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Memory & Language > Sentence Production > Flashcards

Sentence Production Flashcards

Meyer Ferreira

1
Q

Do we know how we are going to end a sentence when we start to utter it?

A

Evidence for INCREMENTALITY

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2
Q

Summary

A

We plan sentence structure by re-using available information - syntactic priming
we CAN make it up as go along but prefer not to do this

Whether we know how we will end a sentence when we start speaking probably depends on CONTEXT

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3
Q

Repetition in speech (Kuiper, 1996)

A

NZ auctioneers and sports commentators - speak very fast
This paper analysed the way they used language at rapid speech rates

When in low speech rate - resembled everyday speech
When in high speech rate - CHUNKS OF SPEECH WITH LITTLE SYNTACTIC VARIABILITY
- Very little variation in syntax
- Reused little chunks of speech they keep repeating

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4
Q

What is the benefits to repeating little chunks of speech with little variability of syntax (arrangement of words)?

A

Easier for people to understand and to use quickly

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5
Q

Kuiper’s study with NZ auctioneers and sports commentators findings can be generalised to everyday language

A

Turns out this is true for alot of our language - it is repeated

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6
Q

Other evidence (Altenberg, 1990)

A

70% of words for part of “recurrent” word combinations

The more you use recurrent word combinations, the more ‘native’ one sounds

Unusual word combinations = perceived as less “native-like”

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7
Q

Syntactic priming

A

Processing one particular syntactic structure influences the processing of subsequent structures

We tend to REUSE syntactic structures

  • within speaker
  • between speakers (in dialogue)
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8
Q

Syntactic priming example (Levelt & Kelter, 1982)

A 
Reusing same type of structure 
"at what time does your shop close?" 
"at 5 o'clock" 
"what time does your shop close?"
"5 o'clock"
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9
Q

Bock (1986)

A

Got participants to repeat sentences then describe unrelated pictures

  • told it was a memory test
  • actually investigating structure of participant’s response/descriptions of pictures
  • picture description sentence structure matched sentence they were primed with
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10
Q

Ditrasitive sentence structures

A
  1. A rock star sold some cocaine to an undercover agent (PREPOSITIONAL OBJECT)
  2. A rock star sold an undercover agent some cocaine (DOUBLE OBJECT)
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11
Q

Active and passive structures

A
  1. One of the fans was punched by the referee (PASSIVE)

4. The referee PUNCHED one of the fans (ACTIVE)

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12
Q

Task in Bock (1986)

A

Priming sentence with particular structure

The ppts tended to repeat sentence structure they were primed with

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13
Q

Why do we tend to reuse sentence structure?

A

EFFORT REDUCTION THEORY

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14
Q

Bock (1986) - why reuse sentence structure

A

Means we don’t have to generate new sentence from scratch - re-using procedures/representations already ACTIVATED

  • Ease demands of message formulation
  • Contribute to fluency
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15
Q

Bock & Loebell (1990)

A

Is it really syntax?
What about repetition of “to” or “by” - does that explain effect?
1. Stella brought a book to Susan (PO)
2. Stella brought a book to study
3. The man is reading a story to the boy (PO)
Only 1 primes 3 despite 1 + 2 similarities

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16
Q

Syntactic priming properties

A
  • Long lived - over 10 intervening sentences
  • Occurs for variety of structures
  • Unaffected by factors such as TENSE
  • Demonstrated in many languages
  • Also reflects way people genuinely use language
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17
Q

Gried (2005) - real life study - looking into International Corpus of English

A

This includes spoken and written English from the 90s
analysed and looked for tendency to reuse syntactic constructions
–> similar to lab-based results = support idea that we do reuse syntactic structure in real life the same way as we do in the lab

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18
Q

Branigan, Pickering & Cleland (2003)

A

shows we reuse syntactic structure in dialogue too
- pick card from box - describe card to pair (confed to ppt)
On ppt’s next turn , would the experimental ppt use the same structure as the confederate?
In this study - THEY DO
example:
confed says “the nun is showing the banana to the monk” (PO)
will ppt say “the artist is selling the gun to the ballerina” (PO) OR the artist is selling the ballerina the gun (DO)
Will mirror same PREPOSITIONAL STRUCTURE

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19
Q

Across languages - Loebell and Bock (2003)

A

German and English bilinguals
show that we reuse syntactic structure when switching between languages
Whatever information we are using to plan sentence structure - must be able to be shared between languages

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20
Q

Why does syntactic priming happen?

