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LI LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION > Syntax, Semantics, and Pragmatics > Flashcards

Syntax, Semantics, and Pragmatics Flashcards

1
Q

what was early work in psycholinguistics inspired by?

A

chomsky (1928) which distinguished between competence and performance

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2
Q

competence

A

speaker-hearer’s knowledge of the language, inc. grammaticality judgements

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3
Q

performance

A

-the actual use of language in concrete situations/how we use language
- distinguishable from competence as we may have memory limitations that have hesitations or errors

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4
Q

grammaticality judgements…

A

are not the same as sensicality judgements

  • people distinguish between those through their innate implicit knowledge of the syntactic rules of their language, not based on prior experience
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5
Q

what did chomsky suggest about grammar?

A

it is generative- a finite number of rules can generate an infinite number of sentences, due to recursion

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6
Q

what is recursion?

A

referring to itself in its definition

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7
Q

what does recursion allow for?

A

rule-governed creativity, as we cannot store all possible sentences in our heads

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8
Q

what is incremental parsing?

A

each sentence of a language can be described in terms of hierarchal groupings of its words, by using phrase structure trees/tree diagrams

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9
Q

Tree diagrams and its influence on reading

A

the way we put and group things together in our diagram gives us different interpretations of a sentence

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10
Q

on-line incremental parsing

A

the parser/ reader constructs a syntactic structure on the basis of words as they arrive

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11
Q

What do parsing models investigate

A

how do different sources of knowledge (e.g. syntax,semantics ) interact with one another and when

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12
Q

parsing models

A
  1. modular accounts
  2. interactive accounts
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13
Q

modular accounts (serial processing)

A
  1. syntactic information is processed individually, with parsing solely based on syntactic preference
  2. subsequent processing takes other information into account, e.g., semantics
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14
Q

what if the parse is incompatible with the following information in the modular account

A

reanalysis occurs, takes time

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15
Q

how does frazier’s (1987) garden-path model believe parsing occurs? (still modular)

A

Within stage 1 we have:
- minimal attachment (go for the simplest structure of fewest nodes)
- late closure (incorporate words in the currently open phrase) OR link incoming material material with most recent material

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16
Q

Late closure; when does this happen

A

if there is no difference in tree nodes we keep the phrase open and attach incoming info whats being processed

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17
Q

Attach low

A

attach to the most recent constituent

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18
Q

interactive accounts

A
  1. all information is processed at the same time
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19
Q

constraint-based models (interactive account for parsing)

A

all relevant sources of information (constraints) can be used immediately to help syntactic parsing

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20
Q

syntactic analyses in the constraint based models

A

possible syntactic analysis generated in parallel with the activation of each analysis dependent on the support available at that moment

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21
Q

what happens if several levels of syntactic analysis get comparable support?

A

parsing is difficult due to competition between different analysis

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22
Q

how does reading evolve?

A

incrementally, as each incoming word is processed immediately

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23
Q

why must semantic processors be flexible?

A

-to deal with the variety of inputs quickly
- People shouldn’t immediately assign one specific interpretation to a word and then find out they selected the wrong one

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24
Q

lexical ambiguity- what are homonyms?

