End Of Clause Research Articles

Exploring Revisions in Academic Text: Closing the Gap Between Process and Product Approaches in Digital Writing

To date, research into dynamic descriptions of text has focused mainly on the spoken mode; and while writing process research has examined language structures, it has largely ignored the functionality (meaning) inherent in them. Therefore, drawing on systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and keystroke logging software, this article takes a further step toward an interdisciplinary dialogue by outlining a new schematic for coding and analyzing revisions. More specifically, we show how revision activity can be tracked within functional components, across functional components, and across clauses in terms of forward and backward movements. By exploring three digitally constructed texts, which were produced and observed unobtrusively in a natural setting, we have attempted to illustrate how one writer’s revising process can be operationalized in terms of (a) chronological movement (sequence) and (b) spatial movement (location). Findings showed how activity was relatively consistent across datasets with regard to session management, revision frequency, and distribution of revision types. Moreover, results also showed how most revision activity occurred at, or ahead of, the point of inscription, particularly with regard to revising the end of clauses. However, findings also indicated that revising the start of clauses was equally important when considering the size of functional components.

Reading time allocation strategies and working memory using rapid serial visual presentation.

Rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) is a useful method for controlling the timing of text presentations and studying how readers' characteristics, such as working memory (WM) and reading strategies for time allocation, influence text recall. In the current study, a modified version of RSVP (Moving Window RSVP [MW-RSVP]) was used to induce longer pauses at the ends of clauses and ends of sentences when reading texts with multiple embedded clauses. We studied if WM relates to allocation of time at end of clauses or sentences in a self-paced reading task and in 2 MW-RSVP reading conditions (Constant MW-RSVP and Paused MW-RSVP) in which the reading rate was kept constant or pauses were induced. Higher WM span readers were more affected by the restriction of time allocation in the MW-RSVP conditions. In addition, the recall of both higher and lower WM-span readers benefited from the paused MW-RSVP presentation. (PsycINFO Database Record

The use of case marking for predictive processing in second language Japanese

Research on processing in English has shown that verb information facilitates predictive processing. Because Japanese verbs occur at the ends of clauses, this information cannot be used to predict the roles of preceding nominals. Kamide, Altmann and Haywood (2003) showed that native Japanese speakers use case markers to predict forthcoming linguistic items. In the present study, we investigated whether second language learners of Japanese demonstrate such predictive effects when processing sentences containing either the monotransitive or ditransitive constructions. A visual-world paradigm experiment showed that, although native speakers generated predictions for syntactic outcomes, the learners did not. These findings underscore the usefulness of morphosyntactic information in processing Japanese and indicate that learners fail to make full use of case markers to generate expectations regarding syntactic outcomes during online processing. Learners may rely on nonlinguistic information to compensate for this deficit in syntactic processing.

Pausing patterns: differences between L2 learners and native speakers

This paper reports on a comparative study of pauses made by L2 learners and native speakers of English while narrating picture stories. The comparison is based on the number of pauses and total amount of silence in the middle and at the end of clauses in the performance of 40 native speakers and 40 L2 learners of English.1 The results of the quantitative analyses suggest that, although the L2 learners generally pause more repeatedly and have longer periods of silence than the native speakers, the distinctive feature of their pausing pattern is that they pause frequently in the middle of clauses rather than at the end. The qualitative analysis of the data suggests that some of the L2 learners’ mid-clause pauses are associated with processes such as replacement, reformulation, and online planning. Formulaic sequences, however, contain very few pauses and therefore appear to facilitate the learners’ fluency.

Syntactic Complexity and L2 Academic Immersion Effects on Readers' Recall and Pausing Strategies for English and Spanish Texts

In Experiment 1, monolingual native Spanish speakers (NSSs) had better kernel recall and longer end‐of‐clause (EOC) pauses than native English speakers (NESs) when reading texts that varied in syntactic complexity as a function of the number of nonessential clauses added to the kernel text. NSS familiarity with embedded clauses in Spanish seem to lead to a prosodic phrasing strategy in which comma‐triggered pauses improved recall. In Experiment 2, native English‐speaking Spanish teachers (NESSTs) with high exposure to academic immersion recalled better and had longer EOC pauses than low‐exposure NESSTs when reading Spanish texts. High‐exposure NESSTs' Spanish recall was as good as the NSS group in Experiment 1 and with longer—although similarly patterned—EOC pauses. High‐exposure NESSTs' English recall was better and with longer EOC pauses than the NES group from Experiment 1, wherease low‐exposure NESSTs' recall and EOC pauses were similar to the NES group. This suggests a transfer of second language pausing strategies to first language reading that improves recall for complex first language texts.

