Language, Mind, and Brainby Ewa Dabrowska

Chapter 2: Language processing: speed and flexibility

Terminology for “Tess…”

• Segmentation

Terminology for “Tess…”

• Segmentation – figuring out where the word (and other) boundaries are

• Syntax

Terminology for “Tess…”

• Segmentation – figuring out where the word (and other) boundaries are

• Syntax – the relationships between parts of an utterance (subject, direct object, verb, modifier, etc.)

• Lexical ambiguity

Terminology for “Tess…”

• Segmentation – figuring out where the word (and other) boundaries are

• Syntax – the relationships between parts of an utterance (subject, direct object, verb, modifier, etc.)

• Lexical ambiguity– the many meanings that a given word might have (also known as polysemy)

More Terminology for “Tess…”

• NP

More Terminology for “Tess…”

• NP – a noun phrase, which is basically a noun and all the things that go with it (article, adjective), as in her nose and a paper tissue

• PP

More Terminology for “Tess…”

• NP – a noun phrase, which is basically a noun and all the things that go with it (article, adjective) ), as in her nose and a paper tissue

• PP – a prepositional phrase, which is a preposition and the NP that goes with it, such as on a paper tissue

• Are there any other terms we need to explain?

1. The complexity of the task

• So what are the things that have to be decided (or guessed) by a listener?

1. The complexity of the task

• So what are the things that have to be decided (or guessed) by a listener?– What sounds are involved– Where boundaries are– What the meanings of the words are – What the relationships are between them

• Overall, it is a very complex task!

2. Speed

• Q: What does speed of processing suggest about disambiguation?

2. Speed

• Q: What does speed of processing suggest about disambiguation?

• A: It is not clear whether all of the senses of a given word are always accessed. The jury is still out on this.

2. Speed

• Q: What is the garden path effect?

2. Speed

• Q: What is the garden path effect?• A: When there is a common (entrenched)

interpretation for a part of an utterance and a listener must use pragmatic and contextual information to access the correct interpretation.– Here are some examples of

garden path sentences. Try to find the entrenched parts that are problematic in them.

2. Speed

• Q: What do event-related brain potentials (ERPs) tell us about semantic and syntactic processing?

2. Speed

• Q: What do event-related brain potentials (ERPs) tell us about semantic and syntactic processing?

• A: They proceed simultaneously, not independently. “…incoming acoustic information is immediately integrated with the representation of the sentence at multiple levels”

3. Processing shortcuts

• Q: How does the human brain compare to a computer in its processing?

3. Processing shortcuts

• Q: How does the human brain compare to a computer in its processing?

• A: The neurons in the brain are about a million times slower than computer circuits, but there are 100 B of them, and each is connected to 1-10 K others. The brain can process language much faster than any computer, and relies on shortcuts to do so.

3.1 Prefabricated units

• Q: What is a “chunk”?

3.1 Prefabricated units

• Q: What is a “chunk”?• A: It is a string of units that is repeated

often and doesn’t usually require much processing, such as:– Would you like…? – Coming up next is …– Later, we’ll be hearing about … but now … – Have you ever … ? Well now you can …

3.1.1 Vast amounts of information

• Q: So, how much information can the brain store?

3.1.1 Vast amounts of information

• Q: So, how much information can the brain store?

• A: It may be infinite. And it may be easier to access chunks than individual units because the parts activate each other.

3.1.2 Recurrent word combinations

• Q: How much of language is recurrent combinations?

3.1.2 Recurrent word combinations

• Q: How much of language is recurrent combinations?

• A: Certainly more than 50%, and possibly more than 80%

3.1.3 Vast amounts of language in daily life

• Q: How much language is a person typically exposed to?

3.1.3 Vast amounts of language in daily life

• Q: How much language is a person typically exposed to?

• A: 9K words/hour = 72K/day = 0.5M/week

3.1.4 People memorize chunks

• Q: Does a chunk have to be frequent in order to be memorized?

3.1.4 People memorize chunks

• Q: Does a chunk have to be frequent in order to be memorized?

• A: No. Many common expressions like kick the bucket are actually quite rare

• Q: Do people memorize sequences that they can compute?

3.1.4 People memorize chunks

• Q: Does a chunk have to be frequent in order to be memorized?

• A: No. Many common expressions like kick the bucket are actually quite rare

• Q: Do people memorize sequences that they can compute?

• A: This is understudied, but it seems they do memorize regular sequences, even though they could compute them instead.

3.1.5 Chunks speed processing

• Q: What is some evidence that memorizing chunks speeds language processing?

3.1.5 Chunks speed processing

• Q: What is some evidence that memorizing chunks speeds language processing?

• A: – Literal meanings of idioms are slower to

process than idiomatic meanings– Idioms are processed faster than novel

combinations of similar complexity– Speakers are more fluent on a familiar topic

than an unfamiliar one

3.2 Shallow processing

• Q: What is shallow processing and what evidence is there for it?

3.2 Shallow processing

• Q: What is shallow processing and what evidence is there for it?

• A: This is when language users do not fully analyze a combination of units. Misinterpretations of grammatically sound but pragmatically problematic utterances are frequent: No head injury is too trivial to ignore.

3.3 Frequency

• Q: What effect does frequency have on processing?

3.3 Frequency

• Q: What effect does frequency have on processing?

• A: People are sensitive to frequency and use relative frequency to help predict what the interpretation of a word or phrase should be. High-frequency items are processed faster.

4. Implications for linguistic theory

• Q: What is the usual approach of linguists to retrieval vs. computation of linguistic forms, and what does the author say about this?

4. Implications for linguistic theory

• Q: What is the usual approach of linguists to retrieval vs. computation of linguistic forms, and what does the author say about this?

• A: Usually linguists prefer elegant simple rules, however such systems require little storage and lots of processing. The brain, on the contrary is good at storage and less good at processing. Also there is evidence that computable combinations are stored nonetheless.

4. Implications for linguistic theory

• Q: What does the author think about the distinction between competence and performance?

4. Implications for linguistic theory

• Q: What does the author think about the distinction between competence and performance?

• A: She argues that it is not clear-cut and that “our mental representation of language is shaped by language use”