Processing of Japanese Cleft Constructions in Context: Evidence from Event-Related Brain Potentials

• Published in: Journal of psycholinguistic research Vol. 44; no. 3; pp. 277 - 286
• Main Authors: Yano, Masataka, Tateyama, Yuki, Sakamoto, Tsutomu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2015; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Brain; Brain - physiology; Brain Hemisphere Functions; Cognitive Psychology; Comprehension; Comprehension - physiology; Diagnostic Tests; Electroencephalography; Evoked Potentials - physiology; Female; Form Classes (Languages); Humanities; Humans; Japan; Japanese; Language; Language Processing; Language Research; Male; Mental Processes - physiology; Phrase Structure; Preferences; Probability; Psycholinguistics; Psychology; Reading Comprehension; Semantics; Structural Analysis (Linguistics); Verbs; Young Adult; Japan; Gap-filler dependency; Cleft constructions; Event-related brain potentials (ERPs); Japanese; Sentence comprehension
• ISSN: 0090-6905; 1573-6555; 1573-6555
• DOI: 10.1007/s10936-014-9294-6

Numerous studies have found “subject gap preference” in relative clauses and cleft constructions in English, French, and other languages. In contrast, previous studies have reported “object gap preference” in cleft constructions in Japanese. However, the effect of integrating a filler and its gap may be influenced by the effect of transitional probabilities, so previous studies confounded these two factors. This study explores processing asymmetries in Japanese cleft constructions by conducting an event-related brain potential experiment by controlling transitional probabilities. The results demonstrate that the subject gap preference in Japanese is well aligned with that observed in other languages, suggesting that subject gap preference is a universal aspect of language comprehension.