Ambiguity Of Reanalysis In Parsing Complex Sentences In Japanese
Yuki Hirose, Atsu Inoue · 1998
This chapter investigates the ambiguity resolution process in relative clause reanalysis and to determine what kinds of factors differentiate easy and difficult relative clauses in Japanese. It argues that thematic ambiguity of the head noun increases the cost of the reanalysis process, contrary to existing views that the number or kinds of noun phrases (NPs) to be reanalyzed is the only deciding factor in assessing the cost of reanalysis. The chapter introduces two types of relative clauses that are widely believed to show a contrast in difficulty, a contrast that can be predicted from two different perspectives. It presents intuitive and experimental evidence for the "preference-based" account, supported by a recent frame-by-frame self-paced reading experiment. Finally, the chapter discusses the general implications of this experiment for reanalysis processing in Japanese.