LING/PSYCH 371 LANGUAGE AND THE MIND
EXAM 2
1
NAME: ______________________
Multiple Choice Questions (30 items * 3 points/each)
Direction: Circle your answer (i.e. a, b, c, or d), and make your choice clear.
1. In each sentence below, a group of words are bolded. Which of the bolded phrases is a verb
phrase?
a. Joey and Chandler raised a duck and a chick, but not llamas.
b. Monica is a chef at a really fancy restaurant.
c. Nobody knows what Chandler does for living.
d. Phoebe is a masseuse, who seems to be too relaxed.
2. Consider the following phrase structure rules:
S → NP VP
NP → Det (AdjP) N (PP)
VP → (AdvP) V (NP) (PP)
PP → P NP
(S: Sentence, NP: Noun Phrase, VP: Verb Phrase,
PP: Preposition Phrase, P: Preposition, N: Noun,
V: Verb)
Note that “NP” can have “PP” and “PP” can have “NP”, which can result in a never-ending
sentence. This phenomenon is one of the major characteristics of natural language. What is it
called?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Interchangeability
Arbitrariness
Recursivity
Discreteness
3 ~ 8: Identify the ambiguity type of the following sentences:
3. Thank you for the tip.
a. lexical
b. structural
6. We need more intelligent leaders.
a. local
b. global
4. The spy saw the cop with binoculars.
a. lexical
b. structural
7. John bought the flowers for Mary.
a. local
b. global
5. The boat floated downstream sank.
a. local
b. global
8. The horse raced past the barn fell.
a. local
b. global
LING/PSYCH 371 LANGUAGE AND THE MIND
EXAM 2
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9. Sentence processing is studied through different research methods. What research method is
described by the following?
“A subject is seated in front of a computer screen, and s/he is presented a small chunk of
words on the screen. The task is to press a button as soon as they read and understand the
words, and the computer record the reaction time.”
a. eye-tracking
b. ERP
c. self-paced reading
d. questionnaire
10. In processing a locally ambiguous sentence, the processing is slowed down when the
ambiguity is resolved and the reader realizes that s/he made a wrong choice. At this point,
the reader has to go back to the decision making point, and correct his/her interpretation of
the sentence. That’s why the processing is slowed down. What is this reanalysis called?
a. misinterpretation effect
b. priming effect
c. garden-path effect
d. frequency effect
11 ~ 14. Consider the following sentence:
The city council argues the mayor’s position is correct.
The above sentence is locally (temporarily) ambiguous. The ambiguous region is the mayor’s position.
At the ambiguous region (i.e. the mayor’s position) there are two structural choices, i.e. object vs.
subject interpretation. In other words, at the ambiguous region, the sentence processor has more than
one choice to choose from.
11. What does the serial parsing (sentence processing) model predicts at the ambiguous region?
a. Consider either object or subject interpretation
b. Consider both object and subject interpretations
c. Make no decision until ambiguity is resolved
12. According to the parallel parsing model, what choice will be considered at the ambiguous
region by the sentence processor?
a. Consider either object or subject interpretation
b. Consider both object and subject interpretations
c. Make no decision until ambiguity is resolved
13. At the ambiguous region, what does the minimal commitment model predicts?
a. Consider either object or subject interpretation
b. Consider both object and subject interpretations
c. Make no decision until ambiguity is resolved
14. Identify the disambiguating region.
a. The city council
b. argues
c. is correct
LING/PSYCH 371 LANGUAGE AND THE MIND
EXAM 2
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15. If a parsing model predicts that the sentence processor makes use of syntactic information
and only syntactic information in making the decision at the ambiguous region, this model is
the ________________ regarding the information-use principle.
a. Serial model
b. Parallel model
c. Modular model
d. Interactive model
Consider the following sentence:
The spy saw the cop with a telescope.
Interpretation 1: The spy used a telescope when s/he saw the cop.
Interpretation 2: The spy saw the cop who was carrying a telescope.
16. The above sentence is ambiguous, and the two different interpretations have two different
tree structures respectively. According to the Garden-Path model, there is a parsing
preference by the sentence processor toward Interpretation 1. It is because the model
assumes that the sentence processor tends to attach each incoming lexical item into the
existing structure, adding the fewest possible number of nodes to the tree. What is this
strategy called?
a. Late Closure
b. Minimal Attachment
c. Right Association
d. None of the above
Consider the following sentence:
Tom said that Bill had taken the cleaning out yesterday.
Interpretation 1: Tom said yesterday that Bill had taken the cleaning out at some point in the past.
Interpretation 2: Tom made a statement in the past that Bill had taken the cleaning out yesterday.
17. The above sentence is another example of an ambiguous sentence. According to the GardenPath model, the sentence processor prefers Interpretation 2. It is because the model predicts
that the sentence processor tends to attach incoming lexical items into the phrase being
processed, i.e. attach incoming lexical items to a recent phrase if grammatically permissible.
What is this strategy called?
a. Late Closure
b. Minimal Attachment
c. Left Association
d. None of the above
LING/PSYCH 371 LANGUAGE AND THE MIND
EXAM 2
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18 ~ 21: Given the examples of speech errors, Identify the type of each speech error.
18. Intended: I’d forgotten about that.
Produced: I’d forgot abouten that.
a. anticipation exchange
b. exchange
c. shift
d. perseveration
19. Intended: I want to get a new key chain.
Produced: I want to get a new chey kain.
a. exchange
b. perseveration
c. deletion
d. substitution
20. Intended: It’s the best salad ever; it’s better than sex.
Produced: It’s the best sex ever; it’s better than sex.
a. shift
b. exchange
c. anticipation
d. perseveration
21. Intended: That’s a really low line.
Produced: That’s a really row line.
a. substitution
b. exchange
c. addition
d. perseveration
22. The observations of various speech errors reveal the possible units of speech segments.
Consider the following speech error:
Intended: easily enough
Produced: easy enoughly
Which speech unit does this speech error suggest?
a. phonetic feature
b. phoneme
c. morpheme
d. word
23. Consider the following speech error:
Intended: My sister went to the Grand Canyon.
Produced: The Grand Canyon went to my sister.
Which speech unit does this speech error suggest?
a. phoneme
b. morpheme
c. word
d. phrase
LING/PSYCH 371 LANGUAGE AND THE MIND
EXAM 2
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24. Given a sentence, the arguments (i.e. noun phrases) of the sentence can be described in terms
of thematic relations and grammatical relations. Consider the following sentences:
Michael accidentally broke the window.
Which of the following is correct regarding the thematic relation and the grammatical
relation of the noun phrase the window ?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Thematic Relation
Agent
Object
Patient
Object
Grammatical Relation
Object
Patient
Object
Agent
25. Now, consider the following sentences:
The window was broken accidentally by Michael.
Which of the following is correct regarding the thematic relation and the grammatical
relation of the noun phrase the window ?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Thematic Relation
Agent
Subject
Patient
Subject
Grammatical Relation
Subject
Patient
Subject
Agent
26 ~ 30 Consider the Speech Production Model proposed by Bock and Levelt:
message level

