Eye fixation patterns during the reading of relative-clause sentences

Abstract

Eye fixation patterns made by adult French speakers were measured while they read subject and object relative-clause sentences. Durations of initial fixations of constituents were similar for all structural types, except for a possible effect of word class within the relative clause. By contrast, regressive movements were influenced by differences in the case with which the deep structure relations could be assigned. Further, together with data on the number of errors made in answering an immediate question about each sentence, the eye fixation results do not support the hypothesized canonical-sentoid strategy as a processing heuristic during the reading of these sentences.