A

words with two unrelated interpretations

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25
selective access model for homonyms
context provides access to contextually appropriate meaning
26
ordered access model for homonyms
activation on basis of meaning frequency, tried against context
27
parallel access model for homonyms
all meanings are activated
28
What has cross modal priming shown for homonym interpretation
we activate all meanings and use context to select the appropriate one
29
biased homonyms for homonyms
when one word has a more frequent meaning
30
balanced homonyms
both meanings are just as frequent
31
what has eye-tracking research found effects of in homonyms ?What does it introduce
effects of meaning frequency and context for lexical ambiguity introduces the reordered access model 1988
32
reordered access model, duffy 1988
-hybrid of access models depending on frequency and context, which can increase activation of different meanings - context give contextual boosts increasing activation level of one meaning, regardless of homonym frequency
33
subordination bias effect
less frequent meaning of a homonym will be harder to process than frequent ones
34
lexical polysemy- when does this occur?
- a case of one-too-many mapping - when lexical items have more than one interpretation but these are semantically related to one another - e.g. 'Vietnam' can either mean the event (war) or the country
35
metonymy
one salient part of an entity is used to refer to the entity as a whole
36
examples of metonymy
part-for-whole (synecdoche) (e.g. wings of a plane) whole-for-part (e.g. Belguim team) place-for-institution place-for-event producer-for-product (e.g. Dickens)
37
what can metonymy lead to?
do we have literal-first or figurative-first possibilities
38
unranked parallel models of metonymy
no hierarchy in activation
39
ranked parallel models of metonymy
activation levels depend on frequency, saliency, and basicness
40
what happens when metonymic sense is lexicalised?
there is no difficulty in establishing a metonymic sense
41
alternative metonymic model
- activation of a single abstract unspecified meaning which is the same for all semantically related senses - We then use context to hone in on the specific interpretation (context is used as a tool instead of a judge)
42
what are pragmatics?
the distinction between what a speaker's words literally mean compared to what they might mean by their words
43
what does pragmatics involve a combination of?
- word meaning for individual words, e.g., lexical ambiguity - some kind of principle of constitutionality - inferences - individual skill
44
principle of constitutionality
word meanings and how they are combined, how we combine words affects how we interpret them
45
what are the readers assumptions about a text
the text is coherent and cohesive (events remain stable)
46
what are inferences?
the process of developing information beyond the literal meaning of text
47
types of inferences
1. logical interferences 2. bridging 3. elaborative
48
logical interferences
based on word meaning - e.g. if we hear fish, we know it lives in the sea
49
bridging interferences
relating new words to previous heard information to maintain coherence
50
elaborative inferences
extending the text with your own knowledge to become indistinguishable from the original material - e.g. 'the actor fell from the 14th floor' > we assume she is dead we we know that is life threatening
51
"frame problem" in inferencing
how the current statement interacts with world knowledge, and where inferences should be stopped
52
approaches to inferencing
1. minimalist 2. constructionist 3. hybrid
53
minimalist approach
only two kinds of inferences are encoded during automatic reading 1. those necessary for local coherence, connections between sentences no further than 1-2 apart 2. easy available information in STM
54
minimalist approach critique
- explains logical and bridging inferences - however elabortaive inferences arent automatically made, contradicting the approach
55
constructionist approach/ critique
-numerous elaborative inferences are drawn immediately during reading - strong version not well supported as we cannot distinguish between elaborations
56
hybrid approach
minimalist and constructionist reading is used depending on the goals
57
why do we draw inferences according to the hybrid approach
- drawing inferences can be strategic and depend on individual differences
58
what do language users tend to use instead of in-depth processing?
good enough representations
59
good enough representations
using fast and frugal heuristics to arrive as a good enough interpretation - sufficient in most cases and driven by assumptions - can lead to misconceptions and errors in interpretation
60
less skilled comprehenders...
- draw fewer inferences - poorer integration of meaning across sentences - less skilled at suppression
61
what are individual differences in comprehension related to?
- differences in verbal working memory, measured by reading span - attention - suppression of irrelevant or inappropriate material
62
what does suppression involve?
suppressing the inappropriate meaning of homonyms or rejecting the incorrect form of homophones
63
what does essentialism refer to?
- Something essential in natural kind that stays the same even if you transform it - An essential underlying quality (DNA)
64
natural kinds
judgements are identified based on innate, underlying qualities
65
artefacts
judgements based on superficial, perceptual features (not essentialist)
66
Children and essentialism
Children tend to rely on perceptual features with both artefacts and animal kinds Indicates young children don’t apply essentialist reasoning
67
theory of mind involves...
the ability to understand people have different world views and mental states this is crucial for communication and language understanding emerges around 3-4yrs old
68
there is evidence of _________ essentialist reasoning regardless of prompting. what does this show
immediate - psychological essentialist reasoning is an automatic process
69
natural kinds (TOM)
no evidence that inferences are based on what people know is made automatically
70
artefacts (TOM)
unclear; can be explained by reader's own perspective taking

LI LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION (11 decks)

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