Psycholinguistics - a dead discipline? term coined in 1954 (Osgood) psychology linguistics psycho- linguistics aim: to describe the exact operation of

Psycholinguistics - a dead discipline?• term coined in 1954 (Osgood)

psychology linguisticspsycho-linguistics

• aim: to describe the exact operation of the brain during the production or processing of language

A paradigm shift in linguistics:

• refutes behaviorism

• proposes the “mentalist” approach

• considers linguistics a subfield of cognitive psychology

1957: publication of “Syntactic structures” by Chomsky

Behaviorism in linguistics and psychology:

• reduces mental activity and cognition to implicit, observable behavior

• behavior is explained as a relationship between input and output (i.e. stimulus and response)

• studies of speech behavior and the sound system prevailed

• cf. Skinner, B.F.: “Verbal Behavior” (1957)

Areas of psycholinguistic interest:

• language acquisition (L1 and L2)• language comprehension

(includes symbol recognition, speech perception)• language simulation (NLP, PDP)• concepts of reality and language• memory constraints (STM/LTM research)• knowledge representation• strategies of learning

X

X

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X

Psycholinguistics and related disciplines

“classic” psycholinguistics:

- language acquisition- language impairment- aphasia research- reaction times- ERP measurements

Psycholinguistics and related disciplines

areas of psycholinguistic research:

• computability of language processing

• neuroscience / neurolinguistics

• cognitive abilities (vision, motor control...)

• conceptualization

• symbolization

Classic psycholinguistics

concerned with:

psychological processes that make acquisition and use of language possible

approaches (cf. Clark & Clark)

1. language comprehension (spoken and written)

2. speech production

3. language acquisition

Psycholinguistics - the extended view

concerned with:

language as a cognitive system internalized

within the human mind/brain.

ultimate goal: to characterize this internalized

system -

I language (Chomsky)

Classic approaches in psycholinguistics

1. language comprehension (spoken and written)

- comprehension at various depth levels- speech perception- lexical decoding- sentence processing- text processing


2. Speech production

- reoccurring patterns of speech- typical errors- response times- relation of speech to concepts- speech impairments


3. Language acquisition

- L1 acquisition (developmental

psycholinguistics)

- L2 learning strategy research

- acquisition constraints

Neurological foundations of language

correspondence hypothesis:

particular areas of the neocortex are responsible for human language faculty

• local results from aphasia research

• temporal results from ERP measurements

aphasia: impairment or loss of language ability due to brain damage.


Paul Broca: lateralization of language

- located lesions in left hemisphere- related handedness to speech capability- plasticity of the brain (i.e. temporal variability)

- migration of neurons

- time constraints in acquisition


Carl Wernicke: - separated the auditory nerve (cranial nerve from ear to cortex)along the planum temporale in the left hemisphere

Language-related areas of the brain


Broca aphasics:

• nonfluent• agrammatical• morphemeless• unimpaired comprehension

Wernicke aphasics:

• fluent (logorrheic)• impaired meanings• neologisms• severely impaired comprehension


• spatial: lateral distribution

- detectable in lesions

- PET, fMRI scans• temporal: brain plasticity

- performance patterns

- physiological changes during L1

acquisition

- learnability constraints

The paradox of psycholinguistics

L1 acquisition enables children to produce virtually infinite amounts of linguistic data.Input includes:

• distorted input (also: deviant input; Chomsky) can be: mispronounciations, slips of the tongue• omitted rulesinference of rules out of defective material• negative evidence= pointing at errors

typical errors in L1: *go-edatypical errors: *I no like syntax.


phases in L1 acquisition

single-word stage:• at 12 months: first recognizable words• until 18 months: vocabulary increase • 3 words/month (apple, up...)• no evidence of grammar acquisition• no inflection (plural-s, past-ed)


phases in L1 acquisition

after 18 months:• acquisition of grammar begins• productive use of inflections• elementary 2-3 word utterances

after 30 months:• acquisition of most inflections • core grammatical constructions• adultlike, multiword speech

Learnability constraints

critical-period hypothesis (Lenneberg et al.)

