The aim of this self-paced reading time study was to investigate the role of grammatical and context-based gender in assigning an antecedent to a pronoun when the antecedent was an epicene or a bi-gender noun. In Italian, epicene nouns (e.g., vittima, victim) have a grammatical gender while bi-gender nouns (e.g., erede, heir) do not have a grammatical gender and might acquire it from the context in which they occur. We designed three different types of context: Epicene-Incongruent contexts (i.e., contexts containing a gender bias that differed from the grammatical gender of epicenes), Epicene-Congruent contexts (i.e., contexts where the two gender levels coincide) and Neutral contexts. For epicenes, pronoun resolution was driven by the grammatical gender marked in the epicene’s representation. For bi-genders, pronoun resolution was driven by the gender assigned by context. The results are discussed in the light of current models of anaphor resolution.

Pronoun resolution in Italian: the role of grammatical gender and context / Cacciari, Cristina; Corradini, Paola; Padovani, Roberto; M., Carreiras. - In: JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY. - ISSN 2044-5911. - STAMPA. - 23:4(2011), pp. 416-434. [10.1080/20445911.2011.526599]

Pronoun resolution in Italian: the role of grammatical gender and context.

CACCIARI, Cristina;CORRADINI, PAOLA;PADOVANI, ROBERTO;
2011

Abstract

The aim of this self-paced reading time study was to investigate the role of grammatical and context-based gender in assigning an antecedent to a pronoun when the antecedent was an epicene or a bi-gender noun. In Italian, epicene nouns (e.g., vittima, victim) have a grammatical gender while bi-gender nouns (e.g., erede, heir) do not have a grammatical gender and might acquire it from the context in which they occur. We designed three different types of context: Epicene-Incongruent contexts (i.e., contexts containing a gender bias that differed from the grammatical gender of epicenes), Epicene-Congruent contexts (i.e., contexts where the two gender levels coincide) and Neutral contexts. For epicenes, pronoun resolution was driven by the grammatical gender marked in the epicene’s representation. For bi-genders, pronoun resolution was driven by the gender assigned by context. The results are discussed in the light of current models of anaphor resolution.
2011
23
4
416
434
Pronoun resolution in Italian: the role of grammatical gender and context / Cacciari, Cristina; Corradini, Paola; Padovani, Roberto; M., Carreiras. - In: JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY. - ISSN 2044-5911. - STAMPA. - 23:4(2011), pp. 416-434. [10.1080/20445911.2011.526599]
Cacciari, Cristina; Corradini, Paola; Padovani, Roberto; M., Carreiras
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11380/645309
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