Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
2-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Program
Linguistics
Advisor
Valerie Shafer
Advisor
William Haddican
Committee Members
Gita Martohardjono
Subject Categories
Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics | Syntax
Keywords
Neuro-syntax, ellipsis, syntax, psycholinguistics
Abstract
This dissertation integrates neuroscience and linguistics to investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying syntactic processing. To do this, we focus on Early Syntactic Negativities (ESNs) which are rapid negative electrophysiological responses known to be elicited by phrase structure violations due to an unexpected lexical category. We examine ESNs elicited in two previously undocumented elliptical constructions, sluicing and swiping, employing event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral acceptability judgments. Our investigation builds upon Collins and Stabler’s (2016) formalization of minimalist syntax, proposing a novel Merge Hypothesis of ESNs. This hypothesis posits a direct link between ESNs and violations of the Merge operation, a fundamental structure-building operation in the minimalist program. A key component of our approach is the unification of two previously disparate experimental paradigms used to elicit ESNs in the literature, which we demonstrate are subsumed under a single syntactic distribution predicted by the Merge Hypothesis. We conducted two experiments to test this hypothesis, contrasting the predictions with those of Dikker’s (2010) Sensory Hypothesis which attributes ESNs to sensory prediction errors, not syntactic violations. Our experiments compared violations of ellipsis constraints with violations of Merge, systematically manipulating the grammaticality of sentences within both sluicing and swiping constructions. The results show a significant correlation between Merge violations and ESNs, reflected in both the electrophysiological data and lower acceptability ratings for sentences with Merge violations. Our data also suggest that the Merge Hypothesis and Dikker’s Sensory Hypothesis are compatible, with violations of Merge indexed by anterior electrode sites and violations of form prediction over sensory cortex.
Recommended Citation
Guzzo, Kevin Patrck, "Unifying Comprehension and Competence Through Merge: A New Linking Hypothesis Connecting Electrophysiological Data to Linguistic Intuitions" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6162
