Why is the relative clause considered a defining one and not a non defining one in the sentence: "The cotton clothing is made of grows in Mississippi"?
I see the clause "clothing is made of" more like additional information, but there are no commas so I assume it is considered necessary information.
As I understand them, garden-path sentences are ones that, after reading, seem ungrammatical and don't make sense but when one goes back they can parse out the meaning and understand the basic structure.
I'm looking for the exact opposite - examples of sentences that make complete sense at first but upon looking back, they turn out to be meaningless. Sort of like Broca's aphasia, where a person can communicate "clearly" but without much linguistic meaning, but that doesn't seem to be exactly what I'm looking for... The way I think of it is more like I imagine what it is like for someone with receptive/Wernicke's aphasia - they can hear or read language, but can't make sense of it.
Can anyone point me in the right direction for further research? Even first person descriptions of receptive aphasia or samples of Broca's aphasia would be helpful! Much appreciated.
Essentially, TLDR: grammatically correct language that is meaningless.
Wikipedia defines it best, for those who aren't familiar with the term: >A garden-path sentence is a grammatically correct sentence that starts in such a way that a reader's most likely interpretation will be incorrect; the reader is lured into a parse that turns out to be a dead end or yields a clearly unintended meaning.
English examples translated into Spanish predictably do not retain their confusion. Many (this is a good list of them) rely on either omission of relative pronouns or preposition stranding; both of these are not tolerated in Spanish. Others lead the reader to believe that they're reading an interrogative statement (when it isn't), which is difficult in Spanish due to the delimiting nature of its question marks.
Some selected English garden-path sentences: >The old man the boat.
>Have the students who failed the exam take the supplementary.
>The man who hunts ducks out on weekends.
>The man who whistles tunes pianos.
Are there any good examples of sentences in Spanish that are similarly confusing/difficult to read (possibly due to starting ambiguously)?
(Examples of "ambiguous" Spanish statements seem to usually rely on leaving out diacritics or punctuation, which is not the same. Some English garden-path sentences could benefit from punctuation, but they all do have a single correct interpretation; their meaning does not change when punctuation is added.)
Ok, so I don't know where else to turn. I personally hate garden path sentences. In my opinion, they are an example of bad writing. Not because they are grammatically incorrect, but because the purpose of language and writing is to communicate an idea, and garden path sentences come short of that purpose.
While it is my opinion that they are bad writing (because 'bad writing' is really just a statement of opinion), I think it is fair to say as a point of fact that garden path sentences are bad at communicating.
I have had a few people tell me now that they are great because they make the reader stop and think and allow the reader to generate their own ideas, but I fail to see how stoping and thinking about how to parse the sentence allows you to generate your own ideas about the content. I have repeatedly told these people that, while garden path sentences are clever, tricky, and fun, they do not communicate the ideas that these people so adamantly believe they do.
So I've come here for 1 of 2 possibilities. 1. Can someone provide me a garden path sentence that proves me wrong; a counterexample, as it were, of a garden path sentence that not only makes me stop to consider its parsing, but also its meaning or 2. tell me I'm not crazy and that garden path sentences are indeed just an accident that happens due to the limitation of writing in its ability to demonstrate parsing, and should really only be used to troll readers.
What are everyone else's thoughts on this?
I'm currently studying the Garden Path Model, and every example the professor gives is a poorly formed sentence such as "The horse raced past the barn fell". This example grates on my ears because the interior clause needs "that was". The horse, that raced passed the barn, fell.
I am aware of other sentences that also fit the model (The old man the ships) and aren't wrong, so why is it accepted to use misformed sentences to demonstrate a linguistic concept?
A Garden Path sentence is one which the reader'll start reading it, thinking one thing, but it actually turns out to be something else entirely. This, I've observed, happens when you have homophones/nyms, I belieeeeeeeeve. So, yeah, take a look at the wiki and try and construct one of your own! In your conlang, of course ;)
A garden path sentence is "a grammatically correct sentence that starts in such a way that a reader's most likely interpretation will be incorrect; the reader is lured into a parse that turns out to be a dead end."
For example, "The old man the boat" is a garden path sentence, because reading "the old man...", you parse "the old man" as the subject of a sentence, and thus expect something like "...lives in a hut". Instead, you get "...the boat", which forces you to re-analyse the sentence, and to realise that only "the old" is the subject here, and "man" is being used as a verb.
Other examples:
- The cotton clothing is usually made of grows in Mississippi.
- Mary gave the child the dog bit a bandaid.
- The man whistling tunes pianos
- While Anna dressed the baby spit up on the bed.
- I've convinced her children are noisy.
And most famously,
- Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like banana.
Hey, /r/linguistics!
I guess many english natives know these confusing phrases or sentences which you cannot understand instantly. Either they're constructed to confuse the reader or it's just a bad choice of words - anyway, I find them very interesting.
For non-natives (I guess there are quite a few who read this subreddit), and for native speakers who are not familiar with this phenomenon, it's gotta be equally fascinating I hope.
Wikipedia's take on garden path sentences is: "A garden path sentence is a grammatically correct sentence that starts in such a way that a reader's most likely interpretation will be incorrect." →Article
The sentence I used in the title means that old men are boarding a vessel. Since "man" is a much less common verb that it is a noun, we tend to interpret it as one in which "man" would be the subject. A famous example with its own wiki page: Time flies like an arrow
There's an equivalent in German, called the "Holzwegeffekt".
Check out the Wiki page on those sentences and happy confusion, or in other words:
The horse raced past the barn fell.
For example, the headline "Galaxy Nexus: Android Ice Cream Sandwich guinea pig". At first glance, this seems equivalent to "celestial object connection: anthropomorphic robot frozen dessert rodent", which is meaningless, but if you think about it (and know what the terms mean), you can figure out the meaning.
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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
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The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on my list.
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Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
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If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.
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We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.
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War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
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Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
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Evening news is where they begin with 'Good Evening,' and then proceed to tell you why it isn't.
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To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal ideas from many is research.
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A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.
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I thought I wanted a career. Turns out I just wanted paychecks.
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Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says, 'In case of emergency, notify:' I put 'DOCTOR.'
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I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.
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Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.
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Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.
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A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.
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You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.
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Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.
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There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.
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I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure.
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You're never too old to learn something stupid.
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To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.
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Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
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Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
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Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
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Where there's a will, there are relatives.
I seen the end am woed.
Examples include things like
"James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher"
Gramatically correct, and has a meaning, but appears nonsensical. Often lacking the grammar that would make it totally understandable.
Any help would be fantastic!
I VACUUMED STAIRS FOR YOU
The story has to be a proper story and make sense, of course.
To those who don't know what garden path sentence is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_path_sentence
