Interference in quantifier float and subject-verb agreement

Fujita, H. and Cunnings, I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5318-0186 (2023) Interference in quantifier float and subject-verb agreement. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 38 (7). pp. 1001-1019. ISSN 2327-3801 doi: 10.1080/23273798.2023.2189738

Abstract/Summary

When forming a dependency between two elements of a sentence, the processor must retrieve a grammaticality licensed element from memory. Previous research has suggested that this dependency formation is susceptible to interference from structurally unlicensed elements. However, there has been debate on why dependency formation is susceptible to interference and whether interference arises in only certain dependencies or not. The present study addressed these issues in four self-paced reading experiments and four speeded judgement experiments by investigating a well-examined dependency, namely subject-verb agreement, and so-called quantifier float, which remains unexplored in existing sentence processing research. Our results largely suggested interference in ungrammatical sentences, but we did not find clear interference effects in grammatical sentences. We argue that both subject-verb agreement and quantifier float are similarly susceptible to interference when the processor initiates cue-based memory retrieval and retrieves a structurally unlicensed element due to difficulties forming grammatically licit dependencies.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/111399
Identification Number/DOI	10.1080/23273798.2023.2189738
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (CeLM) Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Clinical Language Sciences Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Language and Cognition
Publisher	Taylor & Francis
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