Word Order Processing Research Articles

The transposed-word effect provides no unequivocal evidence for parallel processing

Studies using a grammaticality decision task have revealed surprising flexibility in the processing of word order during sentence reading in both alphabetic and non-alphabetic scripts. Participants in these studies typically exhibit a transposed-word effect, in which they make more errors and slower correct responses for stimuli that contain a word transposition and are derived from grammatical as compared to ungrammatical base sentences. Some researchers have used this finding to argue that words are encoded in parallel during reading, such that multiple words can be processed simultaneously and might be recognised out of order. This contrasts with an alternative account of the reading process, which argues that words must be encoded serially, one at a time. We examined, in English, whether the transposed-word effect provides evidence for a parallel-processing account, employing the same grammaticality decision task used in previous research and display procedures that either allowed for parallel word encoding or permitted only the serial encoding of words. Our results replicate and extend recent findings by showing that relative word order can be processed flexibly even when parallel processing is not possible (i.e., within displays requiring serial word encoding). Accordingly, while the present findings provide further evidence for flexibility in the processing of relative word order during reading, they add to converging evidence that the transposed-word effect does not provide unequivocal evidence for a parallel-processing account of reading. We consider how the present findings may be accounted for by both serial and parallel accounts of word recognition in reading.

A Typological Approach to Word Order and Information Processing: English as a SVO Language

The main purpose of this study is to examine a relation between word order and language processing and identify language-specific features that affect the degree of accessibility to information structure in a SVO word order. The findings from this study reveal that subject-prominent mechanisms in English, such as clefting structures, dummy subjects, existential sentences, non-agentive subjects, raising constructions, and passive voices, are well motivated for the purpose of maximizing language-use efficiency. In addition, passive constructions and non-agentive subjects are strategically exploited for the purpose of promoting high accessibility to a rigid SVO sequence and improving textual coherence. Furthermore, the tendency towards short–long ordering in SVO languages like English is predominant, and thus the language-specific maxims, such as ‘end-focus’, ‘end-weight’, and ‘dependency length minimization’, are well observed in the use of left-branching and right-branching modifiers in English for the purpose of increasing the efficiency of information processing. Finally, this study suggests that the language-specific structures, patterns, devices, or principles that are available in SVO word order seem to be optimized for facilitating information processing.

Native Word Order Processing Is Not Uniform: An ERP Study of Verb-Second Word Order.

Studies of native syntactic processing often target phrase structure violations that do not occur in natural production. In contrast, this study examines how variation in basic word order is processed, looking specifically at structures traditionally labelled as violations but that do occur naturally. We examined Swedish verb-second (V2) and verb-third (V3) word order processing in adult native Swedish speakers, manipulating sentence-initial adverbials (temporal idag ‘today’, spatial hemma ‘at home’ and sentential kanske ‘maybe’) in acceptability judgements, in simultaneously recorded event-related potentials (ERP) to visually presented sentences and in a written sentence completion task. An initial corpus study showed that the adverbials differ in frequency in fronted position (idag > kanske > hemma), and although all occur mainly with V2 word order, kanske occurs more frequently with V3 in natural production than both idag and hemma. The experimental results reflected these patterns such that V2 sentences were overall more frequently produced and were deemed more acceptable than V3 sentences. The ERP results consisted of a biphasic N400/P600 response to V3 word order that indicated effects of word retrieval and sentence reanalysis. We also found consistent effects of adverbials. As predicted, V3 was produced more frequently and judged as more acceptable in Kanske sentences than in sentences with the other two adverbials. The ERP analyses showed stronger effects for idag and hemma with V3, especially regarding the P600. The results suggest that the naturally occurring word order ‘violation’, V3 with kanske, is processed differently than V3 with other adverbials where the V2 norm is stronger. Moreover, these patterns are related to individuals’ own production patterns. Overall, the results suggest a more varied native word order processing than previously reported.

A transposed-word effect across space and time: Evidence from Chinese

A compelling account of the reading process holds that words must be encoded serially, and so recognized strictly one at a time in the order they are encountered. However, this view has been challenged recently, based on evidence showing that readers sometimes fail to notice when adjacent words appear in ungrammatical order. This is argued to show that words are actually encoded in parallel, so that multiple words are processed simultaneously and therefore might be recognized out of order. We tested this account in an experiment in Chinese with 112 skilled readers, employing methods used previously to demonstrate flexible word order processing, and display techniques that allowed or disallowed the parallel encoding of words. The results provided evidence for flexible word order processing even when words must be encoded serially. Accordingly, while word order can be processed flexibly during reading, this need not entail that words are encoded in parallel.

