TY - THES A1 - Adelt, Anne T1 - The Relativized Minimality approach to comprehension of German relative clauses in aphasia N2 - It is a well-attested finding in head-initial languages that individuals with aphasia (IWA) have greater difficulties in comprehending object-extracted relative clauses (ORCs) as compared to subject-extracted relative clauses (SRCs). Adopting the linguistically based approach of Relativized Minimality (RM; Rizzi, 1990, 2004), the subject-object asymmetry is attributed to the occurrence of a Minimality effect in ORCs due to reduced processing capacities in IWA (Garraffa & Grillo, 2008; Grillo, 2008, 2009). For ORCs, it is claimed that the embedded subject intervenes in the syntactic dependency between the moved object and its trace, resulting in greater processing demands. In contrast, no such intervener is present in SRCs. Based on the theoretical framework of RM and findings from language acquisition (Belletti et al., 2012; Friedmann et al., 2009), it is assumed that Minimality effects are alleviated when the moved object and the intervening subject differ in terms of relevant syntactic features. For German, the language under investigation, the RM approach predicts that number (i.e., singular vs. plural) and the lexical restriction [+NP] feature (i.e., lexically restricted determiner phrases vs. lexically unrestricted pronouns) are considered relevant in the computation of Minimality. Greater degrees of featural distinctiveness are predicted to result in more facilitated processing of ORCs, because IWA can more easily distinguish between the moved object and the intervener. This cumulative dissertation aims to provide empirical evidence on the validity of the RM approach in accounting for comprehension patterns during relative clause (RC) processing in German-speaking IWA. For that purpose, I conducted two studies including visual-world eye-tracking experiments embedded within an auditory referent-identification task to study the offline and online processing of German RCs. More specifically, target sentences were created to evaluate (a) whether IWA demonstrate a subject-object asymmetry, (b) whether dissimilarity in the number and/or the [+NP] features facilitates ORC processing, and (c) whether sentence processing in IWA benefits from greater degrees of featural distinctiveness. Furthermore, by comparing RCs disambiguated through case marking (at the relative pronoun or the following noun phrase) and number marking (inflection of the sentence-final verb), it was possible to consider the role of the relative position of the disambiguation point. The RM approach predicts that dissimilarity in case should not affect the occurrence of Minimality effects. However, the case cue to sentence interpretation appears earlier within RCs than the number cue, which may result in lower processing costs in case-disambiguated RCs compared to number-disambiguated RCs. In study I, target sentences varied with respect to word order (SRC vs. ORC) and dissimilarity in the [+NP] feature (lexically restricted determiner phrase vs. pronouns as embedded element). Moreover, by comparing the impact of these manipulations in case- and number-disambiguated RCs, the effect of dissimilarity in the number feature was explored. IWA demonstrated a subject-object asymmetry, indicating the occurrence of a Minimality effect in ORCs. However, dissimilarity neither in the number feature nor in the [+NP] feature alone facilitated ORC processing. Instead, only ORCs involving distinct specifications of both the number and the [+NP] features were well comprehended by IWA. In study II, only temporarily ambiguous ORCs disambiguated through case or number marking were investigated, while controlling for varying points of disambiguation. There was a slight processing advantage of case marking as cue to sentence interpretation as compared to number marking. Taken together, these findings suggest that the RM approach can only partially capture empirical data from German IWA. In processing complex syntactic structures, IWA are susceptible to the occurrence of the intervening subject in ORCs. The new findings reported in the thesis show that structural dissimilarity can modulate sentence comprehension in aphasia. Interestingly, IWA can override Minimality effects in ORCs and derive correct sentence meaning if the featural specifications of the constituents are maximally different, because they can more easily distinguish the moved object and the intervening subject given their reduced processing capacities. This dissertation presents new scientific knowledge that highlights how the syntactic theory of RM helps to uncover selective effects of morpho-syntactic features on sentence comprehension in aphasia, emphasizing the close link between assumptions from theoretical syntax and empirical research. N2 - Personen mit Aphasie (PmA) verstehen Objektrelativsätze (ORS) häufig schlechter als Subjektrelativsätze (SRS). Im linguistisch basierten Ansatz der relativierten Minimalitätstheorie (RM; Rizzi, 1990, 2004) wird diese sog. Subjekt-Objekt-Asymmetrie dadurch erklärt, dass