scholarly journals Interpreting Silent Gesture: cognitive biases and rational inference in emerging language systems

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marieke Schouwstra ◽  
Henriëtte de Swart ◽  
Bill Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Bayesian Model ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Inductive Inference ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Rational Inference ◽  
Semantic Properties

Natural languages make prolific use of conventional constituent-ordering patterns to indicate ‘who did what to whom’, yet the mechanisms through which these regularities arise are not well understood. A series of recent experiments demonstrates that, when prompted to express meanings through silent gesture, people bypass native language conventions, revealing apparent biases underpinning word order usage, based on the semantic properties of the information to be conveyed. We extend the scope of these studies by focusing, experimentally and computationally, on the interpretation of silent gesture. We show cross-linguistic experimental evidence that people use variability in constituent order as a cue to obtain different interpretations. To illuminate the computational principles that govern interpretation of non-conventional communication, we derive a Bayesian model of interpretation via biased inductive inference, and estimate these biases from the experimental data. Our analyses suggest people’s interpretations balance the ambiguity that is characteristic of emerging language systems, with ordering preferences that are skewed and asymmetric, but defeasible.

scholarly journals From improvisation to learning: how naturalness and systematicity shape language evolution

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasamin Motamedi ◽  
Lucie Wolters ◽  
Danielle Naegeli ◽  
Simon Kirby ◽  
Marieke Schouwstra
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Gesture Studies ◽  
Event Order ◽  
Linguistic Backgrounds ◽  
Learning Event

Silent gesture studies, in which hearing participants from different linguistic backgrounds produce gestures to communicate events, have been used to test hypotheses about the cognitive biases that govern cross-linguistic word order preferences. In particular, the differential use of SOV and SVO order to communicate, respectively, extensional events (where the direct object exists independently of the event; e.g., girl throws ball) and intensional events (where the meaning of the direct object is potentially dependent on the verb; e.g., girl thinks of ball), has been suggested to represent a natural preference, demonstrated in improvisation contexts. However, natural languages tend to prefer systematic word orders, where a single order is used regardless of the event being communicated. We present a series of studies that investigate ordering preferences for SOV and SVO orders using an online forced-choice experiment, where participants select orders for different events i) in the absence of conventions and ii) after learning event-order mappings in different frequencies in a regularisation experiment. Our results show that natural ordering preferences arise in the absence of conventions, replicating previous findings from production experiments. In addition, we show that participants regularise the input they learn in the manual modality in two ways, such that, while the preference for systematic order patterns increases through learning, it exists in competition with the natural ordering preference, that conditions order on the semantics of the event. Using our experimental data in a computational model of cultural transmission, we show that this pattern is expected to persist over generations, suggesting that we should expect to see evidence of semantically-conditioned word order variability in at least some languages.

scholarly journals The influence of native language word order and cognitive biases in pictorial event representations

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anu Vastenius ◽  
Joost van de Weijer ◽  
Jordan Zlatev
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Natural Order ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Event Representations ◽  
Pictorial Representations

AbstractEver since Goldin-Meadow, S., C. Mylander, W. C. So, and A. Özyürek. 2008. The natural order of events: How speakers of different languages represent events nonverbally. PNAS 105: 9163–9168. proposed that there is a preferred order in sequential non-verbal event representations (Actor > Patient > Act), apparently independent of the default word order in one’s native language, the topic has been the focus of much cognitive-semiotic research. After providing a partial review of the field, we describe an empirical study investigating the order of pictorial representations of motion events using a design that emphasized the linearity of the representations to a greater extent than Goldin-Meadow et al. (2008). Speakers of Swedish (default word order: Actor > Act > Patient, or SVO) and speakers of Kurdish (default word order: Actor > Patient > Act, or SOV) participated in the study. Unlike earlier studies, we found an effect of native language word order. The Swedish speakers preferred to place the Patient picture after the Act picture, especially after first describing the stimuli verbally. In contrast, the Kurdish speakers preferred Act after Patient both with and without verbalization. The results of the study suggest that any cognitive or communicative biases for particular constituent order in non-verbal representations are likely to be modulated by linguistic word order, at least in populations reliant on written language in their daily lives.

Convective Losses From Cavity Solar Receivers—Comparisons Between Analytical Predictions and Experimental Results

1983 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Clausing
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Analytical Model ◽  
Excellent Agreement ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Simple Analytical Model ◽  
Refined Model ◽  
Wall Area

Cavity solar receivers are generally believed to have higher thermal efficiencies than external receivers due to reduced losses. A simple analytical model was presented by the author which indicated that the ability to heat the air inside the cavity often controls the convective loss from cavity receivers. Thus, if the receiver contains a large amount of inactive hot wall area, it can experience a large convective loss. Excellent experimental data from a variety of cavity configurations and orientations have recently become available. These data provided a means of testing and refining the analytical model. In this manuscript, a brief description of the refined model is presented. Emphasis is placed on using available experimental evidence to substantiate the hypothesized mechanisms and assumptions. Detailed comparisons are given between analytical predictions and experimental results. Excellent agreement is obtained, and the important mechanisms are more clearly delineated.

