Case and Linking in Language Comprehension PDF Download

Author: Markus Bader
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402043449
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
The German language, due to its verb-final nature, relatively free order of constituents and morphological Case system, poses challenges for models of human syntactic processing which have mainly been developed on the basis of head-initial languages with little or no morphological Case. The verb-final order means that the parser has to make predictions about the input before receiving the verb. What are these predictions? What happens when the predictions turn out to be wrong? Furthermore, the German morphological Case system contains ambiguities. How are these ambiguities resolved under the normal time pressure in comprehension? Based on theoretical as well as experimental work, the present monograph develops a detailed account of the processing steps that underly language comprehension. At its core is a model of linking noun phrases to arguments of the verb in the developing phrase structure and checking the result with respect to features such as person, number and Case. This volume contains detailed introductions to human syntactic processing as well as to German syntax which will be helpful especially for readers less familiar with psycholinguistics and with Germanic.

Author: Katy Carlson
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030015637
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
This book contains papers that were written to honor Professor Lyn Frazier on the occasion of her retirement from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Some were presented at the Lynschrift on May 19-20, 2018; others were written especially for this volume. The papers report original research on, or research-based theoretical analyses of, several of the domains that Professor Frazier contributed to during her career. The volume begins with a brief overview of Professor Frazier’s research contributions and an appreciation of the contributions she has made to the field of psycholinguistics and to her students and colleagues. The next several chapters discuss the roles that prosody plays in language processing, and the volume continues with chapters on the topic that established Professor Frazier as a major psycholinguistic theorist, syntactic processing. The volume then explores the roles semantics and pragmatics play in language comprehension, and concludes with reports of applications and extensions of research on language processing. All chapters were contributed by current and former students and colleagues of Professor Frazier in gratitude for the impact she has had on their lives and careers.

Author: Andreas Späth
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110926008
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 405

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Book Description
The volume contains articles that focus on the interface between linguistic and conceptual knowledge. The issues addressed in the volume include the preconditions of every level of the language system that are required for the transformation of linguistic information into conceptual representations. In accordance with Chomsky’s Minimalist language model, the language system is embedded into the performative systems where language is a part of the cognitive competence of human beings, i.e. system of articulation and perception (A/P) and the conceptual-intentional system (C/I). During the formation of linguistic structures, every performative system obtains well-formed representations as its input information. The articles of the volume show how interface conditions determine the linguistic representations on each level of the linguistic system. Interface conditions result in requirements for the ordering of linguistic elements. The syntactic transformation achieves a point, where the linguistic structure formation branches to two distinct representational levels. Both levels deliver instructions for the systems of performance A/P and C/I. Linearization takes place on the syntactic surface of a sentence. The linearization of linguistic elements is manifest at the derivational point of Spell-out and also on the level of the phonological form (PF). This means that on the one hand, linearization is relevant to the phonetic aspect of linguistic expressions, and on the other hand, the interpretation of linguistic utterances is based on hierarchical structures. On the level of Logical Form (LF) all operations apply which don’t have any influence on the linear order in overt syntax. In addition they affect the generation of hierarchical structures. The structure obtained on LF is the representational format of the semantic form of a sentence.

Author: Ina Bornkessel
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110219271
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 373

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Book Description
The concept of semantic roles has been central to linguistic theory for many decades. More specifically, the assumption of such representations as mediators in the correspondence between a linguistic form and its associated meaning has helped to address a number of critical issues related to grammatical phenomena. Furthermore, in addition to featuring in all major theories of grammar, semantic (or 'thematic') roles have been referred to extensively within a wide range of other linguistic subdisciplines, including language typology and psycho-/neurolinguistics. This volume brings together insights from these different perspectives and thereby, for the first time, seeks to build upon the obvious potential for cross-fertilisation between hitherto autonomous approaches to a common theme. To this end, a view on semantic roles is adopted that goes beyond the mere assumption of generalised roles, but also focuses on their hierarchical organisation. The book is thus centred around the interdisciplinary examination of how these hierarchical dependencies subserve argument linking - both in terms of linguistic theory and with respect to real-time language processing - and how they interact with other information types in this process. Furthermore, the contributions examine the interaction between the role hierarchy and the conceptual content of (generalised) semantic roles and investigate their cross-linguistic applicability and psychological reality, as well as their explanatory potential in accounting for phenomena in the domain of language disorders. In bridging the gap between different disciplines, the book provides a valuable overview of current thought on semantic roles and argument linking, and may further serve as a point of departure for future interdisciplinary research in this area. As such, it will be of interest to scientists and advanced students in all domains of linguistics and cognitive science.

Author: Vanja Kljajevic
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443836958
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
This book investigates whether Croatian aphasics, in particular those diagnosed with Broca’s aphasia, have difficulty comprehending wh-dependencies. The tested structures include subject and object direct, embedded, long-distance and passivized who and which questions as well as relative clauses introduced by which. It is shown that differences in the deficit patterns between English- and Croatian-speaking Broca’s aphasics are due to structural as well as processing differences. The Croatian data are explained in terms of a case-cueing comprehension strategy and the competition model.

