Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience, 3rd Edition

Understanding Sentences • 305

How did you interpret this sentence as you read it? Initially, after cast iron sinks, the

sentence appears to be about a cast iron sink that you might fi nd in a kitchen or work-

room; then at quickly, the sentence appears to be about a heavy piece of metal sink-

ing in water; but after rusts, the sentence’s meaning changes back to being about that

kitchen or workroom sink.

This is an example of a garden path sentence, so called because it leads the reader

“down the garden path” (down a path that seems right, but turns out to be wrong). A

basic question about this “garden path” process is how readers decide which meanings

to pick as the sentence unfolds. This process involves parsing, because the meaning of

the sentence depends on how the words are grouped into phrases. Two approaches to

understanding how the parsing mechanism works have been proposed. One assigns the

central role to syntax, with semantics coming into play later; the other proposes that

syntax and semantics work simultaneously to determine the meaning of a sentence.

THE SYNTAX-FIRST APPROACH TO PARSING

As its name implies, the syntax-fi rst approach to parsing focuses on how parsing is deter-

mined by syntax—the grammatical structure of the sentence. The syntax-fi rst approach

states that the parsing mechanism groups phrases together based on structural prin-

ciples. One of these principles is called late closure. The principle of late closure states

that when a person encounters a new word, the person’s parsing mechanism assumes

that this word is part of the current phrase, so each new word is added to the current

phrase for as long as possible (Frazier, 1987).

Consider, for example, our garden path sentence about cast iron. Let’s look at how

the grouping of words into phrases proceeds as we add words to the sentence. Words

between two vertical lines are in the same phrase.

1. |Cast iron|
   These words go together, indicating a type of iron.


2. |Cast iron sinks|
   The added word sinks, when grouped as here, could be a noun meaning “kitchen sinks”
   or a verb meaning “sinks to the bottom.” The fact that sinks can have two meanings is
   an example of lexical ambiguity.


3. |Cast iron sinks quickly|
   Quickly is added to the phrase cast iron sinks. This, and the examples above, are exam-
   ples of late closure, because each word in turn is added to the current phrase. Adding
   quickly to this phrase indicates that the meaning of sinks is “sinks to the bottom.”


4. |Cast iron sinks| |quickly rust|
   Adding rust changes the meaning, making it necessary to adjust the parsing so that
   quickly becomes part of a new phrase. Once the sentence is completed, we can see that
   in step 3 late closure led us astray (“down the garden path”). To be sure you understand
   late closure, try the following demonstration.

DEMONSTRATION: Answers to Late Closure Demonstration

For the following sentences, determine (1) where the fi rst phrase ends (determine this by read-

ing the whole sentence); and (2) the word or words that are erroneously added to the fi rst

phrase during the initial reading because of late closure (determine this by noticing how the

sentence could be misinterpreted as it is being read). For answers, see page 325.

1. The shopper felt the fur coat was overpriced.


2. Because he always jogs a mile seems like a short distance to him.


3. The mechanic maintained the truck was working beautifully.

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