The relative accessibility of semantic and deep structure syntactic concepts.
| Number | 245 |
|---|---|
| Year | 1978 |
| Drawer | 4 |
| Entry Date | 06/03/1999 |
| Authors | Healy, A. F., & Levitt, A. G. |
| Contact | |
| Publication | Memory & Cognition, 6, 518-526. |
| url | http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL0245.pdf |
| Abstract | Three experiments were conducted to determine the relative accessibility of semantic & deep structure syntactic concepts. In experiment 1 - a concept formation task - 40 undergraduates learned the concept "deep structure subject" more slowly than the case concept "experiencer." Ten subjects were tested on 1 of each condition: learning a deep structure, a semantic, a trivial surface, or an arbitrary relation, by means of 60 sentences divided into 6 groups, each exemplifying 1 deep, 1 surface, & 1 semantic category (deep/surface, subject/O, goal/experiencer). Experiments 2 & 3 employed a new recognition memory procedure. Undergraduates (N = 40) were divided among the same 4 conditions as experiment 1 & the same sentences were used. Ss studied the sentences for 5 minutes & were given a recognition memory test. In experiment 3, 40 undergraduates were given decks of 64 sentences including 2 types eliminated from the first 2 experiments. The procedure was the same as experiment 2. In experiment 2 & 3, Ss performed more poorly when the sentences differed in deep structure syntactic relations than when they differed in semantic relations. Results favor C. Fillmore's case grammar, or another semantically based theory, rather than N. Chomsky's standard theory as a model of linguistic behavior. The sentences used are given as appendix. |
| Notes |
Search Publications