Toward a theory of anaphoric processing

Sag, Ivan A.; Hankamer, Jorge

doi:10.1007/bf00627709

Cited by 189 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Contrary to this view, Sag and Hankamer (1984) proposed the assumption that pronouns are interpreted with reference to a content-based discourse representation, and thus that a syntactic representation need not be consulted for pronoun resolution. However, psycholinguistic research has shown that this view is too deterministic, especially for intra-sentential anaphora.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Processing Null and Overt Pronoun Subject in Ambiguous Sentences in Korean

Kweon¹

2011

IJL

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This study investigates the processing of the null and overt pronouns in intra-sentential coreference in complex sentences that consist of a subordinate clause followed by a main clause in Korean. It tests the Position of Antecedent Hypothesis (PAH), which holds that Ø and overt pronouns have a division of labor and perform different functions. This hypothesis assumes that in Italian intra-sentential anaphora, the null pronoun prefers the subject as antecedent, whereas the overt pronoun prefers the object as antecedent. As Korean is different from Italian in the word order of the main and the subordinate clauses and in the syntactic function of the subject, this study aims to test the PAH to see whether this principle can make a similar prediction for a typologically different language, Korean. Korean university students completed a questionnaire that was designed to test the PAH in sentences that were wholly ambiguous in Korean. The results revealed that Korean speakers preferentially associated Ø with an antecedent in the subject position and the overt pronoun with an antecedent in the object position. This confirms that the PAH makes a correct prediction for Korean as well.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Processing Null and Overt Pronoun Subject in Ambiguous Sentences in Korean

Kweon¹

2011

IJL

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“…Sag and Hankamer (1984) suggested that one type of anaphora, ellipsis, is interpreted with reference to a superficial representation of a text. while another, modelinterpretative anaphora (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comprehending conceptual anaphors in Spanish

Carreiras

Gernsbacher

1992

Language and Cognitive Processes

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This paper examines the mechanisms involved in the assignment of an antecedent to an anaphoric element. In general, pronouns must match their antecedents at least with respect to number and gender. Sensitivity to such constraints has been shown in several experiments. But Gernsbacher (1991) has also shown that people have no difficulty comprehending a plural pronoun with an antecedent that is grammatically singular but conceptually plural. In the first three experiments, we tested whether such a "conceptual effect" was preserved with zero anaphors in Spanish. (The typical omission of pronouns in subject position in Spanish.) Verbs in a second clause were marked with plural or singular endings. Plural verbs were rated more natural than singular verbs when they followed three types of singular but conceptually plural antecedents (Experiment 1). Clauses containing plural verbs were read faster when they followed one type of singular but conceptually plural antecedents, i.e. collective sets (Experiments 2 and 3). In fact, clauses containing plural verbs were read equally fast when they followed literally singular collective sets or explicitly group nouns. Using pronominal anaphors, these reading time effects were replicated and extended to sentences that contained generic types as antecedents (Experiment 4). The results are discussed in terms of the use of information during the comprehension of anaphors.

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“…Lødrup 2012; cf. also Houser et al 2007 for a similar claim for Danish pronoun det), and what Sag and Hankamer (1984) call simply 'ellipsis'.…”

Section: Vp Ellipsis and Anaphora In Norwegianmentioning

confidence: 90%

Deep properties of surface pronouns: pronominal predicate anaphors in Norwegian and German

Bentzen

Merchant

Svenonius

2013

J Comp German Linguistics

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We examine VP-anaphoric uses of Norwegian gjøre det 'do it' and argue that 'surface' and 'deep' anaphoric uses of gjøre det can be distinguished. We suggest that this ambiguity is connected to the special use of det as a verbal anaphor; this special use of det, which we mark det s , is distinct from the usual pronoun det (det d ) in that it fails to undergo Object Shift. Using this as a diagnostic, we show that the deep anaphoric gjøre det really behaves like any lexical verb plus a pronominal direct object (i.e., gjøre det d , 'do it'). In the case of the surface anaphoric gjøre det, it is more as if gjøre is a light verb (it shows no aktionsart restrictions) and det s is a predicate anaphor of a special kind: it selects for an elided verbal projection. Its anaphoric properties are thus indirect, as a result of the more general requirement that elided material have a certain kind of antecedent.

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Toward a theory of anaphoric processing

Cited by 189 publications

References 10 publications

Processing Null and Overt Pronoun Subject in Ambiguous Sentences in Korean

Processing Null and Overt Pronoun Subject in Ambiguous Sentences in Korean

Comprehending conceptual anaphors in Spanish

Deep properties of surface pronouns: pronominal predicate anaphors in Norwegian and German

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