Gabriela Garrido: Anticipatory processing of objects in a verb-initial language

Gabriela Garrido

Anticipatory processing of objects in a verb-initial language: Eye-tracking evidence during sentence comprehension in Tseltal

Studies using eye-movements to investigate sentence comprehension suggest that language comprehension is incremental and highly predictive. To date, most studies have focused on subject-initial languages. However, in order to build a complete theory of language processing, we must extend our studies to a more typologically diverse sample of languages.

In a visual world eye-tracking study on Tseltal (Mayan), we investigated how a verb’s semantic information can be used to anticipate its upcoming direct object. Basic transitive word order in Tseltal is Verb-Object-Subject. The verb is always encountered first, making argument structure and syntactic information available at the outset, which should facilitate anticipation of the post-verbal arguments.

This study contributes to our understanding of the cross-linguistic validity of eye-movement data on language comprehension and sheds light on the different types of information that guide parsing.

Date: Friday 28 February, 2020 
Venue: Room 407, Babel (Building 139)
Time: 3.15pm