Principle B constrains the processing of cataphora: Evidence for syntactic and discourse predictions
Publication Date
2021
Journal or Book Title
Journal of Memory and Language
Abstract
We tested whether comprehenders can use Binding Principle B (Chomsky, 1981) to guide antecedent search during the processing of cataphoric pronouns. We ran two self-paced reading experiments using the gender mismatch paradigm (van Gompel & Liversedge, 2003) as an index of active prediction of coreference between a cataphor and a main clause subject. In both experiments, we find gender mismatch effects at the main clause subject when coreference with the cataphor is grammatically acceptable. We do not find comparable gender mismatch effects in conditions where coreference is ruled out by Principle B. Our results are broadly consistent with models in which grammatical constraints serve as early filters on anaphora resolution processes in comprehension. We illustrate how the parser can integrate syntactic and discourse-level information to achieve grammatical sensitivity during incremental referential processing.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2021.104254
Volume
120
License
UMass Amherst Open Access Policy
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Kush, Dave and Dillon, Brian, "Principle B constrains the processing of cataphora: Evidence for syntactic and discourse predictions" (2021). Journal of Memory and Language. 191.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2021.104254
