On the nature of implicit causality and consequentiality: the case of psychological verbs

Abstract

ABSTRACT Implicit Causality (I-Caus) and Implicit Consequentiality (I-Cons) biases (Peter annoyed Mary because/and so …) have been argued to be rooted in the argument structure properties of verbs. In particular, the mirror coreference biases displayed by stimulus-experiencer and experiencer-stimulus predicates have been considered strong evidence for this approach. We provide evidence for the Asymmetry Hypothesis, stating that I-Caus and I-Cons are derived from different mechanisms. While we also assume that I-Caus is driven by verb semantics, we contend that I-Cons follows from general discourse-structural principles. Evidence is provided by four production experiments in German investigating the coreference and coherence properties of the aforementioned verb classes in detail. Experiment 1 establishes that the classes mirror each other with respect to coreference biases. Experiments 2 and 3 show, however, that there is no such symmetry with regard to coherence biases. Finally, Experiment 4 provides fine-grained evidence for the underlying strategies for providing contingency specifications.