TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of punctuation on the processing of syntactically ambiguous japanese sentences with a semantic bias
AU - Niikuni, Keiyu
AU - Muramoto, Toshiaki
PY - 2014/6
Y1 - 2014/6
N2 - This study explored the effects of a comma on the processing of structurally ambiguous Japanese sentences with a semantic bias. A previous study has shown that a comma which is incompatible with an ambiguous sentence's semantic bias affects the processing of the sentence, but the effects of a comma that is compatible with the bias are unclear. In the present study, we examined the role of a comma compatible with the sentence's semantic bias using the self-paced reading method, which enabled us to determine the reading times for the region of the sentence where readers would be expected to solve the ambiguity using semantic information (the "target region"). The results show that a comma significantly increases the reading time of the punctuated word but decreases the reading time in the target region. We concluded that even if the semantic information provided might be sufficient for disambiguation, the insertion of a comma would affect the processing cost of the ambiguity, indicating that readers use both the comma and semantic information in parallel for sentence processing.
AB - This study explored the effects of a comma on the processing of structurally ambiguous Japanese sentences with a semantic bias. A previous study has shown that a comma which is incompatible with an ambiguous sentence's semantic bias affects the processing of the sentence, but the effects of a comma that is compatible with the bias are unclear. In the present study, we examined the role of a comma compatible with the sentence's semantic bias using the self-paced reading method, which enabled us to determine the reading times for the region of the sentence where readers would be expected to solve the ambiguity using semantic information (the "target region"). The results show that a comma significantly increases the reading time of the punctuated word but decreases the reading time in the target region. We concluded that even if the semantic information provided might be sufficient for disambiguation, the insertion of a comma would affect the processing cost of the ambiguity, indicating that readers use both the comma and semantic information in parallel for sentence processing.
KW - Punctuation
KW - Semantic information
KW - Sentence comprehension
KW - Syntactic ambiguity
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U2 - 10.4992/jjpsy.85.13311
DO - 10.4992/jjpsy.85.13311
M3 - Article
C2 - 25016842
AN - SCOPUS:84905571819
VL - 85
SP - 210
EP - 216
JO - Shinrigaku kenkyu : The Japanese journal of psychology
JF - Shinrigaku kenkyu : The Japanese journal of psychology
SN - 0021-5236
IS - 2
ER -