scholarly journals An exemplar model should be able to explain all syntactic priming phenomena: A commentary on Ambridge (2020)

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 616-620
Author(s):  
Katherine Messenger ◽  
Sophie M. Hardy ◽  
Marion Coumel
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Exemplar Model ◽  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Abstract Representations

The authors argue that Ambridge’s radical exemplar account of language cannot clearly explain all syntactic priming evidence, such as inverse preference effects ( greater priming for less frequent structures), and the contrast between short-lived lexical boost and long-lived abstract priming. Moreover, without recourse to a level of abstract syntactic structure, Ambridge’s account cannot explain abstract priming in amnesia patients or cross-linguistic priming. Instead, the authors argue that abstract representations remain the more parsimonious account for the wide variety of syntactic priming phenomena.

scholarly journals The role of local and global syntactic structure in language production: Evidence from syntactic priming

2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 974-1010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly P. Branigan ◽  
Martin J. Pickering ◽  
Janet F. McLean ◽  
Andrew J. Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Syntactic Priming

scholarly journals Is children's acquisition of the passive a staged process? Evidence from six- and nine-year-olds' production of passives

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 991-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATHERINE MESSENGER ◽  
HOLLY P. BRANIGAN ◽  
JANET F. McLEAN
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Strong Tendency ◽  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Thematic Roles ◽  
Thematic Role ◽  
Constituent Structure ◽  
Role Mapping ◽  
Transitive Actions

ABSTRACTWe report a syntactic priming experiment that examined whether children's acquisition of the passive is a staged process, with acquisition of constituent structure preceding acquisition of thematic role mappings. Six-year-olds and nine-year-olds described transitive actions after hearing active and passive prime descriptions involving the same or different thematic roles. Both groups showed a strong tendency to reuse in their own description the syntactic structure they had just heard, including well-formed passives after passive primes, irrespective of whether thematic roles were repeated between prime and target. However, following passive primes, six-year-olds but not nine-year-olds also produced reversed passives, with well-formed constituent structure but incorrect thematic role mappings. These results suggest that by six, children have mastered the constituent structure of the passive; however, they have not yet mastered the non-canonical thematic role mapping. By nine, children have mastered both the syntactic and thematic dimensions of this structure.

scholarly journals Syntactic Priming Effects and their Underlying Mechanisms in Language Production and Comprehension

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1370
Author(s):  
Reza Raissi ◽  
Neda Hedayat ◽  
Fakhereh Kazemirad
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
The Relationship

Exposure to a syntactic structure influences the way we process a similar syntactic structure in language production and comprehension in what has been called ‘syntactic priming’. Syntactic priming is a robust phenomenon which can be observed in spoken and written production, with a range of syntactic constructions in laboratory tasks and naturally occurring samples of speech, in many languages, and also across languages within the same speaker. It has been used as a vehicle for exploring language production, language comprehension, and the relationship between them. Research in syntactic priming has made it the dominant means of investigating the processes involved in language production and comprehension. Some researchers propose that there are distinct mechanisms underlying the production and comprehension of syntactic structures; however, other researchers suggest that the same mechanisms underlie syntactic priming in production and comprehension. Thus, the mechanisms underlying syntactic priming effects in production and comprehension are still under debate. Moreover, although a fairly large body of research has addressed syntactic priming in production or in comprehension, there are few studies that consider and compare priming effects in both of these modalities. Therefore, the current study reviews the literature on syntactic priming in production and contrasts these findings to those in comprehension. It also provides an overview of syntactic priming effects and mechanisms underlying these effects in both production and comprehension.

scholarly journals Investigating syntactic priming cumulative effects in MT-human interaction

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 93
Author(s):  
Natália Resende
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Cumulative Effect ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Cumulative Effects ◽  
Continuous Exposure ◽  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Linguistic Behaviour

Background: A question that deserves to be explored is whether the interaction between English language learners and the popular Google neural machine translation (GNMT) system could result in learning and increased production of a challenging syntactic structure in English that differs in word order between speakers first language and second language. Methods: In this paper, we shed light on this issue by testing 30 Brazilian Portuguese L2 English speakers in order to investigate whether they tend to describe an image in English with a relation of possession between nouns using a prepositional noun phrase (e.g. the cover of the book is red) or re-use the alternative syntactic structure seen in the output of the GNMT (e.g. the book cover is red), thus manifesting syntactic priming effects. In addition, we tested whether, after continuous exposure to the challenging L2 structure through Google Translate output, speakers would adapt to that structure in the course of the experiment, thus manifesting syntactic priming cumulative effects. Results: Our results show a robust syntactic priming effect as well as a robust cumulative effect. Conclusions: These results suggest that GNMT can influence L2 English learners linguistic behaviour and that L2 English learners unconsciously learn from the GNMT with continuous exposure to its output.