Parsing of algebraic expressions by experienced users of mathematics

The present study investigates how experienced users of mathematics parse algebraic expressions. The main issues examined are the order in which the symbols in an expression are scanned and the duration of fixation. Two experiments tracked the order in which the symbols of an expression were scanned. The results were analysed using Markov Chain models of the scanpath data and provided strong support for the hypothesised scanning order: a left-to-right, top-to-bottom syntax-based scanning order. Length of fixation was also analysed in the first experiment. When reading text, readers pause significantly longer at the end of clauses and sentences. A similar pattern was found for mathematical expressions: Symbols at the end of a phrasal constituent were fixated upon for significantly longer than symbols at the start or middle of the phrasal constituent. These results suggest that the parsing of algebraic expressions has marked similarities with the way in which sentences of natural language are processed and reinforces the importance of syntax in their comprehension.

指点字の打点教示システムの開発〜音声認識を利用した打点指と打点位置の教示〜

Finger Braille is one of tactual communication media of deafblind people. Deafblind people who are skilled in Finger Braille can catch up with speech conversation by changing length and strength of dotting at the end of clauses. In this paper, we developed a Finger Braille Teaching System and designed the teaching interface which taught the clauses explicitly. The Teaching System recognized non-disabled people's speech and converted to the Braille code. By parsing Braille code, the Teaching System segmented the Braille code into clauses. Then the dot pattern of the clauses was displayed explicitly. By observing the dot pattern, non-disabled people dotted Finger Braille to deafblind people. As results of two evaluation experiments, correct ratio of speech recognition except substitutions of interjections of 95.6% was achieved after one speech training and one restatement. Accuracy of conversion to Braille code and accuracy of clause segmentation was 100% in test sentences. Error ratio of dotting Finger Braille was only 1.3%. And a communication experiment with a blind receiver who is skilled in Finger Braille was carried out. Two non-disabled senders could communicate in Finger Braille. Total communication speed was 21.8 characters/min. One sender could change length of dotting at the end of clauses.

Syntactically cued text facilitates oral reading fluency in developing readers

Can fluency in oral reading be facilitated by formatting text to preserve major syntactic boundaries? Seven-, 8-, and 9-year-old children read aloud passages under two text format conditions. In the structure-preserving condition, the ends of lines coincided with ends of clauses; in the phrase-disrupting condition, line breaks always interrupted a phrasal unit. Experiment 1 showed that oral reading fluency, as indexed by skill in phrasal reading, was rated higher when children were reading in the structure-preserving condition. In addition, the structure-preserving condition resulted in significantly fewer false starts at the beginning of lines following a return sweep. The results of Experiment 2, in which texts of varying levels of difficulty were read by slightly older readers, confirmed both findings. Measures of fluency were correlated with other language and reading measures; however, no effects of format were obtained on oral reading rate (words correct per minute). Taken as a whole, these findings indicate a benefit of keeping clausal units intact in promoting fluent reading by facilitating the transition from one line to the next.

Punctuation and intonation effects on clause and sentence wrap-up: Evidence from eye movements

Three eye movement studies examined the role of punctuation in reading. In Experiment 1, although a comma at the end of a clause facilitated overall reading times for the sentence, first pass times were longer at the end of comma-marked clauses than clauses without a comma (or the same material in clause medial position). The data supported the dwell time hypothesis which claims that readers pause at punctuation marks. To explore the possibility that dwell time/wrap-up effects are really due to pausing at the ends of intonational phrases, Experiment 2 tested non-redundant punctuation in structures where a comma corresponds to an obligatory intonational phrase boundary in speech. The intonation hypothesis was supported for vocatives and parentheticals but not for non-restrictive relative clauses. Relative clauses were further investigated in Experiment 3. Overall, the data were consistent with the intonation explanation for wrap-up effects but only if it is assumed that non-restrictive relatives and other asides receive less attention than do other parts of a sentence.

