Verb-Specific Linking Properties Modulate the N400 Effect: Evidence from Thematic Reversal Anomalies in Malayalam

Abstract

The present study examined whether thematic reversal anomalies are processed similarly across subject and object experiencer constructions in Malayalam. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded as 30 first-language speakers of Malayalam read transitive sentences with the two types of experiencer verbs, in which the thematic role assignment for the preceding arguments was either correct or reverse. The reversal anomaly became apparent only at the position of the experiencer verb. A linear mixed-models analysis confirmed a biphasic N400-P600 effect at the verb for both verb types when the argument roles were reverse. Thus, our results suggest a uniform processing strategy for TRAs irrespective of the type of experiencer verb involved. However, the N400 amplitude was larger for the object experiencer verb compared to subject experiencer verbs. We suggest that the quantitative difference observed for object experiencer verbs is due to the inverse linking of grammatical function and thematic roles associated with these verbs. In other words, verb-specific linking properties modulate the processing of TRAs involving object experiencer verbs. We argue that this modulation occurs because the parser recalibrates cue weighting when the expected form-to-meaning mappings are overridden by the inverse linking properties of object experiencer verbs.