Studies in Theoretical Psycholinguistics - Böcker
Visar alla böcker i serien Studies in Theoretical Psycholinguistics. Handla med fri frakt och snabb leverans.
92 produkter
92 produkter
Del 9 - Studies in Theoretical Psycholinguistics
Learnability and Linguistic Theory
Häftad, Engelska, 1989
550 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
The impetus for this volume developed from the 1982 University of Western Ontario Learnability Workshop, which was organized by the editors and sponsored by that University's Department of Philosophy and the Centre for Cognitive Science. The volume e~plores the import of learnability theory for contemporary linguistic theory, focusing on foundational learning-theoretic issues associated with the parametrized Government-Binding (G-B) framework. Written by prominent re searchers in the field, all but two of the eight contributions are pre viously unpublished. The editor's introduction provides an overview that interrelates the separate papers and elucidates the foundational issues addressed by the volume. Osherson, Stob, and Weinstein's "Learning Theory and Natural Language" first appeared in Cognition (1984); Matthews's "The Plausi bility of Rationalism" was published in the Journal of Philosophy (1984). The editors would like to thank the publishers for permission to reprint these papers. Mr. Marin Marinov assisted with the preparation of the indices for the volume. VB ROBERT 1. MATTHEWS INTRODUCTION: LEARNABILITY AND LINGUISTIC THEORY 1. INTRODUCTION Formal learning theory, as the name suggests, studies the learnability of different classes of formal objects (languages, grammars, theories, etc.) under different formal models of learning. The specification of such a model, which specifies (a) a learning environment, (b) a learn ing strategy, and (c) a criterion for successful learning, determines (d) a class of formal objects, namely, the class that can be acquired to the level of the specified success criterion by a learner implementing the specified strategy in the specified enviroment.
2 178 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
Studies of language acqUiSItion have largely ignored processing prin ciples and mechanisms. Not surprisingly, questions concerning the analysis of an informative linguistic input - the potential evidence for grammatical parameter setting - have also been ignored. Especially in linguistic approaches to language acquisition, the role of language processing has not been prominent. With few exceptions (e. g. Goodluck and Tavakolian, 1982; Pinker, 1984) discussions of language perform ance tend to arise only when experimental debris, the artifact of some experiment, needs to be cleared away. Consequently, language pro cessing has been viewed as a collection of rather uninteresting perform ance factors obscuring the true object of interest, namely, grammar acquisition. On those occasions when parsing "strategies" have been incorporated into accounts of language development, they have often been discussed as vague preferences, not open to rigorous analysis. In principle, however, theories of language comprehension can and should be subjected to the same criteria of explicitness and explanatoriness as other theories, e. g. , theories of grammar. Thus their peripheral role in accounts of language development may reflect accidental factors, rather than any inherent fuzziness or irrelevance to the language acquisition problem. It seems probable that an explicit model of the way(s) processing routines are applied in acquisition would help solve some central problems of grammar acquisition, since these routines regulate the application of grammatical knowledge to novel inputs.
2 178 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
Studies of language acqUiSItion have largely ignored processing prin ciples and mechanisms. Not surprisingly, questions concerning the analysis of an informative linguistic input - the potential evidence for grammatical parameter setting - have also been ignored. Especially in linguistic approaches to language acquisition, the role of language processing has not been prominent. With few exceptions (e. g. Goodluck and Tavakolian, 1982; Pinker, 1984) discussions of language perform ance tend to arise only when experimental debris, the artifact of some experiment, needs to be cleared away. Consequently, language pro cessing has been viewed as a collection of rather uninteresting perform ance factors obscuring the true object of interest, namely, grammar acquisition. On those occasions when parsing "strategies" have been incorporated into accounts of language development, they have often been discussed as vague preferences, not open to rigorous analysis. In principle, however, theories of language comprehension can and should be subjected to the same criteria of explicitness and explanatoriness as other theories, e. g. , theories of grammar. Thus their peripheral role in accounts of language development may reflect accidental factors, rather than any inherent fuzziness or irrelevance to the language acquisition problem. It seems probable that an explicit model of the way(s) processing routines are applied in acquisition would help solve some central problems of grammar acquisition, since these routines regulate the application of grammatical knowledge to novel inputs.