The role of connectives in science text comprehension and memory

We contrasted four possible views of how causal connectives function during reading short texts: and end-of-clause reactivation view, a connective-elicited inference view, a resource-saving view, and a no-connective stimulating view. In Experiment 1, participants read a series of popular scientific texts joined by because or separated by a full stop. The on-line word-completion task used to measure inference activation revealed that although causal inferences are activated during reading, they are not enhanced by the presence of a connective. In Experiment 2, second-clause reading times data and memory data (prompted delayed recall test) revealed specific patterns of results according to the nature of the relation conveyed by the connective (additive vs. causal). We found evidence that only because gave rise to an immediate presence effect associated with faster end-of clause reading times. This supported the view that because enhanced the on-line integration process rather than the inferential process.

Remarks on grammatical weight

ABSTRACTLong, complex phrases tend to come at the ends of clauses; this is called “endweight.” A variety of characterizations of weight have been proposed in the literature, but none has been sufficient to cover the full range of attested cases of end-weight. Corpus data on heavy NP shift, the dative alternation, and particle movement indicate that there are several structural measures of weight that are highly correlated with constituent ordering. Proposed explanations for endweight have been based on parsing considerations, largely ignoring the speaker; but what facilitates parsing does not always help in production. Examination of phenomena where these interests do not coincide indicates that the demands of sentence planning provide a better explanation for end-weight than parsing. Finally, accounts of end-weight cannot be purely structure-based, but must take lexical factors into consideration.

Selective influence of test anxiety on reading processes.

The aim of this research is to explore whether comprehension is impaired by test anxiety, whether the anxious person spends compensatory reading time, and which cognitive processes are affected. High- and low-anxiety students read texts word by word with the moving-window technique under test conditions. Multiple regression analyses on word-reading times were computed with a number of psycholinguistic variables--assumed to map onto specific processes--serving as predictors. Results indicated that anxiety did not impair comprehension, but increased word-reading times, which were affected interactively by anxiety and specific psycholinguistic variables (end of clause, serial position within the text, narrativity, and summary). These data reveal that anxious readers need to employ a greater amount of processing resources than their non-anxious counterparts to obtain a similar comprehension level. Furthermore, the interactive effects suggest that anxiety is selectively detrimental to the efficiency of text-level processes, such as those involved in integrating information across sentences. In contrast, anxiety does not impair low-level processes, such as encoding and lexical access.

Eye-fixation patterns during reading confirm theories of language comprehension

Eye-movement patterns during reading are consistent with proposition-by-proposition models of speech comprehension. (1) Fixation times are least affected by word length at ends of clauses: this confirms the theory based on the study of speech comprehension that, at such points, attention is directed inward to text integration. (2) Fixation time for words at the end of clauses is longer for canonical sequences which conform to the pattern, “N-V-N = actor-action-object”; this confirms the view that complete semantic integration of such sequences is routinely delayed until their completion. A two-variable model based on principles of exhaustive visual search and speech comprehension accounts for 80% of the fixation durations in a sample paragraph from Just and Carpenter (1980) and Thibadeau, just and Carpenter (1982) . This comprehension-based model compares favorably with their models constructed within a production-system framework. This result clarifies the relationship between reading and listening.

Eye‐Fixation Patterns During Reading Confirm Theories of Language Comprehension*

Eye‐movement patterns during reading are consistent with proposition‐by‐proposition models of speech comprehension. (1) Fixation times are least affected by word length at ends of clauses: this confirms the theory based on the study of speech comprehension that, at such points, attention is directed inward to text integration. (2) Fixation time for words at the end of clauses is longer for canonical sequences which conform to the pattern, “N‐V‐N = actor‐action‐object”; this confirms the view that complete semantic integration of such sequences is routinely delayed until their completion. A two‐variable model based on principles of exhaustive visual search and speech comprehension accounts for 80% of the fixation durations in a sample paragraph from Just and Carpenter (1980) and Thibodeou, Just ond Carpenter (1982). This comprehension‐based model compares favorably with their models constructed within a production‐system framework. This result clarifies the relationship between reading and listening.

