Language-specific and universal influences in children's syntactic packaging of Manner and Path: a comparison of English, Japanese, and Turkish

Different languages map semantic elements of spatial relations onto different lexical and syntactic units. These crosslinguistic differences raise important questions for language development in terms of how this variation is learned by children. We investigated how Turkish-, English-, and Japanese-speaking children (mean age 3;8) package the semantic elements of Manner and Path onto syntactic units when both the Manner and the Path of the moving Figure occur simultaneously and are salient in the event depicted. Both universal and language-specific patterns were evident in our data. Children used the semantic-syntactic mappings preferred by adult speakers of their own languages, and even expressed subtle syntactic differences that encode different relations between Manner and Path in the same way as their adult counterparts (i.e., Manner causing vs. incidental to Path). However, not all types of semantics-syntax mappings were easy for children to learn (e.g., expressing Manner and Path elements in two verbal clauses). In such cases, Turkish- and Japanese-speaking children frequently used syntactic patterns that were not typical in the target language but were similar to patterns used by English-speaking children, suggesting some universal influence. Thus, both language-specific and universal tendencies guide the development of complex spatial expressions.     

Structured propostions and sentence structure

It is argued that taken together, two widely held claims ((i) sentences express structured propositions whose structures are functions of the structures of sentences expressing them; and (ii) senteces have underlying structures that are the input to semantic interpretation) suggest a simple, plausible theory of propositional structure. According to this theory, the structures of propositions are the same as the structures of the syntactic inputs to semantics they are expressed by. The theory is defended against a variety of objections.I have benefitted from discussions with Michael Jubien, Michacl Liston, Paul Teller, Howard Wettstein, Mark Wilson and especially David Copp. The comments of Mark Richard and an anonymous referee for Journal of Philosophical Logic on an earlier draft resulted in a much improved paper. Various circumstances resulted in this paper appearing after King [1995], though the latter was written later and amends the present view in several ways. See notes 9, 13, 15 and 33 of King [1995].     

工作记忆与汉语歧义句加工的眼动研究

以符合“VP+N1+的+N2”格式的述宾型歧义短语组成的句子为材料,采用2×2的混合设计,即2(工作记忆广度：高、低)×2(续接方式：偏正、述宾),采用眼动记录法,考察被试对歧义短语的语义加工过程。结果发现：（1）在无前语境的暂时句法歧义句中,不同的续接方式在句子的最初加工过程中的作用不显著,而在最终的理解过程中作用显著。（2）工作记忆高有利于句子的理解,但对歧义短语的两种意思的提取和保持的作用不显著。     

动词信息在汉语句子加工早期的作用

研究控制了汉语句子的及物动词与其直接宾语之间的搭配合适程度,分别利用听觉词汇监控和眼动技术,研究了动词的“宾语选择性限制信息”在句子加工早期的作用。实验发现动词与宾语搭配上的各种违反对目标名词（宾语）的加工产生了即时效应。结果表明,包括语义信息在内的各种词汇信息被通达后立即参与了汉语句子加工。     

句法和语义在汉语简单句理解中的作用

两个实验探讨句法和语义在汉语简单句加工中的作用及其相互关系。实验一采用施事判断任务,发现句法作用与语义可逆性的作用都很显著;实验二采用快速句子判断任务,发现句法作用是主要的,语义可逆性无显著作用;两个实验都发现句法与语义可逆性之间的交互作用不显著。这些结果表明：（１）在汉语简单句理解的过程中句法因素的作用是主要的,语义因素的作用是次要的,只要当实验任务更多地强调语义分析时,语义因素才有显著的作用。