Predictive processing of syntactic structure: Sluicing and ellipsis in real-time sentence processing

2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 272-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaya Yoshida ◽  
Michael Walsh Dickey ◽  
Patrick Sturt
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Predictive Processing

Second Language Sentence Processing

2022 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 235-256
Author(s):  
Holger Hopp
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
First Language ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Utility Functions ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Grammar Acquisition ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Incomplete Form

Second language (L2) sentence processing research studies how adult L2 learners understand sentences in real time. I review how L2 sentence processing differs from monolingual first-language (L1) processing and outline major findings and approaches. Three interacting factors appear to mandate L1–L2 differences: ( a) capacity restrictions in the ability to integrate information in an L2; ( b) L1–L2 differences in the weighting of cues, the timing of their application, and the efficiency of their retrieval; and ( c) variation in the utility functions of predictive processing. Against this backdrop, I outline a novel paradigm of interlanguage processing, which examines bilingual features of L2 processing, such as bilingual language systems, nonselective access to all grammars, and processing to learn an L2. Interlanguage processing goes beyond the traditional framing of L2 sentence processing as an incomplete form of monolingual processing and reconnects the field with current approaches to grammar acquisition and the bilingual mental lexicon.

Learning to parse and its implications for language acquisition

2007 ◽  
pp. 634-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Trueswell ◽  
Lila R. Gleitman
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Syntactic Ambiguity ◽  
Adult Listener ◽  
Processing Abilities ◽  
Time Reading ◽  
Theory Of Language

This article describes what is known about the adult end-state, namely, that the adult listener recovers the syntactic structure of an utterance in real-time via interactive probabilistic parsing procedures. It examines evidence indicating that similar mechanisms are at work quite early during language learning, such that infants and toddlers attempt to parse the speech stream probabilistically. In the case of learning, though, the parsing is in aid of discovering relevant lower-level linguistic formatives such as syllables and words. Experimental observations about child sentence-processing abilities are still quite sparse, owing in large part to the difficulty in applying adult experimental procedures to child participants; reaction time, reading, and linguistic judgement methods have all have been attempted with children. The article discusses real-time sentence processing in adults, experimental exploration of child sentence processing, eye movements during listening and the kindergarten-path effect, verb biases in syntactic ambiguity resolution, prosody and lexical biases in child parsing, parsing development in a head-final language, and the place of comprehension in a theory of language acquisition.

scholarly journals Neurophysiological dynamics of phrase-structure building during sentence processing

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (18) ◽  
pp. E3669-E3678 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Nelson ◽  
Imen El Karoui ◽  
Kristof Giber ◽  
Xiaofang Yang ◽  
Laurent Cohen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Model Comparison ◽  
Formal Model ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Transition Probability ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Similar Amount ◽  
Gamma Power ◽  
The Brain

Although sentences unfold sequentially, one word at a time, most linguistic theories propose that their underlying syntactic structure involves a tree of nested phrases rather than a linear sequence of words. Whether and how the brain builds such structures, however, remains largely unknown. Here, we used human intracranial recordings and visual word-by-word presentation of sentences and word lists to investigate how left-hemispheric brain activity varies during the formation of phrase structures. In a broad set of language-related areas, comprising multiple superior temporal and inferior frontal sites, high-gamma power increased with each successive word in a sentence but decreased suddenly whenever words could be merged into a phrase. Regression analyses showed that each additional word or multiword phrase contributed a similar amount of additional brain activity, providing evidence for a merge operation that applies equally to linguistic objects of arbitrary complexity. More superficial models of language, based solely on sequential transition probability over lexical and syntactic categories, only captured activity in the posterior middle temporal gyrus. Formal model comparison indicated that the model of multiword phrase construction provided a better fit than probability-based models at most sites in superior temporal and inferior frontal cortices. Activity in those regions was consistent with a neural implementation of a bottom-up or left-corner parser of the incoming language stream. Our results provide initial intracranial evidence for the neurophysiological reality of the merge operation postulated by linguists and suggest that the brain compresses syntactically well-formed sequences of words into a hierarchy of nested phrases.

Limits on semantic prediction in the processing of extraction from adjunct clauses

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dustin Alfonso Chacón
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Maze Task ◽  
Serial Search ◽  
Conceptual Semantic ◽  
Syntactic Islands ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

Processing filler-gap dependencies (‘extraction’) depends on complex top-down predictions. This is observed in comprehenders’ ability to avoid resolving filler-gap dependencies in syntactic island contexts, and in the immediate sensitivity to the plausibility of the resulting interpretation. How complex can these predictions be? In this paper, we examine the processing of extraction from adjunct clauses. Adjunct clauses are argued to be syntactic islands, however, extraction is permitted if the adjunct clause and main clause satisfy specific compositional and conceptual semantic criteria. In an acceptability judgment task, we found that this generalization is robust. Additionally, our results show that this is a property specific to adjunct clauses by comparing adjunct clauses to conjunct VPs, which are similarly argued to permit extraction depending on semantic factors. However, in an A-Maze task, we found no evidence that this knowledge is deployed in real-time sentence processing. Instead, we found that comprehenders attempted to resolve a filler-gap dependency in an adjunct clause regardless of its island status. We propose that this is because deploying this linguistic constraint depends on a second-order serial search over event schemata, which is likely costly and time-consuming. Thus, comprehenders opt for a riskier strategy and attempt resolution into adjunct clauses categorically.

