delangiz dalir; mehdi purmohammad; Arsalan Golfam; reza khosroabadi; mahnaz karbalaeisadegh
Abstract
In Persian, which adheres to an SOV word order, complement clauses or prepositional objects typically follow the direct object in their conventional position. However, there is the ...
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In Persian, which adheres to an SOV word order, complement clauses or prepositional objects typically follow the direct object in their conventional position. However, there is the potential to move this phrase to different positions within the sentence. However, this phrase can be moved to other positions in a sentence. Multiple explanations exist for this phenomenon. One such explanation is within Lexical-Functional Grammar, suggesting that the relocated constituent finds its place within lexical entries. More specifically, event-related potential (ERP) was used to investigate this processing in the centro-parietal part of the brain (for the for N400 and P600 components) following the Friedrici model of language comprehension (1995). This research aims to investigate how wh-complement displacement in Persian is processed within the verb's lexical entry using event-related potentials, rooted in the syntactic-semantic role structure. Specifically, this study focuses on the N400 central-anterior component, as introduced by Friedrich in the field of language processing in 1995. Given Persian's rich inflection, which permits various word orders, we examined four distinct positions for complement clauses in the sentences under study, constructing 50 sentences for each condition. These sentence conditions were thoughtfully designed based on consistent word length and syntactic category. To delve deeper into the verb's lexical entry, we presented sentences in a structured format on a display screen and provided comprehensive explanations to participants before the experiment. Participants were instructed to articulate words without any lip or facial movement. Brain responses were recorded as event-related potentials during reading and subsequently analyzed using MATLAB software with EEGlaB. The results reveal that complement clause displacement triggers distinct brain responses within the lexical entry of verbs, marked by an increased N400 amplitude in the central-anterior region when the complement clause is in its canonical position. These findings lead to the conclusion that the movement of the complementizer in Persian follows a Lexical-Functional grammar within the neurophysiological model put forth by by Friedrich's model of syntactic processing .The main conclusions to be drawn from these bits of evidence are the displacement of the Wh-complement in lexical entries of verb in Persian has a neurophysiological basis.