No hesitation at the choice point: verb–particle placement is cost-free in production
Matt Hunt Gardner; Xinyu Leslie Liao · 2026 · Language and Cognition
WASTE classifies this as Negative / Null Result Report · AI classification, approximate
The study found no significant effect — useful as a negative control or null benchmark for your own design.
Abstract
Using 3,154 tokens from American English, we test whether optionality in verb–particle placement increases speech-planning cost, measured as pre-verbal silence. Tokens were coded for object properties, idiomaticity and verb frequency. We find that pre-verbal silence does not differ between split (pick the book up) and joined (pick up the book) orders. While idiomaticity favours the joined order, it does not raise planning cost. Verb frequency shortens pauses only in fast speech, suggesting predictability acts lexically, not structurally. Choice symmetry does not lengthen pauses. We therefore f
Abstract by Matt Hunt Gardner; Xinyu Leslie Liao, Language and Cognition (2026) — licensed CC BY 4.0.
About to run something similar?
Run an AI Precheck on your own design to catch failure modes like this one before you spend the time. Your first desk check is free.
Related failures
The Acoustic Properties of Vowels in Foreigner-Directed Speech: Insights from Speech Directed at Foreign Domestic Helpers
Negative / Null Result ReportFree Recall of Emotional Word Lists in Arabic-English Bilinguals
Negative / Null Result ReportThe Relationship between Iranian EFL Learners’ Linguistic and Logical Intelligences and the Frequency of Fallacies and Evidence in their Argumentative Writing: A Gender-based Study
Negative / Null Result ReportYoung People's Attitudes Toward the Causes of Drug Abuse and Its Effects on the Family and Society
Negative / Null Result ReportWords can interfere with perception at their associated locations: the role of orthography in spatial interference
WASTE indexes this work — it does not host or republish it. Failure-type classification is automated and approximate.
Metadata source: DOAJ · DOI 10.1017/langcog.2026.10081