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Abstract:
In this paper, we present experimental evidence for the existence of
syntax-independent (viz. thematic) reanalysis effects. In an experiment using
event-related brain potentials (ERPs), we manipulated the thematic
structure of the verb in transitive, unambiguously case marked German
verb-final clauses such that the processing of this verb either confirmed the
‘canonical’ hierarchical thematic ordering between the sentential arguments
(active verbs) or required a reversal of this ordering (object-experiencer
verbs). The latter elicited a parietal positivity between 300 and 600 ms post
onset, which, as we argue, must be interpreted as reflecting a thematic
reanalysis. The second experimental manipulation, i.e., a variation of word
order (SO vs. OS), revealed an early positivity at the position of the secondNP in dative-nominative (OS) structures. Again, we account for this effect in
terms of a thematic reanalysis, which becomes necessary when the original
interpretation of the initial argument as thematically highest-ranking must be
revised. We conclude from our data that case marking languages such as
German may employ non-syntactic processing routes to determine the
thematic interpretation of a sentence.
