ABSTRACT
Models of sentence processing are not able to account for the parallel-structure effect. These parsing models specify how a structural representation of a sentence is built during comprehension. In a parallel coordinate structure they propose to build up the same structure again for the second conjunct thereby providing no means to explain its more rapid processing. This chapter proposes the iteration model, a parsing model for the processing of coordinate structures, based on an iteration mechanism exploiting the particularities of the constructions, namely their syntactic redundancies. The idea is that the parser jumps back to the beginning of the current phrase when a conjunction is encountered and reuses the structure already built. An advantage of the iteration mechanism is that it can be described independent of other syntactic processes and comes with a clear interface between the sequential syntactic processes and the iteration mechanism for coordination. Therefore, existing parsing models can be extended easily by the proposed iteration mechanism.
