O efeito de contexto prévio sobre a resolução de ambiguidade estrutural com variantes da relativa de objeto indireto/oblíqua no PB

Marije Soto; Marina R. A. Augusto; Gabriela Diniz Nascimento

Authors

Marije Soto Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4232-265X
Marina R. A. Augusto Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9022-394X
Gabriela Diniz Nascimento Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7624-8471

Keywords:

Relative clause processing, Prior context, Temporary ambiguity, Self-monitored reading, Memory

Abstract

This study focuses on the processing of temporary ambiguities, introducing a novel phenomenon—indirect/oblique relative clauses in Brazilian Portuguese (BP). The aim was to verify whether prior contexts with low or high plausibility could favor the reading of “que” (that/which), in constructions such as “Pedro disse ao professor que Alice entregou o relatório que precisa...” (Pedro said to the teacher that Alice delivered the report that she needed...), as a relative pronoun, instead of a subordinating conjunction, in contrast to standard relative clauses (“(...) ao professor para quem Alice entregou (...)”), without ambiguity. Forty-seven participants took a self-monitored reading test, with short stories followed by a comprehension question. The dependent variable was the reading time (RT) of the sentence segments. The type of relative clause (standard or cutting), and the type of prior context (low or high plausibility for a relative clause) were the independent variables (Maia et al., 2003; Soares, 2014). An adapted verbal working memory test was also administered (Kim; Oines; Miyake, 2017). Our results indicate that, when faced with this type of structure, the embedded clause is preferentially read as a complement clause. The context has only a marginal effect on the critical segment, while the type of relative clause significantly impacts processing cost, which is maintained in the subsequent segment. The standard relative clause shows quick recovery, particularly in high context, although the interaction is only marginal. The memory score only showed a positive correlation with performance on the comprehension task in the low plausibility context. It is inferred that, in a challenging scenario, i.e., low plausibility and structural ambiguity, individuals with greater memory capacity show better processing performance with complex syntactic structures.

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Author Biography

Marina R. A. Augusto , Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil

Possui graduação em Letras pela Faculdade Ibero Americana de Letras e Ciências Humanas (1987), mestrado em Lingüística pela Universidade Estadual de Campinas (1994) e doutorado em Lingüística pela Universidade Estadual de Campinas (2003). Atualmente é professor associado da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, atuando na graduação e na pós-graduação. Tem experiência na área de Lingüística, com ênfase em Teoria e Análise Lingüística, atuando principalmente nos seguintes temas: aquisição da linguagem, minimalismo, processamento linguístico, L2 e aquisição atípica.

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