1 092 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
Linguistic theory has recently experienced a shift in its conceptual approach from the formulation of descriptively adequate accounts of languages to the definition of principles and parameters claimed to reflect the initial structure of the language faculty, often termed Universal Grammar (UG). Linguistic experience is said to have the effect of guiding the child/linguist in fixing the unspecified parameters of U G to determine the grammar of his/her language. The study of anaphora has been of central concern as it addresses directly the innateness vs. experience issue. On the one hand, it is a part of all natural languages that is largely under determined by the data, and must therefore be included in the characterization of the initial state of the language faculty. On the other hand, although the principles that govern anaphora do not exhibit extreme variations across languages, a child/linguist must solve language specific issues for his/her language based on linguistic experience. This book examines a set of linguistic structures from both a theoretical and an experimental perspective. The purpose is to xv PREFACE xvi determine the roles of innateness and of experience in the devel opment of a child's theory of anaphora for his/her language.
1 635 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
The basic accomplishment of sentence processing research in the 1960s and 70s was to establish that perceivers assign structural representa- tions to sentences (Fodor et al., 1974) and they do so systematically using the formation rules of the grammar (Forster, 1979). This may sound like a singularly unimpressive accomplishment to a contem- porary linguist - mere proof of the obvious. But one must recall the extremely impoverished view of language and language processing prevalent in the U.S. in the 1950s. Processing mechanisms were thought to consist of slightly elaborated stimulus-response associations, and sentences were viewed as mere strings of concatenated words. On this view, understanding language comprehension was naturally equated with knowing how words and associations between them were learned. Consequently, language pro- cessing was investigated by performing a seemingly endless series of tedious paired associate learning studies. The shift in the 1960s to a view of sentences emphasizing hierarchically organized structures con- taining grammatical depencies between widely separated items was thus dramatic.
1 635 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
The basic accomplishment of sentence processing research in the 1960s and 70s was to establish that perceivers assign structural representa- tions to sentences (Fodor et al., 1974) and they do so systematically using the formation rules of the grammar (Forster, 1979). This may sound like a singularly unimpressive accomplishment to a contem- porary linguist - mere proof of the obvious. But one must recall the extremely impoverished view of language and language processing prevalent in the U.S. in the 1950s. Processing mechanisms were thought to consist of slightly elaborated stimulus-response associations, and sentences were viewed as mere strings of concatenated words. On this view, understanding language comprehension was naturally equated with knowing how words and associations between them were learned. Consequently, language pro- cessing was investigated by performing a seemingly endless series of tedious paired associate learning studies. The shift in the 1960s to a view of sentences emphasizing hierarchically organized structures con- taining grammatical depencies between widely separated items was thus dramatic.
Universal Grammar and American Sign Language
Setting the Null Argument Parameters
Inbunden, Engelska, 1991
1 092 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE American Sign Language (ASL) is the visual-gestural language used by most of the deaf community in the United States and parts of Canada. On the surface, this language (as all signed languages) seems radically different from the spoken languages which have been used to formulate theories of linguistic princi ples and parameters. However, the position taken in this book is that when the surface effects of modality are stripped away, ASL will be seen to follow many of the patterns proposed as universals for human language. If these theoretical constructs are meant to hold for language in general, then they should hold for natural human language in any modality; and ifASL is such a natural human language, then it too must be accounted for by any adequate theory of Universal Grammar. For this rea son, the study of ASL can be vital for proposed theories of Universal Grammar. Recent work in several theoretical frameworks of syntax as well as phonology have argued that indeed, ASL is such a lan guage. I will assume then, that principles of Universal Gram mar, and principles that derive from it, are applicable to ASL, and in fact that ASL can serve as one of the languages which test Universal Grammar. There is an important distinction to be drawn, however, be tween what is called here 'American Sign Language', and other forms of manual communication.
