Processing information structure: Evidence from comprehension and production

This dissertation examines the influence of information structure on sentence comprehension and production using a multi-methodological approach.; Chapter 1 provides a theoretical characterization of information structure, including definitions of topic, focus, and contrastiveness, and a hypothesis with three predictions for how information structure should apply to sentence processing: (1) information status should influence the cognitive states of discourse referents; (2) information structure, if a separate level of representation, should influence processing independent of syntax and semantics; (3) information status should influence sentence production as well.; In Chapter 2, the first prediction is tested in a cross-modal priming study of how topic and contrastive focus influence referent accessibility during pronoun resolution. The results of two experiments suggest that both topic and contrastive focus render referents more accessible, and thus preferred as antecedents for pronouns.; In Chapter 3, three ERP studies test the second prediction. The first two studies examine how wh-question contexts affect expectations about the identity of clefted focus constituents: violations of such expectations elicit an N400-like response associated with semantic and pragmatic aspects of processing. The third study investigates the processing of identical sentences following discourse contexts that create either an informational or a contrastive focus interpretation. The results show that comprehenders process identical sentences differently depending on focus status: an anterior negativity was elicited at the beginning of the target sentence in the contrastive condition as an index of holding a contrast set in working memory, followed by a late positivity at the contrastive focus position that cannot be interpreted as a failure of syntactic parsing.; Chapter 4 tests the third prediction by comparing the influence of topic status and givenness on order of mention in sentence production and word recall. Speakers produced previously given referents earlier than new ones, with topics showing an additional early mention advantage beyond givenness, but only in sentence contexts, while givenness affected mention in both sentence production and word recall. This suggests that while givenness exerts an effect via an increase in accessibility, topic effects are more specific to sentence production itself.