scholarly journals Why we need to investigate casual speech to truly understand language production, processing and the mental lexicon

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin V. Tucker ◽  
Mirjam Ernestus
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Experimental Methods ◽  
High Variability ◽  
Statistical Techniques ◽  
Connected Speech ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Real Progress ◽  
Casual Speech

The majority of studies addressing psycholinguistic questions focus on speech produced and processed in a careful, laboratory speech style. This ‘careful’ speech is very different from the speech that listeners encounter in casual conversations. This article argues that research on casual speech is necessary to show the validity of conclusions based on careful speech. Moreover, research on casual speech produces new insights and questions on the processes underlying communication and on the mental lexicon that cannot be revealed by research using careful speech. This article first places research on casual speech in its historic perspective. It then provides many examples of how casual speech differs from careful speech and shows that these differences may have important implications for psycholinguistic theories. Subsequently, the article discusses the challenges that research on casual speech faces, which stem from the high variability of this speech style, its necessary casual context, and that casual speech is connected speech. We also present opportunities for research on casual speech, mostly in the form of new experimental methods that facilitate research on connected speech. However, real progress can only be made if these new methods are combined with advanced (still to be developed) statistical techniques.

An Exploration of the Impact of Group Treatment for Aphasia on Connected Speech

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Mason ◽  
Lyndsey Nickels ◽  
Belinda McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Group Treatment ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Outcome Measurement ◽  
Word Retrieval ◽  
Connected Speech ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Everyday Communication ◽  
Therapy Programme

AbstractObjective:Group treatment enables people with aphasia to practise communication skills outside the typical clinician–patient dyad. While there is evidence that this treatment format can improve participation in everyday communication, there is little evidence it impacts linguistic abilities. This project aimed to investigate the effects of ‘typical’ group treatment on the communication skills of people with aphasia with a focus on word retrieval in discourse.Methods:Three people with aphasia took part in a 6-week group therapy programme. Each week focused on a different topic, and three topics also received a home programme targeting word retrieval. The six treated topics were compared with two control topics, with regard to language production in connected speech. Semistructured interviews were collected twice prior to treatment and twice following the treatment and analysed using (a) word counts; (b) the profile of word errors and retrieval in speech; (c) a measure of propositional idea density, and (d) perceptual discourse ratings.Results:Two participants showed no significant improvements; one participant showed significant improvement on discourse ratings.Conclusions:This study provides limited support for group treatment, leading to improved communication as measured by semistructured interviews, even when supplemented with a home programme. We suggest that either group treatment, as implemented here, was not an effective approach for improving communication for our participants and/or that outcome measurement was limited by difficulty assessing changes in connected speech.

scholarly journals Left cytoarchitectonic area 44 supports selection in the mental lexicon during language production

2009 ◽  
Vol 213 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 441-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Heim ◽  
Simon B. Eickhoff ◽  
Angela D. Friederici ◽  
Katrin Amunts
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Mental Lexicon

New Methods for Estimating Dispersibility of Carbon Blacks in Rubber

1980 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Jansen ◽  
Gerard Kraus
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Black ◽  
Mixing Time ◽  
Experimental Methods ◽  
The Other ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Rate Of Development ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Roll Mill ◽  
Dilute Suspension ◽  
Dispersion Test

Abstract Two convenient experimental methods are described for ascertaining dispersibility characteristics of carbon black. Both are based on the rate of development of optical density with dispersion or mixing time in a dilute suspension. One procedure uses polybutadiene medium and a roll mill to effect dispersion, the other chloroform and ultrasonic agitation. Correlations with conventional dispersion test results based on photomicrography are good. Advantages are precision and objectivity, not available to the same degree in photomicrograph evaluations.

Language production experiments as tools for corpus construction: A contrastive study of complementizer agreement

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Fingerhuth ◽  
Ludwig Maximilian Breuer
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Experimental Methods ◽  
Response Behavior ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Corpus Construction ◽  
Completion Task ◽  
Corpus Size ◽  
Complementizer Agreement ◽  
Task Types

AbstractThe investigation of linguistic phenomena in corpora of spontaneous speech is sometimes hindered by corpus size or by the complexity of the factors influencing their occurrence. Language Production Experiments (LPEs) can specifically elicit such phenomena and can therefore be used to build corpora that allow for their investigation. Yet experiments are a wide category that covers very different tasks, and there is little empirical research that compares speakers’ response behavior to different task types. In this paper, we compare the responses of a group of 22 speakers to a translation task and a completion task, both of which target the syntactic phenomena complementizer agreement (CA). The results indicate that both experimental methods offer legitimate ways to investigate the phenomenon with specific advantages and disadvantages. However, a comparison of results from both tasks allows for insights that a single task could not have provided.