Author: G.N. Carlson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400927290
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
The papers in this volume are intended to exemplify the state of experimental psycho linguistics in the middle to later 1980s. Our over riding impression is that the field has come a long way since the earlier work of the 1950s and 1960s, and that the field has emerged with a renewed strength from a difficult period in the 1970s. Not only are the theoretical issues more sharply defined and integrated with existing issues from other domains ("modularity" being one such example), but the experimental techniques employed are much more sophisticated, thanks to the work of numerous psychologists not necessarily interested in psycholinguistics, and thanks to improving technologies unavailable a few years ago (for instance, eye-trackers). We selected papers that provide a coherent, overall picture of existing techniques and issues. The volume is organized much as one might organize an introductory linguistics course - beginning with sound and working "up" to mean ing. Indeed, the first paper, Rebecca Treiman's, begins with considera tion of syllable structure, a phonological consideration, and the last, Alan Garnham's, exemplifies some work on the interpretation of pro nouns, a semantic matter. In between are found works concentrating on morphemes, lexical structures, and syntax. The cross-section represented in this volume is by necessity incom plete, since we focus only on experimental work directed at under standing how adults comprehend and produce language. We do not include any works on language acquisition, first or second.

Author: Cesare Cornoldi
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136488626
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 498

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Book Description
Recognizing the characteristics of children with learning disabilities and deciding how to help them is a problem faced by schools all over the world. Although some disorders are fairly easily recognizable (e.g., mental retardation) or very specific to single components of performance and quite rare (e.g., developmental dyscalculia), schools must consider much larger populations of children with learning difficulties who cannot always be readily classified. These children present high-level learning difficulties that affect their performance on a variety of school tasks, but the underlying problem is often their difficulty in understanding written text. In many instances, despite good intellectual abilities and a superficial ability to cope with written texts and to use language appropriately, some children do not seem to grasp the most important elements, or cannot find the pieces of information they are looking for. Sometimes these difficulties are not immediately detected by the teacher in the early school years. They may be hidden because the most obvious early indicators of reading progress in the teacher's eyes do not involve comprehension of written texts or because the first texts a child encounters are quite simple and reflect only the difficulty level of the oral messages (sentences, short stories, etc.) with which the child is already familiar. However, as years go by and texts get more complex, comprehension difficulties will become increasingly apparent and increasingly detrimental to effective school learning. In turn, studying, assimilating new information, and many other situations requiring text comprehension -- from problem solving to reasoning with linguistic contents -- could be affected. Problems with decoding, dyslexia, and language disorders have attracted more interest from researchers than have specific comprehension problems and have occupied more room in specialized journals. Normal reading comprehension has also been a favorite with researchers. However, scarce interest has been paid to subjects who have comprehension difficulties. This book is an attempt to remedy this situation. In so doing, this volume answers the following questions: * Does a reading comprehension problem exist in schools? * How important and widespread is the problem? * Is the problem specific? * How can a reading comprehension difficulty be defined and identified? * Does the "syndrome" have a single pattern or can different subtypes be identified? * What are the main characteristics associated with a reading comprehension difficulty? * When can other well-identified problems add to our understanding of reading comprehension difficulties? * Which educational strategies are effective in preventing and treating reading comprehension difficulties? * What supplementary information can we get from an international perspective?

Author: Chris Code
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 1135817235
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
From a contemporary perspective, Classic Cases in Neuropsychology, Volume II reviews important and significant cases described in historical and modern literature where brain damage has been sustained. The single case study has always been of central importance to the discipline of neuropsychology. Cognitive neuropsychology and cognitive neurolinguistics search for universal structures in thought processes, and single patients are an important means to that end. The role of the single case study in the historical development of the field and its increasing contribution to contemporary work is therefore recognised as crucial. This follow-up to the successful Classic Cases in Neuropsychology (1996) brings together more of the important case investigations which have shaped the way we think about the relationships between brain, behaviour and cognition. The book includes cases from the rich history of neuropsychology as well as important contemporary case studies in the fields of memory, language and perception. Some of the cases described are rare, some are seminal in the field, many were the first of their type to be described and gave rise to new theories, and some are still controversial. As in the first volume, each chapter highlights the relevance of the case to the development of neuropsychology and discusses the theoretical implication of the findings. Classic Cases in Neuropsychology, Volume II will be essential reading for students and researchers alike in the fields of neuropsychology and neuroscience. It will also be of interest to speech and language pathologists, therapists and clinicians in this area.

Author: Christopher Code
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 0863778917
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
Brings together in one volume further important case investigations that have shaped the way we think about the relationships between brain, behaviour and cognition.

Author: Claudia Felser
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2889451321
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 768

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Book Description
Successful speaking and understanding requires mechanisms for reliably encoding structured linguistic representations in memory and for effectively accessing information in those representations later. Studying the time-course of real-time linguistic dependency formation provides a valuable tool for uncovering the cognitive and neural basis of these mechanisms. This volume draws together multiple perspectives on encoding and navigating structured linguistic representations, to highlight important empirical insights, and to identify key priorities for new research in this area.