• age constraints in L1/L2 acquisition• age estimates between 11-18

Learnability constraints

ssdsadsadasdasddasdVersion one: the exercise hypothesis. Early in life, humans have a superior capacity for acquiring languages. If the capacity is not exercised […] it will disappear or decline with maturation. If the capacity is exercised […] language learning abilities will remain intact throughout life.

Version two: the maturational state hypothesis. Early in life, humans have a superior capacity for learning languages. This capacity disappears or

declines with maturation.

J.S. Johnson/ E.L.Newport in Johnson,Mark (ed.) 1996, pp.250.

Explainability of cognitive phenomena

1. Empirism

2. Operationalism

3. Instrumentalism

4. Idealism

5. Realism

linguistics,psychology,sociology...

physics, astronomy...


1. Empirism

- knowledge as a collection of facts- universals are not obtainable- theories are summaries of observations

2. Operationalism

- science is a system of rules- theories are tools for manipulation


3. Instrumentalism

- not the meaning of words is important butthe way we use them- theories are instruments of experience- there is no “inner truth”

5. Realism

- laws have a relationship to reality that is relevant- tool: observation

Chomsky theory: an introduction

• refutes structuralism, taxonomy (Harris, Bloomfield)• refutes behaviorism (Skinner, Osgood)• continues tradition of Descartes (Dualism)• language acquisition is determined by a LAD (language acquisition device) on the basis of a UG•the LAD is a mental organ•theory is primary, data is secondary•for cognition and language the computer metaphor applies


1957 “Syntactic Structures”• set of kernel sentences generate all possible sentences of a language

kernel transformation rules final phrases

- a purely syntactic theory- transformations are algorithmic procedures- "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously."


1965 “Aspects of the theory of syntax”• so-called Standard Theory (ST)• involves phonology, semantics

Deep structures Surface structures(semantics) (phonology)

Two subfields emerge: 1. Generative semantics (Katz, Postal)2. Extended Standard Theory (EST) (Chomsky, Jackendoff, 1972)


1. Generative semantics: extends transformations

2. EST constrains transformations

• EST led to Revised Extended Standard Theory (REST) (1973)

-modular-separates syntax, semantics-only transformation left: move-


Further developments

“Rules and Representations” (1981)

• introduces principles & parameters• slot filler principles

Government and Binding Theory (1981)Minimalist Program (1993)

Language faculty: problems of research

Quine: investigation of language equals investigation of mind

Chomsky:

• knowledge is represented in the brain• proposes the existence of mental representations = an abstract terminology for physical properties• extends notion of "material body" for entities, principles of unknown character


principles: unknown or unobtainable?

mind: a fixed set / endowment withinherent constraints

Chomsky proposes 1. problems (science may provide a solution)2. “mysteries” (beyond humans’ intellectual grasp)

Descartes: we are not intelligent enough to understand to what extent our free choices are undeterminable


1.) Is the application of the scientific method to the mind revealing?

2.) Is language artificial?

3.) In what way do generalizations distort the view on language?


1.) Is the application of the scientific method to the mind revealing?

• historical coincidence biological endowment meets aspects of reality in a meaningful way

• tolerance of unexplained phenomena(attention research, mental rotation etc.)


2.) Is language artificial?

Chomsky: question is meaningless even if languagehad indeed been created• has developed basing on endowment and environment



Chomsky's demands:• homogeneous speech community• speakers with 100% competence• speech unaffected by exterior (e.g. social) variables



Counterarguments:• humans cannot acquire language in a homogeneous community, inconsistence and variability are required• if humans could achieve it, it would be done by different properties of the mind than those which interact with reality

Language faculty

language faculty:discrete from other kinds of knowledge

• linguistic knowledge (= speaker’s competence):interacts with processes of perception, memorydisplays in indefinitely large number of stringsproducable and understandable

• syntactic mechanisms are recursive

Chomsky’s Universal Grammar

mind design is modular (Fodor, 1997)

The insight into language faculty may not provide insight into other modules e.g. vision

Chomsky proposes:

• a differentiated version of the modules• genetically coherent properties which determine human cognitive systems including language faculty


UG: the study of the common grammatical properties shared by all natural languages and of the parameters of variation between the languages.

