weeks 11.1 to 12.2 Flashcards
main implication of the “towel” study
language comprehension involves not just understanding the word meanings; the real-world context also helps us understand sentences, especially when there’s ambiguity
experimental paradigm (sentences)
read a sentence –> see a target –> judge if the target is related to the sentence
garden-path (GP) sentence
initially expect the verb of the relative clause to be the main verb of the sentence; causes ambiguity
three possibilities to solve GP sentence ambiguity
(1) wait until attachment (of the final verb) to interpret the meaning; (2) commit to only one interpretation immediately (serial processing, GP effect more likely to emerge); (3) weigh multiple alternatives simultaneously (parallel processing, GP effect least likely to occur)
expectation-based syntactic comprehension
use frequency of a sentence type during processing; processing based on expectation, instead of formal structures and rules; low-frequency (unexpected or less expected) structure requires more efforts to process
what computational linguists do
train a simple computational model on a large corpus of text to learn: given some context, what is the probability of encountering a particular word?
data-driven approach
statistical distribution of utterances/sequences/chunks or ngrams
N400 vs. P600
N400: semantic anomaly
P600: syntactic anomaly
perceptual “repair”
restore missing sounds or re-interpret the unput using top-down process; can be used in perception in degraded context or perception of accented speech
logical vs. bridging (backward) vs. elaborative inference
logical: infer from facts/statements
bridging (backward): needs prior contexts
elaborative: using real-world knowledge to infer the intended meaning
can you interpret anaphoric expression without context?
no
factors affecting anaphoric resolution (4)
analogy, gender, order of mentioning, frequency of mentioning
implicit causality
when asked about why an action is performed, we infer it’s either the subject or the object of the verb that causes the action to be performed
NP1 vs. NP2 verb
NP1 verb: causality on the subject (the first NP)
NP2 verb: causality on the object (the second NP)
figurative language
inference beyond literal meaning; includes metaphor, hyperbole, sarcasm, personification
high functioning autism (HFA)
individuals on the autism spectrum who have cognitive and/or linguistic abilities that are in the average to above average range for their age; more quickly process two-word phrases as semantic anomaly (N400)
speech acts
the power of language; every utterance has a goal to achieve and a function
Grice’s maxims
a set of rules for conversations; the core principle is to assume your interlocuter/conversation partner is rational and cooperative (i.e., “Meal #1 please.”)
Chomsky’s view of acquisition
due to poverty of the stimulus, we must have the innate abilities to acquire a language; evidence from quantity (insufficient input from the environment for rule learning) and quality (input not good enough)
language acquisition device (LAD)
proposed by Chomsky; Universal Grammar (UG); a universal set of principles and constraints
critical period hypothesis (CPH) strongest vs. weak version
strongest: acquisition is only possible in a critical time frame - around puberty
weak (sensitivity period hypothesis): possessing the sensitivity to speech sounds that are not even in one’s native language; more likely to successfully acquire complex syntax (e.g., garden-path sentences, relative clauses)
imitation
an important step in the initial acquisition process; from perception to production; learning the articulatory gestures; supports the motor theory of speech perception
statistical learning
learning from distribution (data or input-driven), contrary to Chomsky’s views; picking up phonological patterns, syntactic structures (e.g., word order), and transitional probabilities (TPs)
transitional probability (TP)
probability of transition from A to B vs. A to C