Universal Grammar and American Sign Language
Setting the Null Argument Parameters
Häftad, Engelska, 1991
1 092 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE American Sign Language (ASL) is the visual-gestural language used by most of the deaf community in the United States and parts of Canada. On the surface, this language (as all signed languages) seems radically different from the spoken languages which have been used to formulate theories of linguistic princi ples and parameters. However, the position taken in this book is that when the surface effects of modality are stripped away, ASL will be seen to follow many of the patterns proposed as universals for human language. If these theoretical constructs are meant to hold for language in general, then they should hold for natural human language in any modality; and ifASL is such a natural human language, then it too must be accounted for by any adequate theory of Universal Grammar. For this rea son, the study of ASL can be vital for proposed theories of Universal Grammar. Recent work in several theoretical frameworks of syntax as well as phonology have argued that indeed, ASL is such a lan guage. I will assume then, that principles of Universal Gram mar, and principles that derive from it, are applicable to ASL, and in fact that ASL can serve as one of the languages which test Universal Grammar. There is an important distinction to be drawn, however, be tween what is called here 'American Sign Language', and other forms of manual communication.
3 806 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
A collection of articles on the theory, acquisition and processing of island constraints. The book is unique in taking an interdisciplinary approach to a syntactic phenomenon that has been at the centre of linguistic debates since the 1960s. Both transformational and non-transformational approaches to island constraints are represented. The papers in the volume show how data from empirical studies of the role of island constraints in processing and acquistition by normals and by special populations can contribute to our understanding of broad issues concerning the representation of linguistic structures in the mind, including the interplay between lexical, pragmatic and syntactic knowledge. In addition, they contribute vital data to specific on-going debates in processing and development, such as the emergence of movement rules in children's grammars and the temporal ordering of events in the analysis of discontinuous dependencies by the language processor.The papers in the volume exploit examples from a variety of languages and use a variety of experimental techniques to marshal arguments for specific models of the theory of island constraints and their deployment in real-time language acquisition and language processing.
Acquisition of Verb Placement
Functional Categories and V2 Phenomena in Language Acquisition
Inbunden, Engelska, 1992
875 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
The twelve contributions in this volume all focus on the question of whether developing grammars contain, at each stage of language acquisition, the full range of functional categories such as INFL, AGR, or COMP. The evidence examined is the placement of verbs, especially in verb-second constructions. Since the position of verbal elements depends on the finiteness distinction (the presence of agreement and tense markings), the development of these phenomena is studied as well. Although there is consensus among the authors that grammars in the course of language acquisition conform at each stage to the principles of universal grammar, they disagree on whether the full repertoire of functional categories is available from early on, or whether some are implemented only later. The studies presented here investigate monolingual and bilingual first language acquisition as well as adult second language acquisition. The languages studied are Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Sesotho, and Swedish.
1 092 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
This text illustrates how second language acquisition (SLA) data can instigate linguistic exploration and help inform linguistic and acquisition theory in crucial ways. It also offers insights into the relationship between first and second language acquisition, Universal Grammar (UG), and the target language input. Specifically, examination of the L2 development of pied-piping and preposition stranding in English questions and relative clauses shows that the required preposition is frequently omitted by learners who have demonstrated accurate subcategorization knowledge of verbal complements in related declarative constructions. The "null-prep" data in the L2 grammar leads to a cross-linguistic investigation of this syntactic phenomenon in the world's languages; it also motivates exploration of the complex English input learners receive as positive evidence. An analysis of null-prep, piping and stranding is posited, including the relevant principles and parameters of UG involved. Based on this linguistic analysis, alternative explanations for the L2 phenomenon are offered, representing challenges to UG and markedness-based accounts of second language acquisition.Such challenges should be of interest to linguists as well as to students, teachers, researchers and scholars interested in second language acquisition, particularly in its relationship to UG.