• parameters: dimensions of variation, e.g. subject parameter

• theory of UG provides tools to study any natural language

example: Hawaiian creole (cf. Bickerton)


initial state end state

UniversalGrammar template

L1 acquisition

Internalizedlanguage(I-language)

• Language acquisition skills are formal, structural properties

Problems of cognitive research

common set shared in cognitive community:

- knowledge representation- language processing- image understanding- inference- learning strategies- problem solving

Emergence of a discipline

cognitiveapproach

experimentalpsychology

theoreticallinguistics

computationalsimulation

Cognitive approach:interdisciplinary, emerges at the intersection of the fields

Simon/Newell 1958: “In 10 years most psychological theories will be formulated as computer programs.”

Views on cognitive functioning

basic assumption:

Cognition, and therefore language,

is information processing

The human mind is a system that receives, stores, retrieves, transfers and transmits information (Stillings et al., 1997)


The classical view:

language faculty is a mental process

- mind can be described as a Turing machine- linguistic processing is a manipulation of symbols- cf. the "Chinese room" metaphor (Searle)


The connectionist view:

- brain employs a computational architecture suited to natural information processing- evidence in functional split, cf. split-brain patients(McClelland, Rumelhart, Hinton)

The classical cognitive approach

Turing machine: a general-purpose information processorcomponents: tape eq. memory

subdivided into cells each containing one symbol

head: moves tape back/forthcan read/write symbols

The classical cognitive approach

Turing’s proof: • TM is able to perform all operations a person working within a logical system can perform• TM gives therefore a complete account of what information processing is.

"Any informational simulation process can be realized by a Turing machine" (Turing/Church thesis)

Turing machines and cognition

• anything computable can be computed• can make decision about well-formedness of artificial languages• simple steps, primitive building blocks lead to emergence of complex behavior

reasons of relevance:1.) provide a complete description of information processing2.) may answer cognitively interesting questions3.) extend finite states into infinite behavior e.g.novelty of language

The tri-level hypothesis

• mind: shares properties with a TM• brain: a physical symbol system• not one single level of description applies (Marr)

3 levels of description:

1. physical level 2. procedural level3. computational or implementational level


1. the physical level of description• describes the components of a system• incomplete, static• gives factual knowledge, "what”

2. the procedural level of description• non-physical description of informational processing steps• dynamic, incomplete• no description of interpretation of procedures• gives procedural knowledge, "how"


3. the computational/implementational level of description• interpretation of the procedures• gives interpretational knowledge, "why"

tendencies: reductionism, neurosciencetries to reduce 3. and 2. to 1.

The cognitive approach

“The mind as an information processing system can be described using a physical, a procedural and an implementational vocabulary” (Dawson)

goal: to find the relationships between these levels of research

physical description: neuroscience, linguisticsprocedural description: psychology, linguisticscomputational description: computer science

Language comprehension and the Tri-level hypothesis

1. physical (structural sentence comprehension)- Clark & Clark

2. procedural (psychological models of text comprehension - Kintsch & v.Dijk

3. implementational (AI programs for text analysis) - Minsky, Schank, Charniak

1. Physical (structural sentence comprehension)Clark & Clark

• comprehension: derivation of meaning from a (phonological) representation• meaning: composed from constituents

intermediate constituents (syntactic units,phrases)

final constituents (words, lexemes)

• forms propositional representations• prerequisite: parsing of language

2. Procedural (psychological models of text comprehension - Kintsch & v.Dijk

• subdivides micro- and macroprocesses• cognitive tasks required:

a.) parser (turns verbal text into intermediate sematic representation, list of propositions)b.) coherence generator (builds coherence fromthe list)c.) inferencer (fills in missing propositions)d.) organizer (determines facts on basis of world knowledge)

Parser: a mechanism that divides strings of texts into smaller components.


