Processing of Internal and External Arguments in Focus in Simple Declarative Sentences in Turkish

Authors : Engin Evrim Önem

Pages : 1-16

View : 67 | Download : 45

Publication Date : 2024-01-09

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Information structuring is the organization of information within a sentence. Among the segments of information structuring, focus is considered as the linguistic element bearing new information in a sentence and monotransitive verbs require one external and one internal argument, either of which can be focused. This paper investigates the effect of different preverbal positions of separately focused arguments on processing simple declarative sentences in Turkish. To achieve this, 128 sets of question-answer pairs hosting focused NPs functioning as either internal or external arguments in different preverbal positions are administered to 28 native speakers of Turkish via a self-paced reading test. The statistical analyses reveal a difference in reading time of simple declarative sentences containing separately focused internal and external arguments scrambled into different preverbal positions in Turkish. Although the difference in reading time of sentences focusing on external arguments is not statistically significant, the reading time difference for internal arguments depending on the preverbal positions is statistically significant. The study reveals that internal arguments are processed faster in the immediate preverbal position, but this position does not make a difference in the processing of external arguments. The findings suggest that low memory load and adjacency to the verb have an important role in the processing of the focus in simple declarative sentences in Turkish.
Keywords : Türkçe, çalkalama, odak, odak konumu, hemen eylem öncesi konum, tümce başı konumu