Abstract
The gap/gapless processing debate in the psycholinguistics literature contrasts two processing models: one that assumes the trace-based Government and Binding (or Principles and Parameters) Grammar and the (augmented) Active Filler Strategy and one that assumes the traceless Dependency Categorial Grammar and the Principle of Dependency Formation. This paper reports on an experiment that found new evidence against the gapless/traceless model, considers why such evidence was not found in previous studies, and explores whether a parser that combines a (partially) traceless grammar and the augmented Active Filler Strategy can explain the current finding.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Bever, T., & McElree, B. (1988). Empty categories access their antecedents during comprehension. Linguistic Inquiry, 19, 35-45.
Berwick, R. C., & Weinberg, A. S. (1984). The Grammatical Basis of Linguistic Performance: Language Use and Acquisition. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Bouma, G., Malouf, R., & Sag, I. A. (2001). Satisfying constraints on extraction and adjunction. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 19, 1-65.
Clahsen, H., & Featherston, S. (1999). Antecedent priming at trace positions: Evidence from German scrambling. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 28, 415-437.
Clifton, C., Jr., & De Vincenzi, M. (1990). Comprehending sentences with empty elements. In D. A. Balota, G. B. Flores d'Arcais, & K. Rayner (Eds.), Comprehension Processes in Reading (pp. 265-283). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Clifton, C., Jr., & Frazier, L. (1989). Comprehending sentences with long-distance dependencies. In G. Carlson, & M. Tanenhaus (Eds.), Linguistic Structure in Language Processing (pp. 94-128). Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Cohen, J. D., MacWhinney, B., Flatt, M., & Provost, J. (1993). PsyScope: A new graphic interactive environment for designing psychological experiments. Behavioral Research Methods, Instruments and Computers, 25, 257-271.
Crocker, M. W. (1994). On the nature of the principle-based sentence processor. In C. Clifton, Jr., L. Frazier, & K. Rayner (Eds.), Perspectives on Sentence Processing (pp. 245-266). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Crocker, M. W. (1996). Computational Psycholinguistics: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of Language. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
De Vincenzi, M. (1991). Syntactic Parsing Strategies in Italian. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Emonds, J. E. (1976). A transformational approach to English syntax: Root, Structure-Preserving, and Local Transformations. New York: Academic Press.
Ferreira, F., & Henderson, J. (1991). Recovery from misanalyses of garden-path sentences. Journal of Memory and Language, 30, 725-745.
Fodor, J. D. (1989). Empty categories in sentence processing. Language and Cognitive Processes, 4, 155-209.
Fodor, J. D. (1991). Sentence processing and the mental grammar. In P. Sells, S. M. Shieber, & T. Wasow (Eds.), Foundational Issues in Natural Language Processing (pp. 83-113). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Fodor, J. D. (1993). Processing empty categories: A question of visibility. In G. Altmann, & R. Shillcock (Eds.), Cognitive Models of Speech Processing: The Second Sperlonga Meeting (pp. 351-400). Hove: Erlbaum.
Fodor, J. D. (1995). Comprehending sentence structure. In L. R. Gleitman, & M. Liberman (Eds.), Language: An Invitation to Cognitive Science (pp. 209-246). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Frazier, L., & Clifton, C., Jr. (1989). Successive cyclicity in the grammar and parser. Language and Cognitive Processes, 4, 93-126.
Frazier, L., & Flores d'Arcais, G. B. (1989). Filler-driven parsing: A study of gap filling in Dutch. Journal of Memory and Language, 28, 331-344.
Frazier, L., & Rayner, K. (1982). Making and correcting errors during sentence comprehension: Eye movements in the analysis of structurally ambiguous sentences. Cognitive Psychology, 14, 178-210.
Gazdar, G. (1981). Unbounded dependencies and coordinate structure. Linguistic Inquiry, 12, 155-184.
Gibson, E., & Hickok, G. (1993). Sentence processing with empty categories. Language and Cognitive Processes, 8, 147-161.
