Locality versus Anti-locality Effects in Mandarin Sentence Comprehension

Whether the distance between the filler and the gap increases or decreases the difficulty for comprehenders has always been subject to debate. Locality theory claims that the greater the distance between the filler and the gap, the more difficult it is. However, anti-locality theory predicts that the greater the distance, the easier it is. This study examined whether it was the position of the verbs that made the differences. Three kinds of structures, simple SVO, relative clauses, and BA constructions, were manipulated. If the locality theory is correct, increasing reading times at the critical words should be observed. If anti-locality theory is correct, decreasing reading times should be found. In both SVO and RCs, we observed increasing reading times at the critical nouns. In BA constructions, however, we observed decreasing reading times at the critical verbs. It is thus the critical word at the end that leads to differences.