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Imperfective aspect underspecified for number: Evidence from an eye-tracking during reading experiment

  • Dorota Klimek-Jankowska EMAIL logo , Anna Czypionka and Joanna Błaszczak

Abstract

In an eye-tracking during reading experiment we investigated the processing of ambiguous Polish imperfective verbs in contexts with disambiguating (‘frequently’ and ‘yesterday’) and neutral preceding adverbs. Grammatical number of NP objects was also manipulated. Verb regions received significantly longer regression path times when following a neutral compared to 'yesterday' contexts. This implies that in neutral contexts both senses of polysemous imperfective verbs are activated on the verbal region. Post-hoc analyses revealed more regressions from singular objects in neutral contexts, suggesting that a preference for a more frequent plural event sense was created before the first fixations on the object were made. Finally, we observed an effect consisting of longer first pass times on singular objects and more regressions from the following region in contexts with ‘frequently’, which is consistent with the view that imperfective aspect is underspecified for number. This pattern of results is compatible with Relevance Theory, which posits that the selection of one sense (single ongoing or plural) is an outcome of an inferential process based on frequency, context and world knowledge. However, the fact that sense frequency plays a role in this process indicates that it serves as input to context-based inferential processes suggesting that this information is pre-stored in the memory.


Dorota Klimek-Jankowska University of Wrocław ul. Uniwersytecka 1 52-020 Wrocław Poland

7

7 Abbreviations

3

third person

ACC

accusative

F

feminine

GEN

genitive

IPFV

imperfective

M

masculine

NOM

nominative

PFV

perfective

PL

plural

PST

past tense

REFL

reflexive

SG

singular

8

8 Acknowledgements

Acknowledgement to two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments.

This research was supported by the Polish National Science Center (NCN) grant OPUS 5 HS2 (DEC-2013/09/B/HS2/02763).

This research was partially supported by the Center for Corpus and Experimental Research on Slavic Languages 'Slavicus' at the University of Wrocław.

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Appendix A: The Verb Phrases Used In The Experiment
imperfective verb singular NP complement plural NP complement
szacować ‘to estimate.ipfv’ stratę ‘loss.sg’ straty ‘loss.pl’
wygłaszać ‘to deliver.ipfv’ wykład ‘lecture.sg’ wykłady ‘lecture.pl’
naprawiać ‘to repair.ipfv’ rower ‘bike.sg’ rowery ‘bike.pl’
wypełniać ‘to fill in.ipfv’ blankiet ‘form.sg’ blankiet ‘form.pl’
podrywać ‘to date.ipfv’ dziewczynę ‘girl.sg’ dziewczyny ‘girl.pl’
ozdabiać ‘to decorate.ipfv’ wnętrze ‘interior.sg’ wnętrza ‘interior.pl’
sporządzać ‘to make.ipfv’ raport ‘report.sg’ raporty ‘report.pl’
zamiatać ‘to sweep.ipfv’ korytarz ‘corridor.sg’ korytarze ‘corridor.pl’
wyceniać ‘to price.ipfv’ działkę ‘building plot.sg’ działki ‘building plot.pl’
podlewać ‘to water.ipfv’ trawnik ‘lawn.sg’ trawniki ‘lawn.pl’
oceniać ‘to grade.ipfv’ sprawdzian ‘test.sg’ sprawdziany ‘test.pl’
rozliczać ‘to settle.ipfv’ wniosek ‘application.sg’ wnioski ‘application.pl’
montować ‘to install.ipfv’ tłumik ‘silencer.sg’ tłumiki ‘silencer.pl’
wycinać ‘to cut down.ipfv’ drzewo ‘tree.sg’ drzewa ‘tree.pl’
omawiać ‘to discuss.ipfv’ problem ‘problem.sg’ problemy ‘problem.pl’
pakować ‘to pack.ipfv’ produkt ‘product.sg’ produkty ‘product.pl’
nagrywać ‘to record.ipfv’ płytę ‘disc.sg’ płyty ‘disc.pl’
drukować ‘to print out.ipfv’ książkę ‘book.sg’ książki ‘book.pl’
ratować ‘to rescue.ipfv’ pacjenta ‘patient.sg’ pacjentów ‘patient.pl’
poprawiać ‘to proofread.ipfv’ esej ‘essay.sg’ eseje ‘essay.pl’
uszczelniać ‘to seal.ipfv’ okno ‘window.sg’ okna ‘window.pl’
wysyłać ‘tp send.ipfv’ paczkę ‘package.sg’ paczki ‘package.pl’
malować ‘to paint.ipfv’ obraz ‘painting.sg’ obrazy ‘obrazy.pl’
szkicować ‘to sketch.ipfv’ budynek ‘building.sg’ budynki ‘building.pl’
podrabiać ‘to fake.ipfv’ podpis ‘signature.sg’ podpisy ‘signature.pl’
wystawiać ‘to give.ipfv’ ocenę ‘grade.sg’ oceny ‘grade.pl’
rysować ‘to draw.ipfv’ portret ‘portrait.sg’ portrety ‘portrait.pl’
testować ‘to test.ipfv’ maszynę ‘machine.sg’ maszyny ‘machine.pl’
wyłudzać ‘to extort.ipfv’ łapówkę ‘bribe.sg’ łapówki ‘bribe.pl’
usuwać ‘to remove.ipfv’ usterkę ‘flaw.sg’ usterki ‘flaw.pl’
Appendix bresults of the statistical analyses

Both this appendix and Appendix A are available at the following link:

https://uniwroc-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/dorota_klimek-jankowska_uwr_edu_pl/ETL3tS4aZXVFlvDrPiWjTS8BdsWFUOL0fzXBGe5owlg2w?e=Hufex3

Published Online: 2022-12-10
Published in Print: 2022-11-25

© 2022 Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland

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