Syntactic priming in 3- and 4-year-old children: Evidence for abstract representations of transitive and dative forms.

2007 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 1334-1346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priya M. Shimpi ◽  
Perla B. Gámez ◽  
Janellen Huttenlocher ◽  
Marina Vasilyeva
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Abstract Representations

scholarly journals Lexically-mediated syntactic priming effects in comprehension: Sources of facilitation

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (9) ◽  
pp. 2176-2196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen M Tooley ◽  
Martin J Pickering ◽  
Matthew J Traxler
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Target Sentence ◽  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Thematic Role ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Role Assignment ◽  
Mediated Priming ◽  
Structural Processing

The nature of the facilitation occurring when sentences share a verb and syntactic structure (i.e., lexically-mediated syntactic priming) has not been adequately addressed in comprehension. In four eye-tracking experiments, we investigated the degree to which lexical, syntactic, thematic, and verb form repetition contribute to facilitated target sentence processing. Lexically-mediated syntactic priming was observed when primes and targets shared a verb and abstract syntactic structure, regardless of the ambiguity of the prime. In addition, repeated thematic role assignment resulted in syntactic priming (to a lesser degree), and verb form repetition facilitated lexical rather than structural processing. We conclude that priming in comprehension involves lexically associated abstract syntactic representations, and facilitation of verb and thematic role processes. The results also indicate that syntactic computation errors during prime processing are not necessary for lexically-mediated priming to occur during target processing. This result is inconsistent with an error-driven learning account of lexically-mediated syntactic priming effects.

scholarly journals Self-priming in production: evidence for a hybrid model of syntactic priming

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassandra Leigh Jacobs ◽  
Sun-Joo Cho ◽  
Duane Watson
Keyword(s):  
Hybrid Model ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Behavioral Experiments ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Syntactic Structures

Syntactic priming in language production is the increased likelihood of using a recently encountered syntactic structure. In this paper, we examine two theories of why speakers can be primed: error-driven learning accounts (Bock, Dell, Chang, & Onishi, 2007; Chang, Dell, & Bock, 2006) and activation-based accounts (Reitter et al., 2011; Pickering & Branigan, 1998). Both theories predict that speakers should be primed by the syntactic choices of others, but only activation-based accounts predict that speakers should be able to prime themselves. Here we test whether speakers can be primed by their own productions in three behavioral experiments and find evidence of structural persistence following both comprehension and speakers’ own productions. We also find that comprehension-based priming effects are larger for rarer syntactic structures than for more common ones, which is most consistent with error-driven accounts. Because neither error-driven accounts nor activation-based accounts fully explain the data, we propose a hybrid model.

Beyond syntactic priming: Evidence for activation of alternative syntactic structures

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARINA VASILYEVA ◽  
HEIDI WATERFALL
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Transitive Action ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
Discourse Function ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Syntactic Form ◽  
Russian Speakers ◽  
English Speaking

ABSTRACTPriming methodology was previously used to investigate children's ability to represent abstract syntactic forms. Existing evidence indicates that following exposure to a particular syntactic structure (such as the passive voice), English-speaking children increase their production of that structure with new lexical items. In the present work, we utilize priming methodology to explore whether exposure to passive primes may increase children's production of sentences that have a different structure but share a similar purpose in discourse. We report three studies, two involving English- and Russian-speaking children, and a third involving Russian-speaking adults. Unlike English, Russian offers a variety of syntactic forms that emphasize the patient of a transitive action, thus fulfilling the discourse function of the passive. We found that English speakers increased the use of the particular syntactic form presented in the prime, whereas Russian speakers increased their production of several different syntactic forms used to emphasize the patient of the action.

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