<OT> New Posting: ROA-678

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ROA 678-0804

Experimental Evidence for Constraint Competition in Gapping Constructions

Frank Keller <keller at inf.ed.ac.uk>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=678


Abstract:
 This paper presents the results of two experiments investigating
gradient acceptability in gapping constructions. Experiment
1 shows that adjuncts and complements are equally acceptable
as remnants in gapping, a fact that was surrounded by controversy
in the literature. It also provides evidence against the
claim that gapping must leave behind exactly two remnants,
and shows that subject remnants are less acceptable than
object remnants. This effect of remnant type can be overridden
by context. Experiment 2 confirms the remnant effect and
investigates how it interacts with other constraints on
gapping to produce a gradient acceptability pattern.

A number of grammar models have been proposed to deal with
gradient linguistic data, including the re-ranking model
(Keller 1998), which draws on concepts from Optimality Theory.
Two assumptions are central to this model: (a) constraint
violations are cumulative, i.e., the degree of unacceptability
increases with the number of constraints violated; and (b)
constraints cluster into two types, based on their acceptability
profile: hard constraints cause strong unacceptability when
violated, while violations of soft constraints cause only
mild unacceptability. The experimental data presented in
this paper confirm both assumptions and provide additional
evidence for the hard/soft distinction by demonstrating
that only soft constraints are subject to context effects.

Comments: In Gereon Müller and Wolfgang Sternefeld, eds., Competition in Syntax, 211-248. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2001.
Keywords: gradience, gapping, magnitude estimation
Areas: Syntax,Semantics,Psycholinguistics
Type: Book Chapter

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=678