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2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

Judgments of the grammaticality of sentences violating Chomsky's principle of Full Interpretation

Research Project

Project/Area Number 15530471
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)

Allocation TypeSingle-year Grants
Section一般
Research Field Experimental psychology
Research InstitutionOkayama University

Principal Investigator

NAGATA Hiroshi  Okayama University, Faculty of Economics, Professor, 経済学部, 教授 (30093694)

Project Period (FY) 2003 – 2004
Keywordsknowledge of language / grammaticality judgements / principle of Full Interpretation / psychological reality / bitransitive sentences / Japanese
Research Abstract

According to Chomsky's generative grammar, his theory concerns the knowledge of language, i.e., what native speakers know about their language. This study explored the psychological reality of the principle of Full Interpretation, a principle that, given his realist position, must be attributed to the mind of the native speakers. Five experiments yielded the following major findings :
1.Ungrammatical bitransitive sentences violating this principle were not judged as completely ungrammatical contrary to the expectation realized if the principle had been applied in an all-or-none fashion. Instead, they were judged as moderately grammatical. Ungrammatical sentences that included a verbal noun comprising a noun followed by a verb, shita (did), were judged to be highly grammatical despite the violation of the principle.
2.Ungrammatical sentences given punctuation were judged more grammatical than the ones without punctuation.
3.Ungrammatical transformed bitransitive sentences were judged less grammatical than their basic counterparts. For the transformed sentences emphasis slightly increased the judged grammaticality of both the subjective and the objective sentences.
These findings would not be expected if the speakers possess and judge the sentences in conformity with the principle of Full Interpretation, hence raising doubt concerning Chomsky's assertion that native speakers possess the same knowledge as is defined by his generative grammar.

  • Research Products

    (7 results)

All 2005 2004 2003

All Journal Article (7 results)

  • [Journal Article] The role of emphasis and argument order in the judgments of Japanese bitransitive sentences violating Chomsky's principle of Full Interpretation.2005

    • Author(s)
      Hiroshi Nagata
    • Journal Title

      Psychologia 48(In press)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Journal Article] The role of emphasis and argument order in the judgments of Japanese bitransitive sentences violating the principle of Full Interpretation.2005

    • Author(s)
      Hiroshi Nagata
    • Journal Title

      Psychologia 48(In press)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
  • [Journal Article] Faulty Japanese sentences are judged more grammatical when punctuation is used : Negative implications for Chomsky's principle of Full Interpretation.2004

    • Author(s)
      Hiroshi Nagata
    • Journal Title

      Perceptual and Motor Skills 99

      Pages: 325-336

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Journal Article] Faulty Japanese sentences are judged more grammatical when punctuation is used : Negative implications for the principle of Full Interpretation.2004

    • Author(s)
      Hiroshi Nagata
    • Journal Title

      Perceptual and Motor Skills 99

      Pages: 325-336

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
  • [Journal Article] Judgments of grammaticality of Japanese sentences violating the principle of Full Interpretation.2003

    • Author(s)
      Hiroshi Nagata
    • Journal Title

      Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 32

      Pages: 693-709

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Journal Article] Judgments of grammaticality of sentences violating the principle of Full Interpretation : A further exploration.2003

    • Author(s)
      Hiroshi Nagata
    • Journal Title

      Perceptual and Motor Skills 97

      Pages: 477-482

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Journal Article] Judgments of grammaticality of sentences violating the principle of Full Interpretation.2003

    • Author(s)
      Hiroshi Nagata
    • Journal Title

      Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 32

      Pages: 693-709

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より

URL: 

Published: 2006-07-11  

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