Producers Build Structures Only for Overt Arguments 1

2

Hiroko Yamashita , Franklin Chang & Yuki Hirose 1

3

2

Rochester Institute of Technology, Max Planck for Evolutionary Anthropology, 3 University of Electrocommunication

Abstract In Japanese, any argument position may be occupied by a null pronoun. For example, the English sentence "I saw you" could be conveyed in Japanese with just the verb ”saw (mita)." In theoretical linguistics, null arguments are represented in the syntactic structure (e.g., Tsujimura, 1996), and the structures with null pronouns and those with overt arguments are considered identical. Using structural priming, we tested whether the two types of structures are equally represented in language production. The results show that the structures with null pronouns primed in less than those with overt arguments. We conclude that in production, syntactic structures are built on overt arguments.

Null Arguments in Japanese Any argument(s) in Japanese may be null regardless of the availability of supporting context. a. “John saw Mary.” John-nom Mary-acc mita. b. “John saw (something).” John-nom e mita. c. “(Someone/I) saw Mary.” e Mary-acc mita. d. “(Someone/I) saw (something).” e e mita.

Structural Priming to examine syntactic representations (Bock & Loebell, 1990)

sentence (250 msecs per word)

Akiko-wa

Two structures with approximately the same meaning

Sensei-ni

PD: The boy gave a dress to a girl. DO: The boy gave a girl a dress.

number comparison task

kaita

By presenting a prime sentence with one of these structures (PD), but a different meaning (e.g. The rancher showed the horse to the sheriff), we can increase the likelihood that speakers will describe the same meaning as above, with the structure of PD. (e.g. The boy gave a dress to a girl)

sentence

san?

doozo

Order of presentation

Experiment 2

Experiment 1 Ditransitive Sentences • AGENT, GOAL, PATIENT, Location. • Null argument marked by e. Prime Sentence: TOPIC-GOAL(ni)-PATIENT: "The coach gave juice to players." Coach-top member-dat(ni) juice-acc gave コーチは 部員に ジュースを あげた。 TOPIC-GOAL(he)-PATIENT: "The coach gave juice to players." Coach-top member-dat(he) juice-acc gave コーチは 部員へ ジュースを あげた。 TOPIC-LOC-PATIENT: "The coach gave juice (to someone) in the locker room." Coach-top locker room-at e juice-acc gave コーチは 部室で e ジュースを あげた。 TOPIC-PATIENT: "The coach gave juice (to someone).” Coach-top e juice-acc gave コーチは e ジュースを あげた。 Target Sentence: "Yoshiko gave a scarf to an orphanage.’ Yoshiko-Top scarf-acc orphanage-dat(ni) presented よしこは マフラーを 孤児院に 贈った。

Transitive Sentences Prime Sentence: AGENT-PATIENT-VERB (same): "In summer, the manager scolded a newly hired girl." Summer-in manager-nom new girl-acc scolded 夏ごろ 店長が 新人の女の子を 注意した。 AGENT-PATIENT: "In summer, the manager fired a newly hired girl." Summer-in manager-nom new girl-acc fired 夏ごろ 店長が 新人の女の子を 首にした。 PATIENT: "In summer, (someone/I) fired a newly hired girl." Summer-in e new girl-acc fired 夏ごろ e 新人の女の子を 首にした。 PATIENT-AGENT: "In summer, the manager fired a newly hired girl." Summer-in new girl-acc manager-nom fired 夏ごろ 新人の女の子を 店長が 首にした。 Target Sentence: "At the meeting, the section chief scolded a jealous junior employee." Meeting-at jealous junior employee-acc chief-nom scolded 会議中 ひがみっぽい 新入りを 部長が 注意した。

Experiment 1: Targets changed to TOPIC-wa GOAL-ni PATIENT-o order (given TOPIC-PATIENT-GOAL(ni) targets)

Experiment 2: Targets changed to AGENT-PATIENT order (Given PATIENT-AGENT order) 0.5

0.45 0.45 0.4

Proportion of sentences in AGENT-ga PATIENT-o order

• Pronoun resolution depends on the structural position of null arguments (Saito, 1985)

0.35 0.3 0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 0

• Do Japanese speakers generate full structural representations of a sentence with null argument(s) without a supporting context? Method of Investigation • Methodology: Structural priming • Comparison of structures with null arguments with structures that have overt arguments. •Predictions: • Japanese syntactic theories: Structures with null arguments should be similar to structures with explicit arguments in priming. • Overt Structure Approach: Only overt arguments are represented, so structures with null arguments will prime differently than structures with overt arguments.

Presented at the 18th Annual CUNY Sentence Processing Conference (2005), Tucson, Arizona

0.4 0.35 0.3 0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05

TOPIC-GOAL(ni)PATIENT

Question

recall

47139

Task: -Examines the effect of a prime sentence on production of target -Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (Potter & Lombardi, 1998) -Word by word presentation (see Figure) -->

Proportion of sentences in TOPIC-wa GOAL-ni PATIENT-o order

Assumptions of Japanese Syntactic Theories

feedback

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0.5

• Null arguments that are subcategorized by the verb are represented in trees with pro (Tsujimura,1996)

mask

Tegami-o

TOPIC-GOAL(he)TOPIC-LOCATIONPATIENT PATIENT Sentence Type

TOPIC-PATIENT

Results: Experiment 1 • The null argument condition (TOPIC-PATIENT) differs from the other conditions. • Ni-marked overt condition (TOPIC-GOAL(ni)-PATIENT) differs from other conditions.

Conclusions • Contrary to a basic assumption of theories of Japanese syntax, structures with null arguments patterned differently from structures with overt arguments or adjuncts. • Structural features such as order of phrases/functions and case-marking of phrases influence structural priming in Japanese. • When there is no supporting context, Japanese syntactic representations in production encode only the structural features of overt arguments.

0

AGENT-PATIENT-VERB

AGENT-PATIENT PATIENT Sentence Type

PATIENT-AGENT

Results: Experiment 2 •The null argument condition (PATIENT ONLY) differs from all three overt argument conditions. • Verb overlap condition (AGENT-PATIENT-VERB) differs from all non-verb overlap conditions. • Agent-first structures prime agent-first structure more than patient-first structures.

References Bock, K., & Loebell, H. (1990). Framing sentences. Cognition, 35(1), 1-39. Potter, M. C., & Lombardi, L. (1998). Syntactic priming in immediate recall of sentences. Journal of Memory & Language, 38(3), 265-282. Saito, M. (1985). Some asymmetries in Japanese and their theoretical consequence. MIT. Tsujimura, N. (1996). An introduction to Japanese linguistics. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers Inc.