scholarly journals Understanding Contextual and Social Meaning in Typically Developing Finnish-Speaking Four- To Eight-Year-Old Children

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 408-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soile Loukusa ◽  
Leena Mäkinen ◽  
Ilaria Gabbatore ◽  
Päivi Laukkanen-Nevala ◽  
Eeva Leinonen
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Pragmatic Language ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Developmental Phase ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Mind Reading ◽  
Contextual Processing ◽  
Pragmatic Comprehension

Abstract This study examined the development of social-pragmatic comprehension in 170 Finnish four- to eight-year-old children. The children were asked to respond to socially and contextually demanding questions targeting their social-pragmatic language processing, and to explain their correct answers in order to elicit their awareness of how they had derived the answers from the context. The results showed that the number of correct answers increased especially between the ages of four and seven years. We found that questions demanding contextual processing without mind-reading were the easiest to understand, followed by questions demanding processing of feelings of others and false beliefs. The questions demanding understanding of relevant language use and processing of contextual factors including mental states and intentions were the most challenging for the children. Between four and five years of age there was a remarkable developmental phase in children’s ability to give proper explanations.

Disturbed communication in schizophrenia: the role of poor pragmatics and poor mind-reading

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 1273-1284 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. LANGDON ◽  
M. COLTHEART ◽  
P. B. WARD ◽  
S. V. CATTS
Keyword(s):  
Expressive Language ◽  
Executive Dysfunction ◽  
False Belief ◽  
Thought Disorder ◽  
Pragmatic Language ◽  
Formal Thought Disorder ◽  
Mind Reading ◽  
Poor Understanding ◽  
Study Support ◽  
Pragmatic Comprehension

Background. Disturbed speech in schizophrenia may reflect pragmatic deficits of expressive language. Pragmatic comprehension deficits also occur in schizophrenia. This study investigated whether poor ‘mind-reading’ (i.e. a general difficulty with inferring and monitoring other people's thoughts) causes pragmatic language impairments of both expression and comprehension in patients with schizophrenia.Method. Mind-reading (or theory of mind) was tested in patients with schizophrenia and in healthy controls using a false-belief picture-sequencing task. Pragmatic comprehension skills were assessed using a test of non-literal speech interpretation. Clinical ratings of formal thought disorder (FTD) indexed the expressive language deficits of patients. To control for possible contributory effects of executive dysfunction, inhibitory control was tested using capture picture-sequences and executive-planning was tested using the Tower of London task.Results. False-belief picture-sequencing, understanding of irony and understanding of metaphors were all selectively impaired in the patients. Poor mind-reading (indexed by high error rate in sequencing false-belief stories) was associated with poor understanding of irony, but was unrelated to poor understanding of metaphors. Whereas poor appreciation of irony and poor mind-reading were associated with high ratings of positive formal thought disorder, high ratings of negative formal thought disorder were associated with poor understanding of metaphors and executive dysfunction.Conclusions. Whereas poor mind-reading may contribute to positive aspects of formal thought disorder and impaired appreciation of irony in patients with schizophrenia; negative features of formal thought disorder and poor understanding of metaphors appear better explained by abnormal semantics. Overall, the findings of this study support the view that the functional basis of formal thought disorder in schizophrenia is not unitary.

scholarly journals Pragmatic Language Processing in the Adolescent Brain

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salomi S. Asaridou ◽  
Ö. Ece Demir-Lira ◽  
Julia Uddén ◽  
Susan Goldin-Meadow ◽  
Steven L. Small
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Pragmatic Language ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Preceding Question

Adolescence is a developmental period in which social interactions become increasingly important. Successful social interactions rely heavily on pragmatic competence, the appropriate use of language in different social contexts, a skill that is still developing in adolescence. In the present study, we used fMRI to characterize the brain networks underlying pragmatic language processing in typically developing adolescents. We used an indirect speech paradigm whereby participants were presented with question/answer dialogues in which the meaning of the answer had to be inferred from the context, in this case the preceding question. Participants were presented with three types of answers: (1) direct replies, i.e., simple answers to open-ended questions, (2) indirect informative replies, i.e., answers in which the speaker’s intention was to add more information to a yes/no question, and (3) indirect affective replies, i.e., answers in which the speaker’s intention was to express polite refusals, negative opinions or to save face in response to an emotionally charged question. We found that indirect affective replies elicited the strongest response in brain areas associated with language comprehension (superior temporal gyri), theory of mind (medial prefrontal cortex, temporo-parietal junction, and precuneus), and attention/working memory (inferior frontal gyri). The increased activation to indirect affective as opposed to indirect informative and direct replies potentially reflects the high salience of opinions and perspectives of others in adolescence. Our results add to previous findings on socio-cognitive processing in adolescents and extend them to pragmatic language comprehension.

