The Role Of Perceptual Strategies In The Processing Of English Relative Clause Structures

In o rde r to assess compet ing p r e d i c t i o n s made by seve ra l d i f f e r e n t p e r c e p t u a l s t r a t e g i e s , an expe r imen t was conduc ted , u s i n g as s t i m u l i E n g l i s h sentences c o n t a i n i n g a v a r i e t y o f types o f r e l a t i v e c l a u s e s . The r e s u l t s i n d i c a t e d t h a t o f a l l the s t r a t e g i e s i n v e s t i g a t e d , o n l y Word Order and I n t e r r u p t i o n p layed s i g n i f i c a n t r o l e s in the comprehens ion o f the sen tences . A s i m i l a r expe r imen t was then conducted u s i n g dapanese sentences w i t h r e l a t i v e c l a u s e s , and e x a c t l y the same two s t r a t e g i e s were found to account fo r the da ta . The Given-New s t r a t e g y was a l s o found to p l a y an i m p o r t a n t r o l e in the two languages.