Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior
Some structural properties of simple active and passive sentences1
References (6)
The short-term retention of active and passive sentences
(1963)Three models for the description of language
I. R. E. Trans. on Information Theor.
(1956)Syntactic structures
(1957)
Cited by (70)
Concurrent use of animacy and event-knowledge during comprehension: Evidence from event-related potentials
2021, NeuropsychologiaCitation Excerpt :For example, words that meet the animacy requirements or preferences imposed by the preceding context elicit smaller N400 amplitudes than words that do not, suggesting a processing advantage for words that meet animacy restrictions or preferences (e.g., Nieuwland et al., 2013; Nieuwland and Van Berkum, 2005; 2006; Paczynski and Kuperberg, 2012). Sentence-initial animate nouns elicit smaller N400s than appropriately matched inanimate nouns (Weckerly and Kutas, 1999), a finding that is consistent with the tendency of English speakers to start sentences with animate entities (e.g., Branigan et al., 2008; see also Clark, 1965), and which therefore leads to a preference for sentence-initial animate nouns in listeners and readers. Similarly, Paczynski and Kuperberg (2011, Experiment 1) reported reduced N400s for inanimate patients (e.g., At the homestead the farmer plowed the meadow …) compared to equally plausible animate patients (e.g., At the homestead the farmer penalized the labourer …), consistent with the preference for patient roles to be filled by inanimate entities rather than animate entities.
Similarity-based competition in relative clause production and comprehension
2016, Journal of Memory and LanguageCitation Excerpt :For example, the passive The boy was hit by the truck is preferred over the active The truck hit the boy, because the animate noun is easier to retrieve from memory and thus pronounced first. This is consistent with the general tendency in English to locate animate concepts in early sentence subject positions, even when they are not agents (Bock, Loebell, & Morey, 1992; Clark, 1965). The accessibility of referential expressions is known to be modulated by context.
Prediction, events, and the advantage of Agents: The processing of semantic roles in visual narrative
2013, Cognitive PsychologyCitation Excerpt :The canonical serial order of semantic roles within grammatical constructions places Agents prior to Patients, as expressed in SVO or SOV constructions across languages. Linguistic theories have long placed a preference on Agents over Patients (Clark, 1965; Jackendoff, 1972, 1990; Silverstein, 1976; Zubin, 1979). Agents are given the highest ranking in most hierarchies of semantic roles (e.g., Aissen, 1999; Jackendoff, 1972; Silverstein, 1976), and some work has proposed a universal constraint that selects Agents as the default grammatical subject of sentences (Keenan, 1976).
Animacy and competition in relative clause production: A cross-linguistic investigation
2012, Cognitive PsychologyCitation Excerpt :Animates’ heightened accessibility thus influences choices of active vs. passive structures or double object vs. prepositional dative forms (McDonald et al., 1993). English speakers, for example, have a tendency to locate animate concepts in early sentence positions, even when they are not agents: the passive The boy was hit by the truck is preferred over the active The truck hit the boy (Bock, Loebell, & Morey, 1992; Clark, 1965). This tendency has often been cast in terms of subject function because in English, first-mentioned words are strongly correlated with syntactic subjects, although in other languages, animacy (and other factors) may also influence word order (i.e., early mention) in addition to syntactic function (Branigan, Pickering, & Tanaka, 2008; Prat-Sala & Branigan, 2000; Tanaka, Branigan, McLean, & Pickering, 2011; Yamashita & Chang, 2001).
Mapping concepts to syntax: Evidence from structural priming in Mandarin Chinese
2012, Journal of Memory and LanguageCitation Excerpt :Experimental research has suggested consistent relationships between conceptual information and grammatical encoding, with certain conceptual features tending to be associated with particular choices of grammatical functions and constituent structures. For example, English speakers tend to produce sentences in which the Agent of an action or an animate (e.g., human) entity appeared as the sentence-initial subject (e.g., Clark, 1965; Clark & Begun, 1971; Dewart, 1979; Harris, 1978). In such cases, it is not possible to tell whether conceptual features affected grammatical function assignment, choice of word order, or both.
- 1
The work reported here was carried out while the author was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow and was supported in part by Public Health Service Research grants MH-06550-02 and MH-06550-03 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The present paper is based on an essay submitted to The Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements for the M.A. degree. The author is indebted to Dr. James Deese for his valuable suggestions in the analysis of this experiment and in the preparation of the manuscript. Acknowledgment is also made to the Baltimore Public Schools, whose cooperation is greatly appreciated.