Frames: "A frame is a data structure for representing a stereotyped situation" (Minsky)

• a format for formalized storage of knowledge• maps unknown structures onto known structures

example: HOUSEsubframe of: buildingIs-part of: village, city, suburbmaterial: wood, stone, concrete# of windows: integer, >2# of doors: integer, default 1

Frame:


scripts: formalized representations of complexactions• list of primitives (stereotype procedures) e.g. ACT, PTRANS• "consists of concepts and relations between concepts" (Schank)• example: restaurant script

story grammars: • lists of stereotype rulesRule 1: story setting + episodeRule 2: setting (state)Rule 3: episode event + reaction

Mental Representations

• theoretical postulates• internal states

Fodor (1997): Representational Theory of Mind (RTM)• cognitive mechanisms extract information fromoutside world• info is processed, stored, retrieved via aninternalised system of representations• representations have semantic content

• modern psycholinguistics: distributed vs. local representation= words are stored in single units vs. storage patterns

Computable linguistic approaches

Chomsky: Principles and Parameters strategy: slot filler• set of principles shared by all languages• parameters function as "switches” to adjust the principles

Lexicon |

D-Structure |S-Structure

Logical Form Phonological Form


Lexicon: set of entries/word forms , syntax information D-Structure: underlying representation of a sentence, X-bar theoryS-Structure: natural language sentence generation; move-α - rule

language processing: not rule processing but settingof parameter values

increased power of the lexiconcarry NP_Verb_NPread NP_verb

Problem: How is this knowledge formally represented?


Internal linguistic

representation

grammaticalanalysis

semantic analysis

input world knowledge

domainknowledge

knowledgeof language

1. Syntax2. Lexicon

The connectionist approach

1.) serial processing is too slow (cf. Feldman)neuron action potential takes 1-3 ms to build up – humans solve complex tasks in ca. 100 ms suggests parallel processing2.) system stability: brain exhibits enormous damage-resistance suggests network-like storage systems3.) natural language processing – hard for computers, easy for humans and vice versa qualitative difference of brain architecture4.) connectionist models are “neurally inspired” imitate neural functioning

Rumelhart's components of a connectionist system

a.) set of processing unitsb.) state of activation defined over the processing unitsc.) output function for each unit, generates outputd.) pattern of connectivitye.) activation rule for combining inputs to new activation levelf.) learning rules that modify d.)g.) system environment

Formats of representation

1.) multimodular model (Paivio):• two parallel sets: - imagenes

- logogenes• can be primed (threshold function)

2.) semantic networks (Collins/Quillian)• types of nodes: - conceptual nodes

- property nodes

• types of relationships: IS-A relationshipsHAS-PROP relationships

Logogene model of word recognition (Morton)

visualanalysis

auditoryanalysis

realityinput

cognitivesystem

visual evidence auditory evidence

logogenesystem

response buffer response

semantic evidence

Logogene model: priming effects

• activation potential of logogenes decreases over time• high-frequency words: low thresholds• low thresholds facilitate recognition

Logogene model: priming effects

• non-words or degraded signal:activates “nearest match” item• memory effects:primacy effect vs. recency effect

Semantic networks (Collins/Quillian)

Book

Merchandise

Pictorial Book Exercise Book Paperback

Is bound

Has pages

Can be read

Can be bought

Is cheap

Is small

For study

Has pictures Has diagrams

Is expensive

Cognitive networks (Hays)

• refined set of nodes/relationships

nodes: events (start, end, duration)entities (object, notion, form)properties (shape, mass...)modalities (static, dynamic)

relationships: paradigmatic (hierarchical)syntagmatic (parallel)discoursive (interactive)attitudinal (positive,negative)metalinguistic (external)

The stance of neuroscience

Science of mental life will be reduced to neural functioning (Churchland)• reductionist approach• eliminates psychological explanation for language processing• emphasis on relevance of neuronal measurements

Neuralstructures

Low-levelimplemen-tations

Physicalsymbolsystems

Languageof thought

Mentalstructures,language

Neuronal functioning

• diagram of a neuron

Dendrites: short branches projecting from cell body.Receive messages from other neurons Cell body (soma): contains the nucleus of the cell Axon: a long tube which carries information from cell body to synaptic terminalsSynaptic terminals: secrete transmitter substance

