The results of the experiments speak to issues of conceptual and lexical representation, as well as to mechanisms determining word order in sentence production. In the present experiments, we investigated the nature of typicality’s influence on word order. Although typicality is generally thought of as a conceptual variable ( Murphy, 1991 Rosch & Mervis, 1975), there is some reason to believe that it affects language production through lexical accessibility ( Kelly et al., 1986). One particular variable that has been shown to influence word order is category typicality. In short, lexical variables associated with accessibility appear to influence word order within phrases more readily than the order of major sentence constituents. An entity with an accessible label is not necessarily more animate, interesting, salient, or relevant, and so it is not necessarily mentioned in the subject position ( Bock & Warren, 1985 McDonald et al., 1993). High lexical accessibility may enable a word to be said earlier within a phonological planning unit, a phrase, without causing the restructuring of a sentence, presumably because the major determinants of sentence structure (specification of subjects, direct objects, and so on) have already been set by the time the word forms are selected ( Bock & Warren, 1985). This effect can be seen in common expressions in which people prefer to say shorter and more frequent words first, as in salt and pepper compared to pepper and salt ( Cooper & Ross, 1975 Fenk-Oczlon, 1989 Pinker & Birdsong, 1979). All things being equal, words that are more accessible tend be placed earlier within phrases ( Bock, 1982 Kelly, 1986). Similarly, shorter words are generally produced more quickly than longer ones ( Roelofs, 2002 Santiago, MacKay, & Palma, 2002). It is affected by frequency, with frequent words being accessed more rapidly than less frequent ones ( Oldfield & Wingfield, 1965). Lexical accessibility has to do with the ease of retrieving a word. People are more likely to talk about them, their representation is more easily activated, and they are more likely to end up as the subjects of sentences, where speakers put the things they are talking about. Concrete, animate entities reside in a rich conceptual network. Properties that make a concept more prominent include recent mention, concreteness, and animacy ( Bock, Loebell, & Morey, 1992 Bock & Warren, 1985 Clark & Begun, 1971 McDonald et al., 1993). Conceptual accessibility refers to the fact that certain kinds of concepts have prominence within the conceptual system and therefore references to them are more likely to occur as subjects than as direct objects ( McDonald et al., 1993) and more likely to occur as direct or first objects than as indirect or second objects ( Bock & Warren, 1985). Both of these factors, called respectively conceptual and lexical accessibility, have been shown to affect the ordering of words in sentences ( Bock, 1977 1986 1987a, b Bock & Irwin, 1980 Bock & Warren, 1985 Kelly, Bock, & Keil, 1986 McDonald, Bock, & Kelly, 1993 Prat-Sala & Branigan, 2000). There are at least two ways in which things can be easier to say: It can be easier to access the concept, or it can be easier to access the word that refers to the concept ( Bock, 1987a Clark & Clark, 1977). One principle determining word order is that things that are easier to say tend to get said earlier ( Bock, 1982). In this article, we examine the factors that affect word order when order matters to sentence structure and whether those factors are the same when order does not greatly affect structure. Saying either Please bring some apples and kiwis to the party or Please bring some kiwis and apples to the party would probably lead to the same outcome (two sorts of fruit at the event), even though the order of words is different. Options may also differ in word order alone. Passive sentences differ in structure and word order, but they provide the same basic information as the corresponding actives. For example, English allows us to say Lee inspired Pat and Pat was inspired by Lee. But English sometimes provides alternative ways to convey approximately the same meaning. How do people decide which words to say first? The syntax of English provides one constraint, as some words need to be the subject or object, given the meaning to be communicated. When people talk, the order of their words matters: Lee inspired Pat does not mean the same thing as Pat inspired Lee.
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