Doctoral Dissertation Research: Examining the linguistic cues that guide prediction in the processing of Mandarin relative clauses: An ERP study

University Of Kansas Center For Research Inc, Lawrence KS

Investigators

Abstract

Comprehending language is an incremental process in which the listener attempts to integrate each incoming word into the structure and meaning of the sentence as it unfolds. Increasingly, this process is also argued to involve the prediction of upcoming parts of the sentence. However, open questions remain regarding what type of linguistic information is used in order to generate predictions, and to what extent individuals differ in their ability to engage in prediction. This dissertation research project uses electroencephalography (EEG), a brain-imaging technique with millisecond-level timing resolution, to examine whether the brain utilizes predictive cues to anticipate a complex syntactic structure in Mandarin. This study also examines to what extent the ability to predict complex structures depends on verbal and non-verbal cognitive abilities, providing new insights regarding the neurological basis of language and the cognitive abilities that modulate success in language comprehension. This project examines what type of linguistic information is used to predict upcoming structure during processing, focusing on the prediction of relative clauses in Mandarin (e.g., the string "Mary wrote" in "the book Mary wrote"). In Mandarin, it is only at the end of the phrase that there is any marker indicating that the words form a relative clause; therefore, predicting relative clauses in advance may be critical for processing these sentences without disruption. This project examines whether tense expressions that appear early in a sentence may provide a predictive cue indicating an upcoming relative clause. Brain activity will be recorded via EEG while participants read sentences in Mandarin, in order to track the dynamics of predictive processing throughout the sentence. Participants will also complete a battery of tests in order to examine whether engaging in structure prediction is modulated by individual differences in linguistic and cognitive abilities, shedding light on the individual properties which may affect language comprehension. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.