Efficiency in shaping grammars

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaolong Yang ◽  
Yicheng Wu
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Production Mechanism ◽  
Intended Meaning ◽  
Sentence Planning ◽  
Correspondence Hypothesis ◽  
A Performance

Abstract Hawkins (1994, 1999, 2004, 2014a) proposes a performance-grammar correspondence hypothesis, claiming that grammars can be shaped by processing systems with reference to the degree of preference in communication. Given that Hawkins’s proposal mainly highlights the role of efficiency in language comprehension, this paper demonstrates that parsing principles can also be employed to account for language production. Based on an analysis of the production mechanism behind multiple occurrences of the Chinese reflexive ziji ‘self’ in a single clause, it shows that the notion of intersubjectivity can sometimes play a significant role in sentence planning, in the sense that the Chinese reflexive assists speakers to produce an utterance in line with the principle of efficiency, which will in turn help hearers compute the intended meaning by identifying potential referents.

The Oxford Handbook of Psycholinguistics

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Text Comprehension ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
First Language ◽  
Grammatical Encoding ◽  
Current State

This handbook reviews the current state of the art in the field of psycholinguistics. Part I deals with language comprehension at the sublexical, lexical, and sentence and discourse levels. It explores concepts of speech representation and the search for universal speech segmentation mechanisms against a background of linguistic diversity and compares first language with second language segmentation. It also discusses visual word recognition, lexico-semantics, the different forms of lexical ambiguity, sentence comprehension, text comprehension, and language in deaf populations. Part II focuses on language production, with chapters covering topics such as word production and related processes based on evidence from aphasia, the major debates surrounding grammatical encoding. Part III considers various aspects of interaction and communication, including the role of gesture in language processing, approaches to the study of perspective-taking, and the interrelationships between language comprehension, emotion, and sociality. Part IV is concerned with language development and evolution, focusing on topics ranging from the development of prosodic phonology, the neurobiology of artificial grammar learning, and developmental dyslexia. The book concludes with Part V, which looks at methodological advances in psycholinguistic research, such as the use of intracranial electrophysiology in the area of language processing.

scholarly journals Investigating the Role of Inattention and/or Hyperactivity/impulsivity in Language and Social Functioning Using a Dimensional Approach

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaitlyn Mary Ann Parks ◽  
Janis Oram Cardy ◽  
Tiffany G. Woynaroski ◽  
Claudia Sehl ◽  
Ryan A Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Social Competency ◽  
Social Responsiveness ◽  
Social Ability ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
Inattention And Hyperactivity ◽  
Differential Relations ◽  
Social Responsivity

The current study parsed out the distinct components of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptomatology to examine differential relations with language and social ability. Using a research domain criteria (RDoC) framework, we administered standardized tests and previously developed and validated questionnaires to assess levels of inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity symptomatology, language, social responsivity and social competency in 98 young adults. Those with higher inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity symptomatology had reduced language comprehension, social responsivity, and social competency. Inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity both predicted language comprehension, but not language production. Interestingly, inattention uniquely contributed to social responsiveness and social competency, but hyperactivity/impulsivity did not. Findings suggest that inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms, inattention in particular, may be especially important for social skills programs geared towards individuals with attention limitations.

scholarly journals EXPRESS: The role of language production in making predictions during comprehension

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110284
Author(s):  
Jaroslaw R. Lelonkiewicz ◽  
Hugh Rabagliati ◽  
Martin J. Pickering
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Production System ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Reading Aloud ◽  
Final Word

Language comprehension depends heavily upon prediction, but how predictions are generated remains poorly understood. Several recent theories propose that these predictions are in fact generated by the language production system. Here, we directly test this claim. Participants read sentence contexts that either were or were not highly predictive of a final word, and we measured how quickly participants recognized that final word (Experiment 1), named that final word (Experiment 2), or used that word to name a picture (Experiment 3). We manipulated engagement of the production system by asking participants to read the sentence contexts either aloud or silently. Across the experiments, participants responded more quickly following highly predictive contexts. Importantly, the effect of contextual predictability was greater when participants had read the sentence contexts aloud rather than silently, a finding that was significant in Experiment 3, marginally significant in Experiment 2, and again significant in combined analyses of Experiments 1-3. These results indicate that language production (as used in reading aloud) can be used to facilitate prediction. We consider whether prediction benefits from production only in particular contexts, and discuss the theoretical implications of our evidence.

scholarly journals The role of language production in making predictions during comprehension

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaroslaw Roman Lelonkiewicz ◽  
Hugh Rabagliati ◽  
Martin John Pickering
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Experimental Psychology ◽  
Production System ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Reading Aloud ◽  
Quarterly Journal ◽  
Final Word ◽  
Journal Publication

Language comprehension depends heavily upon prediction, but how predictions are generated remains poorly understood. Several recent theories propose that these predictions are in fact generated by the language production system. Here, we directly test this claim. Participants read sentence contexts that either were or were not highly predictive of a final word, and we measured how quickly participants recognized that final word (Experiment 1), named that final word (Experiment 2), or used that word to name a picture (Experiment 3). We manipulated engagement of the production system by asking participants to read the sentence contexts either aloud or silently. Across the experiments, participants responded more quickly following highly predictive contexts. Importantly, the effect of contextual predictability was greater when participants had read the sentence contexts aloud rather than silently, a finding that was significant in Experiment 3, marginally significant in Experiment 2, and again significant in combined analyses of Experiments 1-3. These results indicate that language production (as used in reading aloud) can be used to facilitate prediction. We consider whether prediction benefits from production only in particular contexts, and discuss the theoretical implications of our evidence. [This is the final peer-reviewed manuscript ACCEPTED for publication in Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. In citations, please refer to the journal publication.]