scholarly journals Finding What Is Inaccessible: Antimicrobial Resistance Language Use among the One Health Domains

Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 385
Author(s):  
Lauren L. Wind ◽  
Jonathan S. Briganti ◽  
Anne M. Brown ◽  
Timothy P. Neher ◽  
Meghan F. Davis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antibiotic Resistance ◽  
Open Access ◽  
Antimicrobial Resistance ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
One Health ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Usage ◽  
Health Domains ◽  
Accessibility Issues ◽  
The One

The success of a One Health approach to combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) requires effective data sharing across the three One Health domains (human, animal, and environment). To investigate if there are differences in language use across the One Health domains, we examined the peer-reviewed literature using a combination of text data mining and natural language processing techniques on 20,000 open-access articles related to AMR and One Health. Evaluating AMR key term frequency from the European PubMed Collection published between 1990 and 2019 showed distinct AMR language usage within each domain and incongruent language usage across domains, with significant differences in key term usage frequencies when articles were grouped by the One Health sub-specialties (2-way ANOVA; p < 0.001). Over the 29-year period, “antibiotic resistance” and “AR” were used 18 times more than “antimicrobial resistance” and “AMR”. The discord of language use across One Health potentially weakens the effectiveness of interdisciplinary research by creating accessibility issues for researchers using search engines. This research was the first to quantify this disparate language use within One Health, which inhibits collaboration and crosstalk between domains. We suggest the following for authors publishing AMR-related research within the One Health context: (1) increase title/abstract searchability by including both antimicrobial and antibiotic resistance related search terms; (2) include “One Health” in the title/abstract; and (3) prioritize open-access publication.

scholarly journals What is special about L3 processing?

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
KEES DE BOT ◽  
CAROL JAENSCH
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Third Language ◽  
The Core ◽  
Dynamic Perspective ◽  
Core Issue ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Over Time

While research on third language (L3) and multilingualism has recently shown remarkable growth, the fundamental question of what makes trilingualism special compared to bilingualism, and indeed monolingualism, continues to be evaded. In this contribution we consider whether there is such a thing as a true monolingual, and if there is a difference between dialects, styles, registers and languages. While linguistic and psycholinguistic studies suggest differences in the processing of a third, compared to the first or second language, neurolinguistic research has shown that generally the same areas of the brain are activated during language use in proficient multilinguals. It is concluded that while from traditional linguistic and psycholinguistic perspectives there are grounds to differentiate monolingual, bilingual and multilingual processing, a more dynamic perspective on language processing in which development over time is the core issue, leads to a questioning of the notion of languages as separate entities in the brain.

scholarly journals Perspective influences eye movements during real-life conversation: Mentalising about self vs. others in autism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahsa Barzy ◽  
Heather Jane Ferguson ◽  
David Williams
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Social Attention ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Verbal Responses ◽  
Socially Relevant

Socio-communication is profoundly impaired among autistic individuals. Difficulties representing others’ mental states have been linked to modulations of gaze and speech, which have also been shown to be impaired in autism. Despite these observed impairments in ‘real-world’ communicative settings, research has mostly focused on lab-based experiments, where the language is highly structured. In a pre-registered experiment, we recorded eye movements and verbal responses while adults (N=50) engaged in a real-life conversation. Conversation topic either related to the self, a familiar other, or an unfamiliar other (e.g. "Tell me who is your/your mother’s/Marina’s favourite celebrity and why?”). Results replicated previous work, showing reduced attention to socially-relevant information among autistic participants (i.e. less time looking at the experimenter’s face, and more time looking around the background), compared to typically-developing controls. Importantly, perspective modulated social attention in both groups; talking about an unfamiliar other reduced attention to potentially distracting or resource demanding social information, and increased looks to non-social background. Social attention did not differ between self and familiar other contexts- reflecting greater shared knowledge for familiar/similar others. Autistic participants spent more time looking at the background when talking about an unfamiliar other vs. themselvesFuture research should investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying this effect.

scholarly journals Beyond the Words in Print: Identity Construction in Messages of Condolence

