TY - JOUR
T1 - Disentangling principle C
T2 - A contribution from individuals with brain damage
AU - Balaban, Noga
AU - Belletti, Adriana
AU - Friedmann, Naama
AU - Rizzi, Luigi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2016/1/1
Y1 - 2016/1/1
N2 - We suggest a disentangling approach according to which the use of referring expressions obeys two types of guidelines. Deviance in repeating referential expressions (R-expressions) can result from two possible sources: one is the violation of the syntactic principle C, ruling out configurations in which c-command holds between the two identical R-expressions; the other is a Go-Lighter (GL) economy principle, applying in discourse and arguably based on shared knowledge and theory of mind (TOM), operative also in environments in which c-command does not hold. To examine this disentangling approach, we tested 36 brain-damaged patients: 20 who had aTOMia, a deficit in TOM, and 16 brain-damaged patients with good TOM, and 29 healthy control participants. Experiment 1 tested the comprehension of principles A and B using a sentence-picture-matching task. Experiment 2 tested principles C and GL using a sentence-choice task. Experiment 3 tested sentence interpretation according to principles C and GL using sentence-picture matching. In line with the disentangling approach, the individuals with poor TOM (and good syntax) failed to rule out and interpret repeating expressions that rely solely on the Go-Lighter principle, but succeeded in judging and interpreting sentences in which the repetition is ruled out by the syntactic principle C.
AB - We suggest a disentangling approach according to which the use of referring expressions obeys two types of guidelines. Deviance in repeating referential expressions (R-expressions) can result from two possible sources: one is the violation of the syntactic principle C, ruling out configurations in which c-command holds between the two identical R-expressions; the other is a Go-Lighter (GL) economy principle, applying in discourse and arguably based on shared knowledge and theory of mind (TOM), operative also in environments in which c-command does not hold. To examine this disentangling approach, we tested 36 brain-damaged patients: 20 who had aTOMia, a deficit in TOM, and 16 brain-damaged patients with good TOM, and 29 healthy control participants. Experiment 1 tested the comprehension of principles A and B using a sentence-picture-matching task. Experiment 2 tested principles C and GL using a sentence-choice task. Experiment 3 tested sentence interpretation according to principles C and GL using sentence-picture matching. In line with the disentangling approach, the individuals with poor TOM (and good syntax) failed to rule out and interpret repeating expressions that rely solely on the Go-Lighter principle, but succeeded in judging and interpreting sentences in which the repetition is ruled out by the syntactic principle C.
KW - ATOMia
KW - Binding principles
KW - Hebrew
KW - Principle C
KW - Repeated name penalty
KW - Right hemisphere damage
KW - Syntax
KW - Theory of mind
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85000405938&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.lingua.2015.09.004
DO - 10.1016/j.lingua.2015.09.004
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AN - SCOPUS:85000405938
SN - 0024-3841
VL - 169
SP - 1
EP - 20
JO - Lingua
JF - Lingua
ER -