Measurement methods in psycholinguistics

• ERP measurement• PET scan• MRI / fMRI scan• lesions research

continuum:

high-grained spatial resolutionlow- grained temporal resolution

low-grained spatial resolutionhigh- grained temporal resolution

PET

lesions

ERP measurements

ERP: event-related potentialsnotice activities in the relevant cortical regionslinguistic phenomena are correlated with activity

example:after presentation of the unexpected ending of a sentence: delay of the amplitude

PET: positron emission tomography

• weakly radioactive substance used as marker• regions of high activity involve more blood flow.• synaptic ends extract more molecules, among those radioactive molecules • positron-emitting radioactive molecules mark location: positron e+ hits an electron e-

particles annihilate each otherradiation of energy (light etc.)

• detectors (PET cameras): arranged in a torus (ringlike) structure around the subjects' head

MRI and lesions

• MRI: magneto-resonance imaging • particles seen as magnetic dipoles e.g. H2 nuclei• reposition themselves in magnetic fields• induction of electric currents

lesions• lead to aphasias• language-specificexample: Englishspeaking aphasiacs retainedthe ability to generate irregular forms whereas Germanspeaking subjects did betterin regular forms

Comprehension and understanding

Mental Models:- blueprint /abstraction of aspects of the physical world- representations in the mind of real or imaginary situations- mind constructs "small-scale models" of reality thatit uses to anticipate events - can be constructed from perception, imagination, or comprehension of discourse- underlie visual images, but can also be abstract, representing situations that cannot be visualised

Mental models and comprehension

mental models theory of text comprehension(Johnson-Laird et al.) :derives from a theory of deductive inferencemental models of spatially related objects contain information about relations not explicitly describedExample:

The man is in front of the tree. The tree is in front of the house.

contains the information

The man is in front of the house.

Mental models and comprehension

Reasoning is a semantic process rather than syntactic - recipients build mental models of the relevant situations based on world knowledge- recipient’s conclusion is “true” within the models- emphasis on causality of events/situations

fundamental representational assumption:individuals seek to minimize the load on working memory by representing explicitly only those cases that are true

Text comprehension

• understanding a story: requires process of constructing a mental model consistent with the constraints of the story• recall errors provide insight into how the construal is designed or:

• how reader's world knowledge interacts (cf. processing model)

2 processes: construction (encoding)reconstruction (recall)

• both underlie errors

Strategies in text understanding

• relevance of causal knowledge structures:reader establishes a causal fieldcontains specific circumstances of the story explicit identification of conditions perhaps only implicitly mentioned

He sat in the waiting room, his cheeks bloated. After a while, a nurse called him up. Reluctantly, he followed her next door.

• representation updates world knowledge.• stored for recall (on specific cues).

Strategies in text understanding

constraints of causality: A causes B1. temporal constraint (A precedes B)2. counterfactuality constraint (if A had not happened, B would not have happened)3. sufficiency constraintIf B occurs after A, circumstances for A are still prevailing

• steps of comprehension:1. identification of clauses corresponding to events2. identification of causal relations3. establishment of causal chains

Comprehension processes

experimental evidence: reader constructs chains• propositions from main causal chains are more likely to be recalled• propositions with more causal connections than others are more likely to be recalled• basic blocks: the event clauses (propositions)

PDP approach: building blocks are propositionsevolution of reader's mental state as a function of time a trajectory in situation-state space = moves from point to point

A comprehension model

knowledge of causal relations between points: "belief function” - assigns degree of belief (can be between 0 and 1)situation identification t1 t2 t3

Mary heard the ice-cream truck 1 1 0Mary wanted to buy ice-cream 0 1 0Mary is eating ice-cream 0 0 1Mary is sleeping 0 0 0

• story comprehension: finding a most probable trajectory in situation-state space with respect to a belief function.

Causal chaining

1 3

2 4

57

6

1 hear(M,truck)2 want(M,ice-cream)3 be(ice-cream,expensive)4 go(M,money)5 buy(M, ice-cream)6 eat(M,ice-cream)7 sleep(M)

Mary heard the ice-cream truck. Mary wanted to buy ice-cream.Ice-cream is expensive. Mary goes home for the money. She buys the ice-cream. John has also chilled drinks. Mary is eating ice-cream. Mary is sleeping.

temporal

causal

surface anaphora “deep” anaphora

Micro- and macrostructures (Kintsch et al.)

