THE ROLES OF TOPICALIZATION, PARALLEL FUNCTION AND VERB SEMANTICS IN THE INTERPRETATION OF PRONOUNS

Three experiments examined the interactive effects of implicit causality, parallel function and/or topicalization in pronoun comprehension. In all three experiments subjects saw sentences containing a pronoun and the names of two people. Subjects were required to name the item preferential with the pronoun. Reaction times and pronoun assignments were recorded. The sentences employed were originally of the format, John scolded Bill because he was annoying/annoyed. Experiment I preposed the subordinate clause. This manipulation did not result in a complete attenuation of the effect of implicit causality as a determinant of pronoun assignment. Experiment II retained the main clause in its initial position but in the passive voice. Subjects’ responses indicated a significant preference for assigning the pronoun coreferential with the grammatical subject. Experiment III combined the manipulations of Experiments I and II. Results paralleled those of Experiment II. Findings from the three experiments suggest that parallel function does not attenuate semantic criteria such as implicit causality. Rather, topicalization appears to be an influence capable of counteracting opposing semantic forces. © Mouton Publishers.