Parallelism in the production of noun phrases: Experiments and reaction time models

In 3 experiments, the authors investigated the temporal coordination of the processes involved in the production of noun phrases (NPs). Speakers of Ge rman described drawings of colored objects by noun phrases with or without a determiner (e.g., [the] red table). Participants received, for varying am ounts of time, advance information about either the color or the object. Fo r a small number of nouns in the response set, advance information about th e color led to shorter reaction times for no-determiner NPs than for defini te-determiner NPs. For larger numbers of nouns, advance information about t he object led to an additional reaction time benefit for definite-determine r NPs. A mathematical model is shown to account for these results. This mod el assumes that articulation can be initiated only after the grammatical en coding of the whole noun poise has been completed, but that phonological en coding of the 1st element of an utterance is initiated as soon as the neces sary grammatical information is available.