• surface structure of a discourse: set of propositions, ordered by semantic relations

2 levels: A microstructures – the local level of discourse, individual propositions (eat(Mary,ice-cream)B macrostructure – the global discourse structure- sets global constraints (topic, title)- establishes the "meaningful whole"

Formation of Microstructures

The Swazi tribe was at war with a neighboring tribe because of a dispute over cattle. Among the warriors were two men, Kakra and his younger brother Gum. Kakra was killed in a battle.

Step 1 - identify most important proposition- "was at war" Step 2 - relate other propositions to this proposition according to coherence rules (limited by capacity of STM). Step 3 - try to relate propositions in next sentence to propositions that are active in STM. (example fails - no terms in2nd sentence can be directly connected to preceding sentenceStep 4- If step 3 failed, do "reinstatement search"

- reinstates information about the text from LTM into STM - effort to link new propositions to old ones

- reinstatement slows comprehension Step 5- If reinstatement fails, start a new coherence graph

- try to make inference to link new material to old material.

Example inference: Kakra & Gum were Swazi warriors.

Spatial cognition and language


• Try to name the colors of the displayed wordssource: http://artsci.wustl.edu/~jprinz/cog25.htm


Are image and name stored together or separately?cf. logogene/imagene• parallel activation of visual and lexical entry

The Imagery debate• existence of internal representationsrat experiments (Toulmin) – evidence for the representation of maps

A) propositional representation (Pylyshyn) – mental "jumping" on a map without time delayB) analogue representation (Kosslyn et al.) – mental scanning, mental rotation

Visual recognition process

1. initial sensing of visual information: photosensitive cells (rods and cones) in retina, activated by individual photons• each receptor responds to a tiny portion (minutes of arc) of the visual field, • receptors are never activated alike

2. neurons in retina: connected to neurons in the first visual cortical area

-for shape perception-different cell types for different tasks (spots, edges...)

Kosslyn’s proto-model of object recognition

Kosslyn’s proto-model of object recognition

visual buffer attention window-edge detection -selective input for -establishes regions contiguous sets of pointsof homogeneous value

Stimulus encoding (Kosslyn)1. degraded contoursvertices: high-information part ofcontourscf. Biederman p.152 in:Kosslyn/Osherson (eds.)1995.

Encoding of spatial properties

2. missing parts: more recognition time needed when parts have been removed3. disrupted parts, distorted spatial relation among parts violation of viewpoint consistency

On mental rotation (Shepard, Kosslyn, et al.)

direct proportionality between time and angle• more complex objects /3D objects: longer times• identical images in different scales: scale difference proportional to identification times• activation of motor areas in the brain• critical angle for letters: 120°

Spatial reasoning in language and mind

introspective reports on simple relation tasks using comparative adjectives:The Empire State building is higher than the Eiffel tower.• mental comparison based on spatial descriptions:Cathy is taller than Linda. Linda is taller than Mary. Cathy is taller than Mary.

• spatial descriptions in language: triggering ofmental models - simplified reality, cf.:The knife is in front of the vase. The vase is on the left of the glass. The glass is behind the dish.• represented symmetrically with equal distances• way descriptions: turns always with 90° angle

Temporal cognition

temporal phenomena considered:• physical time• biological time• time as a philosophical and abstract concept• “perceived” time• time in language

physical: Newton’s notion of timeAbsolute, true, and mathematical time, of itself, and from its own nature flows equably without regard to anything external, and by another name is called duration: relative, apparent, and common time, is some sensible and external (whether accurate or unequable) measure of duration by the means of motion, which is commonly used instead of true time; such as an hour, a day, a month.

