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dc.contributor.authorLiu, Yingtong
dc.contributor.authorRyskin, Rachel
dc.contributor.authorFutrell, Richard
dc.contributor.authorGibson, Edward A
dc.date.accessioned2022-01-10T20:16:35Z
dc.date.available2022-01-10T16:41:57Z
dc.date.available2022-01-10T20:16:35Z
dc.date.issued2021-09
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/138859.2
dc.description.abstractGoing back to Ross (1967) and Chomsky (1973), researchers have sought to understand what conditions permit long-distance dependencies in language, such as between the wh-word what and the verb bought in the sentence 'What did John think that Mary bought?'. In the present work, we attempt to understand why changing the main verb in wh-questions affects the acceptability of long-distance dependencies out of embedded clauses. In particular, it has been claimed that factive and manner-of-speaking verbs block such dependencies (e.g., 'What did John know/whisper that Mary bought?'), whereas verbs like think and believe allow them. Here we provide 3 acceptability judgment experiments of filler-gap constructions across embedded clauses to evaluate four types of accounts based on (1) discourse; (2) syntax; (3) semantics; and (4) our proposal related to verb-frame frequency. The patterns of acceptability are most simply explained by two factors: verb-frame frequency, such that dependencies with verbs that rarely take embedded clauses are less acceptable; and construction type, such that wh-questions and clefts are less acceptable than declaratives. We conclude that the low acceptability of filler-gap constructions formed by certain sentence complement verbs is due to infrequent linguistic exposure.en_US
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherElsevier BVen_US
dc.relation.isversionof10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104902en_US
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Licenseen_US
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en_US
dc.sourceProf. Gibsonen_US
dc.titleA verb-frame frequency account of constraints on long-distance dependencies in Englishen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.identifier.citationLiu, Yingtong, Ryskin, Rachel, Futrell, Richard and Gibson, Edward. 2021. "A verb-frame frequency account of constraints on long-distance dependencies in English." Cognition.en_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciencesen_US
dc.relation.journalCognitionen_US
dc.eprint.versionAuthor's final manuscripten_US
dc.type.urihttp://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticleen_US
eprint.statushttp://purl.org/eprint/status/PeerRevieweden_US
dc.date.updated2022-01-10T16:38:17Z
dspace.orderedauthorsLiu, Y; Ryskin, R; Futrell, R; Gibson, Een_US
dspace.date.submission2022-01-10T16:38:22Z
mit.licensePUBLISHER_CC
mit.metadata.statusPublication Information Neededen_US


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