Modularity: Evidence from coreference processing in Spanish.

Title: Modularity: Evidence from coreference processing in Spanish.
Identifier: AAI9605633
identifier: 9605633
Creator: Meltzer, Sheila Gail.
Contributor: Adviser: Janet Dean Fodor
Date: 1995
Language: English
Publisher: City University of New York.
Subject: Language, Linguistics
Abstract: In this thesis evidence from the on-line processing of referentially-dependent nominals in Spanish is presented in support of the modularity of language hypothesis. A cross-modal priming study compared the influence of pragmatic information on antecedent reactivation for two linguistically contrasted kinds of phonetically null pronominals: syntactically free pro and syntactically-controlled PRO.;Testing in preposed adverbial clauses, an activation bias was revealed for pro as well as for overt pronouns, demonstrating the availability of the pragmatic information and its rapid employment by the processor. No such interaction was observed for PRO, whose syntactic controller was yet to appear in the sentence. It is claimed therefore that the integration of non-linguistic information is delayed when syntactic constraints have not yet been met.
Type: dissertation
Source: PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
degree: Ph.D.