Disentangling principle C: a contribution from individuals with brain damage

Balaban, Noga ^[1] ; Belletti, Adriana ^[2] ; Friedmann, Naama ^[1] ; Rizzi, Luigi ^[2]
1. [1] Tel Aviv University
  
  Tel Aviv University
  
  Israel
2. [2] Università degli Studi di Siena
  
  Università degli Studi di Siena
  
  Siena, Italia
Localización: Lingua: International review of general linguistics, ISSN 0024-3841, Nº 169, 2016, págs. 1-20
Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
- 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.