1 635 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
This work is a detailed linguistic analysis of a large body of aphasic Chinese natural speech data. It describes how the major aphasia syndromes are manifest in Chinese, a language which differs significantly from languages upon which traditional aphasia theory is based. Following the Chinese data, a new explanation for the major aphasia syndromes is offered based on the cognitive science modularity hypothesis. The theory posits that Broca's aphasia is the result of computational deficits that occur within linguistic components, while Wernicke's aphasia is the result of deficits that occur in the transfer of information between components. It is demonstrated how the fluent and non-fluent characteristics of the major aphasia syndromes follow directly from the properties of cognitive modules. Detailed linguistic descriptions of Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia in Chinese are provided, including a summary of diagnostics of aphasia type. The complete corpora of four aphasic Chinese speakers, including interlinear and free translations, are presented in an Appendix.
Language Learnability and L2 Phonology
The Acquisition of Metrical Parameters
Inbunden, Engelska, 1993
1 092 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
In this book, the author describes two studies conducted within a parametric framework in the area of second language acquisition. The studies are designed to investigate the acquisition of English stress patterns, via both production and perception tasks, by adult speakers of Polish and Hungarian. Archibald argues that interlanguage grammars can be understood as a mix of L1 transfer and the effects of Universal Grammar. Metrical parameters related to such things as quantity-sensitivity, extrametricality, and word-tree dominance determine the structure of the interlanguage. The author reports that the subjects are remarkably successful at acquiring English stress and do not appear to violate proposed universals of metrical phonology. This book is an attempt to investigate the acquisition of L2 phonology within a UG framework. Empirical support is provided for the parametric model.
Computational Psycholinguistics
An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of Language
Inbunden, Engelska, 1995
1 092 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
This volume investigates the architecture and mechanisms which underlie the human capacity to process language. It integrates modern syntactic theory, cross-linguistic psychological evidence and modern computational techniques in constructing a model of the human sentence processing mechanism. The monograph follows the rationalist tradition, arguing the central role of modularity and universal grammar in a theory of human linguistic performance. It refines the notion of "modularity of mind", and presents a distributed model of syntactic processing which consists of modules aligned with the various informational "types" associated with modern linguistic theories. By considering psycholinguistic evidence from a range of languages, a small number of processing principles are motivated and are demonstrated to hold universally. It is also argued that the behaviour of modules, and the strategies operative within them, can be derived from an overarching "Principle of Incremental Comprehension". The book is intended for linguists, psycholinguists, computational linguists and others interested in a unified and interdisciplinary study of the human language faculty.
Computational Psycholinguistics
An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of Language
Häftad, Engelska, 1996
1 092 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
Computational Psycholinguistics: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of Language investigates the architecture and mechanisms which underlie the human capacity to process language. It is the first such study to integrate modern syntactic theory, cross-linguistic psychological evidence, and modern computational techniques in constructing a model of the human sentence processing mechanism. The monograph follows the rationalist tradition, arguing the central role of modularity and universal grammar in a theory of human linguistic performance. It refines the notion of `modularity of mind', and presents a distributed model of syntactic processing which consists of modules aligned with the various informational `types' associated with modern linguistic theories. By considering psycholinguistic evidence from a range of languages, a small number of processing principles are motivated and are demonstrated to hold universally. It is also argued that the behavior of modules, and the strategies operative within them, can be derived from an overarching `Principle of Incremental Comprehension'. Audience: The book is recommended to all linguists, psycholinguists, computational linguists, and others interested in a unified and interdisciplinary study of the human language faculty.
1 635 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
The process of on-line recovery from errors in sentence comprehension is a lively focus of research activity in psycholinguistics. This volume offers chapters by experimental and theoretical psycholinguists who have been moving this research forward, sometimes in agreement with each other, sometimes developing opposing views. The experimental data and explanations presented here will interest linguists and psychologists, and all those concerned with how language is used, so rapidly and effectively, for communication. Language understanding is one of the foundational areas of cognitive science, and the research represented here may illuminate how the human mind is able to perform running repairs on its own computations. The material can be read with interest by graduate students and advanced undergraduates as well as practicing researchers.
