Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: This paper investigates the processing differences between sentences containing filler-gap dependencies and sentences with a cataphoric form of ellipsis, reverse sluicing.The two structures look similar on the surface, but differ theoretically both in grammar and constraints governing their distribution.The processing of a sluice occurs at LF where the reader must construct an empty structure containing a variable that must be bound to an indefinite in the antecedent clause.Fillergap dependencies, on the other hand, are the result of a sentence's syntactic structure.To test for differences in processing, a self-paced reading study was conducted.The experimental sentences, which were minimally different, contained either a reverse sluice or a filler-gap dependency.Additionally, each type of sentence had a version with added lengthening.Reading times for the critical region of reverse sluices decreased after lengthening was added, whereas reading time for the critical region in filler-gap dependencies increased with the added lengthening.These results provide supporting evidence for an integral element of syntactic theory: that movement and ellipsis are two distinct structures.
Author: Jason W. Gullifer
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3156804211