A
  • Various accounts of mechanism
  • EASE FLUENCY - talking made faster and easier
  • less planning involved
    Studies have shown
  • speech onset is shorter
  • Broca’s aphasia show stronger priming effeects
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21
Q

Broca’s aphasia

A

Defining feature: reduced complexity of syntactic structure
Hartsuiker and Kolk did similar method to Bock
Broca’s group showed more syntactic priming - more influenced by sentence structure shown than controls
When primed - Broca’s group can produce syntactically complex structures that they would not normally produce spontaneously

22
Q

Findings with Broca’s aphasia

A

Suggests adaptive function for syntactic priming

23
Q

Syntactic priming reasons

A
  • Aids fluency
  • Syntactic structure consolidation is to some extent independent of meaning and form
  • Shared between production and comprehension (occurs in dialogue)
  • Shared even between languages
24
Q

Do we know how we are going to end a sentence before we start it?

A

Speech error evidence - blake fruid/brake fluid
Distinction between word and sound exchanges
Scope suggests syntactic content is sketched out at least for the current clause

25
Q

Meyer (1996)

A

Ppts describe pictures - “the arrow and the bag”

Auditory distractors

  • semantic (e.g. purse) mean the same thing
  • phonological (e.g narrow) sounds similar .

Measured reaction time to start sentence

  • ppts SLOWER when distractor SEMANTICALLY related to either noun (2 Ss)
  • ppts FASTER when distractor FONOLOGICALLY related to FIRST (3 Fs) but not second noun

Reaction times: time to begin a sentence

26
Q

Meyer (1996) results show

A

Ppts had prepared the meaning and selected both nouns for the sentence
Sentence already been planned

27
Q

Ferreira (1996) was interested in HOW we choose which sentence structure to use

A

How do we choose which word order to use?
Do alternative possibilities COMPETE? - Competition model

Do we decide as the sentence unfolds? INCREMENTAL model

28
Q

Competition model

A

More choice should cause difficulty as structures compete

29
Q

Incremental model

A

More choice should help - if there is more choice about how we order the words, it will be easier to slot them into the sentence - just talking and see what happens

30
Q

This study (Ferreira, 1996) - is it better to give than to donate? shows some verbs are more flexible than others

A

Ppts presented with two words e.g. gave/donated
These words disappeared and 2/3 more words appeared in random order e.g. children toys
Task: produce a sentence beginning with “I gave” or “I donated” and using all of the remaining words
GIVE: can have both double object or prepositional object order
DONATE: only works in PO order - I donated the toys to the children

In the case of give –> more choice than donate
Results: ppts produced fewer errors for “give” than donate
People were quicker to initiate sentences containing “give” not donate

give = an alternator verb
Nonalternator verbs (like donate) -  don't occur with DO structure - fewer structure options - less syntactic flexibility - only PO structure node active - less competition - a structure node should be chosen more easily if COMPETITION model
31
Q

Ferreira study SUPPORTS INCREMENTAL MODEL

A

More choice of word order = more flexibility - higher accuracy with verbs that have more choice of structure and are easier to produce
With donate - you have to stop and think about what verb to use next - inflexible and slows you down

32
Q

Verbs that allowed syntactic choices were easier to use than verbs that did not

A

We make sentences as we go along

- incremental model

33
Q

Differences between Meyer and Ferreira

A

Meyer used short sentences, Ferreira used longer sentences

Simple and complex constructions may operate differently

34
Q

In reality, sentence planning

A

Probably depends on the kind of utterance and situation whether we plan ahead or not

35
Q

Ferreira & Swets (2002)

A

Ppts given sums of varying difficulty (e.g. 21+22, 23+68)
43 vs 43 is the answer vs answer is 43

When no time limit, onset for sentence utterance for all 3 and utterance length unaffected by sum difficulty
- when there was a time limit, utterance length was affected by sum difficulty

