Some Recent Investigations of Gap Filling in Normal Listeners: Implications for Normal and Disordered Language Processing

Publisher Summary This chapter explores two online studies investigating the time course of comprehending structures involving chains; those that require a listener to connect two non adjacent positions that co-refer. In the first study verb phrase (VP) ellipsis structures that contain verbs whose lexical properties severely restrict interpretation are examined. It is found that listeners initially ignore such lexical properties and defer to the syntax. In the second study, Wh-questions that are discourse-linked are explained. It is found that the time-course of interpretation is influenced by these discourse linked properties. Both studies are interpreted with reference to current accounts of normal and disordered language processing. The independence of structural processing from lexical influences fits quite nicely with some previous work examining on-line sentence comprehension in Broca's and Wernicke's aphasic individuals. The lexical properties of the verb only allow the sloppy interpretation. An anaphor must be locally bound. Anaphoric elements can also enter into elided constructions.

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