SYNTAX 6 ON-LINE PROCESSING DAY 35 – NOV 18, 2013 Brain & Language LING NSCI Harry Howard Tulane University

Course organization The syllabus, these slides and my recordings are available at If you want to learn more about EEG and neurolinguistics, you are welcome to participate in my lab. This is also a good way to get started on an honor's thesis. The grades are posted to Blackboard. 11/18/13Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 2

REVIEW The quiz is the review. 11/18/13Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 3

SENTENCE COMPREHENSION AND SYNTACTIC PARSING Ingram I, §13 On-line processing, working memory and modularity 11/18/13Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 4

Syntactic complexity How about these sentences? 8a) The dog chased the cat. 8b) The cat hunted the rat. 8c) The rat nibbled the cheese. 9) The rat the cat hunted nibbled the cheese. 10) The rat the cat the dog chased hunted nibbled the cheese. 11/18/13Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 5

Center embedding 11/18/13Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 6 9) The rat the cat hunted nibbled the cheese. The rat which the cat hunted nibbled the cheese. 10) The rat the cat the dog chased hunted nibbled the cheese. The rat which the cat which the dog chased hunted nibbled the cheese.

How might this be processed? 11/20/13Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 7 thematic role for ‘the rat’ thematic role for ‘the cat’ thematic role for ‘the dog’ The parser encounters … the rat > look for a predicate to supply a thematic role … the cat > wait, put the previous search on hold & look for another predicate to supply a thematic role … the dog > wait, put the previous search on hold & look for yet another predicate to supply a thematic role … Ok, now I am lost. push-down stack

Interim conclusion The limit on center embedded is 2. Given that Miller’s number is much larger, it would appear that there is a working memory specialized for parsing. 11/18/13Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 8

‘Edge’ embedding does not create this problem 11/18/13Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 9 i) The dog chased the cat that hunted the rat that nibbled the cheese. ii) The dog that chased the cat that hunted the rat that nibbled the cheese was a dachshund.

Thinking about sentences, and science 1. Mary bought a book for John. The direct object THEME follows the verb in English. 2. Which book did Mary buy for John? The direct object THEME follows the verb in English or precede its clause when it is introduced by which. 3. John asked Mary about a student. TOPIC is the object of the preposition about. 4. Which student did John ask Mary about? TOPIC is the object of the preposition about, or it precedes its clause when it is introduced by which. Is adding "it precedes its clause when it is introduced by which" a good idea? 11/18/13Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 10

Generalization You should have gotten the idea that every statement that is made about NPs in English must be duplicated to take into account questions with which. But clefting requires a tripling of statements about NPs: This book is what Mary bought for John. Leprechauns is what John asked Mary about. And there are even more constructions that require even more duplication. Is this a good way to describe the grammar of English? NO! because we lose track of perfectly good generalizations like the direct object follows the verb or THEME is usually the direct object. Is there a principle of science that can help us out here? 11/18/13Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 11

NEXT TIME Finish with Ingram §13, On-line processing, working memory and modularity: ERPs 11/18/13Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 12