bei PmA aufgrund reduzierter Verarbeitungskapazitäten ein sog. Minimalitätseffekt in ORS auftritt (Garraffa & Grillo, 2008; Grillo, 2008, 2009), der die Verarbeitung erschwert. Dieser entsteht dadurch, dass das eingebettete Subjekt in der syntaktischen Abhängigkeit zwischen dem bewegten Objekt und seiner Spur interveniert. Im Gegensatz dazu gibt es in SRS kein intervenierendes Element. Anhand von Ergebnissen aus psycholinguistischen Studien (Belletti et al., 2012; Friedmann et al., 2009) wird zudem angenommen, dass der Minimalitätseffekt in ORS reduziert wird, wenn sich das bewegte Objekt und das intervenierende Subjekt hinsichtlich ihrer syntaktischen Merkmale unterscheiden. Für das Deutsche wird von der RM vorhergesagt, dass die Merkmale Numerus (Singular vs. Plural) und [+NP] (volle Nominalphrasen vs. Pronomen) für das Auftreten des Minimalitätseffekts relevant sind. Je stärker sich die Konstituenten hinsichtlich relevanter syntaktischer Merkmale unterscheiden, desto stärker wird die Verarbeitung von ORS fazilitiert, weil PmA leichter zwischen dem bewegten Objekt und dem intervenierenden Subjekt unterscheiden können. In dieser kumulativen Dissertation wird überprüft, ob mithilfe der RM Leistungsmuster bei der Verarbeitung von Relativsätzen in deutsch-sprechenden PmA erklärt werden können. Zu diesem Zweck wurden zwei Studien durchgeführt, in denen das Visual-World-Eyetracking-Paradigma mit einer auditiven Referenten-Identifikationsaufgabe kombiniert wurde, um die Offline- und Online-Verarbeitung von Relativsätzen zu untersuchen. Dabei wurde überprüft, (a) ob bei PmA eine Subjekt-Objekt-Asymmetrie auftritt, (b) ob die Verarbeitung von ORS durch die unterschiedliche Markierung des Objekts und des Subjekts hinsichtlich der Merkmale Numerus und/oder [+NP] fazilitiert wird und (c) ob die Satzverarbeitung weiter fazilitiert wird, wenn sich die Argumente in mehreren Merkmalen unterscheiden. Darüber hinaus wurden kasus-markierte (Desambiguierung durch Kasus am Relativpronomen oder am Determinierer der nachfolgenden Nominalphrase) oder numerus-markierte Relativsätze (Desambiguierung durch Flexion des satzfinalen Verbs) verglichen. Dadurch wurde untersucht, ob der Zeitpunkt der Disambiguierung einen Einfluss auf die Verarbeitung von Relativsätzen hat. Laut der RM sollte der Minimalitätseffekt nicht durch Kasus als morpho-syntaktisches Merkmal beeinflusst werden. Dennoch werden kasus-markierte Sätze früher desambiguiert als numerus-markierte Sätze, weshalb ein Verarbeitungsvorteil für kasus-markierte Relativsätze zu erwarten ist. In Studie I wurden die Zielsätze hinsichtlich der Wortstellung (SRS vs. ORS) und des [+NP]-Merkmals variiert (volle Nominalphrase vs. Pronomen als eingebettetes Element). Darüber hinaus wurde der Einfluss dieser Manipulationen in kasus- und numerus-markierten Relativsätzen untersucht. Dadurch wurde beeinflusst, inwiefern sich die Konstituenten in relevanten morpho-syntaktischen Merkmalen unterscheiden. Die PmA zeigten eine Subjekt-Objekt-Asymmetrie, was durch das Auftreten eines Minimalitätseffekts in ORS erklärt werden kann. Im Gegensatz zu den Vorhersagen der RM konnte in ORS kein fazilitierender Effekt festgestellt werden, wenn sich die Konstituenten nur im Merkmal Numerus oder [+NP] unterschieden. Stattdessen verbesserten sich die Verstehensleistungen für solche ORS, in denen sich das bewegte Objekt und das eingebettete Subjekt hinsichtlich beider Merkmale Numerus und [+NP] unterschieden. In Studie II wurden kasus- und numerus-markierte ORS untersucht, wobei verschiedene Zeitpunkte der Disambiguierung berücksichtigt wurden. Hierbei zeigte sich ein leichter Verarbeitungsvorteil für kasus-markierte verglichen mit numerus-markierten ORS. Zusammenfassend können mithilfe der RM nicht alle empirischen Daten von deutschsprachigen PmA erklärt werden. Die Verarbeitung von Relativsätzen wird durch das Auftreten des intervenierenden Subjekts in ORS beeinflusst. Die in der Dissertation berichteten Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Satzverarbeitung bei Aphasie durch strukturelle Unterschiede zwischen den Konstituenten beeinflusst werden kann. Insbesondere kann der Minimalitätseffekt in ORS überwunden werden, wenn sich die Konstituenten hinsichtlich der morpho-syntaktischen Merkmale maximal unterscheiden. In diesem Fall können PmA das bewegte Objekt und das intervenierende Subjekt trotz ihrer reduzierten Verarbeitungskapazitäten voneinander unterscheiden. Das heißt, dass mithilfe der RM aufgezeigt werden kann, wie morpho-syntaktische Merkmale die Satzverarbeitung von PmA selektiv beeinflussen können. Dies betont die enge Verknüpfung zwischen Annahmen aus der theoretischen Syntax und empirischer Forschung. KW - aphasia KW - Aphasie KW - relative clauses KW - Relativsätze KW - Relativized Minimality KW - relativierte Minimalitätstheorie KW - morpho-syntactic features KW - morpho-syntaktische Merkmale KW - sentence processing KW - Satzverarbeitung KW - eye tracking KW - Eye-tracking KW - case KW - Kasus KW - number KW - Numerus Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-623312 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Adani, Flavia