Abstract
A semantic constraint is a relationship between two parts of a proposition such that the meaning of one part conditions what the other part is likely to be. This experiment studied propositions in which agent-verb and verb-recipient constraints were varied factorially, each through several levels, by manipulating the compatibility of adjectival descriptions of the agent, and of the recipient, to the verb. It was hypothesized that these two constraints should be integrated by a multiplying rule to determine the overall perceived likelihood of the proposition. Considerable support was found for this multiplying model using functional measurement methodology. This methodology provides a unique tool for psycholinguistics since it can quantify aspects of meaning of the individual linguistic unit for the individual subject.
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