2022 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-192
Author(s):  
Rita Akele Twumasi
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Role Identity ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Theoretical Physics ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
The Social

Death is part of human existence. When a person hears the news of someone’s death, it is very common for that person to express their feelings about it. This feeling is in the form of condolences which express the speaker’s sorrow, and condolences fall into the category of speech act. Semantically, condolences have a social meaning which refers to language use. Identities are created in relationships with others, and condolences are major platforms for the construction of identities, in that, existing relationships are, clearly, manifested in the messages that sympathizers expressed. Using a qualitative approach, the study analyzed twenty condolence messages which were purposely sampled from condolence messages posted in the portals of International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), when one of its members passed away. The analysis of the data revealed two main identity types enacted for the deceased: role identity and Social Identity. The major Role identity enacted, metaphorically, was Father while the least role was Achiever. Second, identity as an International Figure was dominant with the Social roles, but Good Personality was used less frequently. The present study adds to studies in identity construction, in general, and studies in condolence messages, in specific.

scholarly journals Incrementality and intention-recognition in utterance processing

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleni Gregoromichelaki ◽  
Ruth Kempson ◽  
Matthew Purver ◽  
Gregory J. Mills ◽  
Ronnie Cann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Predictive Model ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Intention Recognition ◽  
Dialogue Modelling ◽  
Open Question ◽  
Dynamic Syntax ◽  
Do So

Ever since dialogue modelling first developed relative to broadly Gricean assumptions about utter-ance interpretation (Clark, 1996), it has remained an open question whether the full complexity of higher-order intention computation is made use of in everyday conversation. In this paper we examine the phenomenon of split utterances, from the perspective of Dynamic Syntax, to further probe the necessity of full intention recognition/formation in communication: we do so by exploring the extent to which the interactive coordination of dialogue exchange can be seen as emergent from low-level mechanisms of language processing, without needing representation by interlocutors of each other’s mental states, or fully developed intentions as regards messages to be conveyed. We thus illustrate how many dialogue phenomena can be seen as direct consequences of the grammar architecture, as long as this is presented within an incremental, goal-directed/predictive model.

scholarly journals Bilingual parents' modeling of pragmatic language use in multiparty interactions

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 761-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
MEDHA TARE ◽  
SUSAN A. GELMAN
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Language Socialization ◽  
Pragmatic Language ◽  
Metalinguistic Awareness ◽  
English Speaker ◽  
Language Differences ◽  
Language Differentiation ◽  
Parental Input ◽  
Parent Child

ABSTRACTParental input represents an important source of language socialization. Particularly in bilingual contexts, parents may model pragmatic language use and metalinguistic strategies to highlight language differences. The present study examines multiparty interactions involving 28 bilingual English- and Marathi-speaking parent–child pairs in the presence of monolingual bystanders (children's mean ages = 3 years, 2 months and 4 years, 6 months). Their language use was analyzed during three sessions: parent and child alone, parent and child with the English speaker, and parent and child with the Marathi speaker. Parents demonstrated pragmatic differentiation by using relatively more of the bystander's language; however, children did not show this sensitivity. Further, parents used a variety of strategies to discuss language differences, such as providing and requesting translations; children translated most often in response to explicit requests. The results indicate that parents model pragmatic language differentiation as well as metalinguistic talk that may contribute to children's metalinguistic awareness.

The Processes Underlying Positive Illusory Bias in ADHD: The Role of Executive Functions and Pragmatic Language Skills

2021 ◽  
pp. 108705472110636
Author(s):  
Giulia Crisci ◽  
Ramona Cardillo ◽  
Irene C. Mammarella
Keyword(s):  
Social Competence ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Pragmatic Language ◽  
Positive Illusory Bias ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Children With Adhd ◽  
Pragmatic Language Skills ◽  
Social Difficulties

Objective: Children with ADHD often show a positive illusory bias (PIB), reporting an extremely positive idea of their own competence, despite their difficulties. The mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are still poorly understood. In the present study, we examined social PIB and investigated the role of executive functions (EFs) and pragmatic language (PL). Method: Forty-one children with ADHD and 42 typically-developing children matched on age, IQ, and receptive language were administered measures of social competence, EFs and PL. The parents were also asked to estimate their child’s social competence. Results: There was evidence of social difficulties and PIB in children with ADHD. Only PL, not EFs, seemed to mediate the association between ADHD and PIB. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that PL abilities should be considered in efforts to improve self-perception in children with ADHD.

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