English Homework Help

Linguistics 

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16. It sometimes happens that we initially misidentify the word that someone says to us, only to recover the correct word a second later. In terms of the race metaphor, this is kind of like what happens when the second-place finisher is promoted to winner due to disqualification of the person who actually crossed the line first. What sort of things could case a word to get disqualified in speech perception.

17. Say the following sentences out loud at normal speaking rate. What problem do the sentences pose for the cohort model of lexical access?

– This guy looks interesting

-The sky looks interesting.

18. Look for examples of phoneme restoration and think abut how you might activate the intended word under both the trace and cohort models.

i. Examples like these are very problematic for the cohort model. Why?

ii. There is a class of phoneme restoration examples that the cohort model can handle just fine. Describe this set of examples and explain why they are not a problem. HINT: the word railroad could be recognized by the cohort model if the /d/ were missing, but not the /l/ – why?

19. “Bill told Maria he had learned some cool linguistics last week” has an ambiguity based on whether the learning or the telling happened “last week.”

i. Is the ambiguity lexical or structural?

ii. Is the ambiguity temporary or global?

iii. Which meaning of the sentence would be predicted by the late closure strategy?

20. Each of the following strings of words is ambiguous. For each indicate whether the ambiguity is lexical or structural draw free structure trees if helpful and paraphrase the two meanings.

A. The player knew that the ball would be attended by the prince.

B. The clown caught the thief with the umbrella.

C. Jill looked for the documents that Julie hid under the table.

D. We will dispense water to anyone in a sterile plastic bottle.

E. Tom said that Bill went on a date yesterday.

F. The mysterious stranger tricked the man with a mask.

G. Jason mentioned that Susan wanted to go to the movies yesterday.

The following are adapted from news headlines:

H. We will sell gasoline to anyone in a glass container.

I. Two sisters reunited after 18 years in checkout counter.

J. Red tape holds up the new bridge.

K. Lansing residence can drop off trees.

L. Stolen painting found by tree.

M. In rage Cowin jersey farmer with acts.

N. Two cars were reported stolen by the Groveton police.

O. Kids make nutritious snacks.

21. Each of the following sentences is a garden path sentence. For each sentence explain how people are led down the garden path. In other words explain how the sentence is initially parse and how it needs to be re-analyze to be parsed correctly. Explain why these sentences lead people down the garden path.

A. The boat floated downstream sank.

B. The cotton clothing is made from grows in Mississippi.

C. The daughter of the king’s son admires himself.

D. The florist sent the flowers was pleased.

E. They told the boy that the girl met the story.