Abstract
A number of recent studies have investigated how syntactic and non-syntactic constraints combine to cue memory retrieval during anaphora resolution. In this paper we investigate how syntactic constraints and gender congruence interact to guide memory retrieval during the resolution of subject pronouns. Subject pronouns are always technically ambiguous, and the application of syntactic constraints on their interpretation depends on properties of the antecedent that is to be retrieved. While pronouns can freely corefer with non-quantified referential antecedents, linking a pronoun to a quantified antecedent is only possible in certain syntactic configurations via variable binding. We report the results from a judgment task and three online reading comprehension experiments investigating pronoun resolution with quantified and non-quantified antecedents. Results from both the judgment task and participants' eye movements during reading indicate that comprehenders freely allow pronouns to corefer with non-quantified antecedents, but that retrieval of quantified antecedents is restricted to specific syntactic environments. We interpret our findings as indicating that syntactic constraints constitute highly weighted cues to memory retrieval during anaphora resolution.
Highlights
The successful interpretation of anaphoric elements during language comprehension involves forming dependencies between constituents that may span several words or sentences
There were significant c-command by gender interactions in both second-pass and total viewing times. Planned comparisons in both measures indicated that when the Quantified phrases (QPs) ccommanded the pronoun, reading times were longer in gender mismatch condition (6b) than gender match condition (6a)
There was again a significant main effect of determiner phrases (DPs) gender in total viewing times, with reading times being longer when the DP mismatched in stereotypical gender with the pronoun
Summary
The successful interpretation of anaphoric elements during language comprehension involves forming dependencies between constituents that may span several words or sentences. Anaphora resolution provides a key test case for studying the memory system that subserves language comprehension, as the correct interpretation of anaphoric constituents crucially relies on the retrieval of a particular item, the antecedent, from memory. A long-standing observation in the linguistics literature is that variable binding is only possible in certain syntactic configurations. This restriction has traditionally been characterized in terms of c-command. Coreference assignment to non-quantified determiner phrases (DPs) is not contingent on c-command and as such the pronoun can corefer with the referential antecedent the boy in both (2a) and (2b)
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