{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/22348"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/22348","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"The effects of word order, noun animacy, and verb reversibility on the syllogistic processing of children and adults","abstract":"The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of grammatical cues on the processing of syllogisms by children and adults. Eighty-four grade school children and twenty-one university students participated as subjects. Five age groups (classified by reading age) were represented in the study: 7+, 9+, 11+, 13+ and adults. Twenty-four syllogisms were constructed based on specific combinations of two levels of word order, Noun-Verb-Noun (NVN) and Noun-Noun-Verb; two levels of noun animacy, Animate-Inanimate (AI) and Animate-Animate (AnAn), and two levels of verb reversibility, nonreversible (NR) and reversible (R). These 24 syllogisms in written form bound in a test booklet were presented to individual subjects tested as a group. Each syllogism was written with two premises and four possible conclusions. Subjects were asked to select the valid conclusion from these four choices. The investigation compared the performance of the five reading-age groups using a repeated measures 4 x 2 x 2 mixed effects analysis of variance design. The factors of word order, noun animacy and verb reversibility were tested for main and interaction effects across all subjects combined and across each reading-age groups. Results indicate that (a) performance improved as subjects became older, (b) word order cue is the major factor in governing syllogistic processing with noun animacy and verb reversibility serving in diminished secondary capacities, and (c) syllogisms in the NVN form were processed significantly better than syllogisms in the NNV form. It is concluded that the canonical word order form, NVN, facilitates syllogistic interpretation and that children and adult English speakers demonstrate a definitive SV bias in the processing of any linguistic stimuli.","abstract_html":"The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of grammatical cues on the processing of syllogisms by children and adults. Eighty-four grade school children and twenty-one university students participated as subjects. Five age groups (classified by reading age) were represented in the study: 7+, 9+, 11+, 13+ and adults. Twenty-four syllogisms were constructed based on specific combinations of two levels of word order, Noun-Verb-Noun (NVN) and Noun-Noun-Verb; two levels of noun animacy, Animate-Inanimate (AI) and Animate-Animate (AnAn), and two levels of verb reversibility, nonreversible (NR) and reversible (R). These 24 syllogisms in written form bound in a test booklet were presented to individual subjects tested as a group. Each syllogism was written with two premises and four possible conclusions. Subjects were asked to select the valid conclusion from these four choices. The investigation compared the performance of the five reading-age groups using a repeated measures 4 x 2 x 2 mixed effects analysis of variance design. The factors of word order, noun animacy and verb reversibility were tested for main and interaction effects across all subjects combined and across each reading-age groups. Results indicate that (a) performance improved as subjects became older, (b) word order cue is the major factor in governing syllogistic processing with noun animacy and verb reversibility serving in diminished secondary capacities, and (c) syllogisms in the NVN form were processed significantly better than syllogisms in the NNV form. It is concluded that the canonical word order form, NVN, facilitates syllogistic interpretation and that children and adult English speakers demonstrate a definitive SV bias in the processing of any linguistic stimuli.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Marx, Maureen Gutierrez"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Communication","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Rowan, L.E.","Johnson, Cynthia J."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-05-07T13:37:01Z","date_published":"2011-05-07T13:37:01Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:19Z","subjects":["Health Sciences, Speech Pathology","Psychology, Developmental"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["Copyright 1992 Marx, Maureen Gutierrez"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["AAI9305614","(UMI)AAI9305614"],"render_values":[{"text":"AAI9305614","href":null,"code":true},{"text":"(UMI)AAI9305614","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/22348","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Rowan, L.E.","Johnson, Cynthia J."