本文旨在從語法及語句處理的觀點探討中文關係子句中接應代詞(resumptive pronouns) 的現象。在語法上，本研究認為中文的接應代詞屬於詞基生成 (base-generated) 元素而非句法變項 (syntactic variables) 。接應代詞的出現受限於派生簡約原則 (derivational economy) 及合法度 (grammaticality) 的要求，唯有當間隙型關係子句 (gap relatives) 為非法時，接應代詞才是必要的；在其他情況下，接應代詞在中文裡為選擇性的策略之一。在語句處理上，本研究施測了三份合法度問卷並進行了兩項線上閱讀測驗。合法度的判別及線上的閱讀反應時間顯示，接應代詞之所以不被喜歡是因為接應代詞本身會引發花園路徑效果 (garden path effect) (在此為主要子句假象 (main-clause illusion) 的形成)。然而，接應代詞在間隙型關係子句為非法或引發花園路徑效果 (在此為重建困難 (difficult reconstruction) 所造成) 時卻變得較受喜愛。當間隙型關係子句涉及到複雜結構或複雜語句處理領域 (在此指的是重建複雜 (intricate reconstruction) ) 時，中文母語使用者並不會偏好使用間隙(gap)或是接應代詞來形成關係子句。這些研究結果意味著中文接應代詞不僅受限於合法度的要求，也受制於語句可處理性 (processability) 的程度，亦即有無受到花園路徑效果所影響。 / This thesis examines resumptive pronouns in Chinese relative clauses from the perspectives of grammar and processing. In the grammar, it is claimed in this research that resumptives in Chinese are base-generated pronouns rather than syntactic variables. Their occurrence can be predicted via derivational economy and grammaticality. Resumptives in Chinese are obligatory only when the gap relatives are ungrammatical. Otherwise, resumptives are optional. As for processing, three grammaticality judgments and two on-line self-paced reading tasks were conducted. The grammaticality judgments and the on-line reading times show that resumptives were dispreferred because they induced a garden-path effect (the main-clause illusion). However, resumptives became preferred when the gap relatives resulted in ungrammaticality or led to a garden path, thus inducing the difficulty of reconstruction. There was no preference for gaps or resumptives when the gap relatives involved complex structures or complicated processing domains (the intricate reconstruction). These results suggest that resumptives in Chinese are related not only to the issue of grammaticality but also to that of the processability (i.e. the garden-path effect).

本文以兩個眼動閱讀實驗探討語意訊息 (semantic cues) 和句法訊息 (syntactic cues) 如何在中文關係子句的處理中運作及交互作用。實驗一旨在研究兩種動詞與論元之間的合理性關係 (plausibility) 是否會影響讀者理解不同結構的關係子句。結果顯示，當兩個論元都是合理施事者 (agent) 時，論旨角色的指派 (thematic roles) 有歧義，較難理解；而當只有一個論元是合理的施事者時，讀者趨向指派正確的論旨角色，且較快整合句法上的困難。此外，因中文句法結構特殊，讀者在關係詞之前就處理主語關係子句 (subject relative clauses) 的歧義，在主要動詞上則會遇到賓語關係子句 (object relative clauses) 的理解困難。此發現解決了Hsiao & Gibson (2003) 和 Lin (2006) 的歧見，證明中文讀者在不同位置會遇到不一樣的困難。實驗二所關注的語意訊息為論元的生命性 (animacy)，關係子句中的兩個論元分屬有生命的 (animate) 及無生命的 (inanimate) 名詞。結果發現論旨角色的指派和生命性相互關聯，有生命性的論元較傾向當施事者，而無生命的論元傾向當受事者。讀者仍在關係詞之前遇到主語關係子句的理解困難，但在主要動詞，讀者主要依循生命性的引導來指派論旨角色，句法訊息的影響並不顯著。因此語意訊息在中文的語句處理扮演重要的角色，結果大致上與Traxler (2002)的研究相符。讀者同時受到當下的句法訊息以及語意訊息影響，在不同的位置會遇到不一樣的歧義性，而產生花園路徑效果 (garden-path effect)。 / Two eye movement experiments were conducted to investigate how semantic cues and syntactic structural cues function and interact in Mandarin Chinese relative clause (RC) processing. Mandarin Chinese is unique in combining head-final RCs with a VO basic order (Dryer, 1992, 2003) and also in relying solely on word order as structural cues, without case marking or agreement. However, Mandarin Chinese still preserves flexibility in word order that is motivated by pragmatics. Semantic cues, including the plausibility of the argument-verb relation and argument animacy within RCs, may be crucial to sentence processing in Mandarin Chinese. Experiment 1 aims to examine whether the meaning of the verb allowing only one of the two animate arguments to be a plausible agent may lead to reduction of ORC difficulty (cf. Traxler, 2002). The results showed that the plausibility effects were robust at the head noun and the main verb. A bias of thematic role assignment in the irreversible relation leads readers to correct interpretations, while the reversible relation does not elicit such a bias. The results also solved the discrepancy between the two previous studies (Hsiao and Gibson, 2003 & Lin, 2006) by unveiling a dynamic process in which readers encounter diverse ambiguities at different positions for different structures. Chinese readers disambiguate SRCs earlier due to their non-canonical word order and have trouble integrating the main verb in ORCs owing to perspective shifting. The interaction between plausibility and RC type on re-reading rate suggested that plausibility cues were used to solve syntactic ambiguity. Experiment 2 manipulated contrastive argument animacy in order to investigate whether thematic role assignment correlates with animacy. The results confirmed the hypothesis that while animate entities