Neural basis for processing hidden complexity indexed by small and finite clauses in Mandarin Chinese

Abstract

a b s t r a c tIn this study we investigate how the human brain processes small clauses and finite clauses. Small clauses are instances of 'simpler' syntax in the sense that they do not involve operations such as Move and Tense, and have been argued to represent an earlier stage of syntactic evolution before the development of fully-fledged syntax (Bickerton, 1990;Jackendoff 2010;Uriagereka, 2008). Understanding how the brain processes instances of different levels of syntactic complexity may further our understanding of (i) the analytical functions of specific brain regions, and (ii) the distribution of labor in the interpretation or different levels of syntax. To pursue this hypothesis, we ask whether small clauses require different analytical processes than regular syntax. This report provides evidence that they do. In an fMRI study of syntactic processing in a group of Mandarin speakers, small clauses showed greater activation of areas involved in semantic processing. In addition, both small and finite clauses showed substantial activation of areas implicated in syntactic and semantic processing, including significant RH activation.

Diversity of Grammars and Their Diverging Evolutionary and Processing Paths: Evidence From Functional MRI Study of Serbian

“…We also hypothesized possible increased activation in regions not typically associated with syntactic processing when examining the reverse, that is, the activation in middles relative to full transitive structures. This would be consistent with Bisang ( 2009 ) and Ansaldo et al ( 2015 )'s claims that syntactically simpler structures may activate more semantic processing.…”

“…Our study offers some encouraging preliminary evidence, in need of further confirmation, for the proposal that relatively uniform and modest beginnings for human language (i.e., proto-syntax prior to the emergence of more hierarchical grammar), supported by more ancient brain processing strategies, were followed by a (gradual) enrichment of the grammar, accompanied by more streamlined processing strategies and more densely interconnected neural networks needed to support them (see also Ansaldo et al, 2015 ). Our results and the approach we explore here are compatible with the idea that recent genetic mutations, including in FOXP2 , in the line of descent of humans, increased synaptic plasticity and neuronal connectivity of the human brain (e.g., Hillert, 2014 ; Dediu, 2015 ), particularly in the frontal-striatal network, enabling human capacity for more complex language.…”

“…In particular, we propose to capitalize on the coexistence of proto-syntactic “fossils” (i.e., constructions consisting of fewer and more basic layers of syntactic structure) alongside more modern structures (i.e., those operating with a fuller set of syntactic layers). We hypothesize that processing of structures with fewer syntactic layers relies on more ancient and more diffused neural networks, while highly layered structures require more recently evolved, densely interconnected and more specialized neural networks for quick and automatic processing (see also Ansaldo et al, 2015 ). We report the results of an fMRI experiment contrasting between the processing of constructions of differing structural complexity against each other in a reading recognition paradigm.…”

Processing Tenses for the Living and the Dead: A Psycholinguistic Investigation of Lifetime Effects in Tensed and “Tenseless” Languages

“…Furthermore, T. H. Lin (2011Lin ( , 2015 This shows that object fronting in Chinese is sensitive to the finiteness property of the clause, which, according to T. H. Lin, may come directly from a tense node, although he did not commit to the correlation between these two syntactic properties. Further support for a finiteness distinction in Chinese can be found in Ansaldo et al (2015), who show in an fMRI study that non-finite clauses activated significantly more areas involved in semantic processing than finite clauses, even though the structure of these two types of clauses are superficially identical. We take side with the view that there is su cient evidence for a finiteness distinction in Chinese, but this does not necessarily entail a T node, and it is certainly no strong evidence for covert past tense.…”

“…Due to the tension between the morphosyntactic complexity of a language and the processing di culty thereof, we find ourselves in a position to suggest a possible "linking theory" that bridges that linguistic theories to behaviours and the brain. Ansaldo et al (2015), following Bisang (2009), argue that Chinese is an example of languages which lack overt morpho-syntactic complexity yet "display a high degree of hidden complexity" (p. 120). It is theoretically possible that sentences like (69) still involve a reasoning process that is expected to appear costly online, even though they do not ultimately lead to a penalty in o✏ine measurements.…”