SKAP1 Coders Join Forces!!

In the standard definition, a constituent c-commands its sister constituents and any constituents that these dominate (Reinhart, 1983). Variable binding is only possible between a pronoun and an antecedent that c-commands it (see e.g., Reuland, 2001, 2011). As such, in (3a), when the QP every boy c-commands the pronoun, the pronoun can be bound by it, while in (3b), when the QP does not c-command the pronoun, variable binding between the pronoun and QP is not possible. Coreference assignment to non-quantified determiner phrases (DPs) is not contingent on c-command however, and as such the pronoun can corefer with the referential antecedent the boy in both (2a) and (2b). Memory retrieval during language processing Recent psycholinguistic research has motivated a cue-based model of memory retrieval during language processing (McElree, 2000; McElree et al., 2003; Lewis et al., 2006). In cue-based content-addressable models, retrieval is achieved by matching a set of retrieval cues with the contents of all items in memory in parallel. The item in memory that provides the best match to these cues becomes most highly activated and will thus be retrieved. The distinction between variable binding and coreference assignment has a number of implications for models of memory retrieval during language processing. One theoretical implication relates to how the c-command constraint on variable binding is implemented in content-addressable memory. Content-addressable models are well-suited to utilize feature-based cues that target intrinsic properties of to-be-retrieved material. For example, it is straightforward to implement a [+masculine] feature for masculine pronouns to cue retrieval of a masculine antecedent. However, the c-command constraint on variable binding may be more difficult to implement, as it involves access to information about the relation between two items in memory (the pronoun and antecedent), rather than accessing an intrinsic feature of the antecedent (for discussion, see Kush, 2013; Kush et al., 2015). The primary aim of the current study was to investigate if the c-command constraint on variable binding restricts antecedent retrieval, rather than the question of how it is implemented. We do however return to this issue in the General Discussion. A second implication that the distinction between variable binding and coreference assignment has for models of memory retrieval during language processing relates to how pronouns that are ambiguous with Saracatinib cost regards to variable binding and coreference assignment are resolved. Research in theoretical linguistics has claimed that syntactic variable binding is preferred over coreference assignment. Reuland (2001, 2011), for example, proposed an economy principle which predicts that variable binding should be computed before coreference assignment is attempted (see also Koornneef, 2008).