bias towards agent roles, inanimate ones incline towards patient roles (c.f., Valin & LaPolla, 1997). Besides, inanimate entities are conceptually less accessible than animate ones. Contrastive animacy shows its impact on syntactic processing with robust interactions at different positions. The findings of interactions between semantic cues and RC types in two experiments suggest that semantic cues play an important role in Chinese relative clause processing. Semantic plausibility and argument animacy can influence the process of thematic role assignment. The semantic cues that accord with the biases of thematic role assignment then would ease the syntactic ambiguities. Not only syntactic cues but also semantic cues are utilized by readers in sentence comprehension. In this thesis, the eye movement data provide clear evidence indicating that readers solve various temporary ambiguities syntactically and semantically at different positions of the sentence with relative clauses.

[pt] Esta dissertação se insere na área da Psicolinguística, em articulação com a Neuropsicologia. A pesquisa se voltou para a investigação, em idosos hígidos, do processamento sintático de sentenças envolvendo ambiguidade temporária (ex.: Enquanto o homem cozinhava a batata era comprada no mercado), as quais induzem ao efeito labirinto (garden-path effect). O objetivo deste trabalho foi compreender em que medida um declínio de funções executivas com o avanço da idade poderia afetar o processamento desse tipo de estrutura sintática, a qual apresenta alta demanda para a memória de trabalho e parece requerer inibição de uma representação mental inicialmente possível. A pesquisa consistiu na aplicação de um experimento psicolinguístico de compreensão por leitura e testes de avaliação neuropsicológica (Span de Digítos, Stroop e Miniexame do Estado Mental, este último aplicado apenas aos idosos). No experimento psicolinguístico, foram tomadas como variáveis intrassujeitos plausibilidade e extensão da região ambígua entre o sintagma nominal crítico (a batata) e o ponto de desambiguização da sentença (era comprada). Foram testados 40 participantes (20 idosos e 20 jovens). Houve um efeito principal de plausibilidade e extensão da região ambígua e um efeito de interação entre grupo e plausibilidade, tendo os idosos apresentado maior dificuldade, nas condições plausíveis, para inibir a estrutura sintática equivocada construída inicialmente. Também observamos uma correlação entre plausibilidade e o teste Stroop. Os resultados são discutidos em termos da abordagem Good-Enough da compreensão da linguagem e de questões pertinentes às relações entre linguagem e outros domínios da cognição, em especial o papel de funções executivas no processamento sintático. / [en] This master s thesis is situated within the area of psycholinguistics, in conjunction with neuropsychology, and investigates syntactic processing of temporarily ambiguous sentences in the elderly (While the man cooked the potatoes were bought at the supermarket.). These structures induce the garden-path effect. The purpose of the work was to analyze to what extent a decline in executive functions with advancing age could affect syntactic processing of syntactic ambiguity, which presents a high demand for working memory and seems to require inhibition of an initially possible mental representation. The research consisted in the application of a psycholinguistic experiment (a reading comprehension task) and neuropsychological evaluation tests (Digit Span, Stroop and Mini-Mental State Examination; the latter was only applied to the group of older participants). In the psycholinguistic experiment, plausibility and the distance between the critical noun phrase (the potato) and the point of disambiguation of the sentence (was bought) were taken as within-subjects variables. Forty participants (20 older adults and 20 young adults) were tested. A main effect of plausibility and distance and an interaction effect between group and plausibility were observed. The elderly showed more difficulty in inhibiting the initial misinterpretation when the sentence was plausible. There was also a correlation between plausibility and the Stroop test. The results are discussed in terms of the Good-Enough Approach to language comprehension and the relationship between language and other domains of cognition, especially the role of executive functions in syntactic processing.