Predictive Sentence Processing: Evidence from Passive Relative Clause Processing

• Published in: 영어학 Vol. 22; pp. 70 - 85
• Main Authors: Nayoun Kim, Jiayi Lu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 한국영어학회 2022
• Subjects: 영어와문학; moving-window self-paced reading experiment; structural prediction; passive relative clause processing; pied-piping; integration; p-stranding; animacy
• ISSN: 1598-1398; 2586-7474
• DOI: 10.15738/kjell.22..202202.70

Previous studies proposed that readers engage in predictive processing by showing that the processing of expected elements is facilitated compared to unexpected elements (Frazier and d’Arcais 1989, Frazier and Clifton 1989, Stowe 1986). However, others claim that such processing facilitation can also be attributed to integration facilitation (Gibson 1998, 2000, Grodner and Gibson 2005). Using a self-paced reading experiment, this study provides evidence for predictive processing by examining the processing of passive relative clauses with pied-piped by-phrases. We found evidence that the processing of inanimate embedded subjects is facilitated after encountering by-phrases, an effect that can only be attributed to predictive processing rather than integration facilitation. Overall, this study provides further evidence that readers engage in a predictive structure-building processes ahead of encountering unequivocal bottom-up input (Phillips 2006, Staub and Clifton 2006, Wagers and Phillips 2009, Yoshida 2006, Yoshida, Dickey and Sturt 2013). KCI Citation Count: 0