecedent precedes the pronoun. Previous research has shown that the resolution of cataphoric dependencies involves predictive processes such as the active search mechanism, which hypothesizes the automatic search for an antecedent immediately after encountering a cataphoric pronoun. The current study employs gender mismatch to investigate whether the active search for an antecedent of a cataphoric pronoun is restricted only to grammatically licit positions. We present results from an event-related potential experiment on the reading comprehension of cataphoric dependencies in Dutch. Results show that gender mismatch gives rise to an anterior negativity at grammatically licit antecedent positions only. We hypothesize that this negativity reflects the prediction failure for an antecedent after encountering a pronoun, rather than a gender mismatch. We discuss the timing, topography and functionality of this negativity with respect to previous studies and how this relates to the ERPs elicited in the processing of structural constraints on pronoun resolution.

Backward Dependencies and in-Situ wh-Questions as Test Cases on How to Approach Experimental Linguistics Research That Pursues Theoretical Linguistics Questions

“…Previous studies have tested these specific pronoun-antecedent configurations in English and they measured reading times via different behavioral methods (i.e., self-paced reading and eye-tracking). The ERP study by Pablos et al ( 2015 ) that we discuss here examined what the neural reflections of the GMME were 2 and whether the GMME could be cross-linguistically attested.…”

“…Pablos et al ( 2015 ) found a significant ERP amplitude difference between the no-constraint conditions in (5) and (6) at the position of the name Suzanne in the antecedent Suzanne Jansen . This difference appeared as an anterior negativity over the 300–420 ms time window, where the no-constraint mismatch condition in (6) was more negative than the no-constraint match condition in (5) at the antecedent position.…”

“…The ERP experiment in Pablos et al ( 2015 ) examined the processing of a backward dependency involving cataphoric pronouns, i.e., pronouns that linearly precede their antecedent. The restriction of pronominal reference can be captured under the principles of the Binding Theory (Chomsky, 1981 ) that indicates the configurations in which nominal elements can or cannot establish a coreferential relation.…”

“…Following the self-paced reading study by Kazanina et al ( 2007 ), Pablos et al ( 2015 ) created four different experimental conditions in Dutch to test the sensitivity of the parser to Principle C. As in (1) and (3), two “no-constraint conditions” where the pronoun could be linked to the antecedent were introduced. This is shown in the sentences in (5) and (6), which contain a possessive pronoun that either matches ( haar - female) or mismatches ( zijn - male) the linearly first antecedent Suzanne 3 .…”

“…Specifically, we test how the expectation for the upcoming licensor might be impacted differently by linear and structural distance. For this, we discuss two experiments by Pablos et al ( 2015 , submitted) using event-related potentials (ERPs). On the other hand, we examine processing of a single linguistic phenomenon in unrelated languages.…”