550 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
At present there exists no empirically-motivated theory of how perceivers assign a grammatically-permissible interpretation to a sentence. Implicit in many investigations of language comprehension is the idea that each constituent of a sentence is interpreted by the perceiver at the earliest conceivable point, using all potentially relevant sources of information. A variety of counter examples are presented to argue against this implicit theory of sentence interpretation. It is argued that an explicit alternative theory is needed to specify which decisions are made at which points during interpretive processing and to spell out the principles governing the processor's preferred choice at points of ambiguity or uncertainty. Several specific issues are taken concerning how the processor assigns a focal structure to an input sentence, how it identifies the topic of the sentence, how implicit restrictors on the domain of quantification are interpreted and how the identification of the content of a restrictor may guide the processor's use of discourse information.
1 092 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
The main focus of the book is the development of referential abilities in young children. A number of findings suggest that errors exhibited by young children in various experiments and spontaneous speech result from the inability to implement discourse-related knowledge. It is further argued that the deficiency is due to the lack of language-specific processing resources characteristic for young children. In order to support the lack of processing resources argument, certain similarities between the language of children and Broca's aphasics are also discussed. A new theoretical model of the syntax--discourse interface is presented, and it is shown how the proposed model can explain various psycholinguistic findings. The book is intended for scholars and graduate students working in the field of language acquisition and language impairment. It may also be of interest to linguists whose work focuses on the theory of syntax--discourse interface.
1 635 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
The present volume contributes to the growing body of work on sentence pro- cessing. The goal of work in this area is to construct a theory of human sen- tence processing in general, i.e., given a grammar of some particular language and a general characterization of the human sentence processing mechanisms, the particular processing system for that language should follows automati- cally. At least that's the goal. What is needed in order to pursue this goal is systematic in-depth analysis of the sentence routines of individual languages. With respect to German, that is precisely what the present volume delivers. In sharp contrast to a decade ago, the study of German sentence process- ing is flourishing today. Four lively and active centers have emerged. The University of Freiburg is one prominent center, represented in the present vol- ume by the editors Barbara Hemforth and Lars Konieczny (who was at Freiburg for many years) as well as by Christoph Scheepers (who is now in Glasgow) and Christoph Holscher.The University of Potsdam has recently begun an interdisciplinary collaboration on sentence processing involving Matthias Schlesewsky, Gisbert Fanselow, Reinhold Kliegl and Josef Krems. The University of Jena has several investigators trained in linguistics and interested in language processing. That group is represented here by Markus Bader and also includes his colleagues Michael Meng and Josef Bayer.
1 092 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
The cross-linguistic aspect of language processing is becoming a central question in psycholinguistic research: if the goal of psycholinguists is to give a model of the human sentence processor, and not a language sentence processor, a test of its cross-linguistic validity is essential. This text addresses fundamental issues about the representational primitives of the parsing system and the motivations for the essential characteristics of the parser. The volume also discusses methodological issues in cross-linguistic research, such as the choices of linguistic material and experimental procedures. It also shows how cross-linguistic research can be pursued in either a monolingual or multilingual approach. This volume contains contributions from experimental and theoretical psycholinguists, and computational researchers.
2 178 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
This collection of papers investigates two specific linguistic phenomena from the point of view of first- and second-language acquisition. While observations on the acquisition of scrambling or pronominal clitics can be found in the literature, up until the recent past they were sparse and often buried in other issues. This volume fills a long-existing gap in providing a collection of articles which focus on language acquisition but at the same time address the overarching syntactic issues involved (for example, the X-bar status of clitics, base-generation versus movement accounts of scrambling). This volume contains an overview of L1 (and, in one case, L2) acquisition data from a number of different languages including Bernese, Swiss, German, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Swedish, as well as from several theoretical points of view with these two clause-internal processes at its centre. These language acquisition data are considered to be crucial in the validation of analyses of these specific linguistic phenomena in adult grammars.The contributions in this volume include the earliest thoughts in this vein and, for this reason, should be viewed as a starting point for discussions within theoretical linguistics and language acquisition alike.
