Predicting Wh-Dependencies - Parsing, Interpretation, and Learning Perspectives

Explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying wh-dependency processing in this comprehensive lecture that examines how humans parse, interpret, and learn complex syntactic structures involving wh-movement. Delve into the predictive nature of sentence processing as it relates to wh-questions and relative clauses, investigating how the parser anticipates upcoming linguistic elements before they are encountered in the input. Examine empirical evidence from psycholinguistic experiments that reveal the active gap-filling strategies employed during real-time comprehension of sentences with displaced wh-elements. Analyze the interplay between syntactic parsing algorithms and semantic interpretation processes when dealing with long-distance dependencies, including how listeners and readers resolve temporary ambiguities in wh-constructions. Investigate developmental perspectives on how children acquire the ability to process these complex dependencies, including the role of statistical learning and exposure to varied syntactic patterns. Consider cross-linguistic variations in wh-dependency processing and their implications for universal grammar theories, while examining how different languages handle similar syntactic phenomena through distinct structural mechanisms. Gain insights into computational models that attempt to capture human-like processing of wh-dependencies and their predictions for both typical and atypical language processing patterns.