Parallel Structure: A Source of Facilitation in Sentence Comprehension

Reading time for the second clause of a conjoined sentence was found to be faster when the clause was structurally similar to the first clause than when the clausal structures differed (N = 72). This "parallel structure" effect was found for each of several types of structures, including active vs passive constructions, direct O vs sentential complement (minimal vs nonminimal attachment), nonshifted vs shifted heavy NP, agent vs theme, & animate vs inanimate NP. The pervasiveness of the effect ruled out some hypotheses about its basis, including the hypothesis that it would occur only when a S's just having processed a structure would affect how temporary ambiguities are resolved. Detailed analysis of the data suggest the existence of several distinct sources of the effect & provide indirect evidence that people typically compute both a surface & an S-structure representation of a sentence. 2 Tables, 15 References. HA