The difference between "giving a rose" and "giving a kiss": Sustained neural activity to the light verb construction

Eva Wittenberg*, Martin Paczynski, Heike Wiese, Ray Jackendoff, Gina Kuperberg

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

We used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the neurocognitive mechanisms associated with processing light verb constructions such as "give a kiss". These constructions consist of a semantically underspecified light verb ("give") and an event nominal that contributes most of the meaning and also activates an argument structure of its own ("kiss"). This creates a mismatch between the syntactic constituents and the semantic roles of a sentence. Native speakers read German verb-final sentences that contained light verb constructions (e.g., "Julius gave Anne a kiss"), non-light constructions (e.g., "Julius gave Anne a rose"), and semantically anomalous constructions (e.g., *"Julius gave Anne a conversation"). ERPs were measured at the critical verb, which appeared after all its arguments. Compared to non-light constructions, the light verb constructions evoked a widely distributed, frontally focused, sustained negative-going effect between 500 and 900. ms after verb onset. We interpret this effect as reflecting working memory costs associated with complex semantic processes that establish a shared argument structure in the light verb constructions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)31-42
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Memory and Language
Volume73
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Argument structure
  • Event-related potential
  • Light verb constructions
  • Sentence processing
  • Sustained negativity
  • Syntax-semantics interface

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The difference between "giving a rose" and "giving a kiss": Sustained neural activity to the light verb construction'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this