scholarly journals Usage-Based Linguistics

Linguistics ◽  
2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Diessel
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Standard Assumption ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Generative Linguistics ◽  
Linguistic System ◽  
General Goal

Since the beginning of modern linguistics—that is, since Ferdinand de Saussure’s Cours de Linguistique Générale—it has been a standard assumption of linguistic research that the study of the linguistic system, or “langue,” needs to be distinguished from the study of language use, or “parole.” In structuralist and generative linguistics, language, notably grammar, is seen as a self-contained system including discrete categories and combinatorial rules that are analyzed without reference to usage and development. This view of language has been challenged by the usage-based approach, in which grammar and usage are inextricably connected. In this approach, language is seen as a dynamic system of emergent symbolic units and flexible constraints that are shaped by general cognitive processes involved in language use. The usage-based approach has evolved from research in functional and cognitive linguistics combined with psycholinguistic research on sentence processing and language acquisition. The general goal of this approach is to develop a framework for the analysis of linguistic structure as it evolves from general cognitive processes such as categorization, analogy, automatization, and (joint) attention, which are not only relevant for language, but also for many other cognitive phenomena, such as vision, memory, and thought. In order to understand why linguistic structure is the way it is, usage-based linguists study language development, both in history and acquisition. On the assumption that language development is crucially influenced by the language user’s experience with particular linguistic elements, usage-based linguists have emphasized the importance of frequency of occurrence for the analysis of grammar. There is a wealth of recent results indicating that frequency has an enormous impact on the language users’ behavior in communication and information processing, and on the development of linguistic structure in acquisition and change.

Usage-Based Linguistics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Diessel
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Structural Knowledge ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Language System ◽  
System A ◽  
Linguistic System ◽  
General Goal ◽  
The Relationship

Throughout the 20th century, structuralist and generative linguists have argued that the study of the language system (langue, competence) must be separated from the study of language use (parole, performance), but this view of language has been called into question by usage-based linguists who have argued that the structure and organization of a speaker’s linguistic knowledge is the product of language use or performance. On this account, language is seen as a dynamic system of fluid categories and flexible constraints that are constantly restructured and reorganized under the pressure of domain-general cognitive processes that are not only involved in the use of language but also in other cognitive phenomena such as vision and (joint) attention. The general goal of usage-based linguistics is to develop a framework for the analysis of the emergence of linguistic structure and meaning. In order to understand the dynamics of the language system, usage-based linguists study how languages evolve, both in history and language acquisition. One aspect that plays an important role in this approach is frequency of occurrence. As frequency strengthens the representation of linguistic elements in memory, it facilitates the activation and processing of words, categories, and constructions, which in turn can have long-lasting effects on the development and organization of the linguistic system. A second aspect that has been very prominent in the usage-based study of grammar concerns the relationship between lexical and structural knowledge. Since abstract representations of linguistic structure are derived from language users’ experience with concrete linguistic tokens, grammatical patterns are generally associated with particular lexical expressions.

Frequency Effects in Grammar

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Diessel ◽  
Martin Hilpert
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Structure Mapping ◽  
Standard Assumption ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Grammatical Development ◽  
Ambient Language

Until recently, theoretical linguists have paid little attention to the frequency of linguistic elements in grammar and grammatical development. It is a standard assumption of (most) grammatical theories that the study of grammar (or competence) must be separated from the study of language use (or performance). However, this view of language has been called into question by various strands of research that have emphasized the importance of frequency for the analysis of linguistic structure. In this research, linguistic structure is often characterized as an emergent phenomenon shaped by general cognitive processes such as analogy, categorization, and automatization, which are crucially influenced by frequency of occurrence. There are many different ways in which frequency affects the processing and development of linguistic structure. Historical linguists have shown that frequent strings of linguistic elements are prone to undergo phonetic reduction and coalescence, and that frequent expressions and constructions are more resistant to structure mapping and analogical leveling than infrequent ones. Cognitive linguists have argued that the organization of constituent structure and embedding is based on the language users’ experience with linguistic sequences, and that the productivity of grammatical schemas or rules is determined by the combined effect of frequency and similarity. Child language researchers have demonstrated that frequency of occurrence plays an important role in the segmentation of the speech stream and the acquisition of syntactic categories, and that the statistical properties of the ambient language are much more regular than commonly assumed. And finally, psycholinguists have shown that structural ambiguities in sentence processing can often be resolved by lexical and structural frequencies, and that speakers’ choices between alternative constructions in language production are related to their experience with particular linguistic forms and meanings. Taken together, this research suggests that our knowledge of grammar is grounded in experience.

scholarly journals Conceptualizing the metaphors of drug abusers

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-91
Author(s):  
Monika Gyuró
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Drug Abusers ◽  
Drug Addicts ◽  
Recreational Drug ◽  
Personal Meanings ◽  
Thematic Approach

Abstract The intention of this article is to demonstrate, within the framework of cognitive linguistics (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980a), how slang words associated with substance abuse are conceptualized via metaphors. This study analyses recreational drug slang terms found in the Drug Slang Dictionary in order to reveal categories of metaphors involved in drug users’ language. The results of the data analysis effectively reveal that, within a thematic approach, classes of metaphor are coded to enable connections between metaphorical concepts and drug addicts’ physiological experiences in order to present their personal meanings and cognitive processes. The study also involves drug addicts’ narratives to identify conceptual metaphors in their experiences. Notably, it is argued within this research that figurative language use is also connected to the cultural background of users to a great extent.

