Delayed Interpretation, Shallow Processing and Constructions: the Basis of the “Interpret Whenever Possible" Principle

We propose in this chapter to investigate the “interpret whenever possible" principle that consists of delaying the processing mechanisms until enough information becomes available. This principle relies on the identification of elementary units called chunks, which are identified by means of basic features. These chunks are segments of the input to be processed. In some cases, depending on the accessibility of the information they bear, chunks can be linguistically structured elements. In other cases, they are simple segments. Chunks are stored in a buffer of the working memory and progressively grouped (on the basis of a cohesion measure) when possible, progressively identifying the different constructions of the input. The global interpretation of a linguistic input is then not based anymore on a word-by-word mechanism, but on the grouping of these constructions that constitute the backbone of the “interpret whenever possible" principle.