The aim of this thesis is to design and implement a cognitively plausible theory of sentence processing which incorporates a mechanism for modeling a prediction and verification process in human language understanding, and to evaluate the validity of this model on specific psycholinguistic phenomena as well as on broad-coverage, naturally occurring text. Modeling prediction is a timely and relevant contribution to the field because recent experimental evidence suggests that humans predict upcoming structure or lexemes during sentence processing. However, none of the current sentence processing theories capture prediction explicitly. This thesis proposes a novel model of incremental sentence processing that offers an explicit prediction and verification mechanism. In evaluating the proposed model, this thesis also makes a methodological contribution. The design and evaluation of current sentence processing theories are usually based exclusively on experimental results from individual psycholinguistic experiments on specific linguistic structures. However, a theory of language processing in humans should not only work in an experimentally designed environment, but should also have explanatory power for naturally occurring language. This thesis first shows that the Dundee corpus, an eye-tracking corpus of newspaper text, constitutes a valuable additional resource for testing sentence processing theories. I demonstrate that a benchmark processing effect (the subject/object relative clause asymmetry) can be detected in this data set (Chapter 4). I then evaluate two existing theories of sentence processing, Surprisal and Dependency Locality Theory (DLT), on the full Dundee corpus. This constitutes the first broad-coverage comparison of sentence processing theories on naturalistic text. I find that both theories can explain some of the variance in the eye-movement data, and that they capture different aspects of sentence processing (Chapter 5). In Chapter 6, I propose a new theory of sentence processing, which explicitly models prediction and verification processes, and aims to unify the complementary aspects of Surprisal and DLT. The proposed theory implements key cognitive concepts such as incrementality, full connectedness, and memory decay. The underlying grammar formalism is a strictly incremental version of Tree-adjoining Grammar (TAG), Psycholinguistically motivated TAG (PLTAG), which is introduced in Chapter 7. I then describe how the Penn Treebank can be converted into PLTAG format and define an incremental, fully connected broad-coverage parsing algorithm with associated probability model for PLTAG. Evaluation of the PLTAG model shows that it achieves the broad coverage required for testing a psycholinguistic theory on naturalistic data. On the standardized Penn Treebank test set, it approaches the performance of incremental TAG parsers without prediction (Chapter 8). Chapter 9 evaluates the psycholinguistic aspects of the proposed theory by testing it both on a on a selection of established sentence processing phenomena and on the Dundee eye-tracking corpus. The proposed theory can account for a larger range of psycholinguistic case studies than previous theories, and is a significant positive predictor of reading times on broad-coverage text. I show that it can explain a larger proportion of the variance in reading times than either DLT integration cost or Surprisal.

Pas de résumé français / In this thesis, we investigated troubles of sentence processing in Huntington’s disease (HD) at earlystage, which represents a model of damage mainly confined to the striatum. The role of striatalstructures in sentence processing is agreed upon, but its nature is still controversial. Most studieshave reported a role of the striatum for complex sentences or more controlled processes withinsentence processing, but the interpretation of this pattern differs according to two main views.Some authors have proposed that striatal structures have a linguistic function restricted to somesub-processes of sentence processing, while others claim that the deficits detected depend on themodulation that executive function exerts on language and sentence processing. Here, we aimed atfilling the gap between these approaches by using a psycholinguistic perspective to investigate onthe one hand the role of executive functions, in particular, working memory, in sentenceprocessing, and on the other hand the nature of the linguistic discrepancies reported in associationto striatal lesions. We thus built experimental paradigms that allow dissociating fine-grainedlinguistic variations in healthy subjects, and transferred them to HD patients. The profile ofimpairment detected in our experiments showed that working memory and other sources ofcomplexity can interfere with sentence processing by decreasing accuracy, but an impairment ofspecific syntactic processes occurs when working memory is controlled for. The pattern of the finegrainedsyntactic impairment detected is consistent with a dissociation between more frequent/lesscontrolled (default) and less frequent/more controlled (non-default) procedures in sentenceprocessing. Additionally, we detected that this deficit occurs despite the fact that HD patients arestill able to process syntactic information, suggesting that striatal structures spare syntacticrepresentations while they are involved in correctly applying syntactic procedures in non-defaultcontexts. We propose that this pattern is explained by a role of striatal structures in selectingbetween competing alternatives during sentence processing, which results in an inability to adapt tothe sentence context for non-default procedures. This parallels the role of striatal structures for selecting between competing alternatives in order to adapt to the changing environment, as reportedin motor control and in other domains of cognition. Although the domain specificity of striatalinvolvement in language cannot be demonstrated, it is highly compatible with the results obtainedin this thesis. Hence, linguistic functions might be modulated by distinct cortico-striatal circuits: onthe one hand by selecting linguistic representations as a function of the context, and on the otherhand, by modulating performance in language through executive functions. The frameworkemerging from this work thus helps conciliating apparently incongruent findings reported in theliterature. Yet, future research should better characterize anatomo-functional correlates of thisproposal