Embedded V-To-C in Child Grammar: The Acquisition of Verb Placement in Swiss German
Inbunden, Engelska, 2001
1 092 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
How children acquire competence in verb placement in languages in which verb placement in matrix clauses does not coincide with that in embedded clauses is not well understood. Verb-second languages like German and Dutch display the verb-final pattern in embedded clauses, which can be confusing for a developing child. This book addresses this problem in the context of Swiss German, itself a Germanic dialect. Numerous examples are given of natural language produced by two children who were consistently followed between the ages of four and six. Unexpectedly, since previous literature has suggested that children master verb placement very early in their linguistic development, these children move the verb in any type of embedded clause, leading to many verb-placement errors. After introducing the problem and describing the data in detail, a technical analysis is developed in terms of a minimally split-CP, which is rather successful in accounting for this data. The book should interest advanced students and researchers in both language acquisition and syntax.
Embedded V-To-C in Child Grammar: The Acquisition of Verb Placement in Swiss German
Häftad, Engelska, 2001
1 092 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
How children acquire competence in verb placement in languages in which verb placement in matrix clauses does not coincide with that in embedded clauses is not well understood. Verb-second languages like German and Dutch display the verb-final pattern in embedded clauses, which can be confusing for a developing child. This book addresses this problem in the context of Swiss German, itself a Germanic dialect. Numerous examples are given of natural language produced by two children who were consistently followed between the ages of four and six. Unexpectedly, since previous literature has suggested that children master verb placement very early in their linguistic development, these children move the verb in any type of embedded clause, leading to many verb-placement errors. After introducing the problem and describing the data in detail, a technical analysis is developed in terms of a minimally split-CP, which is rather successful in accounting for this data. The book should interest advanced students and researchers in both language acquisition and syntax.
Processing of Tense
Psycholinguistic Studies on the Interpretation of Tense and Temporal Relations
Inbunden, Engelska, 2001
1 635 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
A study of the processing of tense, more specifically the English past tense. Against a theoretical background, this book presents a number of psycholinguistic studies, examining how and when the language processor assigns an interpretation to tense morphology. It looks at several specific topics: temporal anaphora resolution, adverb preposing and discourse relations, and the sequence of tense ambiguity. The picture that emerges is one in which the processor is not guided by the preceding context in making interpretive decisions regarding tense, as previous work has suggested. Rather, sentence-level linguistic structure appears to cue the processor in deciding which of the multiple possible interpretations to assign to a past-tense marker. This book also offers theoretical perspectives on issues of both linguistic (temporal adverbs, sentence and discourse level temporal interpretation) and psycholinguistic (models of semantic processing) interest. This work should be of interest to graduate students and researchers in linguistics and psycholinguistics working on semantic processing, temporal interpretation and discourse processing.
Processing of Tense
Psycholinguistic Studies on the Interpretation of Tense and Temporal Relations
Häftad, Engelska, 2001
1 635 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
A study of the processing of tense, more specifically the English past tense. Against a theoretical background, this book presents a number of psycholinguistic studies, examining how and when the language processor assigns an interpretation to tense morphology. It looks at several specific topics: temporal anaphora resolution, adverb preposing and discourse relations, and the sequence of tense ambiguity. The picture that emerges is one in which the processor is not guided by the preceding context in making interpretive decisions regarding tense, as previous work has suggested. Rather, sentence-level linguistic structure appears to cue the processor in deciding which of the multiple possible interpretations to assign to a past-tense marker. This book also offers theoretical perspectives on issues of both linguistic (temporal adverbs, sentence and discourse level temporal interpretation) and psycholinguistic (models of semantic processing) interest. This work should be of interest to graduate students and researchers in linguistics and psycholinguistics working on semantic processing, temporal interpretation and discourse processing.