Sentence comprehension in heritage language: Isomorphism, word order, and language transfer

This study examines the role of cross-linguistic transfer versus general processing strategy in two groups of heritage speakers ( n = 28 per group) with the same heritage language – Russian – and typologically different dominant languages: English and Estonian. A group of homeland Russian speakers ( n = 36) is tested to provide baseline comparison. Within the framework of the Competition model (MacWhinney, 2012), cross-linguistic transfer is defined as reliance on the processing cue prevalent in the heritage speaker’s dominant language (e.g. word order in English) for comprehension of heritage language. In accordance with the Isomorphic Mapping Hypothesis (O’Grady and Lee, 2005), the general processing strategy is defined in terms of isomorphism as a linear alignment between the order of the sentence constituents and the temporal sequence of events. Participants were asked to match pictures on the computer screen with auditorily presented sentences. Sentences included locative or instrumental constructions, in which two cues – word order (basic vs. inverted) and isomorphism mapping (isomorphic vs. nonisomorphic) – were fully crossed. The results revealed that (1) Russian native speakers are sensitive to isomorphism in sentence processing; (2) English-dominant heritage speakers experience dominant language transfer, as evidenced by their reliance primarily on the word order cue; (3) Estonian-dominant heritage speakers do not show significant effects of isomorphism or word order but experience significant processing costs in all conditions.

Context but not reading speed modulates transposed-word effects in Chinese reading

Recent research using a speeded grammaticality decision revealed novel transposed-word effects when reading alphabetic languages such as French (Mirault, Snell, & Grainger, 2018), and nonalphabetic languages such as Chinese (Liu, Li, Paterson, & Wang, 2020). Transposed-word effects are considered to reflect flexibility in word order processing, but the factors that might modulate such effects remain unknown. The present study investigated this issue by using a within-subjects design in Chinese reading. In experiment 1, the participants were asked to read sentences at their normal and speeded reading speed and to make grammaticality decisions as accurately as possible. No significant interaction between transposed-word effects and reading speed was found, suggesting that transposed-word effects are not modulated by reading speed and that they are similar regardless of whether the participants read slowly or quickly. In experiment 2, we manipulated the context before the transposed words and used a speeded grammaticality decision task. We observed significant interactive effects between transposed-word effects and context, and analyses revealed that transposed-word effects decreased when the first and second words were transposed in a sentence. We conclude that context rather than reading speed modulates transposed-word effects in Chinese reading and discuss these findings with regard to the noisy bottom-up allocation of word identities and top-down sentence-level constraints.

A transposed-word effect in Chinese reading.

Studies using a grammaticality decision task suggest surprising flexibility in the processing of the relative order of words in sentences when reading alphabetic scripts like French. In these studies, participants made rapid grammaticality decisions for ungrammatical stimuli created by transposing two adjacent words in either a grammatical or an ungrammatical base sentence, which were intermixed with equal numbers of grammatically correct stimuli. The key finding was that participants made more errors and were slower to reject transposed-word stimuli created from grammatical than ungrammatical base sentences. This suggested that flexibility in the processing of word order allowed participants to access representations of the base grammatical sentences, interfering with their decisions to correctly reject transposed-word stimuli. With the present research, we investigated if a similar transposed-word effect is observed for a non-alphabetic script (Chinese) that uses few grammatical markers and primarily conveys grammatical structure via word order. Such scripts may require stricter processing of word order during reading and so provide a strong test of the cross-linguistic generality of the transposed-word effect. We report three experiments using the same design and procedure as previous research, while varying the length of the transposed words across experiments. In all three experiments, participants made more errors and were slower to reject transposed-word stimuli derived from grammatical than ungrammatical base sentences. This replicates previous findings with alphabetic scripts and provides novel evidence for a transposed-word effect in Chinese reading. We consider the implications for models of reading in alphabetic and non-alphabetic scripts.

Language background affects online word order processing in a second language but not offline

This study examines possible crosslinguistic influence on basic word order processing in a second language (L2). Targeting Swedish V2 word order we investigate adult German learners (+V2 in the L1) and English learners (-V2 in the L1) of Swedish who are matched for proficiency. We report results from two offline behavioural tasks (written production, metalinguistic judgements), and online processing as measured by event-related potentials (ERPs). All groups showed sensitivity to word order violations behaviourally and neurocognitively. Behaviourally, the learners differed from the native speakers only on judgements. Crucially, they did not differ from each other. Neurocognitively, all groups showed a similar increased centro-parietal P600 ERP-effect, but German learners (+V2) displayed more nativelike anterior ERP-effects than English learners (-V2). The results suggest crosslinguistic influence in that the presence of a similar word order in the L1 can facilitate online processing in an L2 – even if no offline behavioural effects are discerned.