Acquiring formulaic language

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stewart M. McCauley ◽  
Morten H. Christiansen
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Computational Model ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Developmental Perspective ◽  
Morphological Development ◽  
Developmental Studies ◽  
Formulaic Language ◽  
Production Processes

In recent years, psycholinguistic studies have built support for the notion that formulaic language is more widespread and pervasive in adult sentence processing than previously assumed. These findings are mirrored in a number of developmental studies, suggesting that children’s item-based units do not diminish, but persist into adulthood, in keeping with a number of approaches emerging from cognitive linguistics. In the present paper, we describe a simple, psychologically motivated computational model of language acquisition in which the learning and use of formulaic expressions represents the foundation for comprehension and production processes. The model is shown to capture key psycholinguistic findings on children’s sensitivity to the properties of multiword strings and use of lexically specific multiword frames in morphological development. The results of these simulations, we argue, stress the importance of adopting a developmental perspective to better understand how formulaic expressions come to play an important role in adult language use.

Deutsch als schwächere Sprache bei deutsch-polnisch bilingualen Kindern: Studie zur Negation- und Verbstellung

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-297
Author(s):  
Aldona Sopata ◽  
Kamil Długosz
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Language Use ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Striking Difference ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Development Characteristic ◽  
Processing Mechanisms ◽  
Constrained Input

AbstractThis article examines the acquisition of German as the weaker language in the cases of German-Polish bilingual children. Focusing on negation and verb position, phenomena that have frequently been taken as diagnostic when distinguishing between the course of language development characteristic for first (L1) and second language acquisition (L2), we analyse experimental and productive data from six simultaneously bilingual children. Due to the constrained input, German is their weaker language. The results in Forced Choice and Grammaticality Judgements tasks are compared with the results of monolingual children. We show that in the area of negation the acquisition of German as the weaker language resembles L1, and in the area of inversion and verb final position the development of the weaker language is delayed. The striking difference between bilinguals’ results in the experimental vs. productive tasks points to specific processing mechanisms in bilingual language use. In narrative contexts of the production tasks the language of the performance is activated, while the other is inhibited, which leads to a target-like performance. Structural properties of the stronger language tend to be activated, however, in the experimental tasks involving the weaker language, resulting in non-target-like responses.

scholarly journals The language of conspiracy: A psychological analysis of speech used by conspiracy theorists and their followers on Twitter

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 606-623
Author(s):  
Amos Fong ◽  
Jon Roozenbeek ◽  
Danielle Goldwert ◽  
Steven Rathje ◽  
Sander van der Linden
Keyword(s):  
Random Sample ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Psychological Characteristics ◽  
Scientific Content ◽  
Psychological Analysis

This paper analyzes key psychological themes in language used by prominent conspiracy theorists and science advocates on Twitter, as well as those of a random sample of their follower base. We conducted a variety of psycholinguistic analyses over a corpus of 16,290 influencer tweets and 160,949 follower tweets in order to evaluate stable intergroup differences in language use among those who subscribe or are exposed to conspiratorial content and those who are focused on scientific content. Our results indicate significant differences in the use of negative emotion (e.g., anger) between the two groups, as well as a focus, especially among conspiracy theorists, on topics such as death, religion, and power. Surprisingly, we found less pronounced differences in cognitive processes (e.g., certainty) and outgroup language. Our results add to a growing literature on the psychological characteristics underlying a “conspiracist worldview.”

scholarly journals A Reflection of Thai Culture in Thai Plant Names

MANUSYA ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-97
Author(s):  
Unchalee Singnoi
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Plant Taxonomy ◽  
Folk Taxonomy ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Thai Language ◽  
Plant Names ◽  
Traditional Societies ◽  
Cognition And Culture ◽  
Printed Materials ◽  
Thai Culture

The present study focuses on the plant naming system in the Thai language based on 1) Brent Berlin’s general principles of categorization of plants and animals in traditional societies (Berlin, 1974, 1992) which suggest that it is worthwhile to think about a plant taxonomy system on the basis of plant names since the names provide the valid key to folk taxonomy and 2) Lakoff’s central guiding principles of cognitive linguistics (Lakoff and Johnson, 2003 and Lakoff 1987). Data on plant names collected from printed materials are selectively analyzed. The study examines the linguistic structure, folk taxonomy and conceptualization of plant terms in the Thai language. It is found that there exists in the Thai language a complex and practical plant naming system establishing a relationship between language, cognition and culture.

scholarly journals The effect of prominence and cue association on retrieval processes: A computational account

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Engelmann ◽  
Lena A. Jäger ◽  
Shravan Vasishth
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Empirical Evaluation ◽  
Experimental Designs ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Retrieval Processes ◽  
Context Dependent ◽  
Retrieval Interference ◽  
Partial Success

We present a comprehensive empirical evaluation of the ACT-R-based model of sentence processing developed by Lewis & Vasishth (2005) (LV05). The predictions of the model are compared with the results of a recent meta-analysis of published reading studies on retrieval interference in reflexive-/reciprocal-antecedent and subject-verb dependencies (Jäger, Engelmann, & Vasishth, 2017). The comparison shows that the model has only partial success in explaining the data; and we propose that its prediction space is restricted by oversimplifying assumptions. We then implement a revised model that takes into account differences between individual experimental designs in terms of the prominence of the target and the distractor in memory and context-dependent cue-feature associations. The predictions of the original and the revised model are quantitatively compared with the results of the meta-analysis. Our simulations show that, compared to the original LV05 model, the revised model accounts for the data better. The results suggest that effects of prominence and variable cue-feature associations need to be considered in the interpretation of existing empirical results and in the design and planning of future experiments. With regard to retrieval interference in sentence processing and to the broader field of psycholinguistic studies, we conclude that well-specified models in tandem with high-powered experiments are needed in order to uncover the underlying cognitive processes.

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