ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the distance hypothesis in sentences with canonical order. Early Immediate Constituents and Retrieval Interference Theory (RIT-01) predict an increase in processing difficulty at the innermost verb if an adverb intervenes between the final NP and verb (see pages 40, 52). For EIC, this is due to an increase in the number of words that must be seen before the head of the verb phrase, the innermost verb, is recognized. RIT-01 assumes that if an adverb is present, at the innermost verb the items in the focus of attention are the verb itself and the adverb. As a consequence, interference will have a strong effect on the retrieval of an NP, resulting in greater processing difficulty at the verb. The DLT (see page 42) assumes that inserting an adverb should either have no effect on processing complexity (since no discourse referent is introduced), or should result in increased processing difficulty (if other factors, other than discourse status, affect distance (Gibson, 2000, 107)).
