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 Understanding language acquisition: Neural theory of language

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 697-705
Author(s):  
Aslı Aktan-Erciyes
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Phonetic Learning ◽  
Theory Of Language

This paper aims to discuss old and contemporary perspectives in understanding language acquisition taking into account the neural theory of language. Discussing a recent theory by Kuhl (2010), neural substrates of first language learning will be put forward (Berwick et al., 2013). Neural substrates of phonetic learning, word learning, sentence processing, and syntax development are separately discussed. As a novel window to look into language learning in a greater detail, second language learning in relation to the theories of language acquisition is further discussed. Second language learning and dual vs. single coding structure relating to language acquisition are discussed in relation to the theories that have previously been explained. Finally, a discussion of contemporary issues in understanding both first and second language acquisition in relation to bilingualism is presented. In sum, investigating language acquisition requires a multi-disciplinary approach taking psychology, linguistics, and cognitive neuroscience of language into account is necessary.

Sentence Processing by L2 Learners

1980 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Gass
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Verbal Abilities ◽  
Linguistic System ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Child Language Acquisition ◽  
Cognitive Maturity

This paper presents the results of an experiment which investigated the syntactic parsing strategies used by L2 learners at different stages of acquisition. This represents a shift in emphasis from most studies in the field of language learning which deal almost exclusively with production data. The goal of acquisition studies is to understand both the nature of the linguistic system that a learner has acquired and the processes involved in the acquisition of that system. This linguistic knowledge is generally inferred from the perceptive or productive behavior of the learner. There are several reasons why production has been emphasized over perception in second language acquisition research: 1) Research in this area has been greatly affected by studies on child language acquisition in which traditional perception experiments are inappropriate due to a child's lack of cognitive maturity and verbal abilities. 2) Many perception experiments require a paraphrasing ability beyond that of L2 learners in the early stages of acquisition. 3) Problems involving production are more apparent in most pedagogical encounters and, therefore, are of more immediate concern to researchers. Yet, the investigation of perceptual strategies of L2 learners is important, if only because it affords us the possibility of viewing a different corpus of L2 data, thereby giving us additional insight into the nature of the acquisition process.

BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS OF CONTROLLED LABORATORY STUDIES OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

1997 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne R. Yang ◽  
T. Givón
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Consistent Finding ◽  
Competition Hypothesis ◽  
Processing Abilities

A consistent finding in second language acquisition research has been that in the early stages of acquisition learners often receive simplified input. This finding has led researchers to question whether or not simplified input has a facilitative effect on the acquisition process. This study examines the effects of simplified input in early L2 acquisition by experimentally manipulating language input to two groups of learners and then assessing their acquisition longitudinally within a controlled laboratory setting. The impetus for the study described here was Givón's (1990) competition hypothesis that posits that, in early L2 acquisition, vocabulary and grammar compete for memory, attention, and processing capacity. Because one can communicate with vocabulary in absence of grammar but not vice versa, it was proposed that learners receiving pidgin input would acquire vocabulary more efficiently than learners challenged with the dual task of acquiring vocabulary and grammar simultaneously. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that once vocabulary processing skills were automated, learners would acquire grammar more rapidly. Results of a variety of measures reveal that the dual task of acquiring vocabulary and grammar does not hinder either and that the longer the exposure to grammatical input the greater the advantage in real-time grammar processing abilities. Converging evidence from all measures of language learning provides strong support for the usefulness and viability of laboratory study of SLA.

Syntactic ambiguity resolution and revision processes in complement sentences

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroki Fujita
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Syntactic Ambiguity ◽  
Garden Path ◽  
Correct Analysis ◽  
Syntactic Information ◽  
Contradictory Evidence ◽  
Processing Heuristic

Temporarily ambiguous sentences are sometimes misanalysed and require revision during sentence processing. Previous studies have reported that non-syntactic information such as verb subcategorisation information does not always prevent misanalysis. However, there is contradictory evidence about whether non-syntactic information is immediately used to recover the globally correct analysis. Previous studies have also reported that initially assigned misinterpretations linger after disambiguation. Some recent studies have suggested that this lingering misinterpretation does not result from a failure to conduct syntactic revision. However, the current evidence for syntactic revision is scarce, limited to a syntactic structure and eye-movement while reading task, and crucially does not necessarily prove that syntactic revision is successfully conducted. The present study reports three self-paced reading experiments that investigate these issues, using temporarily ambiguous complement sentences. Experiment 1 showed that temporarily ambiguous complement sentences are misanalysed during sentence processing, which subsequently causes garden-path effects and lingering misinterpretation. Experiment 2 suggested that non-syntactic information is immediately used to recover the globally correct analysis. However, there was an indication that the incorrect analysis remains activated. Experiment 3 revealed that syntactic revision is conducted in complement sentences without regressive eye movements. The present study argues that the good-enough account can explain these results if this account assumes that a syntactic processing heuristic such as the Canonical Sentoid Strategy is used during the processing of temporarily ambiguous complement sentences.

Towards an Empirical Model of Language Acquisition

1979 ◽  
Vol 9 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
J. Vorster
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Generative Grammar ◽  
Black Box ◽  
Primary Language ◽  
New School ◽  
Ambient Language ◽  
Acquisition Device ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
Language Environment

Recent research in primary language acquisition can be subdivided into two schools. Under the influence of the highly mentalistic theory of language known as Transformational Generative Grammar, an innate language acquisition device was postulated, and the first school tried to establish what the structure of this device might be on the evidence of its output, i.e. early child grammars. Subsequently a new school arose which concentrated on mothers' speech to young children, providing empirical evidence against the nativist view that primary language acquisition occurs more or less independently of the ambient language environment. In the present article a language acquisition ‘device’ is suggested which differs in essential respects from the nativist-transformationalist model. Instead of an innately endowed ‘black box’ in the head of the child, the ‘device’ is seen as a two-way transmitting and receiving system existing between, and jointly operated by, the language learning child and society.

Language Ideology and Second Language Learning

2008 ◽  
Vol 155 ◽  
pp. 95-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa McGarry
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Ideology ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
Explanatory Power

AbstractThe increasing recognition of the concept language ideology and the corresponding increasing use of the term have not yet been matched by applications in the field of second language acquisition. However, applications of the concept in analysis of actual classroom practices have shown it to have considerable explanatory power. Greater consideration of language ideology in SLA is necessary not only to achieve greater understanding of the role of ideology in various areas but also to show connections between these areas that may yield important generalizations and to impel the application of the concept in areas where it has been neglected by highlighting its uneven treatment.

Sentence First, Arguments Afterward

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lila Gleitman
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Noam Chomsky ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
Developmental Psycholinguistics

This book collects the most significant papers written by Lila R. Gleitman, spanning 50 years of research on language and its acquisition. The book traces the roots of developmental psycholinguistics while presenting empirically driven arguments in favor of a rationalist theory of language acquisition. Gleitman’s work simultaneously shows how learners acquire knowledge richer than what can be found in the environment and how they use their input to acquire a specific language. The book also includes a foreword by Noam Chomsky and an introductory chapter by Jeffrey Lidz contextualizing Gleitman’s work in the transition from structuralism to mentalist architectures in linguistics.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document