A1 - Stegenwallner-Schutz, Maja Henny Katherine A1 - Niesel, Talea T1 - The Peaceful Co-existence of Input Frequency and Structural Intervention Effects on the Comprehension of Complex Sentences in German-Speaking Children JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - The predictions of two contrasting approaches to the acquisition of transitive relative clauses were tested within the same groups of German-speaking participants aged from 3 to 5 years old. The input frequency approach predicts that object relative clauses with inanimate heads (e.g., the pullover that the man is scratching) are comprehended earlier and more accurately than those with an animate head (e.g., the man that the boy is scratching). In contrast, the structural intervention approach predicts that object relative clauses with two full NP arguments mismatching in number (e.g., the man that the boys are scratching) are comprehended earlier and more accurately than those with number-matching NPs (e.g., the man that the boy is scratching). These approaches were tested in two steps. First, we ran a corpus analysis to ensure that object relative clauses with number-mismatching NPs are not more frequent than object relative clauses with number-matching NPs in child directed speech. Next, the comprehension of these structures was tested experimentally in 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds respectively by means of a color naming task. By comparing the predictions of the two approaches within the same participant groups, we were able to uncover that the effects predicted by the input frequency and by the structural intervention approaches co-exist and that they both influence the performance of children on transitive relative clauses, but in a manner that is modulated by age. These results reveal a sensitivity to animacy mismatch already being demonstrated by 3-year-olds and show that animacy is initially deployed more reliably than number to interpret relative clauses correctly. In all age groups, the animacy mismatch appears to explain the performance of children, thus, showing that the comprehension of frequent object relative clauses is enhanced compared to the other conditions. Starting with 4-year-olds but especially in 5-year-olds, the number mismatch supported comprehension-a facilitation that is unlikely to be driven by input frequency. Once children fine-tune their sensitivity to verb agreement information around the age of four, they are also able to deploy number marking to overcome the intervention effects. This study highlights the importance of testing experimentally contrasting theoretical approaches in order to characterize the multifaceted, developmental nature of language acquisition. KW - relative clauses KW - sentence comprehension KW - input frequency KW - number KW - animacy KW - language acquisition KW - German Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01590 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 8 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - GEN A1 - Adani, Flavia A1 - Stegenwallner-Schütz, Maja Henny Katherine A1 - Niesel, Talea T1 - The Peaceful Co-existence of Input Frequency and Structural Intervention Effects on the Comprehension of Complex Sentences in German-Speaking Children N2 - The predictions of two contrasting approaches to the acquisition of transitive relative clauses were tested within the same groups of German-speaking participants aged from 3 to 5 years old. The input frequency approach predicts that object relative clauses with inanimate heads (e.g., the pullover that the man is scratching) are comprehended earlier and more accurately than those with an animate head (e.g., the man that the boy is scratching). In contrast, the structural intervention approach predicts that object relative clauses with two full NP arguments mismatching in number (e.g., the man that the boys are scratching) are comprehended earlier and more accurately than those with number-matching NPs (e.g., the man that the boy is scratching). These approaches were tested in two steps. First, we ran a corpus analysis to ensure that object relative clauses with number-mismatching NPs are not more frequent than object relative clauses with number-matching NPs in child directed speech. Next, the comprehension of these structures was tested experimentally in 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds respectively by means of a color naming task. By comparing the predictions of the two approaches within the same participant groups, we were able to uncover that the effects predicted by the input frequency and by the structural intervention approaches co-exist and that they both influence the performance of children on transitive relative clauses, but in a manner that is modulated by age. These results reveal a sensitivity to animacy mismatch already being demonstrated by 3-year-olds and show that animacy is initially deployed more reliably than number to interpret relative clauses correctly. In all age groups, the animacy mismatch appears to explain the performance of children, thus, showing that the comprehension of frequent object relative clauses is enhanced compared to the other conditions. Starting with 4-year-olds but especially in 5-year-olds, the number mismatch supported comprehension—a facilitation that is unlikely to be driven by input frequency. Once children fine-tune their sensitivity to verb agreement information around the age of four, they are also able to deploy number marking to overcome the intervention effects. This study highlights the importance of testing experimentally contrasting theoretical approaches in order to characterize the multifaceted, developmental nature of language acquisition. