Abstract
This paper examined the effects of prosody on the syntactic ambiguity resolution of Japanese sentences, especially with reference to the interaction with semantic bias. Syntactically ambiguous sentences with different types of semantic bias were constructed. The degree of bias in each sentence was evaluated through visual presentation experiments. Three types of sentences were selected based on the results of visual presentation experiments, were recorded with prosody maximally favoring each possible interpretation of the sentences, and were used as the stimuli for the auditory presentation experiments. The results showed that prosodic cues can influence the interpretation of a sentence even when the sentence is strongly semantically biased. The results also showed a limitation to prosodic cues. The prosodic biases alone were not sufficient to fully determine the interpretation of the sentences even when the sentences were neutrally biased semantically.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Azuma, J., & Tsukuma, Y. (1991). Role of F0 and pauses in disambiguating syntactically ambiguous Japanese sentences. In Proceedings of the XIIth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, (Vol. 3, pp. 274–277). Aix-en Provence: Universite Provence.
Cooper, W. E., & Paccia-Cooper, J. M. (1980) Syntax and speech. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Kuno, S. (1973). The structure of the Japanese language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Marslen-Wilson, W. D., Tyler, L. K., Warren, P., & Lee, C. S. (1992). Prosodic effects in minimal attachment. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 45A, 73–87.
Mazuka, R., & Nagai, N. (Eds.). (1995). Japanese sentence processing. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Nagel, H. N., Shapiro, L. P., Tuller, B., & Nawy, R. (1996). Prosodic influences on the resolution of temporal ambiguity during on-line sentence processing. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 25, 319–344.
Nespor, M. A., & Vogel, I. (1986). Prosodic phonology. Boston: Klewer.
Pierrehumbert, J., & Beckman, M., (1988). Japanese tone structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Price, P. J., Ostendorf, M., Shattuck-Hufnagel, S., & Fong, C. (1991). The use of prosody in syntactic disambiguation. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 90, 2956–2970.
Selkirk, E. (1984). Phonology and syntax: The relation between sound and structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Shapiro, L. P., & Nagel, H. N. (1995). Lexical properties, prosody, and syntax: Implications for normal and disordered language. Brain and Language, 50, 240–257.
Speer, S. R., Crowder, R. G., & Thomas, L. M. (1993). Prosodic structure and sentence recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 32, 336–358.
Uyeno, T., Hayashibe, H., Imai, K., Imagawa, H., & Kiritani, S. (1980). Comprehension of relative clause construction and pitch contours in Japanese. Annual Bulletin, Research Institute of Logopedics and Phoniatrics, (University of Tokyo) 14, 225–236.
Venditti, J. D., Jun, S.-A., & Beckman, M. E. (1994). Prosodic cues to syntactic and other linguistic structures in Japanese, Korean, and English (Cognitive Science Technical Reports). Columbus: Ohio State University.
Venditti, J. D., & Yamashita, H. (March, 1994). Prosodic characteristics of temporarily ambiguous constructions in Japanese. Poster presented at the Seventh Annual CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, New York City.
Watt, S. M., & Murray, W. S. (1996). Prosodic form and parsing commitments. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 25, 291–318.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Misono, Y., Mazuka, R., Kondo, T. et al. Effects and Limitations of Prosodic and Semantic Biases on Syntactic Disambiguation. J Psycholinguist Res 26, 229–245 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025065700451
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025065700451