Prototypicality in a Linguistic Context: Effects on Sentence Structure

Three studies explored relationships between prototypicahty and the structure of sentences in recall, preference ratings, and natural dictionary definitions. The first experiment showed that sentences were systematically changed in retail to allow prototypical instances of categories to be mentioned before nonprototypical instances. In the second experiment, sentences in which the prototype preceded the nonprototype were judged more natural than sentences with the opposite order. Finally, an examination of dictionary definitions of categories found that prototypes tended to occur before nonprototypes. These results can be explained in terms of the sensitivity of sentence production processes to the lexical or conceptual accessibility of prototypes. Such processes appear to adjust serial positions and, to a lesser extent, grammatical roles in order to allow lexical items to be produced soon after they are retrieved.