Thematization and passivization in Arabic

In my analysis, based on the Prague school theory of ‘functional sentence perspective’ the passive will be related to problems of theme (keeping in mind that voice is not fully determined by the theme system). It will be argued that a rigid transformational analysis of Arabic obscures the fact that there are two essentially different strategies in the organization of discourse, namely a great predilection in languages such as English for the true passive construction (i.e., the construction including the agentive phrase: Zaid was struck by Omar) while in Arabic there is an obvious disinclination to its use ( Zaydun darabahu samaru (lit.) Zaid struck him Omar = ‘Zaid was struck by Omar’). It will be shown that the requirement of the normal sequence theme-rheme is more easily met in Arabic - in which the word-order is relatively free-than in English. Thus, if the object of the active clause becomes a theme (i.e. if the roles of actor and theme are separated) the strategy of Arabic is to keep the active voice and resume the thematized object by the pronoun in the contrastive context such as: Mohammad fatah Ib a b, ss ab a bik fatahha Sati (lit.) M. opened the door, the windows opened-them A. English, however, normally reconciles the antinomy between the requirements of functional sentence perspective and those of grammatical word-order by the use of the passive voice: M. opened the door, the windows were opened by A. English appears to favor the passive structure because the passive allows the actor - if it is to be specified - to occur at the end of the clause and thus carry the unmarked information focus; on the other hand, Arabic may place the actor at the end of the active clause, since the unambiguous semantic interpretation is guaranteed by the resumptive pronoun on the predicate.

The Effects of Context and Content on Immediate Processing in Reading

Four experiments were conducted to examine the processes by which fluent readers comprehend prose. In each study the material was presented a few words at a time on an on-line visual display and the subject pressed a button to move on from one display to the next. The inter-reponse time was used as an index of local processing difficulty. The results of Experiment I indicated that readers pause considerably at the ends of clauses and sentences, and that they show no tendency to speed up across sentences. This pattern of results questions the role of prediction in reading. In Experiments II and III immediate processing was found to be unaffected by two types of syntactically-predictive clue and the effect of a third (semantic) clue was equivocal. Experiment IV replicated the results of Experiment I and showed, in addition, that pausing at the ends of clauses and sentences is a function of the difficulty of the content of the text. More detailed analyses showed that reading rate is modulated by the frequency of the words and by the number of characters in the display. Taken together the results suggest that reading rate is largely determined by the speed with which a reader can access the meanings of words and construct a representation of the text rather than by the speed with which they can formulate and test successive predictions about it.

Detection of a nonlinguistic stimulus is poorest at the end of a clause.

Subjects detected a brief near-threshold tone while encoding two-clause sentences for later report. The objective tone locations were at the end of the first clause, at the beginning of the second clause, or in the clause boundary. The effects of intensity variations of the speech signal were assessed by having subjects detect the tones in the same speech stimuli played backward. Tones at the end of a clause are relatively harder to detect than in other positions, comparing forward and backward speech. This supports the view that listeners are preoccupied with internal processes at the end of a clause.

Analyse des variables temporelles du français spontané

Abstract This paper reviews the inherent time variables of speech and then discusses the importance of these variables for spontaneous speech activities in French. A comparison with English shows that the French speak faster than the English, this being mainly due to the smaller number of pauses introduced into their discourse, not to the rate of articulation, nor to the length of pauses. Moreover, it follows from the analysis of the syntactic distribution of unfilled pauses that 75 % occur at the end of sense groups (60 % at the end of clauses) and that pauses inside clauses are shorter (median 0.40 sec) than final ones (median 0.50 sec). Finally, the investigation of secondary variables (other hesitation pauses) shows the importance of ‘articulation’ pauses (which consist of filled pauses and of drawls) and the prime role played by grammatical words in the categories: drawls, repetitions and false starts.

Syntactic structure modifies attention during speech perception and recognition.

The present paper demonstrates the interaction of syntactic structure and speech perception with a response task which minimizes the effects of memory: reaction time (RT) to clicks during sentences. (1) In 12-word unfamiliar sentences each with two clauses, RT is relatively slow overall to clicks located at the end of the first clause but decreases as a function of clause length. Clicks at the beginning of the second clause are not affected by length of the preceding clause. (2) In familiar sentences, RT is relatively fast to clicks located at the end of a clause while RT to clicks at the beginning of clauses is relatively unaffected by familiarity. (3) RT is not fastest overall to clicks located between clauses either in novel or familiar sentences. (4) As in previous studies, the subject's subsequent judegment of the location of the click tone are towards the clause break. (5) We could find no systematic interaction between RT and subjective click location. Findings (1) to (3) are consistent with the view that perceptual processing alternates between attending to all external stimuli and developing an internal representation of the stimuli. Finding (3) is in conflict with an “information channel” view of immediate attention to speech, which would predict high sensory attention to non-speech stimuli between clauses. However, findings (4) and (5) indicate that the channel view of perception may be correct for that perceptual processing which occurs after the immediate organization of the speech stimulus into major segments.