Lexical-Pragmatic and Prosodic Effects on Syntactic Ambiguity Resolution in Aphasia

DeDe, Gayle (2008) Lexical-Pragmatic and Prosodic Effects on Syntactic Ambiguity Resolution in Aphasia. [Clinical Aphasiology Paper]

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Abstract

This study examined aphasic adults’ on-line sensitivity to lexical-pragmatic and prosodic cues during resolution of syntactic ambiguities. Participants (12 with aphasia, 12 controls) listened to sentences such as “While the parents watched/danced the child sang a song….” Only the aphasic group was sensitive to conflicting cues at the ambiguous noun phrase (the child). Both groups showed evidence of reanalysis at the main verb (sang) when the cues biased the listener to a direct object interpretation of “the child.” Although both groups were sensitive to the cues, how they were used differed in control and aphasic participants.

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