Negative Transfer Effects on L2 Word Order Processing.

Does first language (L1) word order affect the processing of non-canonical but grammatical syntactic structures in second language (L2) comprehension? In the present study, we test whether L1-Spanish speakers of L2-Basque process subject–verb–object (SVO) and object–verb–subject (OVS) non-canonical word order sentences of Basque in the same way as Basque native speakers. Crucially, while OVS orders are non-canonical in both Spanish and Basque, SVO is non-canonical in Basque but is the canonical word order in Spanish. Our electrophysiological results showed that the characteristics of L1 affect the processing of the L2 even at highly proficient and early-acquired bilingual populations. Specifically, in the non-native group, we observed a left anterior negativity-like component when comparing S and O at sentence initial position and a P600 when comparing those elements at sentence final position. Those results are similar of those reported by Casado et al. (2005) for native speakers of Spanish indicating that L2-Basque speakers rely in their L1-Spanish when processing SVO–OVS word order sentences. Our results favored the competition model (MacWhinney, 1997).

Do non-native languages have an effect on word order processing in first language Turkish?

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: Existing studies on sentence processing in bi-/multilinguals are typically centred on the first language (L1) influence on second language sentence processing. However, there is almost no evidence of influence in the other direction. The aim of this study is to find out whether being mono-, bi-, tri- or plurilingual has an effect on reading times (RTs) in the native language. To this end, Turkish native speakers’ RTs are measured when processing Turkish canonical subject–object–verb sentences, subject–verb–object (SVO) sentences where constituents move to post-verbal positions and SVO– ki sentences where post-verbal constituents are base generated. Design/Methodology/Approach: A non-cumulative self-paced reading task is used in order to measure the RTs of a sentence. The area of interest contains (i) the critical verb, (ii) the verb of the complement clause and (iii) the argument or adjunct of the complement clause (32 sentences + 12 filler sentences). All elements are matched according to their frequency of occurrence and their syllable structure. Data and Analysis: Analyses of variance are performed on RTs of the area of interest. Findings/Conclusions: One of the main findings in this study is that all three sentence types are processed significantly slower by the monolingual group than by the bi- and multilingual groups. We infer that non-native languages have a positive effect on processing the word order in the L1, which might lead to a faster processing in the three sentence types. The findings are discussed in terms of working memory and the “gap-driven strategy”. Originality and Significance/Implications: The results are interpreted from psycholinguistic and syntactic points of view.

Late Bilinguals Are Sensitive to Unique Aspects of Second Language Processing: Evidence from Clitic Pronouns Word-Order.

In two self-paced reading experiments we asked whether late, highly proficient, English–Spanish bilinguals are able to process language-specific morpho-syntactic information in their second language (L2). The processing of Spanish clitic pronouns’ word order was tested in two sentential constructions. Experiment 1 showed that English–Spanish bilinguals performed similarly to Spanish–English bilinguals and revealed sensitivity to word order violations for a grammatical structure unique to the L2. Experiment 2 replicated the pattern observed for native speakers in Experiment 1 with a group of monolingual Spanish speakers, demonstrating the stability of processing clitic pronouns in the native language. Taken together, the results show that late bilinguals can process aspects of grammar that are encoded in L2-specific linguistic constructions even when the structure is relatively subtle and not affected for native speakers by the presence of a second language.

DPLL算法中的变量决策启发式策略

针对命题公式φ(CNF形式)的可满足性问题的求解效率问题，基于对DPLL完全算法的学习和在不同形式下对子句文字排序处理的研究，提出了一种新的求解SAT问题的算法。新算法根据子句长度对命题公式φ进行分组，并根据变量出现次数进行初始排序，然后考虑变量中正负文字出现的次数，并对次数高的进行赋值。算法实例表明：新算法能减少求解过程中规则使用次数，减少求解步骤，尽早剪除不满足解空间，从而有效提高求解效率。 Aiming at the problem of the resolution efficiency of propositional satisfiability problem for propositional formula φ (CNF Form), based on the study of the DPLL complete algorithm and the research of the word order processing under different forms, a new algorithm for solving SAT problem is proposed. The algorithm groups propositional formula φ according to the length of clause, and sorts the words according to the number of polarity occurrence frequency in the initial sort. Then it considers the number of occurrences of the plus or minus words in variables and gets the value of high numbers. Algorithm instance shows that the new algorithm can reduce the number of rules in the process of using, reduce the solving steps, cut off the unsatisfy space of solution as soon as possible, so as to improve the solution efficiency.

