Focus in relative clause construal

Abstract

Two auditory comprehension studies investigated the role of focus, as conveyed by a pitch accent, in the comprehension of relative clauses preceded by a complex NP (e.g. the propeller of the plane that . . .). In the first experiment, accenting N1 (propeller) or N2 (plane) increased the probability that the accented NP would be taken as head of the relative clause. This supported the predictions of a Focus Attraction Hypothesis as applied to relative clauses. The second experiment manipulated the prosodic status of the relative clause (accented or unaccented) as well as the type of accent on a potential head of the relative clause. It demonstrated that focus on a potential head of a relative clause attracts both accented relative clauses, presumed to convey new information, and unaccented relative clauses, presumed to convey given information. This supported a straightforward version of the Focus Attraction Hypothesis as opposed to a Congruence Hypothesis, which claims that only modifiers marked as conveying new information preferentially are related to other phrases that are marked as new. The experiment also demonstrated that a contrastive accent on a potential head of a relative clause attracts relative clauses even more than a focal accent that is appropriate for new information. © 1996 Psychology Press, an imprint of Erlbaum (UK) Taylor & Francis Ltd.