Syntactic priming reveals the influence of contextual and interactional information on syntactic processing

This chapter is concerned with how the ability of speakers and writers to produce syntactic structures is constrained by contextual and interactional factors. During language production we are often faced with a choice between syntactic alternatives. These syntactic alternatives are different in terms of their surface structure while being very similar in meaning, for example: an active versus a passive utterance, a verb phrase formulated as double object versus prepositional object. We will argue that it is important to keep in mind that language production is always situated in context and, in the case of a dialogue or conversation, also situated within a social interaction. We can experimentally track whether contextual and interactional factors influence the speaker's or writer's choice between syntactic alternatives and whether they influence the ease with which the chosen syntactic alternative is produced. A method which can be used to do so is called syntactic priming or structural priming. Experimental data on syntactic priming reveal which information constrains syntactic encoding: factors which can be identified as determiners of syntactic priming are aspects that influence syntactic processing. Syntactic priming research can therefore provide a wealth of insight into how syntactic structures are processed.