Relation of working memory to off-line and real-time sentence processing in children with specific language impairment

2000 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES W. MONTGOMERY
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Load Condition ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Processing Task

In this study we examined the influence of working memory on the off-line and real-time sentence comprehension/processing of children with specific language impairment (SLI). A total of 12 children with SLI, 12 normally developing children matched for chronological age (CA), and 12 children matched for receptive syntax (RS) completed three tasks. In the working memory task, children recalled as many words as possible under three processing load conditions varying in the number of mental operations (i.e., no load, single load, dual load). In the off-line comprehension task, children listened to linguistically nonredundant and redundant sentences. In the real-time sentence processing task, children monitored sentences for the occurrence of a target word appearing at the beginning, middle, or end of a test sentence and pushed a response pad as quickly as possible upon hearing the target. In the memory task, SLI children recalled fewer words in the dual-load condition relative to CA peers, who showed no condition effect. The SLI and RS groups performed similarly overall; however, both groups recalled fewer words in the dual-load condition than in the other conditions. In the off-line task, the SLI group comprehended fewer sentences of both types relative to the CA controls and fewer redundant sentences relative to themselves and to the RS controls. A significant correlation between working memory and sentence comprehension was found for the SLI group and control groups. For the on-line task, between-group analyses revealed that the SLI group yielded an overall slower word recognition reaction time than the CA and RS groups. Working memory and sentence processing were not correlated for any group. Results were interpreted to suggest that SLI children have a more limited functional working memory capacity than their CA peers. Children with SLI also appear to have greater difficulty managing their working memory resources relative to both age peers and younger children when performing a conventional off-line sentence comprehension task but not a real-time sentence processing task.

scholarly journals Quantification and ACD: Evidence from Real-Time Sentence Processing

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Hackl ◽  
J. Koster-Hale ◽  
J. Varvoutis
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Sentence Processing

scholarly journals Eye-tracking evidence for active gap-filling regardless of dependency length

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wing Yee Chow ◽  
Yangzi Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Critical Region ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Gap Filling ◽  
Reading Experiment ◽  
Actual Location

Previous work on real-time sentence processing has established that comprehenders build and interpret filler-gap dependencies without waiting for unambiguous evidence about the actual location of the gap (“active gap-filling”) as long as such dependencies are grammatically licensed. However, this generalisation was called into question by recent findings in a self-paced reading experiment by Wagers and Phillips (2014; W&P14) which may be taken to show that comprehenders do not interpret the filler at the posited gap when the dependency spans a longer distance. In the present study we aimed to replicate these findings in an eye-tracking experiment with better controlled materials and increased statistical power. Crucially, we found clear evidence for active gap-filling across all levels of dependency length. This diverges from W&P14’s findings but is in line with the long-standing generalisation that comprehenders build and interpret filler-gap dependencies predictively as long as they are grammatically licensed. We found that the effect became smaller in the long dependency conditions in the post-critical region, which suggests the weaker effect in the long dependency conditions may have been undetected in W&P’s study due to insufficient statistical power and/or the use of a self-paced reading paradigm.

scholarly journals Effects of Dispositional Affect on the N400: Language Processing and Socially Situated Context

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veena D. Dwivedi ◽  
Janahan Selvanayagam
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Positive And Negative Affect ◽  
Object Type ◽  
Socially Situated

We examined whether the N400 Event-Related Potential (ERP) component would be modulated by dispositional affect during sentence processing. In this study, 33 participants read sentences manipulated by direct object type (congruent vs. incongruent) and object determiner type (definite vs. demonstrative). We were particularly interested in sentences of the form: (i) The connoisseur tasted thewineon the tour vs. (ii) The connoisseur tasted the #roof… We expected that processing incongruent direct objects (#roof) vs. congruent objects (wine) would elicit N400 effects. Previous ERP language experiments have shown that participants in (induced) positive and negative moods were differentially sensitive to semantic anomaly, resulting in different N400 effects. Presently, we ask whether individual dispositional affect scores (as measured by the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; PANAS) would modulate N400 effects as shown previously. Namely, previous results showed larger N400 effects associated with happy moods and attenuated amplitudes associated with sad moods. Results revealed significant N400 effects, driven by the #roof vs. the wine, where larger amplitude differences were found for individuals showing smaller negative affect (NA) scores, thus partially replicating previous findings. We discuss our results in terms of theories of local (lexical) inhibition, such that low NA promotes stronger lexico-semantic links in sentences. Finally, our results support accounts of language processing that include social and biological characteristics of individuals during real-time sentence comprehension.

scholarly journals Predictive Processing and Developmental Language Disorder

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Samuel David Jones ◽  
Gert Westermann
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Syntactic Awareness ◽  
Feedback Cycle ◽  
Syntactic Features ◽  
Neurophysiological Data ◽  
The Brain

Purpose Research in the cognitive and neural sciences has situated predictive processing—the anticipation of upcoming percepts—as a dominant function of the brain. The purpose of this article is to argue that prediction should feature more prominently in explanatory accounts of sentence processing and comprehension deficits in developmental language disorder (DLD). Method We evaluate behavioral and neurophysiological data relevant to the theme of prediction in early typical and atypical language acquisition and processing. Results Poor syntactic awareness—attributable, in part, to an underlying statistical learning deficit—is likely to impede syntax-based predictive processing in children with DLD, conferring deficits in spoken sentence comprehension. Furthermore, there may be a feedback cycle in which poor syntactic awareness impedes children's ability to anticipate upcoming percepts, and this, in turn, makes children unable to improve their syntactic awareness on the basis of prediction error signals. Conclusion This article offers a refocusing of theory on sentence processing and comprehension deficits in DLD, from a difficulty in processing and integrating perceived syntactic features to a difficulty in anticipating what is coming next.

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