Language down the garden path : the cognitive and biological basis for linguistic structures / edited by Montserrat Sanz, Itziar Laka, and Michael K. Tanenhaus.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Sanz, Montserrat, editor.

Laka, Itziar, editor.

Tanenhaus, Michael K., editor.

Series:

Oxford studies in biolinguistics ; 4.

Oxford studies in biolinguistics ; 4

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Grammar, Comparative and general--Word order.

Grammar, Comparative and general.

Grammar, Comparative and general--Sentences.

Grammar, Comparative and general--Syntax.

Psycholinguistics.

Physical Description:

xxii, 493 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2015.

Summary:

Thomas G. Bever's now iconic sentence, The horse raced past the barn fell, first appeared in his 1970 paper "The Cognitive Basis of Linguistic Structures". This 'garden path sentence', so-called because of the way it leads the reader or listener down the wrong parsing path, helped spawn theentire subfield of sentence processing. It has become the most often quoted element of a paper which spanned a wealth of research into the relationship between the grammatical system and language processing.Language Down the garden Path traces the lines of research that grew out of Bever's classic paper. Leading scientists review over 40 years of debates on the factors at play in language comprehension, production, and acquisition (the role of prediction, grammar, working memory, prosody, abstractness,syntax, and semantics mapping); the current status of universals and narrow syntax; and virtually every topic relevant in psycholinguistics since 1970. Written in an accessible and engaging style, the book will appeal to all those interested in understanding the questions that shaped, and are stillshaping, this field and the ways in which linguists, cognitive scientists, psychologists, and neuroscientists are seeking to answer them.

Contents:

1 Sentence comprehension before and after 1970: Topics, debates, and techniques / Montserrat Sanz Sanz, Montserrat, Itziar Laka Laka, Itziar, Michael K. Tanenhaus Tanenhaus, Michael K. 81

1.1 Introduction 81

1.2 CBLS: A serendipitous beginning 82

1.3 Setting the path for language-processing research 84

1.4 Factors at play in processing 86

1.5 More on the role of prediction and different sources of knowledge 90

1.6 Prosodic and working memory constraints in sentence parsing 93

1.7 Why is the agent-initial pattern preferred? 95

1.8 Universals, the syntax/semantics interface, and narrow syntax 96

1.9 The role of grammar in language processing 100

1.10 Uniquely linguistic? The neurocognitive perspective 102

1.11 Language acquisition and abstractness 104

1.12 Recapitulation 105

1.13 Using this book for a course 110

2 Anticipating the garden path: The horse raced past the barn ate the cake / Gerry T. M. Altmann Altmann, Gerry T. M. 111

2.1 Introduction 111

2.2 Background 113

2.3 Adult language processing as an emergent property of the child's learning 117

2.4 Prediction during sentence comprehension: Empirical findings 119

2.5 Prediction during sentence comprehension: What is being predicted? 122

2.6 Event comprehension and the challenge of change 124

2.7 The challenge of change: Empirical findings 126

2.8 From horses to squirrels: From predicting human behavior to understanding the human mind 128

3 Inviting production to the Cognitive Basis party / Maryellen C. MacDonald MacDonald, Maryellen C. 131

3.1 Introduction 131

3.2 Sentence ambiguity and the powerful feeling of garden-pathing 132

3.3 A different approach for other relative clauses 133

3.4 Ambiguity and meaning in relative clauses 135

3.5 The role of production 137

4 Thematic templates and the comprehension of relative clauses / Chien-Jer Charles Lin Lin, Chien-Jer Charles 141

4.1 Processing relative clauses: Beyond fillers and gaps 141

4.2 Thematic template mapping as a processing strategy 143

4.3 Asymmetry in the comprehension and production of relative clauses 147

5 The processing complexity of English relative clauses / Edward Gibson Gibson, Edward, Harry Tily Tily, Harry, Evelina Fedorenko Fedorenko, Evelina 149

5.1 Introduction 149

5.2 Reanalysis-based theories 150

5.3 Experience-/surprisal-based theories 151

5.4 Memory-based theories 152

5.5 Evidence for each theory 153

5.6 Summary 156

5.7 Experiment 1 157

5.8 Experiment 2 165

5.9 General discussion 171

6 Prediction, Production, Priming, and imPlicit learning: A framework for psycholinguistics / Gary S. Dell Dell, Gary S., Audrey K. Kittredge Kittredge, Audrey K. 174

6.1 Introduction 174

6.2 The psycholinguistic chain 175

6.3 Phonotactic learning: An example study 179

6.4 Loops in the chain: Two new links 181

6.5 Conclusions: The weakest links 182

7 Enduring themes in sentence comprehension: Projecting linguistic structures / David J. Townsend Townsend, David J. 184

7.1 Introduction 184

7.2 Comprehenders form linguistic structures 185

7.3 Linguistic elements project structure 186

7.4 Common representations interact 189

7.5 Grammar checks the adequacy of projected structures 191

7.6 Summary 194

8 The multiple bases for linguistic structures / Robert Berwick Berwick, Robert 195

8.1 The fundamental tension 195

8.2 External modeling 195

8.3 Internal modeling 196

8.4 Some examples 197

8.5 Succinctness in grammatical theory 199

8.6 Linguistic theory and modern statistical tools 201

8.7 Accounting for probabilistic factors in language 204

9 Pronouncing and comprehending center-embedded sentences / Janet Dean Fodor Fodor, Janet Dean 206

9.1 The cognitive basis for center-embedding difficulty 206

9.2 The phrasal packaging account of parsing difficulties 209

9.3 Phrasal packaging as prosodic phrasing: Late closure 210

9.4 Prosodic phrasing and center-embedding difficulty 215

9.5 Nonprosodic explanations 227

10 Beyond capacity: The role of memory processes in building linguistic structure in real time / Brian McElree McElree, Brian, Lisbeth Dyer Dyer, Lisbeth 229

