SFB 833, Projekt B8

Position and Interpretation: Syntactic, Semantic and Information-Structural Constraints in Processing Adjuncts

01/11/2011 to 30/06/2021

https://uni-tuebingen.de/de/131935

The project (started in 11/2011) investigates adjuncts at the syntax-semantics interface from a processing perspective. The main aim of the project is to gain new insights into the dynamics of meaning constitution during incremental language processing. The project is concerned with one of the core questions of the B Area, namely how incremental semantic processing interacts with grammar and context. The goal for the last funding period is to establish an elaborate model of adjunct processing, underpinned by a broader empirical basis as well as compositional analyses of the phenomena under investigation. Based on our results from the second funding period, we argue for a two-stage model of adjunct processing with an early stage of compositional processing which is followed by a processing stage in which, e.g., information structural factors are evaluated. With regard to the first stage of compositional processing, we saw evidence for immediate as well as delayed composition. Our claim that these effects are due to properties of the involved processing domains will be tested in the last funding period. With regard to the second processing phase, we will focus on the role of context for immediate vs. delayed evaluation of information structural factors. Our model of adjunct processing will be an important ingredient for the model of semantic processing developed within project Area B.