weight of NP The relative weight of post verbal constituents influences their order, not the weight of any one constituent such as NP. One study found that independent of NP length and complexity, the NP did not shift unless it was at least 4 words longer than the surrounding material. ex: The canonical phrase, I gave NP[the valuable book that was extremely difficult to find] PP[to Mary], is more likely to shift the heavy NP to the end of the phrase since the NP is more than 4 words longer than the following prepositional phrase (PP). Early versus late attachment of NP A theory of Early Immediate Constituents (EIC) seeks to explain word order variation at a phrase level of grammaticalization or more simply, a "save the hardest for last" approach. Constituents are syntactically grouped so they can be recognized and produced rapidly and efficiently as possible. The parser must analyze the VP and its immediate constituents then calculate how early the listener will be able to identify all the constituents by counting the number of words it takes until all immediate constituents (IC's) are recognizable. ex: According to EIC, the phrase, [I gave1 to2 Mary3 the4 valuable book that was extremely difficult to find] is easy to remember because this phrase only requires 4 words (indicated by subscript numbers) to find all IC's. Compare this to, [I gave1 the2 valuable3 book4 that5 was6 extremely7 difficult8 to9 find10 to11 Mary], which requires 11 words to find all IC's. According to the EIC, the first example is preferred because it is easier to comprehend. The EIC theory also proposes that word and constituent order varies cross linguistically and is dependent on whether a language is head final (such as Japanese and Korean) or head initial (such as English). New information precedes old information Pragmatic effects have been thought to influence heavy NP shift. According to this theory, items are sequenced so unpredictable content (new or important information) precedes predictable content (old or unimportant information). Heavy NP shift in different languages Heavy NP shift in English Examples 1a, 2a, and 3a all show canonical order whereas 1b, 2b, 3b show the NP shifted to the right of its canonical position: 1. a) I gave the book that I bought last week to Mary. 1. b) I gave to Mary the book that I bought last week. 2. a) I met my rich