Differences between stereotypical gender and definitional gender in pronominal antecedent retrieval in Brazilian Portuguese

Abstract

Together with Alves (2019), this paper is part of a research work dedicated to investigating the role of gender cues in pronominal antecedent retrieval in Brazilian Portuguese. The main aim is to determine whether Principle B structural constraints work as an initial filter in pronominal antecedent retrieval in Brazilian Portuguese, or whether gender cues play a major role at early processing phases since this language has visible redundant morphological markings. It is also examined whether antecedent candidates carrying different gender cues have different weights in memory. In the present work, a comparison between antecedent candidates carrying stereotypical gender and definitional gender was provided. The results of two eye-tracking experiments conducted with native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese showed that gender morphological cues play a role at the very beginning of pronoun resolution processing, and only at a later processing phase, structural constraints of Principle B seemed to help the parser to select the correct antecedent. Like the previous work, the results indicated Principle B structural constraints do not work as an initial filter blocking structurally unacceptable candidates in Brazilian Portuguese; on the contrary, all candidates seemed to be taken into account despite of violating Principle B structural constraints. Similarly to the previous work, masculine antecedent candidates were preferable to be retrieved by memory in comparison to feminine candidates. Moreover, the results indicated that candidates with definitional gender rather than stereotypical gender are preferable to be retrieved by memory since the former is lexically specified, while the latter relies on probabilities based on world knowledge inferences.