Conceptual accessibility and syntactic structure in sentence formulation

doi:10.1016/0010-0277(85)90023-X

Cognition

Volume 21, Issue 1, October 1985, Pages 47-67

https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(85)90023-X Get rights and content

Abstract

The grammatical relations of noun phrases in sentences are ordered in a hierarchy that is reflected in a wide array of linguistic phenomena. The hypothesis explored in this paper is that this hierarchy is related to the conceptual accessibility of the intended referents of noun phrases that commonly occur in particular relational roles, with relations higher in the hierarchy typically occupied by noun phrases representing more accessible concepts. An experiment on the formulation of sentences examined the relationship betweeen conceptual accessibility and grammatical relations for three levels in the hierarchy, the subject, direct object, and indirect object. There was a strong and systematic influence of conceptual accessibility on the surface syntactic structure of sentences. The attribution of this effect to grammatical role assignments, rather than to serial ordering mechanisms, was supported by the absence of an effect of conceptual accessibility on the order of nouns in conjunctive noun phrases. This pattern of results can be explained within current theories of sentence production.

Résumé

Les relations grammaticales des syntagmes nominaux sont ordonnées suivant une hiérarchie que l'on retrouve dans de nombreux phénomènes linguistiques. L'hypothèse développée dans cet article relie cette hierarchie à l'accessibilité conceptuelle des référents intentionnels des syntagmes nominaux, qui apparaissent couramment dans des rôles relationnels particuliers, avec des relations plus élevées dans la hiérarchie pour les syntagmes nominaux représentant des concepts plus accessibles. Dans une expérience sur la formulation de phrases est examiné le rapport entre I'accessibilité conceptuelle et les relations grammaticales pour trois niveaux de la hiérarchie: le sujet, l'objet direct et l'objet indirect. Les résultats montrent une influence importante et systématique de l'accessibilité conceptuelle sur la structure syntaxique de surface des phrases. Il semble que cet effet soit dûà l'affectation des rôles grammaticaux, plutôt qu'à des mécanismes d'arrangement sériel, en raison de l'absenced'un effet de l'accessibilité conceptuelle sur l'ordre des noms dans les syntagmes nominaux conjonctifs. Ce type de résultats pent êntre expliqué dans le cadre des théories actuelles de production de phrases.

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^☆: Portions of this paper are based on an undergraduate honors thesis submitted by the second author to the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University. We thank Frank C. Keil and Michael H. Kelly for comments on the manuscript. Requests for reprints should be sent to Kathryn Bock, Department of Psychology, Psychology Research Building, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, U.S.A.

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Conceptual accessibility and syntactic structure in sentence formulation☆

Abstract

Résumé

Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior

Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior

Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior

Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior

Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior

Cognition

Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior

Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior

Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior

Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior

Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior

Toward a cognitive psychology of syntax: Information processing contributions to sentence formulation

Psychological Review

Dissociated imageability, concreteness, and familiarity in lateralized word recognition

memory & Cognition

Process and content in psycholinquistics

Building a vocabulary: Words for objects, actions and relations

The semantics of sentence subjects

Language and Speech

World order

Where do the subjects of sentences come from?

A note on transition proper in functional sentence analysis

Philologica Pragensia

On defining the theme in functional sentence analysis

Travaux Linguistiques de Prague

Levels of processing in sentence production

The development of thoughts about animate and inanimate objects: Implications for research on social cognition

The role of attentional priority of the agent in the acquisition of word reference

Passives and topicalization

British Journal of Psychology