TY - GEN A1 - Höhle, Barbara A1 - Hörnig, Robin A1 - Weskott, Thomas A1 - Knauf, Selene A1 - Krüger, Agnes T1 - Effects of focus and definiteness on children's word order BT - evidence from German five-year-olds' reproductions of double object constructions T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Two experiments tested how faithfully German children aged 4; 5 to 5; 6 reproduce ditransitive sentences that are unmarked or marked with respect to word order and focus (Exp1) or definiteness (Exp2). Adopting an optimality theory (OT) approach, it is assumed that in the German adult grammar word order is ranked lower than focus and definiteness. Faithfulness of children's reproductions decreased as markedness of inputs increased; unmarked structures were reproduced most faithfully and unfaithful outputs had most often an unmarked form. Consistent with the OT proposal, children were more tolerant against inputs marked for word order than for focus; in conflict with the proposal, children were less tolerant against inputs marked for word order than for definiteness. Our results suggest that the linearization of objects in German double object constructions is affected by focus and definiteness, but that prosodic principles may have an impact on the position of a focused constituent. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 511 KW - indefinite articles KW - preschool-children KW - information KW - animacy KW - acquisition KW - constraints KW - sentences KW - language KW - grammar KW - stress Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-415695 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 511 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hörnig, Robin A1 - Weskott, Thomas A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold A1 - Fanselow, Gisbert T1 - Word order variation in spatial descriptions with adverbs N2 - Previous research has shown that in a three-term spatial reasoning task, the second premise of a German premise pair is especially easy to comprehend if (1) the prepositional object rather than the grammatical subject denotes the given entity, and if (2) the term denoting the given entity precedes the term denoting the new entity. Accordingly, the second premise is easiest to comprehend with noncanonical word order-that is, with the prepositional object in preverbal position denoting the given entity (e.g., To the right of the given object is the new subject). This finding is explained in terms of contextual licensing of noncanonical word order. Here, we discuss and tested two alternative accounts of contextual licensing, given-new and partially ordered set relations (Poset). The given-new account claims that noncanonical word order is licensed by the term denoting the given entity preceding the term denoting the new entity. On the Poset account, noncanonical word order is licensed if the preverbal constituent introduces a new entity that stands in a transitive, irreflexive, and asymmetric relation to a given entity. Comprehension times for second premises with spatial adverbs in four different word orders support both accounts of contextual licensing; Poset licensing was stronger than given-new licensing. Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.springerlink.com/content/0090-502x/ U6 - https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193264 SN - 0090-502X ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Oberauer, Klaus A1 - Weidenfeld, Andrea A1 - Hörnig, Robin T1 - Working memory capacity and the construction of spatial mental models in comprehension and deductive reasoning N2 - We asked 149 high-school students who were pretested for their working memory capacity (WMC) to read spatial descriptions relating to five objects and to evaluate conclusions asserting an unmentioned relationship between two of the objects. Unambiguous descriptions were compatible with a single spatial arrangement, whereas ambiguous descriptions permitted two arrangements; a subset of the ambiguous descriptions still determined the relation asserted in the conclusion, whereas another subset did not. Two groups of participants received different instructions: The deduction group should accept conclusions only if they followed with logical necessity from the description, whereas the comprehension group should accept a conclusion if it agreed with their representation of the arrangement. Self-paced reading times increased on sentences that introduced an ambiguity, replicating previous findings in deductive reasoning experiments. This effect was also found in the comprehension group, casting doubt on the interpretation that people consider multiple possible arrangements online. Responses to conclusions could be modelled by a multinomial processing model with four parameters: the probability of constructing a correct mental model, the probability of detecting an ambiguity, and two guessing parameters. Participants with high and with low WMC differed mainly in the probability of successfully constructing a mental model Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=journal&issn=1747-0218 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/17470210500151717 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Féry, Caroline A1 - Kaiser, Elsi A1 - Hörnig, Robin A1 - Weskott, Thomas A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold T1 - Perception of intonational contours on given and new referents : a completion study and an eye-movement experiment Y1 - 2009 SN - 978-3-11-021922-7 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hörnig, Robin A1 - Weskott, Thomas T1 - Given and new information in spatial statements Y1 - 2010 SN - 978-0-19-957095-9 ER -