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 352 KW - German KW - animacy KW - input frequency KW - language acquisition KW - number KW - relative clauses KW - sentence comprehension Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-403672 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Adani, Flavia A1 - Stegenwallner-Schütz, Maja Henny Katherine A1 - Niesel, Talea T1 - The Peaceful Co-existence of Input Frequency and Structural Intervention Effects on the Comprehension of Complex Sentences in German-Speaking Children JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - The predictions of two contrasting approaches to the acquisition of transitive relative clauses were tested within the same groups of German-speaking participants aged from 3 to 5 years old. The input frequency approach predicts that object relative clauses with inanimate heads (e.g., the pullover that the man is scratching) are comprehended earlier and more accurately than those with an animate head (e.g., the man that the boy is scratching). In contrast, the structural intervention approach predicts that object relative clauses with two full NP arguments mismatching in number (e.g., the man that the boys are scratching) are comprehended earlier and more accurately than those with number-matching NPs (e.g., the man that the boy is scratching). These approaches were tested in two steps. First, we ran a corpus analysis to ensure that object relative clauses with number-mismatching NPs are not more frequent than object relative clauses with number-matching NPs in child directed speech. Next, the comprehension of these structures was tested experimentally in 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds respectively by means of a color naming task. By comparing the predictions of the two approaches within the same participant groups, we were able to uncover that the effects predicted by the input frequency and by the structural intervention approaches co-exist and that they both influence the performance of children on transitive relative clauses, but in a manner that is modulated by age. These results reveal a sensitivity to animacy mismatch already being demonstrated by 3-year-olds and show that animacy is initially deployed more reliably than number to interpret relative clauses correctly. In all age groups, the animacy mismatch appears to explain the performance of children, thus, showing that the comprehension of frequent object relative clauses is enhanced compared to the other conditions. Starting with 4-year-olds but especially in 5-year-olds, the number mismatch supported comprehension—a facilitation that is unlikely to be driven by input frequency. Once children fine-tune their sensitivity to verb agreement information around the age of four, they are also able to deploy number marking to overcome the intervention effects. This study highlights the importance of testing experimentally contrasting theoretical approaches in order to characterize the multifaceted, developmental nature of language acquisition. KW - relative clauses KW - sentence comprehension KW - input frequency KW - number KW - animacy KW - language acquisition KW - German Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01590 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 8 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Feudel, Fred A1 - Tuckerman, L. S. A1 - Gellert, Marcus A1 - Seehafer, Norbert T1 - Bifurcations of rotating waves in rotating spherical shell convection JF - Physical Review E N2 - The dynamics and bifurcations of convective waves in rotating and buoyancy-driven spherical Rayleigh-Benard convection are investigated numerically. The solution branches that arise as rotating waves (RWs) are traced by means of path-following methods, by varying the Rayleigh number as a control parameter for different rotation rates. The dependence of the azimuthal drift frequency of the RWs on the Ekman and Rayleigh numbers is determined and discussed. The influence of the rotation rate on the generation and stability of secondary branches is demonstrated. Multistability is typical in the parameter range considered. KW - nonsymmetric linear-systems KW - thermal-convection KW - fluid shells KW - hopf-bifurcation KW - onset KW - magnetoconvection KW - number KW - flow Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.92.053015 SN - 1539-3755 SN - 1550-2376 VL - 92 IS - 5 PB - American Physical Society CY - Woodbury ER -