Research on filler-gap dependencies has revealed that there are constraints on possible gap sites, and that real-time sentence processing is sensitive to these constraints. This work has shown that comprehenders have preferences for potential gap sites, and immediately detect when these preferences are not met. However, neither the mechanisms that select preferred gap sites nor the mechanisms u...

This study examines the on-line processing of sentences with movement using an auditory anomaly detection task (after Borland, Tanenhaus, Garnsey, & Carlson, 1995). Eight agrammatic aphasic participants (four of whom had undergone treatment focused on comprehension and production of filler-gap sentences) and 24 young normal participants listened to sentences and pressed a button when the senten...

I Since the early days of generative grammat the study of "unbounded dependencies" such as arD-questions and reladve clauses has occupied a centrd place in both qmuctic theory and language processing research. The problem that such constructions pose is as follows. In a normal rzD-question, a wb' phrase is tlpically displaced to the left periphery of a clause (rVlnt did you say -to John?);.this...

Abstract Since the early days of generative grammar, the study of "unbounded dependencies" such as wh-questions and relative clauses has occupied a central place in both syntactic theory and language processing research. The problem that such constructions pose is as follows. In a normal wh-question, a wh-phrase is typically displaced to the left periphery of a clause (What did you say - to Joh...

Double object questions are harder to process than the corresponding questions with prepositional objects (Boland 1997). When given the choice between the two, a parser prefers to wait and not associate a filler with a gap in a double object construction, contrary to the prediction of the Active Filler Hypothesis (Frazier 1987). I propose that the reason the parser holds back is that it wants t...

We recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) during the processing of unambiguous German sentences containing different types of filler-gap dependency. Both topicalization constructions and wh-questions were found to elicit a left-anterior negativity (LAN) prior to the processing of the subcategorizing verb, relative to a gap-free control condition. At the subcategorizing verb, sentences c...

Comprehension of filler-gap dependency relations (as in this is the man who the woman is touching) is supported by Broca's area. There are two views regarding the processing role of this brain region in comprehending these dependencies. Specifists hold that Broca's area plays a specific syntactic role in processing filler-gaps. Generalists maintain that as the on-line linking of fillers and gap...

The present study explored the on-line process of constructing filler-gap dependencies in Chinese topic structures. In a topic structure, extracting the topic from within a sentence is subject to locality constraints; for instance, gaps inside islands such as adverbial clauses are prohibited. Interestingly, similar to the parasitic gap (PG) construction in English, a gap in an adverbial clause ...

Much work has demonstrated that speakers of verb-final languages are able to construct rich syntactic representations in advance of verb information. This may reflect general architectural properties of the language processor, or it may only reflect a language-specific adaptation to the demands of verb-finality. The present study addresses this issue by examining whether speakers of a verb-medi...