SYNCTACTIC GENERALIZATION IN A CONNECTIONIST MODEL OF COMPLEX SENTENCE PRODUCTION

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. FITZ ◽  
F. CHANG
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Production ◽  
Connectionist Model ◽  
Complex Sentence

scholarly journals Semantic Systematicity in Connectionist Language Production

Information ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 329
Author(s):  
Jesús Calvillo ◽  
Harm Brouwer ◽  
Matthew W. Crocker
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Neural Networks ◽  
Artificial Neural Networks ◽  
Language Production ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Situation Model ◽  
Sentence Production ◽  
Connectionist Model ◽  
The Neural Network ◽  
Positive Results

Decades of studies trying to define the extent to which artificial neural networks can exhibit systematicity suggest that systematicity can be achieved by connectionist models but not by default. Here we present a novel connectionist model of sentence production that employs rich situation model representations originally proposed for modeling systematicity in comprehension. The high performance of our model demonstrates that such representations are also well suited to model language production. Furthermore, the model can produce multiple novel sentences for previously unseen situations, including in a different voice (actives vs. passive) and with words in new syntactic roles, thus demonstrating semantic and syntactic generalization and arguably systematicity. Our results provide yet further evidence that such connectionist approaches can achieve systematicity, in production as well as comprehension. We propose our positive results to be a consequence of the regularities of the microworld from which the semantic representations are derived, which provides a sufficient structure from which the neural network can interpret novel inputs.

scholarly journals Does the Use of Complex Sentences Differentiate Between Bilinguals With and Without DLD? Evidence From Conversation and Narrative Tasks

2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanne Paradis ◽  
Tamara Sorenson Duncan ◽  
Stephanie Thomlinson ◽  
Brian Rusk
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
Sentence Production ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Complex Sentence ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
Adverbial Clauses

Over-identification of language disorder among bilingual children with typical development (TD) is a risk factor in assessment. One strategy for improving assessment accuracy with bilingual children is to determine which linguistic sub-domains differentiate bilingual children with TD from bilingual children with developmental language disorder (DLD). To date, little research on sequential bilinguals with TD and DLD has focussed on complex (multi-clausal) sentences in naturalistic production, even though this is a noted domain of weakness for school-age monolinguals with DLD. Accordingly, we sought to determine if there were differences in the use of complex sentences in conversational and narrative tasks between school-age sequential bilinguals with TD and with DLD at the early stages of L2 acquisition. We administered a conversation and a narrative task to 63 English L2 children with TD and DLD, aged 5–7 years with 2 years of exposure to the L2. Children had diverse first language backgrounds. The L2-TD and L2-DLD groups were matched for age, length of L2 exposure and general L2 proficiency (receptive vocabulary size). Language samples from both tasks were coded and analyzed for the use of complex versus simple sentences, for the distribution of complex sentence types, for clausal density and mean length of utterance (MLU). Complex sentences included coordinated clauses, sentential complement clauses, adverbial clauses and relative clauses. Using regression modelling and PERMANOVA, we found that the L2-TD group produced more complex sentences than the L2-DLD group, with coordinated clauses, adverbial clauses and relative clauses differing the most between the groups. Furthermore, the two groups differed for mean clausal density, but not for MLU, indicating that clausal density and MLU did not estimate identical morphosyntactic abilities. Individual variation in complex sentence production for L2-TD was predicted by longer L2 exposure and task; by contrast, for L2-DLD, it was predicted by older age. This study indicates that complex sentence production is an area of weakness for bilingual children with DLD, as it is for monolinguals with DLD. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

scholarly journals Language ERPs reflect learning through prediction error propagation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hartmut Fitz ◽  
Franklin Chang
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Role Reversal ◽  
Sentence Production ◽  
Connectionist Model ◽  
Garden Path ◽  
Contextual Constraint ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Word Predictability ◽  
The Brain

Event-related potentials (ERPs) provide a window into how the brain is processing language. Here, we propose a theory that argues that ERPs such as the N400 and P600 arise as side effects of an error-based learning mechanism that explains linguistic adaptation and language learning. We instantiated this theory in a connectionist model that can simulate data from three studies on the N400 (amplitude modulation by expectancy, contextual constraint, and sentence position), five studies on the P600 (agreement, tense, word category, subcategorization and garden-path sentences), and a study on the semantic P600 in role reversal anomalies. Since ERPs are learning signals, this account explains adaptation of ERP amplitude to within-experiment frequency manipulations and the way ERP effects are shaped by word predictability in earlier sentences. Moreover, it predicts that ERPs can change over language development. The model provides an account of the sensitivity of ERPs to expectation mismatch, the relative timing of the N400 and P600, the semantic nature of the N400, the syntactic nature of the P600, and the fact that ERPs can change with experience. This approach suggests that comprehension ERPs are related to sentence production and language acquisition mechanisms.

Assessment of Complex Sentence Production in a Narrative Context

1999 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawn M. Gummersall ◽  
Carol J. Strong
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairments ◽  
Sentence Production ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Complex Sentence ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Story Retelling ◽  
Assessment Protocol ◽  
Normal Limits ◽  
Syntactic Skills ◽  
Meaningful Context

This study focused on eliciting and assessing complex sentence structure in a meaningful discourse context. The effect of clinician support (modeling of specific structures and practice with the structures) on the subsequent use of complex sentence structures in story retelling was studied. Experiment 1 was conducted with students demonstrating language abilities within normal limits. Because these initial results were promising, Experiment 2 was conducted with students demonstrating language impairments. The results of these experiments indicated, first, that amount of exposure to the stimulus is a critical variable affecting length and syntactic complexity in story retelling. Evidence further supported the use of modeling and practice of specific structures when assessing students’ syntactic skills. The assessment protocol used in these experiments was found to be useful for eliciting a large number and variety of complex syntactic structures in a meaningful context from children with and without language impairments.

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