TY - JOUR
T1 - The structural characteristics and on-line comprehension of experiencer-verb sentences
AU - Cupples, Linda
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - Theme-experiencer verbs, like 'amuse', for which the experiencer is the object of an active clause (e.g., 'the joke amused the host'), are distinguished theoretically from action verbs, like 'clean', and experiencer-theme verbs, like 'cherish', for which the experiencer is the subject of an active clause. Three experiments are reported in which readers' comprehension of these verbs was examined using a meaning-classification paradigm. Active theme-experiencer sentences were read for longer than actives containing the other verb types. By contrast, passive theme-experiencer sentences resulted in fewer errors and shorter reading times than passives containing experiencer-theme verbs, and in terms of errors, theme-experiencer passives resembled adjectival structures. Findings were consistent with a previous account by Belletti and Rizzi of the syntactic differences between verb types, although a semantic explanation was not discounted. A correspondence between the language systems responsible for comprehension and production was implied, given the similarity between these results and those of a 1994 study by Ferreira.
AB - Theme-experiencer verbs, like 'amuse', for which the experiencer is the object of an active clause (e.g., 'the joke amused the host'), are distinguished theoretically from action verbs, like 'clean', and experiencer-theme verbs, like 'cherish', for which the experiencer is the subject of an active clause. Three experiments are reported in which readers' comprehension of these verbs was examined using a meaning-classification paradigm. Active theme-experiencer sentences were read for longer than actives containing the other verb types. By contrast, passive theme-experiencer sentences resulted in fewer errors and shorter reading times than passives containing experiencer-theme verbs, and in terms of errors, theme-experiencer passives resembled adjectival structures. Findings were consistent with a previous account by Belletti and Rizzi of the syntactic differences between verb types, although a semantic explanation was not discounted. A correspondence between the language systems responsible for comprehension and production was implied, given the similarity between these results and those of a 1994 study by Ferreira.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0036214836&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01690960143000001
DO - 10.1080/01690960143000001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0036214836
SN - 0169-0965
VL - 17
SP - 125
EP - 162
JO - Language and Cognitive Processes
JF - Language and Cognitive Processes
IS - 2
ER -