A case of “order insensitivity”? Natural and artificial language processing in a man with primary progressive aphasia

Processing of linear word order (linear configuration) is important for virtually all languages and essential to languages such as English which have little functional morphology. Damage to systems underpinning configurational processing may specifically affect word-order reliant sentence structures. We explore order processing in WR, a man with primary progressive aphasia (PPA). In a previous report, we showed how WR showed impaired processing of actives, which rely strongly on word order, but not passives where functional morphology signals thematic roles. Using the artificial grammar learning (AGL) paradigm, we examined WR's ability to process order in non-verbal, visual sequences and compared his profile to that of healthy controls, and aphasic participants with and without severe syntactic disorder. Results suggested that WR, like some other patients with severe syntactic impairment, was unable to detect linear configurational structure. The data are consistent with the notion that disruption of possibly domain-general linearization systems differentially affects processing of active and passive sentence structures. Further research is needed to test this account, and we suggest hypotheses for future studies.

Context predicts word order processing in Broca's region.

The function of the left inferior frontal gyrus (L-IFG) is highly disputed. A number of language processing studies have linked the region to the processing of syntactical structure. Still, there is little agreement when it comes to defining why linguistic structures differ in their effects on the L-IFG. In a number of languages, the processing of object-initial sentences affects the L-IFG more than the processing of subject-initial ones, but frequency and distribution differences may act as confounding variables. Syntactically complex structures (like the object-initial construction in Danish) are often less frequent and only viable in certain contexts. With this confound in mind, the L-IFG activation may be sensitive to other variables than a syntax manipulation on its own. The present fMRI study investigates the effect of a pragmatically appropriate context on the processing of subject-initial and object-initial clauses with the IFG as our ROI. We find that Danish object-initial clauses yield a higher BOLD response in L-IFG, but we also find an interaction between appropriateness of context and word order. This interaction overlaps with traditional syntax areas in the IFG. For object-initial clauses, the effect of an appropriate context is bigger than for subject-initial clauses. This result is supported by an acceptability study that shows that, given appropriate contexts, object-initial clauses are considered more appropriate than subject-initial clauses. The increased L-IFG activation for processing object-initial clauses without a supportive context may be interpreted as reflecting either reinterpretation or the recipients' failure to correctly predict word order from contextual cues.

EEG Time-Frequency Analysis of Syntactic and Semantic Processing in Sentence Comprehension

As an electrophysiological technique, electroencephalograph(EEG) time-frequency analysis can reveal event-related oscillatory activities by measuring power changes for different frequency bands at each electrode. In the area of sentence processing, using this technique, a large number of recent studies have associated syntactic and semantic processes with power changes at different bands(θ, α, β, or γ). In addition, different types of syntactic(e.g., grammatical gender or number) and semantic processing(semantic integration or prediction) have been linked to oscillatory activities at different bands. Future studies should examine not only oscillatory activities underlying other types of syntactic processing such as tense and word order processing, which haven't been investigated so far, but also oscillatory activities involved in the interaction between syntactic and semantic processes. Moreover, further studies should use a variety of methods for analyzing EEG power changes, in a variety of languages, in order to test whether EEG power changes to syntactic and semantic processes are modulated by methodological and linguistic variation.

Word Order Processing in a Second Language: From VO to OV

Event-related potential studies on second language processing reveal that L1/L2 differences are due either to proficiency, age of acquisition or grammatical differences between L1 and L2 (Kotz in Brain Lang 109(2-3):68-74, 2009). However, the relative impact of these and other factors in second language processing is still not well understood. Here we present evidence from behavioral and ERP experiments on Basque sentence word order processing by L1Spanish-L2Basque early bilinguals (Age of Aquisition[Formula: see text]3years) with very high proficiency in their L2. Results reveal that these L2 speakers have a preference towards canonical Subject-Object-Verb word order, which they processed faster and with greater ease than non-canonical Object-Subject-Verb. This result converges with the processing preferences shown by natives and reported in Erdocia et al. (Brain Lang 109(1):1-17, 2009). However, electrophysiological measures associated to canonical (SOV) and non-canonical (OSV) sentences revealed a different pattern in the non-natives, as compared to that reported previously for natives. The non-native group elicited a P600 component that native group did not show when comparing S and O at sentence's second position. This pattern of results suggests that, despite high proficiency, non-native language processing recruits neural resources that are different from those employed in native languages.