Gibson, E., Hickok, G., & Schütze, C. T. (1994). Processing empty categories: A parallel approach. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 23, 381-405.
Gorrell, P. (1993). Evaluating the direct association hypothesis: A reply to Pickering and Barry (1991). Language and Cognitive Processes, 8, 129-146.
Gorrell, P. (1998). Syntactic analysis and reanalysis in sentence processing. In J. D. Fodor, & F. Ferreira (Eds.), Reanalysis in Sentence Processing (pp. 201-245).Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Grodzinsky, Y. (2000). The neurology of syntax: Language use without Broca's area. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23, 47-117.
Hawkins, J. A. (1999). Processing complexity and filler-gap dependencies across grammars. Language, 75, 244-285.
Hickok, G., Canseco-Gonzalez, E., Zurif, E., & Grimshaw, J. (1992). Modularity in locating gaps. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 21, 545-561.
Just, M. A., Carpenter, P. A., & Woolley, J. D. (1982). Paradigms and processes in reading comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 111, 228-238.
Keenan, E. L., & Comrie, B. (1977). Noun phrase accessibility and universal grammar. Linguistic Inquiry, 8, 63-100.
Keenan, E. L., & Hawkins, S. (1986). The psychological validity of the Accessibility Hierarchy. In E. L. Keenan, Universal Grammar: 15 Essays (pp. 60-85). London: Croom Helm.
MacDonald, M. C. (1989). Priming effects from gaps to antecedents. Language and Cognitive Processes, 4, 35-56.
Maling, J. (2000). A simple argument for subject gaps. In Y. Grodzinsky, L. P. Shapiro, & D. Swinney (Eds.), Language and the Brain: Representation and Processing (pp. 351-355). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Nicol, J., & Swinney, D. (1989). The role of structure in coreference assignment during sentence comprehension. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 18, 5-20.
Pickering, M. J. (1993). Direct association and sentence processing: A reply to Gorrell and to Gibson and Hickok. Language and Cognitive Processes, 8, 163-196.
Pickering, M. J. (1994). Processing local and unbounded dependencies: A unified account. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 23, 323-352.
Pickering, M. J., & Barry, G. (1991). Sentence processing without empty categories. Language and Cognitive Processes, 6, 229-259.
Pickering, M. J., & Shillcock, R. (1992). Processing subject extractions. In H. Goodluck, & M. Rochemont (Eds.), Island Constraints: Theory, Acquisition and Processing (pp. 295-320). Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Roberts, I. (1997). Comparative Syntax. Oxford: Blackwell.
Sag, I. A., & Fodor, J. D. (1995). Extraction without traces. In R. Aranovich, W. Byrne, S. Preuss, & M. Senturia (Eds.), WCCFL 13: The Proceedings of the 13th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (pp. 365-384). Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.
Stevenson, S. (1993). Establishing long-distance dependencies in a hybrid network model of human parsing. In Cognitive Science Society(Ed.), Proceedings of the 15th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 982-987). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Stowe, L. A. (1986). Parsing WH-constructions: Evidence for on-line gap location. Language and Cognitive Processes, 1, 227-245.
Swinney, D., & Zurif, E. (1995). Syntactic processing in aphasia. Brain and Language, 50, 225-239.
Tanenhaus, M. K., Boland, J. E., Garnsey, S. M. & Carlson, G. N. (1989). Lexical structure in parsing long-distance dependencies. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 18, 37-50.
Warner, J., & Glass, A. L. (1987). Context and distance-to-disambiguation effects in ambiguity resolution: Evidence from grammaticality judgments of garden-path sentences. Journal of Memory and Language, 26, 714-738.
Zurif, E., Swinney, D., Prather, P., Solomon, J., & Bushell, C. (1993). An on-line analysis of syntactic processing in Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia. Brain and Language, 45, 448-464.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lee, MW. Another Look at the Role of Empty Categories in Sentence Processing (and Grammar). J Psycholinguist Res 33, 51–73 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOPR.0000010514.50468.30
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOPR.0000010514.50468.30