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Dislocated sequences and word order in French: a processing approach*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

L. Kathy Heilenman  and
Janet L. McDonald
L. Kathy Heilenman
Affiliation:
Department of French and Italian, University of Iowa, 31 Schaeffer Hall, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA.
Janet L. McDonald
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, U.S.A.
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Abstract

This article reports the results of three studies dealing with dislocated sequences in French. A text count of written and spoken French reveals that word order is not entirely free in these sequences but instead obeys certain constraints. Two studies then investigate the use of cues (word order, clitic pronoun type, clitic pronoun agreement and animacy) in the interpretation of dislocated sequences by native speakers of French. Results indicate that the constraints found in the text count, with minor modifications, are also operative in processing.

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Type
Articles
Information
Journal of French Language Studies , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , September 1993 , pp. 165 - 190
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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