Cue validity in Hebrew sentence comprehension

1988 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey L. Sokolov
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Cue Validity ◽  
Study Word ◽  
Increased Sensitivity ◽  
Actual Strength ◽  
Older Subjects ◽  
Positive Correlations

ABSTRACTThis study investigated the degree to which cue validity, as estimated from textual analyses, predicts the actual strength of grammatical cues as they are used by speakers of Hebrew. An experiment was conducted to determine the differential strengths of the linguistic cues employed by Hebrew speakers when assigning the role of patient in sentences. Monolingual Hebrew-speaking subjects 4, 5, 7, and 9 years old, as well as adults, were tested using a sentence-picture verification task. Six cues were included in the study: word order, the accusative object marker, the reflexive noun phrase and three verbal derivations. By presenting subjects with sentences which set these cues in competition with one another, a measure of the strength of each cue was obtained. The results of a regression analysis revealed strong positive correlations between estimated cue validities and actual cue strengths for all but the youngest age groups. These results were interpreted as suggesting that cue validity is highly predictive of actual cue strengths. In addition, the strengths of the six cues varied as a function of the subject's age. Two additional factors were hypothesized to account for the performance of the older subjects: increased sensitivity to the reliability of cues and discourse-based constraints.

scholarly journals The role of the l-IPS in the comprehension of reversible and irreversible sentences: an rTMS study

2020 ◽  
Vol 225 (8) ◽  
pp. 2403-2414
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Vercesi ◽  
Prerana Sabnis ◽  
Chiara Finocchiaro ◽  
Luigi Cattaneo ◽  
Elena Tonolli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Thematic Roles ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
Performance Accuracy ◽  
Thematic Relations ◽  
First Pass ◽  
Stimulation Of

Abstract Thematic roles can be seen as semantic labels assigned to who/what is taking part in the event denoted by a verb. Encoding thematic relations is crucial for sentence interpretation since it relies on both syntactic and semantic aspects. In previous studies, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the left inferior intraparietal sulcus (l-IPS) selectively influenced performance accuracy on reversible passive (but not active) sentences. The effect was attributed to the fact that in these sentences the assignment of the agent and theme roles requires re-analysis of the first-pass sentence parsing. To evaluate the role of reversibility and non-canonical word order (passive voice) on the effect, rTMS was applied over l-IPS during a sentence comprehension task that included reversible and irreversible, active and passive sentences. Participants were asked to identify who/what was performing the action or who/what the action was being performed on. Stimulation of the l-IPS increased response time on reversible passive sentences but not on reversible active sentences. Importantly, no effect was found on irreversible sentences, irrespective of sentence diathesis. Results suggest that neither reversibility nor sentence diathesis alone are responsible for the effect and that the effect is likely to be triggered/constrained by a combination of semantic reversibility and non-canonical word order. Combined with the results of previous studies, and irrespective of the specific role of each feature, these findings support the view that the l-IPS is critically involved in the assignment of thematic roles in reversible sentences.

The utilization of syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic cues in the assignment of subject role in Arabic

1993 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassan A. Taman
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Cue Validity ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Subject Role ◽  
Similar Processing

AbstractThe role of four cues in the assignment of actor role in Arabic was studied. These cues included animacy, case marking, gender agreement, and word order. The cues were set-in-a competing/converging fashion following the framework of the Competition Model of Bates and MacWhinney (1981, 1982, 1987). Fifty-four sentences representing all possible permutations of the cues were presented to 100 native speakers of Arabic, who were asked to identify the actor in each sentence. Subjects relied mainly on gender agreement and case marking in the assignment of the actor role. The results suggested that cue validity is very highly correlated with cue strength. It was also found that cues do not exhibit an additive nature, and that cross-linguistic formal similarities do not warrant similar processing strategies. Order of nouns tended to represent a “latent strategy” to be utilized only when other relevant cues were not available.

scholarly journals Information Structure and Word Order Canonicity in the Comprehension of Spanish Texts: An Eye-Tracking Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina A. Gattei ◽  
Luis A. París ◽  
Diego E. Shalom
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Total Reading Time ◽  
Pragmatic Motivation

Word order alternation has been described as one of the most productive information structure markers and discourse organizers across languages. Psycholinguistic evidence has shown that word order is a crucial cue for argument interpretation. Previous studies about Spanish sentence comprehension have shown greater difficulty to parse sentences that present a word order that does not respect the order of participants of the verb's lexico-semantic structure, irrespective to whether the sentences follow the canonical word order of the language or not. This difficulty has been accounted as the cognitive cost related to the miscomputation of prominence status of the argument that precedes the verb. Nonetheless, the authors only analyzed the use of alternative word orders in isolated sentences, leaving aside the pragmatic motivation of word order alternation. By means of an eye-tracking task, the current study provides further evidence about the role of information structure for the comprehension of sentences with alternative word order and verb type, and sheds light on the interaction between syntax, semantics and pragmatics. We analyzed both “early” and “late” eye-movement measures as well as accuracy and response times to comprehension questions. Results showed an overall influence of information structure reflected in a modulation of late eye-movement measures as well as offline measures like total reading time and questions response time. However, effects related to the miscomputation of prominence status did not fade away when sentences were preceded by a context that led to non-canonical word order of constituents, showing that prominence computation is a core mechanism for argument interpretation, even in sentences preceded by context.

