Abstract
In discourse pragmatics, different referential forms are claimed to be indicative of the cognitive status of a referent in the current discourse. Referential expressions thereby possess a double function: They point back to an (existing) referent (form-to-function mapping), and they are used to derive predictions about a referent’s subsequent recurrence in discourse. Existing event-related potential (ERP) research has mainly focused on the form-to-function mapping of referential expression. In the present ERP study, we explore the relationship of form-to-function mapping and prediction derived from the antecedent of referential expressions in naturalistic auditory language comprehension. Specifically, the study investigates the relationship between the form of a referential expression (pronoun vs. noun) and the form of its antecedent (pronoun vs. noun); i.e., it examines the influence of the interplay of predictions derived from an antecedent (forward-looking function) and the form-to-function mapping of an anaphor (backward-looking function) on the ERPs time-locked to anaphoric expressions. The results in the time range of the P300 and N400 allow for a dissociation of these two functions during online language comprehension.
Highlights
It is a common observation in pragmatic research on discourse structure that different referential forms are indicative of the cognitive status of a referent in the mind of the speaker, as well as of the cognitive status that a speaker assumes in a hearer (e.g., Prince, 1981; Givón, 1983; Ariel, 1990; Gundel et al, 1993)
Our findings provide empirical support for the prominence approach to reference in discourse as proposed by von Heusinger and Schumacher (2019): Referential expressions differ in their form-to-function mapping, and in the discourse predictions derived from them
We showed that the P300 and N400 component are sensitive to the interaction of prominence information conveyed by an antecedent and an anaphoric expression
Summary
It is a common observation in pragmatic research on discourse structure that different referential forms are indicative of the cognitive status of a referent in the mind of the speaker, as well as of the cognitive status that a speaker assumes in a hearer (e.g., Prince, 1981; Givón, 1983; Ariel, 1990; Gundel et al, 1993). In its discourse-pragmatic formulation (von Heusinger and Schumacher, 2019), the prominence account rests on three basic definitions: (1) Prominence is a relational property that singles out one element from a set of elements of equal rank (e.g., two discourse referents) (2) it shifts in time, e.g., the prominence status of a referent can change, while a discourse unfolds, and (3) prominent referents are structural attractors, i.e., they attract linguistic operations, such as serving as perspectival anchors or licensing more referential variation. We investigate the relationship between the form of a referential expression (pronoun vs. noun) and the form of its antecedent (pronoun vs. noun), i.e., we examine the contribution of referential chains, i.e., the interplay of antecedent and anaphor during referential processing
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