The interpretational preferences of null and overt pronouns in Chinese
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10139756 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Aili Zhang (0000-0001-6877-9207, Shandong Jianzhu University, corresponding author), Nayoung Kwon (0000-0003-1217-2515, University of Oregon) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 58 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 649-676 |
| Publication date | 2021-11-29 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Linguistics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-2267 • E-ISSN: 1469-7742 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0022226721000402 |
| OpenAlex | W3216384381 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 32 |
We report three reading comprehension experiments investigating the interpretational preferences and processing of pro and overt pronouns in Chinese, a ‘discourse-oriented’ pro -drop language (Huang 1984). Our offline rating experiments showed that both pro and overt pronouns were subject-based, but the preference for the subject antecedents was stronger with pro than with overt pronouns. In addition, these different levels of subject biases were confirmed in a self-paced reading experiment; a processing penalty was incurred with object antecedent interpretation regardless of the pronominal type, but the penalty was bigger for pro than for overt pronouns. These experimental results are consistent with Accessibility theory that less specific anaphoric expressions (e.g. pro ) were less likely than more specific anaphoric expressions (e.g. overt pronouns) to refer to a less prominent antecedent (e.g. syntactic object)
Antecedent (behavioral psychology · Cognitive psychology · Comprehension · Linguistics · Object (grammar · Object pronoun · Personal pronoun · Preference · Pronoun · Reading (process · Subject (documents · Subject pronoun · Computer Science · Mathematics · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Text Readability and Simplification · Topic Modeling
Mandarin speakers undergoing attrition produce more explicit referring expressions
When accessibility distinctions matter or don't
Backward anaphora in L2 acquisition of English, Mandarin and Japanese
On null-subject languages and the Overt Pronoun Constraint
Topicality and attention in pronoun interpretation
From null pronouns to full NPs
Analyzing Linguistic Data
Mandarin Chinese
Interpreting pronouns and demonstratives in Finnish
Anaphoric biases of null and overt subjects in Italian and Spanish
Thematic Roles Assigned along the Garden Path Linger
Accessibility theory
Simultaneous Inference in General Parametric Models
Topic continuity in discourse
Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing
Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4
Categorical data analysis
Mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects for subjects and items
Accessing Noun-Phrase Antecedents (RLE Linguistics B
Topic Continuity in Discourse
Lectures on Government and Binding
The Mental Representation of Discourse in a Focussed Memory System
The management of reference in Mandarin discourse
Interpreting anaphoric expressions
The Processing of Coreference for Reduced Expressions in Discourse Integration
Referring and accessibility
Pronoun ambiguity resolution in Greek
Interpreting null pronouns (pro) in isolated sentences
Grammatical and pragmatic factors in the interpretation of Japanese null and overt pronouns
Pronouns in Catalan
Cognitive Status and the Form of Referring Expressions in Discourse
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |