Middle East Technical University, Turkey; Koç University, Turkey; Harvard University, USA.
Koç University, Turkey.
Cognition. 2019 Feb;183:152-180. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.10.026. Epub 2018 Nov 20.
During language comprehension we must rapidly determine the thematic roles of arguments (who did what to whom) in order to semantically integrate the players into a single event and predict upcoming structure. While some languages signal these relations mostly with reliable word order, others rely more on case markers. The present study explores whether Turkish-speaking children use case marking predictively during online language comprehension. Specifically, we use the visual-world paradigm to test whether 4-year-olds (and adults) can use a contrast between nominative and accusative case on the first noun to predict the referent of the second noun in verb-medial and verb-final spoken sentences. In verb-medial sentences, both children and adults used case to predict the upcoming noun, but children did so only after hearing the verb. In verb-final structures, however, both children and adults made predictive looks to the correct referent prior to the second noun (and the verb). Thus, Turkish-speaking preschoolers interpret case marking incrementally, independent of the verb, and use it to anticipate the upcoming argument. These findings are inconsistent with the hypothesis that the online interpretation of case marking depends on a late maturing neural circuit. The predictive use of case at four provides strong evidence that children's comprehension relies on broad, abstract mappings between syntax and semantics, which allow children to determine the event role of a case marked argument prior to identifying the verb.
在语言理解过程中，我们必须迅速确定论元的主题角色（谁对谁做了什么），以便将参与者语义上整合到一个单一事件中，并预测即将到来的结构。虽然有些语言主要通过可靠的词序来标记这些关系，但其他语言则更多地依赖格标记。本研究探讨了讲土耳其语的儿童在在线语言理解过程中是否会预测性地使用格标记。具体来说，我们使用视觉世界范式来测试 4 岁儿童（和成人）是否可以使用名词的主格和宾格之间的对比来预测动词中名词和动词后的名词的指称。在动词中的句子中，儿童和成人都使用格来预测即将到来的名词，但儿童只有在听到动词后才会这样做。然而，在动词后的结构中，儿童和成人都会在第二个名词（和动词）之前，对正确的指称做出预测性的目光接触。因此，讲土耳其语的学龄前儿童会根据语境逐步解释格标记，而不受动词的影响，并利用它来预测即将到来的论元。这些发现与格标记的在线解释取决于一个成熟较晚的神经回路的假设不一致。在 4 岁时就可以进行预测性的格标记使用，这为儿童的理解依赖于语法和语义之间的广泛、抽象的映射提供了有力证据，这使得儿童能够在确定动词之前确定格标记论元的事件角色。
