8.3: Psycholinguistics- Traces in the Mind
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We’ve claimed that when the operation MOVE moves a head or a phrase into a new Surface Structure position, it leaves a silent copy of itself (a trace) behind in the Deep Structure position. This unit presents psycholinguistic evidence that these traces do form part of our mental representation of sentences.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/essentialsoflinguistics/?p=188
Check Yourself
1. Which of the following illustrates the position of the trace in the wh-question
What did Christina order at Chipotle?
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What did Christina order at Chipotle
what
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What did Christina order
what
at Chipotle.
2. Which of the following ungrammatical sentences gives evidence that unpronounced traces exist in our mental representations of sentences?
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*Did you ate what for lunch?
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*What did you eat sandwiches for lunch?
3. Predict which sentence would lead to more eye movements to a picture of a rabbit after the verb
chase
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What did the fox chase ^ into the hedge?
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Did the fox chase ^ the rabbit into the hedge?
Answers