10.1 Introduction 229

10.2 Limitations of capacity-based accounts 231

10.3 Retrieval operations in language comprehension 233

10.4 Memory constraints: Retrieval interference rather than capacity limits 235

10.5 When is retrieval required for successful comprehension? 238

10.6 Bever's influence 240

11 Neurotypology: Modeling crosslinguistic similarities and differences in the neurocognition of language comprehension / Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Ina, Matthias Schlesewsky Schlesewsky, Matthias 241

11.1 Introduction: What is a linguistic universal? 241

11.2 A brief introduction to neurotypology 243

11.3 The striking impact of crosslinguistic diversity 245

11.4 Crosslinguistic generalizations and the notion of a cognitive (neural) attractor 247

11.5 Summary 252

12 The path from certain events to linguistic uncertainties / Montserrat Sanz Sanz, Montserrat 253

12.1 Introduction 253

12.2 The syntax-semantics interface and parsing considerations 255

12.3 Recapitulation and final remarks 261

13 On abstraction and language universals / Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini Piattelli-Palmarini, Massimo 263

13.1 Introduction 263

13.2 The conservativity of determiners 265

13.3 The status of this universal 269

13.4 On abstraction 270

13.5 A kind of conclusion 271

14 Determiners: An empirical argument for innateness / Virginia Valian Valian, Virginia 272

14.1 Why determiners? 272

14.2 What is innate and what is learned? 273

14.3 When does the child's grammar include determiners? 274

14.4 Is the developmental trajectory continuous or discontinuous? 276

14.5 What is learned? 278

15 Anchoring agreement / Simona Mancini Mancini, Simona, Nicola Molinaro Molinaro, Nicola, Manuel Carreiras Carreiras, Manuel 280

15.1 The linguistics of agreement 280

15.2 On anchors and interpretation 282

15.3 On feature anchoring, mismatch, and agreement comprehension 285

15.4 Conclusion 292

16 Parser-grammar relations: We don't understand everything twice / Colin Phillips Phillips, Colin 294

16.1 Introduction 294

16.2 Are grammatical representations more "real" than grammatical processes? 295

16.3 Is it feasible to use grammars as the core of sentence recognition devices? 298

16.4 Does parsing rely on heuristics and strategies? 300

16.5 Do slow grammatical analyses prove that we understand everything twice? 310

16.6 Distinctness of parsing and production mechanisms 311

16.7 Analysis-by-synthesis 313

16.8 Conclusion 314

17 The epicenter of linguistic behavior / Edward P.

Stabler Stabler, Edward P. 316

17.1 Introduction 316

17.2 Syntactic structure: Revealing the hidden consensus 318

17.3 Performance models: Basic properties 321

17.4 Habits of phrasing 322

17.5 Computational perspectives on the epicenter 323

18 From action to language: Evidence and speculations / Luciano Fadiga Fadiga, Luciano, Alessandro D'Ausilio D'Ausilio, Alessandro 324

18.1 Motor system hierarchy 324

18.2 Complex integrative functions in the motor system 326

18.3 The critical role of Broca's area 327

18.4 What action tells us about language 328

18.5 Research issues and future directions 330

19 The mirror theory of language: A neurolinguist's perspective / Yosef Grodzinsky Grodzinsky, Yosef 333

19.1 Introduction 333

19.2 Modular vs holistic theories of cognition: The past 333

19.3 Bever's holism 334

19.4 Current holism: The mirror theory of language 335

19.5 Four tests of modularity 336

19.6 Two tests of modularity in Broca's area 336

19.7 Broca's area is nonetheless modular and linguistic 342

20 Some issues in current language acquisition research / Jacques Mehler Mehler, Jacques 348

20.1 Introduction 348

20.2 Language acquisition 349

20.3 Prosodic structures and language acquisition 352

20.4 Recent findings opening new lines of research 355

20.5 Returning to an old interest: Memory 357

21 A Bayesian evaluation of the cost of abstractness / Ewan Dunbar Dunbar, Ewan, Brian Dillon Dillon, Brian, William J. Idsardi Idsardi, William J. 360

21.1 Introduction 360

21.2 Kalaallisut phonology 362

21.3 Bayesian reasoning in linguistics 366

21.4 Discussion 383

22 The biolinguistics of language universals: The next years / Thomas G. Bever Bever, Thomas G. 385

22.1 Introduction 385

22.2 The interaction of statistical (inductive) and categorical (deductive) processes 386

22.3 The psychological reality of grammar 387

22.4 The computational basis of modularity of language 388

22.5 Neurological organization of language and its variants 389

22.6 Language, structural capacities, and related phenomena in animals 391

22.7 Extralinguistic sources of language universals 393

22.8 Two topics for the future 397

22.9 Conclusion 404.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

9780199677139

0199677131

9780198712800

0198712804

OCLC:

906924349

Publisher Number:

99962424589