AU 2018 homework 3
pdf
keyboard_arrow_up
School
Georgia Institute Of Technology *
*We aren’t endorsed by this school
Course
2760
Subject
Linguistics
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
Pages
3
Uploaded by michaelterranova
Language and the Mind
Homework 3 – Syntactic Priming
In this homework, you will once again run a short experiment on your friends and neighbors.
The idea this time is to determine whether or not people are more likely to use a particular syntactic
structure if they've just heard someone else use that structure. This is called syntactic priming, a
phenomenon first described by Bock (1986; 1990; Bock, Loebell & Morey, 1992). For example, many
studies have found that people are more likely to use a passive sentence after hearing a passive
sentence, or to use a double-object dative form when their interlocuter does likewise.
We will investigate syntactic priming with two different kinds of sentences: datives and relative
clause attachment. In both cases, you will read your participant a sentence, have them answer a
true/false question about it, and then have them complete a sentence fragment. You will be looking to
see whether or not they use a syntactic structure in their replies that is related to the one you used in the
setup. Different types of trials are mixed in throughout the list. Why do you think the homework is set
up this way?
Datives
: Dative constructions involve a verb with three arguments – an
agent
who performs an action,
a
theme
that undergoes the action, and a
recipient
object that receives the theme. In English, we have
two common ways of phrasing datives. We can either use a prepositional phrase, as in (1), or a so-
called double-object construction as in (2).
(1) Greg
gave the book
to Maria
.
agent
theme
recipient
(2)
Greg
gave Maria
the book
.
agent
recipient
theme
There are a number of factors affecting which construction we are likely to use for a given sentence,
including the length of the theme an recipient noun phrases and whether a full noun phrase or a
pronoun is used. But this choice is also affected by the form of dative constructions we have just heard
others use.
Relative Clauses:
In many contexts, a syntactic ambiguity exists as to whether a relative clause that
follows two noun phrases is meant to modify the first noun phrase or the second.
Often semantics or
context clears this up, but not always, as in (3a) below. On first read, did you think the senator was on
the balcony or the employee? If the relative clause modifies the most recent noun phrase (3b), we call
this
low attachment.
If it modifies an earlier noun phrase (3c) we call this
high attachment.
(3) a.
Wilma saw the employee of the senator who was on the balcony.
b.
Wilma saw the employee of the senator who represented Vermont in Congress.
c.
Wilma saw the employee of the senator who helped get him elected.
As with datives, there are many factors that determine which form a talker uses, but having just heard
one form or another from another talker can influence that choice. For these, we're going to use a
slightly more abstract prime – how three objects in a preceding sentence are grouped. If the final two
are grouped apart from the first (4a) that might lead to more low attachment RC choices; if the first two
are grouped apart from the third (4b), that might lead to more high attachment RC choices.
(4) a.
Two is even, but three and nine are odd
b.
Two and three are prime, but nine is not
Directions:
For each pair of sentences on the next page, first read the italicized prime sentence to your subject. For
RC items have them respond either true or false. We don't actually care what their response is, so you
don't need to record that. Finally, read the first part of the target sentence, and have your subject
complete the sentence out loud. Record what the relevant syntactic form of the sentence was (PP or
double-object for datives, high or low attachment for RC sentences). It may happen that sometimes
they take the sentence in another direction entirely, and that's okay, just mark it as 'other'. It may also
happen with the RC sentences that their answer is ambiguous between high and low attachment (like
3a), record these as ambiguous and ignore them in the analysis. You don't need to write down their
actual response, though feel free to do so if you think it'll help you complete the assignment.
Run through this task with at least two subjects.
For 10 points extra credit on this assignment, run
five or more subjects. This will give you enough data to run a meaningful statistical test in Step 2,
so do that.
Compile all of your data from all subjects into the two following tables (don't have a separate set of
tables for each subject). Count the number of items that go in each cell (ie, the number of times you got
D.O. responses after D.O. primes, after PP primes, # of PP responses after each, etc)
and include these
tables in your write up.
Datives
Double-object responses
Prepositional phrase responses
Double-object primes
Prepositional phrase primes
RC attachment
High attachment responses
Low attachment responses
High attachment primes
Low attachment primes
If you're going for the extra credit option, run a statistical analysis on this data to look for significant
differences use the two-tailed Fisher's Exact Test at
http://graphpad.com/quickcalcs/contingency1/
Then answer the following questions in a 1-2 page mini essay
1.
Did you find evidence of syntactic priming for datives? That is, were subjects more
likely than not to use the syntactic construction that was used in the prime?
2.
Did you find evidence of syntactic priming for relative clause attachment?
3.
How difficult was it to analyze each person's responses as they uttered them?
4.
If we didn't care about accuracy in the true-false questions, what was the point of
including them?
5.
Are there any items that you think are strongly biased toward one syntactic form or the
other? Why? What about the sentence might induce such bias?
6.
Did you notice any other interesting patterns in your subjects responses, for example a
tendency to use pronouns in one syntactic construction and not the other?
7.
As always, identify the independent and dependent variables.
8.
As always, suggest an interesting way this experiment might be extended.
#
Type
Sentence
1
Dative, DO
John handed Mary the book.
Then Mary gave
....
DO
PP
2
RC, High
True or false: Blue and red are primary colors; green is not.
The tourists saw the bells of the cathedral that
.....
High
Low
3
Dative, PP
Sherry mailed the invitation to Peter.
Then Peter gave
....
DO
PP
4
RC, Low
True or false: Argentina is a country; Namibia and Norway are not.
The pumpkin rolled under the bridges by the river that
....
High
Low
5
RC, High
True or false: Nickles and dimes are silver; pennies are blue.
There was a crack in the window of the building that
....
High
Low
6
Dative, DO
Aisha threw Patrick the ball she had just caught.
Then Patrick gave
....
DO
PP
7
RC, Low
True or false: Sharks are fish, but whales and dolphins aren't.
The children remembered the corner of the playground where
....
High
Low
8
Dative, PP
The store sold a baseball card to Steve.
Then he gave
....
DO
PP
9
Dative, PP
The equipment manager delivered the football to the coach.
Then the coach gave
....
DO
PP
10
RC, Low
True or false: Two is even, but three and four are odd.
The manager decorated the office of the warehouse that
....
High
Low
11
Dative, DO
CJ loaned Sam a blue jacket.
Then Sam gave
....
DO
PP
12
RC, High
True or false: Gorillas and Chimpanzees are apes, but lemurs aren't.
The janitor cleaned the cabinets of the kitchen that
....
High
Low
13
Dative, PP
Nick bought a pumpkin for Rita.
After that, Rita gave
....
DO
PP
14
Dative, DO
The President showed the governor his photographs.
After that, the governor gave
....
DO
PP
15
RC, Low
True or false: Birds are not reptiles, but turtles and snakes are.
The guard checked the window of the building that... High
Low
16
RC, High
True or false: Ohio State and Illinois are in the Big Ten, but Purdue isn't.
The electrician worked in the room of the bar that
....
High
Low
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help