When producing a sentence, the speaker needs to place words in linear order
. We hypothesized the existence of a linearization process, which imposes o
rder on a constituent structure. This structure is assumed to be specified
with respect to hierarchial relations between constituents but not a with r
espect to word order. We tested this hypothesis in a primed picture descrip
tion experiment. Speakers of Dutch repeated prime sentences and described t
arget pictures. Word order of prime sentences was manipulated (e.g. "On the
table is a ball" vs. "A ball is on the table"). Both alternatives could be
used in the description of unrelated target pictures. In support of our hy
pothesis, word order was "persistent": Speakers were more likely to use a g
iven word order, when the prime sentence had that same word order. We argue
that our results support the notion of a linearization process and reject
the alternative explanation that the results should be attributed to persis
tent selection of a fully specified syntactic frame.