Temporal concepts in the sciences

Einstein’s model of the universe:• time considered as the 4th dimension• physical processes are reversible• paradox of time (Prigogine et al.)

biological time: circadian rhythms of living organisms

psychological time: cause-effect relationships- inferences base on temporal arrangements of events- “real time” is mediated (lateral inhibition)- segmentation of cognitive processing(cf. slips-of-the-tongue)

Temporal perception and language correlates

Miller/Johnson-Laird: 4 foci of temporal experience

1. short time intervals2. estimation of duration3. simultaneousness4. temporal perspective (placement of events in past, present, future)

Temporal phenomena in language

categories: grammatical (tense, aspect)lexical (aktionsarten, temporal adverbs,temporal conjunctions, temporal prepositions).

All thoughts are „tensed“ (Higginbotham)- necessity of representing time in languagespace-time metaphor (Langacker)Western languages: linear paradigm of time„exotic“ languages: cycles, subcycles

Temporality and tenses

S & R

R & E

R-S

(past)

R,S

(present)

S-R

(future)

E,R

(simple)

E,R-S

left

E,R,S

leaves

S-E,R

shall/will leave

E-R

(anterior)

E-R-S

had left

E-R,S

has left

S-E-R

will leave

R-E

(posterior)

R-E-S

would leave

R-E,S

will leave

S-R-E

will be going to leave

doubts about futuretense as a tense at all:has modal functions

complexity hypothesismeaning of tenses:combination of intrinsicmeaning and contextualmeaning

intrinsic meaning: relation between time of event E and a time of reference R;contextual meaning: relation between time of reference R and time of speech S

Event structure

t

t

t

1. telic, no expansion(to explode, to flash)

2. telic, linear(to start)

3. telic, limited(to arrive)

Event structure

t4. telic, beginning andend (to read a novel)

5. telic, iterative(to twiddle)

temporal telicity can be• parallel to spatial telicity (to arrive)• independent of spatial telicity (to explode)

t

Conceptual development

representations: building blocks of cognition and languageconcepts: the formats of representation

hierarchy of concept acquisition1.spontaneous concepts: bottom-up approach, find abstract, systematic entity2.scientific concepts: top-down, find concrete grounds

children lack ”scientific” concepts ”concepts which are subject to conscious awareness are under voluntary control and form part of an organized system” (Vygotsky)

Conceptualization and language

Jackendoff, Langacker: cognitive behavior is primarily a conceptualization of space

• language encodes iconic-imaginal modi of cognition • space concepts are more frequent than time concepts• real space is manifested in linguistic phenomena• space concepts transform into other concepts through metaphorical extension(read through a text, work on a thesis)• base on primary experiences during language development

Conceptual semantics and cognitive grammar

shared: encoding of spatial concepts and extension into other conceptual areas• languages have hierarchical structure based on metaphors

Conceptual semantics(Jackendoff et al.)• insists on autonomy of syntax and on formal representation• concepts generated mentally on basis of a limited set of primitives,limited principles of combinability• Jackendoff: concepts are “finite schemes”

Cognitive grammar(Langacker)• meaning is conceptualization• grammar, lexicon: poles on acontinuum• semantics: materializes themin different ways

Cognitive grammar

• model relates language to conceptual world, human experience• humans share experiences and biological endowment idea that physical experiences shaped thinking and language

Lakoff: the universal basis of language and cognitionis the visual conceptualization of space and movement• language therefore reflects fundamental stimuli• presupposes categorization which involves conceptual distinctions (night, day)

Categorization and construal

categorization: process of putting together a number of experiences into one conceptual category and relating it to and distinguishing it from, other conceptual categories

construal: a cognitive strategy by which the speaker decides on a particular linguistic alternative in portraying a given conceptualizationex. use of passive rather than active focusing on object of action rather than agent

Cognitive basisforce-dynamics: early physical experience of push/ pull/weight/gravity (Talmy)imaging modes:1.entities and their spatial relationships among each other2.global perspective on a scene3.focus on scene (figure and ground)4.scene conceptualized as a field of forcesexpression of concepts: mainly through words, also through grammar (both are poles on a continuum)expressions base on experience (gold nugget/gold dust) special case: not experience-based names for abstract entities (cf. quark types)

Documents

Psycholinguistics - a dead discipline? term coined in 1954 (Osgood) psychology linguistics psycho- linguistics aim: to describe the exact operation of