Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 What Is This Book About
1.2 The Organization of This Book
Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Focus and Focus Marking
2.1.1 Information Structure and Focus
2.1.2 Focus Marking
2.2 The Effects of Prosody and Syntax on Focus Perception
2.2.1 The Effects of Prosody on Focus Perception
2.2.2 The Effects of Syntax(Interacting with Prosody)on
Focus Perception
2.3 The Effects of Focus on Language Processing
2.3.1 Focus as Updating the Common Ground
2.3.2 Focus as Indicating Contextual Alternatives
2.4 Summary and Key Open Questions in the Literature
Chapter 3 Research Questions and Analysis Methods
3.1 Research Questions
3.2 Overview of the Experiments
3.3 Statistical Analyses
3.3.1 Statistical Models
3.3.2 Model Predictors and Selection Procedures
Chapter 4 Context and Lexical Relatedness J udgement
4.1 Background
4.2 Research Question
4.3 Method
4.3.1 Participants
4.3.2 Materials and Design
4.3.3 Procedure
4.4 Results
4.4.1 Data Cleaning and Analysis
4.4.2 The Role of Context in Association Strength
4.4.3 Item Selection
4.5 Discussion
Chapter 5 Focus and the Encoding of Discourse
lnformation
5.1 Background:Focus Marking and Focus Perception
5.2 Background:Focus and Encoding of Discourse
Information
5.3 Research Questions
5.4 Method
5.4.1 Participants
5.4.2 Materials and Design
5.4.3 Procedure
5.5 Results
5.5.1 Data Cleaning and Analysis
5.5.2 Accuracy
5.5.3 Reaction Times
5.6 Discussion
Chapter 6 Focus and Lexical Activation
6.1 Background
6.2 Cross-modal Lexical Decision Task
6.2.1 Research Questions
6.2.2 Method
6.2.3 Results
6.2.4 Discussion
Chapter 7 General Discussion and Conclusion
7.1 Summary of the Findings
7.2 General Discussion
7.2.1 The Role of Prosodic Focus in Speech Processing
7.2.2 The Role of Syntactic Focus in Speech Processing
7.2.3 The Role of Focus in Speech Processing
7.2.4 Cross—language Similarities and Differences
7.3 Conclusion
Appendices
Appendix 1 Participant Information Questionnaire (Mandarin Version)
Appendix 2 Participant Information Questionnaire (English Translation)
Appendix 3 Full Stimulus List (The Cross modal Lexical Decision Task)
Appendix 4 Instructions for the Relatedness Rating Task
Appendix 5 Summary of Models
Appendix 6 Full Stimulus List(The Speeded“False Alternative”Rejection Task。
Appendix 7 Instructions for the Speeded“False Alternative”Rejection Task
Appendix 8 Instructions for the Cross-modal Lexical Decision Task
References