An exemplar model should be able to explain all syntactic priming phenomena: A commentary on Ambridge (2020)

Messenger, Katherine and Hardy, Sophie M. and Coumel, Marion (2020) An exemplar model should be able to explain all syntactic priming phenomena: A commentary on Ambridge (2020). First Language, 40 (5-6). ISSN 0142-7237

Abstract

The authors argue that Ambridge’s radical exemplar account of language cannot clearly explain all syntactic priming evidence, such as inverse preference effects (greater priming for less frequent structures), and the contrast between short-lived lexical boost and long-lived abstract priming. Moreover, without recourse to a level of abstract syntactic structure, Ambridge’s account cannot explain abstract priming in amnesia patients or cross-linguistic priming. Instead, the authors argue that abstract representations remain the more parsimonious account for the wide variety of syntactic priming phenomena.