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Marx, Maureen Gutierrez"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2011-05-07T13:37:01Z","10000-01-01","1992"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Communication"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Health Sciences, Speech Pathology","Psychology, Developmental"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 1992 Marx, Maureen Gutierrez"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["AAI9305614","(UMI)AAI9305614","http://hdl.handle.net/2142/22348"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of grammatical cues on the processing of syllogisms by children and adults. Eighty-four grade school children and twenty-one university students participated as subjects. Five age groups (classified by reading age) were represented in the study: 7+, 9+, 11+, 13+ and adults. Twenty-four syllogisms were constructed based on specific combinations of two levels of word order, Noun-Verb-Noun (NVN) and Noun-Noun-Verb; two levels of noun animacy, Animate-Inanimate (AI) and Animate-Animate (AnAn), and two levels of verb reversibility, nonreversible (NR) and reversible (R). These 24 syllogisms in written form bound in a test booklet were presented to individual subjects tested as a group. Each syllogism was written with two premises and four possible conclusions. Subjects were asked to select the valid conclusion from these four choices. The investigation compared the performance of the five reading-age groups using a repeated measures 4 x 2 x 2 mixed effects analysis of variance design. The factors of word order, noun animacy and verb reversibility were tested for main and interaction effects across all subjects combined and across each reading-age groups. Results indicate that (a) performance improved as subjects became older, (b) word order cue is the major factor in governing syllogistic processing with noun animacy and verb reversibility serving in diminished secondary capacities, and (c) syllogisms in the NVN form were processed significantly better than syllogisms in the NNV form. It is concluded that the canonical word order form, NVN, facilitates syllogistic interpretation and that children and adult English speakers demonstrate a definitive SV bias in the processing of any linguistic stimuli.","Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T13:37:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 4922 bytes, checksum: 910b249b4beec47e7ab768910c8f966f (MD5) 9305614.pdf: 7492805 bytes, checksum: bf3e7d7f12e141eb0ff6daf8fc225bad (MD5) Previous issue date: 1992","Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Howard Ding (hding2@illinois.edu) on 2011-05-07T14:57:00Z Item is restricted indefinitely.","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:26:42-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","U of I Only"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The effects of word order, noun animacy, and verb reversibility on the syllogistic processing of children and adults"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Rowan, L.E.","Johnson, Cynthia J."],"dc:creator":["Marx, Maureen Gutierrez"],"dc:date":["2011-05-07T13:37:01Z","10000-01-01","1992"],"dc:description":["The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of grammatical cues on the processing of syllogisms by children and adults. Eighty-four grade school children and twenty-one university students participated as subjects. Five age groups (classified by reading age) were represented in the study: 7+, 9+, 11+, 13+ and adults. Twenty-four syllogisms were constructed based on specific combinations of two levels of word order, Noun-Verb-Noun (NVN) and Noun-Noun-Verb; two levels of noun animacy, Animate-Inanimate (AI) and Animate-Animate (AnAn), and two levels of verb reversibility, nonreversible (NR) and reversible (R). These 24 syllogisms in written form bound in a test booklet were presented to individual subjects tested as a group. Each syllogism was written with two premises and four possible conclusions. Subjects were asked to select the valid conclusion from these four choices. The investigation compared the performance of the five reading-age groups using a repeated measures 4 x 2 x 2 mixed effects analysis of variance design. The factors of word order, noun animacy and verb reversibility were tested for main and interaction effects across all subjects combined and across each reading-age groups. Results indicate that (a) performance improved as subjects became older, (b) word order cue is the major factor in governing syllogistic processing with noun animacy and verb reversibility serving in diminished secondary capacities, and (c) syllogisms in the NVN form were processed significantly better than syllogisms in the NNV form. It is concluded that the canonical word order form, NVN, facilitates syllogistic interpretation and that children and adult English speakers demonstrate a definitive SV bias in the processing of any linguistic stimuli.","Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T13:37:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 4922 bytes, checksum: 910b249b4beec47e7ab768910c8f966f (MD5) 9305614.pdf: 7492805 bytes, checksum: bf3e7d7f12e141eb0ff6daf8fc225bad (MD5) Previous issue date: 1992","Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Howard Ding (hding2@illinois.edu) on 2011-05-07T14:57:00Z Item is restricted indefinitely.","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:26:42-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","U of I Only"],"dc:identifier":["AAI9305614","(UMI)AAI9305614","http://hdl.handle.net/2142/22348"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 1992 Marx, Maureen Gutierrez"],"dc:subject":["Health Sciences, Speech Pathology","Psychology, Developmental"],"dc:title":["The effects of word order, noun animacy, and verb reversibility on the syllogistic processing of children and adults"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Communication"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:19Z"}