@inproceedings {4715, title = {Influence du contexte exp{\'e}rimental sur l{\textquoteright}interpr{\'e}tation des anaphores pronominales en fran{\c c}ais}, volume = {27}, year = {2016}, month = {07/2016}, edition = {SHS Web of Conferences}, abstract = {

R\ésum\é

Cette \étude pr\ésente les r\ésultats de trois questionnaires r\éalis\és en fran\çais afin d\’observer les pr\éf\érences d\’interpr\étation de formes pronominales ambigu\ës. Plus pr\écis\ément, nous nous sommes int\éress\és \à l\’influence du contexte exp\érimental sur l\’interpr\étation de pronoms anaphoriques plus ou moins r\éduits. Dans un premier questionnaire, seules des constructions avec le pronom faible \« il \» \étaient pr\ésent\ées. Un deuxi\ème questionnaire comportait seulement la forme forte \« lui, il \». Enfin, dans un troisi\ème questionnaire les deux formes \étaient m\élang\ées afin d\’observer si la pr\ésence, dans un m\ême questionnaire, des deux formes (\« il \» et \« lui, il \») pouvait influencer leur interpr\étation. C\’est seulement lorsque les deux formes sont pr\ésent\ées dans un m\ême questionnaire que nous observons une division fonctionnelle entre la forme pronominale r\éduite \« il \» et la forme accentu\ée \« lui, il \». La pr\ésence de \« lui, il \» dans le m\ême questionnaire que le pronom \« il \», augmente les interpr\étations du pronom \« il \» en faveur du r\éf\érent saillant (premier mentionn\é, sujet et topique) et les interpr\étations de \« lui, il \» en faveur de l\’ant\éc\édent moins saillant. Ces r\ésultats r\év\èlent \à quel point les locuteurs sont rapidement capables d\’adapter leur pr\éf\érence d\’interpr\étation \à la pr\ésence de formes alternatives dans le contexte.

Abstract

This paper presents the results of three questionnaires in which we investigated interpretational preferences for ambiguous pronominal forms in French. In particular, we examined the influence of the experimental context on the interpretation of more or less reduced anaphoric pronominal forms. In the first questionnaire, only constructions with the clitic pronoun \“il\” were tested. In the second questionnaire, only constructions with the strong form \“lui, il\” were tested. Finally, in the third questionnaire, both forms were mixed in order to test whether the presence of the two forms (\“il\” and \“lui, il\”) in a single questionnaire influences their interpretation. A division of labour in the processing of the reduced form \“il\” and of the strong one \“lui, il\” was observed only in the third questionnaire, i.e. when both forms were presented together. The presence of the form \“lui, il\” in the same questionnaire as the pronoun \“il\” increased the interpretations of the pronoun \“il\” in favour of the more salient referent (i.e., first mentioned, subject and topic) and the interpretations of \“lui, il\” in favour of the less salient antecedent. These results reveal that comprehenders can and do adapt their interpretational preferences to the presence of alternative forms in the context.

}, doi = { http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20162710004}, author = {Colonna, Saveria and Schimke, Sarah and Coralie Vincent and Israel de la Fuente and Barbara Hemforth} } @conference {4725, title = {Topicality-based vs. exposure-based preferences in pronoun resolution in French: Evidence from questionnaires and eye-movements}, year = {2016}, month = {09/2016}, abstract = {

It has been observed that in French sentences such as \&$\#$39;The facteur a appel\é le pirate avant qu\&$\#$39;il rentre \à la maison\&$\#$39; (\&$\#$39;The postman called the pirate before he went home\&$\#$39;), the N2 (the pirate) is strongly preferred as the antecedent of the ambiguous pronoun. This N2-preference in French has been explained by the fact that speakers take into account an alternative non-finite construction that is available in the language (\&$\#$39;avant de rentrer \à la maison\&$\#$39;, \&$\#$39;before going home\&$\#$39;) and that unambiguously refers to the N1.\ 
In a questionnaire and a Visual World eye-tracking experiment, we tested whether the explicit topicalization of the object by means of a passive construction (\&$\#$39;Le pirate a \ét\é appel\é par le facteur...\&$\#$39;) can change the N2-preference in favor of an N1-preference. Despite the fact that the non-finite construction is an unambiguous alternative for the active as well as the passive sentences, we observed a significant increase of N1-preferences in passive compared to active constructions in both the questionnaire (p\<.0001) and the Visual World experiment (p\<.01). These results suggest that pronoun interpretation preferences based on the frequency and availability of alternative constructions can be overridden when a referent is explicitly marked as the topic.

}, author = {Israel de la Fuente and Schimke, Sarah and Coralie Vincent and Barbara Hemforth and Colonna, Saveria} }