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SUMMARY:Understanding acceptability judgments: grammar or processing? - Dr
  Philip Hofmeister (University of Essex)
DTSTART:20120424T150000Z
DTEND:20120424T170000Z
UID:TALK36820@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Theodora Alexopoulou
DESCRIPTION:*Abstract*\n\nLinguists build theories of grammar based largel
 y on acceptability contrasts. But these contrasts can reflect grammatical 
 constraints and/or constraints on language processing. How can theorists d
 etermine the extent to which the acceptability of an utterance depends on 
 functional constraints? In a series of acceptability experiments\, we cons
 ider two factors that might indicate processing contributions to acceptabi
 lity contrasts: (1) the way constraints combine (i.e.\, additively or supe
 r-additively)\, and (2) the way a comprehender's working memory resources 
 influence acceptability judgments.\n\nResults suggest that multiple source
 s of processing difficulty combine to produce super-additive effects\, but
  multiple grammatical violations do not. Furthermore\, when acceptability 
 judgments improve with higher working memory scores\, this appears to be d
 ue to functional constraints. We conclude that tests of (super)-additivity
  and of differences in working memory can help to identify the effects of 
 processing difficulty (due to functional constraints)\, but that such test
 s are limited in contexts of extreme processing difficulty.
LOCATION:GR-06/07\, English Faculty Building
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