Representations underlying pronoun choice in Italian and English.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove)
; 75(8): 1428-1447, 2022 Aug.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34609230
ABSTRACT
Research has shown that speakers use fewer pronouns when the referential candidates are more similar and hence compete more strongly. Here we examined the locus of such an effect, investigating (1) whether pronoun use is affected by the referents' competition at a non-linguistic level only (non-linguistic competition account) or whether it is also affected by competition arising from the antecedents' similarities (linguistic competition account) and (2) the extent to which this depends on the type of pronoun. Speakers used Italian null pronouns and English pronouns less often (relative to full nouns) when the referential candidates compete more strongly situationally, while the antecedents' semantic, grammatical or phonological similarity did not affect the rates of either pronouns, providing support for the non-linguistic competition account. However, unlike English pronouns, Italian null pronouns were unaffected by gender congruence between human referents, running counter to the gender effect for the use of non-gendered overt pronouns reported earlier. Hence, while both null and overt pronouns are sensitive to non-linguistic competition, what similarity affects non-linguistic competition partly depends on the type of pronouns.
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Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Idioma
/
Linguística
Limite:
Humans
País como assunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article