1 092 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
Recent studies in psycho linguistics have ranged through a variety of languages. In this trend, which has no precedent, studies in language processing have followed studies in language acquisition and theoretical linguistics in considering language universals in a broader scope than only in English. Since the beginning of the century, studies in language acquisition have produced a vast body of data from a number of Indoeuropean languages, and the emphasis on the universal has preceded the emphasis on the particular (see (Slobin 1985) for a review). Nowadays, the research in the field advances by means of a continuous linking between the cross-linguistic uniformities and the individual language influences on development. The level of language universals is continuously refined as the data from a number of languages contribute to the elaboration of a more distinctive picture of the language of children. The first cross-linguistic studies in theoretical linguistics appeared at the end of the seventies. Within the Chomskian paradigm, the reference to the Romance languages caused a shift from a rule-based toward a principle-based formalism (Chomsky 1981, 1995); within alternative theories, the reduced prominence of the pure phrase structure component in favor of the lexicon and/or the functional relations (see, e.g., Lexical Functional Grammar (Bresnan 1982), Relational Grammar (Perlmutter 1983)) sought empirical support in languages exhibiting deep structural differences with respect to English (e.g. Bantu, Malayalam, Romance and Slavic languages Warlpiri). The M. De Vincenzi and V. Lombardo (eds.), Cross-linguistic Perspectives on Language Processing, 1-19.
From Syntax to Discourse
Pronominal Clitics, Null Subjects and Infinitives in Child Language
Inbunden, Engelska, 2002
1 635 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
This text investigates typical phenomena of early child language from a cross-linguistic perspective. The investigation centres on the acquisition of pronominal clitics in production and comprehension, and especially on the well-known phase of infinitive production and subject omission. Other areas such as early negation and question-formation are treated in the context of the above phenomena. The book provides a unique comparative database for these areas of language acquisition from the point of view of Romance and Germanic languages in presenting results on Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, and other languages. On the basis of these broad and detailed empirical results, the author proceeds to evaluate current models and hypotheses advanced for the above phenomena from a theoretical perspective. A formal investigation of the semantics and pragmatics of pronouns and tense leads to the conclusion that discourse anchorage, which is problematic for young children, is mediated by syntax and by functional material in particular so that the development of the syntax--discourse interface is largely driven by developments in syntax.
From Syntax to Discourse
Pronominal Clitics, Null Subjects and Infinitives in Child Language
Häftad, Engelska, 2002
1 635 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
This text investigates typical phenomena of early child language from a cross-linguistic perspective. The investigation centres on the acquisition of pronominal clitics in production and comprehension, and especially on the well-known phase of infinitive production and subject omission. Other areas such as early negation and question-formation are treated in the context of the above phenomena. The book provides a unique comparative database for these areas of language acquisition from the point of view of Romance and Germanic languages in presenting results on Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, and other languages. On the basis of these broad and detailed empirical results, the author proceeds to evaluate current models and hypotheses advanced for the above phenomena from a theoretical perspective. A formal investigation of the semantics and pragmatics of pronouns and tense leads to the conclusion that discourse anchorage, which is problematic for young children, is mediated by syntax and by functional material in particular so that the development of the syntax--discourse interface is largely driven by developments in syntax.
Del 30 - Studies in Theoretical Psycholinguistics
Storage and Computation in the Language Faculty
Häftad, Engelska, 2002
550 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
Traditionally, computation - the rule-driven manipulation of symbols - as opposed to (lexical) storage, has been the main focus of research in the language faculty. There is, however, increasing evidence of a prominent role of storage. Constructions that could be computed don't necessarily happen. In this volume, the relative roles of computation and storage are discussed, both theoretically and on the basis of linguistic, psycholinguistic, and brain-imaging evidence, with respect to a wide range of language phenomena, such as morphological processing, syntactic processing, limitations of parsing mechanisms, neural substrates of short-term storage versus computation, and the processing of discourse.
1 092 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
Developments in linguistic theory, as well as the growing body of evidence from languages other than English, provide new opportunities for deeper explorations into how language is represented in the mind of learners. This collection of new empirical studies on the acquisition of Spanish morphosyntax specifically contributes to the characterization of the L1 / L2 connection in acquisition. Using L1 and L2 Spanish data from children and adults, the authors seek to address the central questions that have occupied developmental psycholinguists in the final decades of the 20th century and that will no doubt continue engaging them in the future. From the perspective of minimalism, the various studies in this volume investigate both the type of mental representations that can account for optionality as a trait of emergent grammars, as well as the role of morphology as a trigger for the acquisition of syntax across a variety of aspects of the developing grammar: the morphosyntax of nouns, verbs, pronominal clitics and compounds.