Pointing to the right side? An ERP study on anaphora resolution in German Sign Language
2018 | journal article; research paper. A publication with affiliation to the University of Göttingen.
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- Authors
- Wienholz, Anne; Nuhbalaoglu, Derya; Mani, Nivedita ; Herrmann, Annika; Onea, Edgar; Steinbach, Markus
- Abstract
- Sign languages use the horizontal plane to refer to discourse referents introduced at referential locations. However, the question remains whether the assignment of discourse referents follows a particular default pattern as recently proposed such that two new discourse referents are respectively assigned to the right (ipsilateral) and left (contralateral) side of (right handed) signers. The present event-related potential study on German Sign Language investigates the hypothesis that signers assign distinct and contrastive referential locations to discourse referents even in the absence of overt localization. By using a semantic mismatch-design, we constructed sentence sets where the second sentence was either consistent or inconsistent with the used pronoun. Semantic mismatch conditions evoked an N400, whereas a contralateral index sign engendered a Phonological Mismatch Negativity. The current study provides supporting evidence that signers are sensitive to the mismatch and make use of a default pattern to assign distinct and contrastive referential locations to discourse referents.
- Issue Date
- 2018
- Journal
- PLoS One
- Organization
- Abteilung Germanistische Linguistik
- ISSN
- 1932-6203
- Language
- English