Psycholinguistic evidence suggests that people predict upcoming words during language comprehension. While many studies have addressed what information people predict, less is known about the role of factors that potentially mediate predictive processing. This thesis examines predictions of semantic information and word form information. It investigates whether predictive processing is mediated by availability of cognitive resources and time to generate predictions, and compares predictive processing in native (L1) speakers and non-native (L2) speakers. This thesis presents two major lines of work. Two eye-tracking studies investigate prediction of semantic and word form information using a visual world paradigm. In further two ERP studies, we address the interplay of semantic and word form information in a paradigm which combines both possibilities. Experiments 1 and 2 were an eye-tracking study conducted on L1 and L2 speakers of English. The study has demonstrated that L1 and L2 speakers predict semantic information, but their predictive eye movements are delayed when they are under a cognitive load. The effects of cognitive load on predictive eye movements suggest a role of cognitive resources in language prediction in both L1 and L2 speakers. Experiments 3 and 4 were another eye-tracking study conducted on L1 and L2 speakers. The study has shown that L1 speakers predict word form information, but L2 speakers do not. Experiments 5 and 6 were an ERP study, which investigated the interplay of prediction of semantic and word form information in L1 English speakers. Consistent with the two sets of eye-tracking experiments, L1 speakers predicted both semantic and word form information, but word form was only predicted when sentences were presented at a slower rate, while semantic information was predicted at standard and slow presentation rates. Experiments 7 and 8 used the same method as Experiments 5 and 6, conducted on L2 English speakers. L2 speakers comprehended sentences incrementally, but there was no clear evidence that they predicted semantic information or word form information. Experiments 5 – 8 suggest that prediction of word form information is mediated both by nativeness of the target language and by reading rates. To conclude, both L1 and L2 speakers make predictions, but prediction of semantic information occurs only when there are enough cognitive resources available. Prediction of word form can occur in L1 speakers, but it occurs only when there is enough time available. There is no evidence that L2 speakers predict word form, suggesting a role of nativeness of the target language. The findings are consistent with the production-based prediction model of language prediction, in that prediction of word form is less likely to occur compared to prediction of semantic information. Furthermore, the findings are also consistent with the claim that not everyone makes predictions, and predictions do not always occur. The thesis concludes that prediction is additional processing for the comprehension system, and is not always implicated in the comprehension system.

The present study explores the role of the word position-in-text in sentence and paragraph reading. Three eye-movement data sets based on the reading of Dutch and German unrelated sentences reveal a sizeable, replicable increase in reading times over several words in the beginning and the end of sentences. The data from the paragraphbased English-language Dundee corpus replicate the pattern and also indicate that the increase in inspection times is driven by the visual boundaries of the text organized in lines, rather than by syntactic sentence boundaries. We argue that this effect is independent of several established lexical, contextual and oculomotor predictors of eye-movement behavior. We also provide evidence that the effect of word position-intext has two independent components: a start-up effect arguably caused by a strategic oculomotor program of saccade planning over the line of text, and a wrap-up effect originating in cognitive processes of comprehension and semantic integration.

This dissertation explores language comprehension in native speakers (NSs) and second language (L2) speakers of French. Recent findings suggest that whereas NSs process complex sentences using both syntax and semantics, late learners of a L2 process shallowly, relying on lexical, semantic, and pragmatic cues to interpretation. Studies supporting this Shallow Structure Hypothesis (Clahsen & Felser, 2006b) rely on limited methodologies, however, and are challenged by reports demonstrating proficiency and cognitive effects on processing. In addition, recent research suggests that native language comprehension is not always complete or accurate (Ferreira & Patson, 2007) and is subject to variability (Dabrowska, 2012). This dissertation brings new evidence to bear on NS-L2 differences through the structural priming paradigm and investigates several factors thought to contribute to NS-L2 differences, including the exploratory effect of relative language dominance. Evidence from a self-paced reading task examining off-line and on-line priming of relative clause attachment height suggests that prior exposure to structural information through comprehension influences NSs' subsequent comprehension at the post-interpretive stage. Results argue for priming at the level of abstract hierarchical syntax and an implicit learning account of persistence. This study is one of few to demonstrate priming of ambiguously attached modifiers during comprehension and the first to do so within a L2. Unlike for NSs, the nature of the L2 priming effect is linked to discourse information. Age of acquisition was found to be a more important factor in L2 priming than language dominance. The results also argue that both native and L2 speakers are susceptible to shallow processing, though they use slightly different strategies. While NSs in the current study were more willing to accommodate competing syntactic and semantic analyses, ultimately accepting a less-than-complete analysis, the L2 parsing mechanism preferred to settle on one interpretation. The evidence here lends partial support to the hypothesis that L2 processing relies more on semantic/pragmatic information than NS processing but crucially does not exclude the possibility of L2 syntactic processing and highlights NS-L2 similarities in terms of the contexts that trigger shallow processing. / text