Attention and Structural Choice in Sentence Production

2018 ◽  
pp. 526-546
Author(s):  
Andriy Myachykov ◽  
Mikhail Pokhoday ◽  
Russell Tomlin
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Sentence Production ◽  
Regular Mapping ◽  
Structural Choice ◽  
Mapping Mechanism ◽  
Production Mechanisms

This chapter offers a review of experimental evidence about the role of the speaker’s attention in the choice of syntactic structure and the corresponding word order during sentence production. Here, we describe how the speaker’s syntactic choices reflect the regular mapping mechanism that reflects the features of the described event in the produced sentence. One of the most important event parameters that the speaker considers is the changing salience status of the event’s referents. This chapter summarizes current theoretical debate about the interplay between attention and sentence production mechanisms. Finally, it reviews the corresponding experimental evidence from languages with both restricted and flexible word orders.

scholarly journals The role of case marking and word order in cross-linguistic structural priming in late L2 acquisition

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merel Muylle ◽  
Bernolet Sarah ◽  
Robert Hartsuiker
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Structural Priming ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Learning Paradigm ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Case Marking

Several studies found cross-linguistic structural priming with various language combinations. Here, we investigated the role of two important domains of language variation: case marking and word order. We varied these features in an artificial language (AL) learning paradigm, using three different AL versions in a between-subjects design. Priming was assessed between Dutch (no case marking, SVO word order) and a) a baseline version with SVO word order, b) a case marking version, and c) a version with SOV word order. Similar within- language and cross-linguistic priming was found in all versions for transitive sentences, indicating that cross-linguistic structural priming was not hindered. In contrast, for ditransitive sentences we found similar within-language priming for all versions, but no cross-linguistic priming. The finding that cross-linguistic priming is possible between languages that vary in morphological marking or word order, is compatible with studies showing cross-linguistic priming between natural languages that differ on these dimensions.

scholarly journals Desintegration versus Parordination bei 'obwohl'- und 'weil'- Konstruktionen

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 57-82
Author(s):  
Werner Frey ◽  
Federica Masiero
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Discourse Units ◽  
Semantic Properties

In the paper, German disintegrated verb-final 'obwohl' (‘although’) and 'weil' (‘because’) clauses are compared with constructions in which 'obwohl' and 'weil' precedes clauses with main clause word order. The former constructions constitute independent, yet subsidiary speech acts. Thus, the subordinating connectors and the positioning of the verb do not indicate syntactic but textual dependency. The latter constructions are of a very different kind. Here, 'obwohl' and 'weil' do not form a constituent with the following clause. Instead, they appear as syntactically independent discourse markers connecting two discourse units. As discourse markers, 'obwohl' and 'weil' obtain their special syntactic and semantic properties as elements of the derived, but independent module of Thetic Grammar.  

Word Order and Agreement in Tagoi

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-174
Author(s):  
Suzan Alamin
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Class System ◽  
Order Types ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Noun Class ◽  
South Kordofan

Abstract This study provides a detailed description of word order types, agreement patterns and alternations found in Tagoi, a Kordofanian language traditionally spoken in South Kordofan. After a brief presentation of the language (section 1), the noun class system is introduced (section 2) and the word order and agreement patterns are examined at the noun phrase level (section 3). Section 4 gives information about the constituent order at clause and sentence level, while Section 5 summarizes the findings and conclusion of the paper. All in all, the paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of the grammar, structure and typological features of Tagoi.

UG or not UG, that is the question: a reply to Clahsen and Muysken

1987 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean duPlessis ◽  
Doreen Solin ◽  
Lisa Travis ◽  
Lydia White
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learners ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Additional Data ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
German Word ◽  
Germanic Languages

In a recent paper, Clahsen and Muysken (1986) argue that adult second lan guage (L2) learners no longer have access to Universal Grammar (UG) and acquire the L2 by means of learning strategies and ad hoc rules. They use evidence from adult L2 acquisition of German word order to argue that the rules that adults use are not natural language rules. In this paper, we argue that this is not the case. We explain properties of Germanic word order in terms of three parameters (to do with head position, proper government and adjunc tion). We reanalyse Clahsen and Muysken's data in terms of these parameters and show that the stages that adult learners go through, the errors that they make and the rules that they adopt are perfectly consistent with a UG incor porating such parameters. We suggest that errors are the result of some of the parameters being set inappropriately for German. The settings chosen are nevertheless those of existing natural languages. We also discuss additional data, from our own research on the acquisition of German and Afrikaans, which support our analysis of adult L2 acquisition of Germanic languages.

Language acquisition in the absence of experience

1991 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 597-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Crain
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Syntactic Knowledge ◽  
Early Emergence ◽  
Fundamental Goal ◽  
Decisive Evidence

AbstractA fundamental goal of linguistic theory is to explain how natural languages are acquired. This paper describes some recent findings on how learners acquire syntactic knowledge for which there is little, if any, decisive evidence from the environment. The first section presents several general observations about language acquisition that linguistic theory has tried to explain and discusses the thesis that certain linguistic properties are innate because they appear universally and in the absence of corresponding experience. A third diagnostic for innateness, early emergence, is the focus of the second section of the paper, in which linguistic theory is tested against recent experimental evidence on children's acquisition of syntax.

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