Artificial grammar learning in individuals with severe aphasia

One factor in syntactic impairment in aphasia might be damage to general structure processing systems. In such a case, deficits would be evident in the processing of syntactically structured non-linguistic information. To explore this hypothesis, we examined performances on artificial grammar learning (AGL) tasks in which the grammar was expressed in non-linguistic visual forms. In the first experiment, AGL behavior of four aphasic participants with severe syntactic impairment, five aphasic participants without syntactic impairment, and healthy controls was examined. Participants were trained on sequences of nonsense stimuli with the structure AnBn. Data were analyzed at an individual level to identify different behavioral profiles and account for heterogeneity in aphasic as well as healthy groups. Healthy controls and patients without syntactic impairment were more likely to learn configurational (item order) than quantitative (counting) regularities. Quantitative regularities were only detected by individuals who also detected the configurational properties of the stimulus sequences. By contrast, two individuals with syntactic impairment learned quantitative regularities, but showed no sensitivity towards configurational structure. They also failed to detect configurational structure in a second experiment in which sequences were structured by the grammar A+B+. We discuss the potential relationship between AGL and processing of word order as well as the potential of AGL in clinical practice.

Towards a Computational Model of Actor-Based Language Comprehension

Neurophysiological data from a range of typologically diverse languages provide evidence for a cross-linguistically valid, actor-based strategy of understanding sentence-level meaning. This strategy seeks to identify the participant primarily responsible for the state of affairs (the actor) as quickly and unambiguously as possible, thus resulting in competition for the actor role when there are multiple candidates. Due to its applicability across languages with vastly different characteristics, we have proposed that the actor strategy may derive from more basic cognitive or neurobiological organizational principles, though it is also shaped by distributional properties of the linguistic input (e.g. the morphosyntactic coding strategies for actors in a given language). Here, we describe an initial computational model of the actor strategy and how it interacts with language-specific properties. Specifically, we contrast two distance metrics derived from the output of the computational model (one weighted and one unweighted) as potential measures of the degree of competition for actorhood by testing how well they predict modulations of electrophysiological activity engendered by language processing. To this end, we present an EEG study on word order processing in German and use linear mixed-effects models to assess the effect of the various distance metrics. Our results show that a weighted metric, which takes into account the weighting of an actor-identifying feature in the language under consideration outperforms an unweighted distance measure. We conclude that actor competition effects cannot be reduced to feature overlap between multiple sentence participants and thereby to the notion of similarity-based interference, which is prominent in current memory-based models of language processing. Finally, we argue that, in addition to illuminating the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms of actor competition, the present model can form the basis for a more comprehensive, neurobiologically plausible computational model of constructing sentence-level meaning.

Context Improves Comprehension of Fronted Objects

Object-initial clauses (OCs) are associated with more processing difficulties than subject-initial clauses (SCs) in a number of languages (e.g. English, German and Finnish), but a supportive context can reduce or neutralize the difference between SCs and OCs with respect to reading times. Still, it is unresolved how context can affect the comprehension of OCs. In the present self-paced reading study of Danish, we therefore investigated both reading times, comprehension accuracy and response times for OCs and SCs. In line with previous studies on word order processing, OCs in an unsupportive context showed longer reading times than SCs, longer response times and a comprehension accuracy as poor as chance level. A manipulation of context showed no effect of reading time, but a supportive context had a stronger facilitating effect on comprehension (response accuracy and response time) for OCs than for SCs.

On the processing of canonical word order during eye fixations in reading: Do readers process transposed word previews?

Whether readers always identify words in the order they are printed is subject to considerable debate. In the present study, we used the gaze-contingent boundary paradigm (Rayner, 1975) to manipulate the preview for a two-word target region (e.g., white walls in My neighbor painted the white walls black). Readers received an identical (white walls), transposed (walls white), or unrelated preview (vodka clubs). We found that there was a clear cost of having a transposed preview compared to an identical preview, indicating that readers cannot or do not identify words out of order. However, on some measures, the transposed preview condition did lead to faster processing than the unrelated preview condition, suggesting that readers may be able to obtain some useful information from a transposed preview. Implications of the results for models of eye movement control in reading are discussed.