The presented thesis focuses on garden-path sentence processing in Czech and follows the line of research within the good-enough approach to language comprehension. Some studies within this framework suggest that, after a garden-path sentence is reanalysed, a full and complete syntactic representation is formed, but the system fails to prune the initial misanalysis completely (Slattery et al., 2013; Qian et al., 2017). However, the research of garden-path sentences within the good-enough approach stems from a limited number of syntactic structures. This thesis presents a series of three self-paced reading experiments employing open-ended comprehension questions that aim to test if the conclusions of Slattery et al. (2013) can also be applied to syntactic structures that have not yet been examined within this framework, namely senteces such as "Roztržitý kastelán zamkl průvodkyni na nádvoří koloběžku.". The results are only partially in accordance with the hypothesis. The lingering misanalysis effect was shown only for the sentences with an animate object (these sentences were generally harder to process). Sentences with an inanimate object, that are easier to analyse, show no difference in response accuracy in comparison with similar unambiguous sentences. Keywords: garden-path sentences,...

Evidence of systematic misreading has been taken to argue that language processing is noisy, and that readers take noise into consideration and therefore sometimes interpret sentences non-literally (rational inference over a noisy channel). The present study investigates one specific misreading phenomenon: failure to notice word transpositions in a sentence. While this phenomenon can be explained by rational inference, it also has been argued to arise due to parallel lexical processing. The study explored these two accounts. Visual, lexical, and syntactic properties of the two transposed words were manipulated in three experiments. Failure to notice the transposition was more likely when both words were short, and when readers' eyes skipped, rather than directly fixated, one of the two words. Failure to notice the transposition also occurred when one word was long. The position of ungrammaticality elicited by transposition (the first vs. second transposed word) influenced tendency to miss the error; the direction of the effect, however, depended on word classes of the transposed words. Failure of detection was not more likely when the second transposed word was easier to recognize than the first transposed word. Finally, readers’ eye movements on the transposed words revealed no disruption in those trials when they ultimately accepted the sentence to be grammatical. We consider the findings to be only partially supportive of parallel lexical processing and instead propose that word recognition is serial, but integration is not perfectly incremental, and that rational inference may take place before an ungrammatical representation is constructed.

Past studies of grammatical gender have shown that native speakers encounter processing difficulties when encountering a form that does not agree in gender with previous words. However, the specific behavioral and neural responses to these difficulties have not been replicated across studies of the same type. This is in part due to different experimental designs and statistical analyses, but a crucial factor may be the lack of control between nouns of masculine and feminine gender in stimuli creation. Masculine and feminine gender show distinct distributional asymmetries and collapsing them into one condition diminishes the explanatory power of any study examining grammatical gender. We used reading times in a self-paced reading experiment to examine whether masculine and feminine gender violations differentially affect processing speeds. Fifty French speakers read sentences that were well-formed or contained a mismatch in gender between determiner and noun, half of which were masculine and half feminine. Following Beatty-Martínez et al. (2021), we added individual difference measures to determine how participant-specific factors modulate processing. Participants also completed a category verbal fluency task and the AX-CPT, a measure of cognitive control. They found that ERP components were modulated by these components for Spanish speakers and the modulation differed between masculine noun and feminine noun violations. We hypothesized that reading times would be similarly affected in French, a closely related language with the same gender categories. However, no conditions or interactions reached statistical significance. It is unclear whether this is due to the experimental manipulation or lack of control for participants’ language background, as we had a high number of bilingual and multilingual participants. Regardless, elements of the procedure may provide insight on how to design future experiments that lay a groundwork in understanding the most basic elements of gender processing. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Why is ‘pen’ masculine and ‘car’ feminine? Grammatical gender is a widespread feature of languages that comes naturally to native speakers and perplexes many second language learners. The assignment of gender seems to be random, but upon closer examination, patterns can be established. What do these differences mean for speakers of gendered languages? In the current study, we set out to determine how masculine and feminine grammatical gender is processed in French and how this is influenced by differences between individual speakers. Participants read French sentences that were either grammatical or contained a mismatch in gender between article and noun. Reading times were used to evaluate how speakers react when encountering an ungrammatical form with either masculine or feminine gender. Participants also completed tasks measuring response inhibition and verbal fluency to see how individuals with different cognitive and language skills react differently to unexpected forms.

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