functional level

positional level

phonological encoding

articualtion
26 ~ 28 Given each description, identify the processing level
where the description takes place. Draw lines to match
between the descriptions and the processing levels.
29 ~ 30 Given the speech error example, identify the
processing level where the speech error might take place.
26. the processing level where the grammatical relations
of the message are formed:

a. Message level
27. the processing level where the thematic relations
of the message are formed:

b. Functional level
28. the processing level where inflectional morphemes
determiners are selected:

c. Positional level
29. the processing level where content words are selected: 
d. Phonological encoding
LING/PSYCH 371 LANGUAGE AND THE MIND
EXAM 2
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30. Intended: Fighter pilots
Produced: Pighter filots
a. Message level
b. Functional level
c. Positional level
d. Phonological encoding
Bonus (3 points)
a.
b.
c.
d.
Intended: Hey! Let’s go to Jimmy John’s
Produced: Hey! Let’s go to Jimmy’s John.
Message level
Functional level
Positional level
Phonological encoding
Essay Questions (2 items * 10 points/each)
31. Consider the following ambiguous sentence. Specify the prediction of Garden-path model.
As soon as he had phoned his wife started to prepare for the journey.
1. Ambiguity Type: Local (
) Global (
)
2. Ambiguity Region : ____________
3. Possible Interpretations at the ambiguous Region:
1. ____________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________
4. Prediction by Garden-Path Model: Interpretation (#
) is preferred because of both
the late closure and the minimal attachment strategy.
5. Therefore the prediction of the reading time at the disambiguation region is that the
reading will be faster ( )/slower ( ).
32. Consider the following sentences. Both sentences contain ambiguity; identify the type of the
ambiguity and the ambiguous regions. Specify the prediction of constraint-based model
(here, I mean, the probabilistic serial model), and the reason of the prediction.
A. The florist sent the flowers was very pleased.
B. The performer sent the flowers was very pleased.
1. Ambiguity Type: Local (
) Global (
)
2. Ambiguity Region : ____________
3. Disambiguating Region: ______________
4. Prediction by Constraint-Based Model: The reading time at the disambiguating region of
Sentence (
) is slower than Sentence (
). (Select between A and B.)
5. This prediction is based on the assumption that the (
) information is
available immediately in decision making. (Choose between “syntactic” and “semantic”)