The role of verbal working memory in L2 sentence comprehension

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Elma Kerz ◽  
Daniel Wiechmann
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Sentence Type ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Mixed Effects Modeling ◽  
Positive Correlations

Abstract Considerable variability has been observed in sentence comprehension abilities in both native speakers and second language (L2) learner populations. While it has long been established that, in native speakers, this variability is closely linked to individual differences (IDs) in verbal working memory (vWM), previous research on the role of vWM in L2 sentence comprehension has produced mixed results. Moreover, there is an accumulating body of evidence demonstrating that the relationship between vWM and native language comprehension abilities is mediated by language experience. However, to our knowledge, until now, no attempt has been made to integrate language experience measures into the vWM-L2 sentence comprehension relationship. The goal of the present study is twofold: (1) to determine whether and to what extent vWM – as gauged by a reading span (RSPAN) task – correlates with IDs in two proxy estimates of L2 experience and (2) to investigate the effects of vWM on L2 comprehension of three different types of complex sentences. Thirty-four German advanced learners of English participated in this study. Significant positive correlations were found between the RSPAN scores and both proxy estimates of L2 experience. Mixed-effects modeling revealed that vWM exerted a significant effect on L2 sentence comprehension that was not modulated by sentence type. Taken together, these results provide additional evidence in support of the involvement of vWM in L2 sentence comprehension and, to our knowledge, first evidence for the contribution of L2 experience to RSPAN task performance.

On-line sentence processing in Swedish: cross-linguistic developmental comparisons with French

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHÈLE KAIL ◽  
MARIA KIHLSTEDT ◽  
PHILIPPE BONNET
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Competition Model ◽  
Adult Group ◽  
Cue Validity ◽  
Processing Abilities ◽  
On Line ◽  
Cost Factors

ABSTRACTThis study examined on-line processing of Swedish sentences in a grammaticality-judgement experiment within the framework of the Competition Model. Three age groups from 6 to 11 and an adult group were asked to detect grammatical violations as quickly as possible. Three factors concerning cue cost were studied: violation position (early vs. late), violation span (intraphrasal vs. interphrasal) and violation type (agreement vs. word order). Developmental results showed that children were always slower at detecting grammatical violations. Irrespective of age, participants were faster at judging sentences with late violations, especially in the younger groups. Intraphrasal violations were more rapidly detected than interphrasal ones, particularly in adults. Finally, agreement violations and word order ones did not differ. The hierarchy of cue cost factors indicated that violation span was the dominant one. A cross-linguistic analysis with French (Kail, 2004) underlines the developmental processing abilities and the interdependence between cue cost and cue validity.

The Adult as Foe or Friend?: Childism in Guus Kuijer's Criticism and Fiction

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Joosen
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
Memorial Award ◽  
Adult Reader ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Selection Of

Compared to the attention that children's literature scholars have paid to the construction of childhood in children's literature and the role of adults as authors, mediators and readers of children's books, few researchers have made a systematic study of adults as characters in children's books. This article analyses the construction of adulthood in a selection of texts by the Dutch author and Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner Guus Kuijer and connects them with Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's recent concept of ‘childism’ – a form of prejudice targeted against children. Whereas Kuijer published a severe critique of adulthood in Het geminachte kind [The despised child] (1980), in his literary works he explores a variety of positions that adults can take towards children, with varying degrees of childist features. Such a systematic and comparative analysis of the way grown-ups are characterised in children's texts helps to shed light on a didactic potential that materialises in different adult subject positions. After all, not only literary and artistic aspects of children's literature may be aimed at the adult reader (as well as the child), but also the didactic aspect of children's books can cross over between different age groups.

