Abstract
In German, noun phrases (NPs) can be ambiguously case-marked as nominative (Subject) or accusative (Object). When readers encounter such ambiguous NPs in scrambled word orders they can experience processing difficulties (e.g., Hemforth, 1993; Knöferle, Crocker, Scheepers, & Pickering, 2001). However, what if preceding discourse context provides
information for establishing the grammatical function of NPs? This information could influence readers’ interpretation of subsequent NPs. In principle, both the processing of sentences with scrambled and canonical word orders could profit from such contextual focus.