Statistical Approaches to the Rise of Concubinage in Islam

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Majied Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Statistical Techniques ◽  
Arabic Text ◽  
Sharp Rise ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
New Methods ◽  
History Of ◽  
Statistical Approaches

A statistical analysis of an early Arabic text, Nasab Quraysh of al-Zubayri (d.c. 850), is used to examine the rise of concubinage during the first period of Islamic history. Using basic prosopographical and statistical techniques, the author argues for a sharp rise in reliance on concubinage by elite Arab families following the appearance of Islam during the seventh century CE. Contrary to what is often claimed, concubines and their progeny enjoyed a significant presence in elite Arab families well before the Abbasid era, and there is little evidence to suggest that either mothers or their offspring were discriminated against on a systematic basis. The value of new methods of reading medieval Arabic texts is emphasized in an effort to reconstruct the history of gender and slavery in Islamic history.

Research into practice: How research appears in pronunciation teaching materials

2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Levis
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
High Variability ◽  
Connected Speech ◽  
Teaching Materials ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Research And Teaching

Research into pronunciation has often disregarded its potential to inform pedagogy. This is due partly to the historical development of pronunciation teaching and research, but its effect is that there is often a mismatch between research and teaching. This paper looks at four areas in which the (mis)match is imperfect but in which a greater recognition of research can lead to better teaching materials (high variability phonetic training, intonation, information structure, and setting priorities). Furthermore, two areas in which teaching materials are desperate for research to be carried out (connected speech and the primacy of suprasegmentals) will be discussed.

scholarly journals Interlaboratory Comparison of Flexural Strength of Structural Ceramics

1985 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. M. Lenoe ◽  
D. Neal ◽  
M. Vangel ◽  
M. Boehmer ◽  
J. E. Siebels
Keyword(s):  
Silicon Nitride ◽  
Flexural Strength ◽  
Interlaboratory Comparison ◽  
Statistical Evaluation ◽  
Experimental Methods ◽  
The Body ◽  
Statistical Techniques ◽  
Structural Ceramics ◽  
Silicon Nitrides ◽  
Silicon Carbides

This paper presents results of statistical evaluation of flexural strength of various silicon nitrides and silicon carbides. The interlaboratory comparison involved both analytical and experimental procedures. For instance, two types of reaction bonded silicon nitride from the same production lots were evaluated using different test fixtures and experimental methods. A fairly extensive data base on five types of nitrides and carbides was evaluated using both conventional and advanced statistical techniques. The various differences observed are discussed in the body of the paper.

scholarly journals Scan Statistics for Detecting High-Variance Clusters

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lionel Cucala
Keyword(s):  
Linear Regression ◽  
Likelihood Ratio ◽  
Likelihood Ratio Test ◽  
High Variability ◽  
Scan Statistics ◽  
Generalized Likelihood Ratio Test ◽  
Ratio Test ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
New Methods ◽  
The Mean

Scan statistics are mostly used to detect spatial areas or time intervals in which the mean level of a given variable is more important. Sometimes, when this variable is continuous, there is an interest in looking for clusters in which its variability is more important. In this paper, two scan statistics are introduced for identifying clusters of values exhibiting higher variance. Like many classical scan statistics, the first one relies on a generalized likelihood ratio test whereas the second one is based on ratios of empirical variances. These methods are useful to identify spatial areas or time intervals in which the variability of a given variable is more important. In an application of the new methods, I look for geographical clusters of high-variability income in France and then for residuals exhibiting higher variance in a linear regression context.

scholarly journals THE SEARCH FOR DARK MATTER (WIMPs): AT LOW MASS AND WITH NEW METHODS

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (13) ◽  
pp. 925-935 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID B. CLINE
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Experimental Methods ◽  
Mass Region ◽  
Low Energy ◽  
Phase Detector ◽  
Liquid Xenon ◽  
Energy Response ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Low Mass

We briefly review the constraints on the search for low mass WIMPs (<15 GeV) and the various experimental methods. These experiments depend on the response of detectors to low energy signals (less than 15 keV equivalent energy). We then describe recent fits to the data and attempt to determine L eff , the energy response at low energy. We find that the use of a liquid Xenon two-phase detector that employs the S2 data near threshold is the most sensitive current study of the low mass region. We rely on some talks at Dark Matter 2010.

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