Applanation Tonometry for Assessment of Left Ventricular Systolic Load

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-99
Author(s):  
Rene D. Mileva-Popova ◽  
Nina Y. Belova
Keyword(s):  
Arterial Stiffness ◽  
Augmentation Index ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Systolic Pressure ◽  
Left Ventricular ◽  
Applanation Tonometry ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Pressure Area ◽  
Older Subjects ◽  
And Gender

Summary Vascular-ventricular coupling is a major determinant of left ventricular load. The aim of our study was to assess non- invasively left ventricular load and its dependency on central hemodynamics. Sixty-five healthy and gender-matched individuals were divided in two groups according to their age: 20y/o and 50y/o. Applanation tonometry was performed using the Sphygmocor device. Central pressures and pulse wave analysis indices were computed. Central systolic (120±3 vs. 98±2 mm Hg) and pulse pressures (43±3 vs. 29±1 mm Hg) as well as the augmentation index (AIx75) (23±3 vs. 6±2%) were significantly higher in the 50y/o group (p<0.01). These parameters are relevant markers of arterial stiffness and evidenced the development of central arterial morphological and functional alterations in the older subjects. The time-tension index (TTI) computed from the systolic pressure area was significantly higher in the 50y/o subjects as compared to the 20y/o group (2378±66 vs. 1954±73 mmHg×s, p<0.01). Moreover, we have shown the presence of significant correlation between TTI and AIx75 (p<0.01) in both age groups. This finding confirmed the contribution of arterial stiffness for the impaired vascular-ventricular coupling. In conclusion, applanation tonometry might be utilized for non-invasive evaluation of the left ventricular load, which is an important parameter of cardiovascular risk.

Effectiveness of psychological interventions to improve emotion regulation in youth - a meta-analysis

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bettina Moltrecht ◽  
Jessica Deighton ◽  
Praveetha Patalay ◽  
Julian Childs
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Psychological Intervention ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
What Works ◽  
Large Heterogeneity ◽  
Larger Sample

Background: Research investigating the role of emotion regulation (ER) in the development and treatment of psychopathology has increased in recent years. Evidence suggests that an increased focus on ER in treatment can improve existing interventions. Most ER research has neglected young people, therefore the present meta-analysis summarizes the evidence for existing psychosocial intervention and their effectiveness to improve ER in youth. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. Twenty-one randomized-control-trials (RCTs) assessed changes in ER following a psychological intervention in youth exhibiting various psychopathological symptoms.Results: We found moderate effect sizes for current interventions to decrease emotion dysregulation in youth (g=-.46) and small effect sizes to improve emotion regulation (g=0.36). Significant differences between studies including intervention components, ER measures and populations studied resulted in large heterogeneity. Conclusion: This is the first meta-analysis that summarizes the effectiveness for existing interventions to improve ER in youth. The results suggest that interventions can enhance ER in youth, and that these improvements correlate with improvements in psychopathology. More RCTs including larger sample sizes, different age groups and psychopathologies are needed to increase our understanding of what works for who and when.

Niuean

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Massam
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Noun Incorporation ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Theta Role ◽  
Predicate Argument Structure

This book presents a detailed descriptive and theoretical examination of predicate-argument structure in Niuean, a Polynesian language within the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian family, spoken mainly on the Pacific island of Niue and in New Zealand. Niuean has VSO word order and an ergative case-marking system, both of which raise questions for a subject-predicate view of sentence structure. Working within a broadly Minimalist framework, this volume develops an analysis in which syntactic arguments are not merged locally to their thematic sources, but instead are merged high, above an inverted extended predicate which serves syntactically as the Niuean verb, later undergoing movement into the left periphery of the clause. The thematically lowest argument merges as an absolutive inner subject, with higher arguments merging as applicatives. The proposal relates Niuean word order and ergativity to its isolating morphology, by equating the absence of inflection with the absence of IP in Niuean, which impacts many aspects of its grammar. As well as developing a novel analysis of clause and argument structure, word order, ergative case, and theta role assignment, the volume argues for an expanded understanding of subjecthood. Throughout the volume, many other topics are also treated, such as noun incorporation, word formation, the parallel internal structure of predicates and arguments, null arguments, displacement typology, the role of determiners, and the structure of the left periphery.

The Health of Refugees

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Age Groups ◽  
Refugee Health ◽  
Mass Movements ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Displaced Populations ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
The Media ◽  
Multidisciplinary Perspective ◽  
The Impact

There have been significant changes in the numbers, patterns, and circumstances of refugees and in the political landscape to support humanitarianism since the publication of the first edition of this collection. Like the first edition, this volume provides a multidisciplinary perspective on refugee health, tracing the health repercussions on individuals and populations from the drivers of forced mass movements of populations from situations of conflict and other disasters through to the process of resettlement in countries other than their countries of origin. Drawing on the expertise of academics, practitioners, and UN frontline experts, the collection covers three main aspects of refugee health: the concepts, definitions, and context from a human rights, humanitarianism, and social determinants of health perspective; the intersection of vulnerabilities across age groups and settings; and the ethical challenges for practitioners and researchers working with forcibly displaced populations seeking to resettle. The collection concludes with an analysis of the role of the media in shaping our perceptions of refugees and the impact on policy and access to care.

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