One of the prominent questions in modern psycholinguistics is the relationship between the grammar and the parser. Within the approach of Generative Grammar, this issue has been investigated in terms of the role that Principles of Universal Grammar may play in language processing. The aim of this research experiment is to investigate this topic. Specifically, this experiment aims to test whether the Minimal Structure Principle (MSP) plays a role in the processing of Preposition-Stranding versus Pied-Piped Constructions. This investigation is made with a self-paced reading task, an on-line processing test that measures participants’ unconscious reaction to language stimuli. Monolingual English speakers’ reading times of sentences with Preposition-Stranding and Pied-Piped Constructions are compared. Results indicate that neither construction has greater processing costs, suggesting that factors other than the MSP are active during language processing.

Este trabalho tem como foco principal estabelecer condições gerais suficientes para que uma expansão do corpo ordenado dos reais por funções com domínio em Rn seja modelo completa e o-minimal. Para tanto, faremos uma abordagem sob o ponto de vista de estruturas fracas o-minimais, conforme o trabalho de Charbonnel e Wilkie. Além disso, ao analisar condições adicionais, podemos obter a seguinte generalização de um trabalho de Gabrielov: uma expansão o-minimal do corpo ordenado dos reais por funções C infinito restritas, que é polinomialmente limitada e fechada sob diferenciação parcial, é modelo completa. / The main focus of this dissertation lies in establishing some general sufficient conditions for an expansion of the real ordered field by functions with domains Rn to be model complete and o-minimal. We approach this subject from the point of view of the o-minimal weak structures, by following the work of Charbonnel and Wilkie. Furthermore, when considering additional conditions, we are able to obtain the following generalization of a Gabrielovs result: an expansion of the real ordered field by restricted smooth functions, which is polynomially bounded and closed under partial differentiation, is model complete.

Este trabalho tem como foco principal estabelecer condições gerais suficientes para que uma expansão do corpo ordenado dos reais por funções com domínio em Rn seja modelo completa e o-minimal. Para tanto, faremos uma abordagem sob o ponto de vista de estruturas fracas o-minimais, conforme o trabalho de Charbonnel e Wilkie. Além disso, ao analisar condições adicionais, podemos obter a seguinte generalização de um trabalho de Gabrielov: uma expansão o-minimal do corpo ordenado dos reais por funções C infinito restritas, que é polinomialmente limitada e fechada sob diferenciação parcial, é modelo completa. / The main focus of this dissertation lies in establishing some general sufficient conditions for an expansion of the real ordered field by functions with domains Rn to be model complete and o-minimal. We approach this subject from the point of view of the o-minimal weak structures, by following the work of Charbonnel and Wilkie. Furthermore, when considering additional conditions, we are able to obtain the following generalization of a Gabrielovs result: an expansion of the real ordered field by restricted smooth functions, which is polynomially bounded and closed under partial differentiation, is model complete.