The representation of mono- and intransitive structures

Three structural priming experiments investigated how monotransitive and intransitive structures are represented. Experiment 1 showed that priming from intransitives was stronger when the verb was the same in prime and target than when it was different, but monotransitive priming was unaffected by verb repetition. We argue that the activation of intransitive structures is represented as lexically specific information, whereas the activation of monotransitive structures is represented as category-general information, that is, it is not represented for individual verbs. Experiment 2 showed that monotransitive structures did prime relative to a baseline condition, indicating that the absence of a verb repetition effect with monotransitive primes was not due to a complete absence of priming. Experiment 3 showed a verb repetition effect with wh-monotransitive primes that were structurally similar to intransitives. The effect was in the same direction as with intransitive primes, suggesting that priming is due to linear structure.

► Structural priming experiments investigated mono- and intransitive structures. ► Repetition of verb in prime and target affected intransitive priming. ► Priming from monotransitives was unaffected by verb repetition. ► Monotransitives did prime relative to a baseline condition. ► Lexical boost with wh-monotransitives was similar to intransitives.