–> INCREMENTALITY EVIDENCE for utterance under strategic control

36
Q

Differences between incremental and competitive

A
  1. Incremental doesn’t require competition syntactic structure options
    - structure nodes are not inhibitorily connected
    - both structure nodes can be highly active simultaneously
  2. Incrementality implies syntactic processing CANNOT occur on later phases before earlier phases
  3. Incremental theories usually claim that syntactic structures are slots that are available to be filled, rather than active plans that influence non-syntactic planning
37
Q

Results show incremental model predicts that MORE syntactic flexibility

A

means faster selection times

because structural decisions are not accomplished through flexibility

38
Q

Competitive vs incremental make opposite predictions about effect of syntactic flexibility on production

A

If syntactic decisions are accomplished via competition - show a difficulty with syntactic flexibility

39
Q

What does Ferreira test?

A

Effect of syntactic flexibility on the ease of language production?

40
Q

Ferreira measures

A

Number of errors

Production latency/time to begin sentence

41
Q

Study compared differences in flexibility in 4 conditions

A

Does it make production easier or harder?
Manipulating flexibility by use of alternator or non-alternator verbs
Pattern of errors SUPPORTS INCREMENTAL
Ex1: fewest errors occurred in flexible alternator/un-constraining condition

Pattern of production latencies SUPPORTS INCREMENTAL
If supports incremental, should result in shorter production latencies -these were fastest in the flexible alternator condition

Results NOT compatible with competitive theory predictions

42
Q

Issue of SYNTACTIC PERSISTENCE (Bock, Loebell & Morey, 1992) - dynamical structural preference

A

Explains low use of DO structure

When language system creates a sentence with a particular structure. the system is inclined to produce a sentence with that structure in the future - ppts exploit flexibility
75% critical sentences in experiment could only be spoken as PO therefore the likelihood of PO being uttered for all sentences is ALOT HIGHER %

43
Q

Experiment 2 manipulated flexibility differently but with same flexibility conditions

A

Production latencies were lower and to an extent to were production errors
Participants could create sentences more quickly in flexible alternator/un-constraining condition

44
Q

Experiment 3: showed over important factors that affect language production

ISSUES WITH FERREIRA STUDY

A

Production error analysis showed syntactic non-flexibility only resulted in difficult production when participants needed to produce PASSIVE SENTENCES

Results do show beneficial effects of flexibility under different types of structure - acknowledge that the production task used was very different from real life natural production
–> CANNOT GENERALISE
It would be thus strengthened by supporting evidence in more natural situation

45
Q

IMPORTANT - Conclusion of Ferreira study

A

People produce sentences more easily under conditions of syntactic flexibility
Having more ways to express a message permits the speaker to choose a sentence that accommodates variation in the way that a message evolves

46
Q

Syntactic persistence

A

When syntactic structure can be repeated later on in conversation - occurs in dialogue
- 1 of the more general phenomenas of syntactic priming

47
Q

Syntactic priming is observed when

A

Participants are asked to repeat a prime sentence that contains syntactic structure of interest then asked to describe a picture

48
Q

What do syntactic priming studies show?

A

Speakers use particular word order if prime sentence used that order
Bock (1986)
Bock & Loebell (1990)
Branigan et al (1995)

49
Q

Meyer (1996) study (evidence for competitive model)

A

presented ppts with pictures of pairs of objects which they then had to name or place in short sentences - used SIMPLE SHORT SENTENCES

At the same time, auditory distractor that was semantically or phonologically similar to the first or second noun

If SEMANTICALLY SIMILAR to BOTH nouns - slowed down sentence production

If PHONOLOGICALLY SIMILAR to FIRST noun - was faster at uttering sentence - facilitated initiation of speech

50
Q

Meyer (1996) conclusion

A

We prepare meaning of short phrases and select appropriate words before we start speaking but only retrieve the sound of the FIRST word

51
Q

Discrepancies between models

A
  1. Advance planning evidence comes from study of short and simple sentences

Incremental deals with/explains more complex sentence structure constructions
2. Task demands affect how much participants plan in detail before they start speaking

52
Q

Smith and Wheeldon (1999)

A

Ppts describe moving pictures - increased production onset latency for single clause sentences belonging with a complex noun phrase
vs a simple phrase

Also takes longer to initiate double clause/compound sentences vs single clause
These results suggest people DON’T plan entire syntactic structure in advance

Memory & Language (6 decks)

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