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Abstract:
The aim of the present experiment is to determine whether the
semantic aspects of language are processed independently or in
interaction with the syntactic aspects of language. We built up 112
experimental sentences with 28 sentences within each of four
experimental conditions: 1) both syntactically and semantically
congruent, 2) syntactically incongruent and semantically congruent,
3) syntactically congruent and semantically incongruent,, 4) both
syntactically and semantically incongruent. In condition 2, an
intransitive verb was associated with a direct object, thereby
forming a syntactically unacceptable sentence. However, the
semantic information was congruent so that one may hypothesize that
semantic congruency may override the syntactic incongruity. Filler
sentences (112) were also presented so as to equate the proportion
of positive and negative responses. Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)
were recorded while participants read the sentences. Results showed
that an N400 was elicited by semantically incongruous endings.
Furthermore, a late positive component was elicited by syntactic
anomaly in condition 2. However, this effect was not as large as
the effect found in condition 4 when both syntax and semantics were
incorrect. These results suggest that processing semantic
information does influence syntactic processing and that
consequently semantics and syntax are not processed
independently.
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