Potentially ambiguous object relative clause

Part of language	Spoken Peninsular Spanish
Meaning of the construction	Identificatory NP: Someone carries out a transitive action that affects someone else. The function of the object relative clause is to identify the affected.
comment	2 graphs (PDF- accuracy and reaction time). Tables with model output - if relevant (CSV or docx)

Construction elements

Examples

Example 1

Text	El abuelo al que el niño abraza
hasGlosses	The grandpa to:the that the kid hugs
hasTranslation	The grandpa that is being hugged by the kid
comment	a-variant verb-final

Example 2

Text	El abuelo que el niño abraza
hasGlosses	The grandpa that the kid hugs
hasTranslation	The grandpa that is being hugged by the kid
comment	plain-variant verb-final

Example 3

Text	El abuelo al que abraza el niño
hasGlosses	The grandpa to:the that hugs the kid
hasTranslation	The grandpa that is being hugged by the kid
comment	a-variant verb-medial

Example 4

Text	El abuelo que abraza el niño
hasGlosses	The grandpa that hugs the kid
hasTranslation	The grandpa that is being hugged by the kid
comment	plain-variant verb-medial

Links

inherits from	Object relative clause	Spanish
inherits from	Relative clause	Spanish
inherits from	Transitive construction	Spanish

Research

Research Question	The relative role of verb position and additional morphological markers in comprehension
Findings	The late disambiguation of verb-medial plain-variant (no a + article) object relative can lead to shallow processing. This in combination with high phonetic similarity with a canonical SR could lead to predictive processing overriding perceptual information (at the point of the last NP an object is expected so it’s more likely to hear "al" rather than "el"). In more general terms, expectations of canonical linguistic input in locally ambiguous structures can override acoustic perception.

Research Question

The relative role of verb position and additional morphological markers in comprehension

Findings

The late disambiguation of verb-medial plain-variant (no a + article) object relative can lead to shallow processing. This in combination with high phonetic similarity with a canonical SR could lead to predictive processing overriding perceptual information (at the point of the last NP an object is expected so it’s more likely to hear "al" rather than "el"). In more general terms, expectations of canonical linguistic input in locally ambiguous structures can override acoustic perception.

Evidence

Artefact	Publication	Repository
behavioralExperiment	Llompart, Fernández Santos & Dąbrowska (2024-10-10). Comprehension of object relatives in Spanish: the role of frequency and transparency in acquisition and adult grammar. 10.1515/cog-2024-0016	https://osf.io/4x6pz/files/osfstorage

Metadata

creationDate	2024-11-25
Annotator	Sara Fernández Santos
References	Reali (2014). Frequency Affects Object Relative Clause Processing: Some Evidence in Favor of Usage-Based Accounts: Frequency Affects Object Relative Clause Processing. 10.1111/lang.12066
References	Dąbrowska, Fernández Santos & Llompart (2024-10-10). Comprehension of object relatives in Spanish: the role of frequency and transparency in acquisition and adult grammar. 10.1515/cog-2024-0016

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