scholarly journals Doubly–Negating Complicatedness of Undoing Love: A Stylistic Reading of I Can’t Unlove You by Kenny Rogers

Humaniora ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 857
Author(s):  
Akun Akun
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
Double Negative ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Double Negation ◽  
Intended Meaning ◽  
Library Research ◽  
Song Lyric

This wasa research about the role of linguistic features in contributing to the overall meaning of a song entitled I Can’t Unlove You by Kenny Rogers. The goal of the research was to prove that special linguistic features used in the song played a significant role in conveying the meaning of the song. This wasa library research by identifying and elaborating the special linguistic construction found in the song lyric text. It is concluded that the use of double negation combined with invented negative verbs has successfully build up the idea of impossibility in undoing love. This double negative expression is needed because love intricacy and complicatedness can only be expressed in a stylistically special way where common expressions are unable to reach the intended meaning.  

scholarly journals The language network supports both lexical access and sentence generation during language production

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hu ◽  
Hannah Small ◽  
Hope Kean ◽  
Atsushi Takahashi ◽  
Leo Zekelman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Access ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Sentence Production ◽  
Sentence Generation ◽  
Knowledge Representations ◽  
Syntactic Cues ◽  
Language Network

AbstractA network of left frontal and temporal brain regions has long been implicated in language comprehension and production. However, because of relatively fewer investigations of language production, the precise role of this ‘language network’ in production-related cognitive processes remains debated. Across four fMRI experiments that use picture naming/description to mimic the translation of conceptual representations into words and sentences, we characterize the response of the language regions to production demands. In line with prior studies, sentence production elicited strong responses throughout the language network. Further, we report three novel results. First, we demonstrate that production-related responses in the language network are robust to output modality (speaking vs. typing). Second, the language regions respond to both lexical access and sentence-generation demands. This pattern implies strong integration between lexico-semantic and combinatorial processes, mirroring the picture that has emerged in language comprehension. Finally, some have previously hypothesized the existence of production-selective mechanisms given that syntactic encoding is a critical part of sentence production, whereas comprehension is possible even when syntactic cues are degraded or absent. Contrary to this hypothesis, we find no evidence of brain regions that selectively support sentence generation. Instead, language regions respond overall more strongly during production than during comprehension, which suggests that production incurs a greater cost for the language network. Together, these results align with the idea that language comprehension and production draw on the same knowledge representations, which are stored in the language-selective network and are used both to interpret linguistic input and generate linguistic output.

scholarly journals Examining the Role of General Cognitive Skills in Language Processing: A Window Into Complex Cognition

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 575-582
Author(s):  
Kara D. Federmeier ◽  
Suzanne R. Jongman ◽  
Jakub M. Szewczyk
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Complex Cognition

When we use language, we combine sounds, signs, and letters into words that then form sentences, which together tell a story. Both language production and language comprehension rely on representations that need to be continuously and rapidly activated, selected, and combined. These representations are specific to language, but many processes that regulate their use, such as inhibition of competitors or updating of working memory, are domain-general abilities that apply across different kinds of tasks. Here, we provide an overview of the behavioral and neurophysiological evidence for domain-general abilities underpinning language skills and describe which aspects of production and comprehension draw on such cognitive resources. We discuss how this line of research reveals important similarities between production and comprehension and also helps establish links between language and other cognitive domains. Finally, we argue that studying how domain-general abilities are used in language leads to important insights into the highly dynamic communication between brain networks that is necessary to successfully go from sounds to stories.

Resonating with contextually inappropriate interpretations in production: The case of irony

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 443-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Giora ◽  
Moshe Raphaely ◽  
Ofer Fein ◽  
Elad Livnat
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Du Bois ◽  
What Is Said ◽  
Contextual Fit ◽  
Graded Salience

AbstractAccording to the graded salience hypothesis, salient meanings and salience-based interpretations are not only involved in language comprehension but also in language production (Giora 2003, 2011a; Giora and Gur 2003). This should be true of irony production as well. If, as predicted by the graded salience hypothesis, the ironist herself indeed activates utterance interpretations on account of their salience-based accessibility rather than solely on account of their contextual fit, this might be reflected in the ironies' environment. Given the crucial role of the salience-based interpretation of “what is said” in deriving and supporting the ironic interpretation, this interpretation should not be suppressed (Giora 1995). Such a view of irony production predicts that its environment will demonstrate dialogic resonance (à la Du Bois, this volume) with ironies' salience-based, but incompatible interpretations. To test this prediction, we studied a written Hebrew corpus including over 1600 ironies. Our findings show that 46% of the ironies, 10% of which are extended ironies, are addressed via reference to their salience-based contextually incompatible interpretations; resonance with the context-based , ironic interpretation occurred in only 8% of the cases; the environment of the rest either did not resonate with any of their interpretations (43%), or resonated with both their compatible and incompatible interpretations (3%). These results support the view that, like comprehenders (Giora et al. 2007), irony producers too activate and retain salience-based albeit inappropriate interpretations.

scholarly journals The Role of Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Language Processing

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Klaus ◽  
Dennis J. L. G. Schutter
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Left Dlpfc ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal

In addition to the role of left frontotemporal areas in language processing, there is increasing evidence that language comprehension and production require control and working memory resources involving the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the left DLPFC in both language comprehension and production. In a double-blind, sham-controlled crossover experiment, thirty-two participants received cathodal or sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the left DLPFC while performing a language comprehension and a language production task. Results showed that cathodal tDCS increases reaction times in the language comprehension task, but decreases naming latencies in the language production task. However, additional analyses revealed that the polarity of tDCS effects was highly correlated across tasks, implying differential individual susceptibility to the effect of tDCS within participants. Overall, our findings demonstrate that left DLPFC is part of the complex cortical network associated with language processing.

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