Acceptability rating study "Persian"

The aim of the study was to test the acceptability of sentence material used in previous experiments. The study had a 2x2 design with factors verb type (sein vs. sich verhalten) and conjunction type (weil vs. um zu).

60 items were distributed over the lists in a Latin square design. Each participant saw every item in only one condition. The items were supplemented by 246 fillers. The items and fillers were identical to the ones in the first eye-tracking study. The resulting 4 lists were presented in a pseudorandomized order so that there were at least three fillers between two items. The lists were counterballanced.

The participants were seated in a computer pool in front of a computer and asked to read short sentences and asked to rate their acceptability on a scale of 1 (very unnatural) to 7 (very natural). They were asked to read naturally and answer as quickly as possible. The experiment was preceeded by an exercise with 4 sentences (2 natural and 2 unnatural ones). Every list started with 3 filler items. The experiment was followed by a short explanation of the purpose of the study.