Syntax
Syntax : the arrangements of words to show their relationship to one another in a sentence.
Syntax rules govern proper sentence structure.
In school, we learned preferred syntactical rules, like ‘isn’t’ is preferable to ‘ain’t’ (prescriptive approach)
Psycholinguists analyze syntax at the descriptive level :
A. James asked the woman about her headache.
B. About the James headache woman her asked.
Same Lexical Information in both sentences, yet we prefer the structure in A
Noam Chomsky and Transformational Grammar
Chomsky developed Transformational Grammar to replace ‘Left-to-Right Grammar’
Major Factors of Transformational Grammar
Every Sentence exists on two levels :
Surface Structure : the actual spoken sentence.
Deep Structure : underlying meaning of the sentence.
A single deep structure idea can be expressed in many different Surface structures :
Deep Structure : Boy kisses Girl
Surface structure : The boy kissed the girl.
The boy was kissing the girl. The girl was kissed by the boy.
Surface and Deep Structure
The deep structure gives the semantic component of a sentence, while the surface structure gives the proper phonological information to express that thought.
How do we develop these two levels of sentence construction ?
Chomsky has proposed two sets of Rules :
1. Phrase Structure Grammar : these rules
dictate the form of the deep structure.
If you have ever diagrammed sentences in English (or foreign language classes), than you have explicitly used phrase structure rules before.
Phrase Structure Grammar
Phrase structure rules specifies both the necessary phrases for proper sentence construction, and the specific word ordering that should be followed within these sentence phrases.
Phrase Structure Grammar forces a hierarchical arrangement among different parts of sentences.
Why can’t we just use phrase structure rules to explain language ?
Phrase Structure Rules can not help distinguish among ambiguous sentences :
Visiting relatives can be a nuisance.
The shooting of the hunters was horrible.
To account for these shortcomings in Phrase Structure Grammar, Chomsky proposed an additional level of rules which assists in translating deep structures to surface structure sentences.
Transformational Rules : these rules help transform the deep structure into the surface structure.
The manipulation of verb tenses is one aspect of transformational rules.
Present tense, past tense, subjunctive, past perfect, future tense are all derived through transformational rules.
Meaning in Language
Semantic Factors in Language
Morpheme : smallest unit of meaning of language.
S, er, ing, are all morphemes, just as the word ‘car’ is a single morpheme.
‘car’ is a free morpheme
‘s’, ‘er’ is a bound morpheme
In general, multimorphemic words take longer to recognize and comprehend than single morphemic words.
‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’
‘wall’
Case Grammar (Fillmore, 68)
Case grammar uses semantic case analysis to find the link between syntactically distinct sentences.
The janitor will open the door with the key.
The key will open the door.
Key is a D.O. in the first sentence and a Noun in the second.
However, the relationship between Key, Open, and Door is identical in both sentences.
Case grammar allows a word to have the same semantic role, despite having a different syntactic designation.
Case analysis looks at relationships between concepts in terms of :
Agents : Who ?
Time : specifies tense
Instrument : The what
Relation : the action
Recipient : to what
The case grammar approach is supported by normal readers difficulties with ambiguous sentences where the ‘obvious’ syntactic structure results in an unintelligible sentence.
‘The tenant delivered the junk mail threw it in the trash’
Case Grammar specifies two processes take place during normal comprehension :
1. We start comprehension immediately : We do not wait for the end of the sentence in order to begin our understanding
2. This analysis is a process of assigning roles to each of the concepts within the sentence.
However, we eventually can overcome the garden path problems by reassigning the roles within the sentence.
So ultimately, meaning takes precedence over form.
Another example of how language processing is dominated by top-down processing.
Reconstructive Memory
The interaction of Episodic and Semantic Memory
Our memory for events is substantially influenced by previous knowledge (conceptually driven processing)
Bartlett (1932) wanted to understand how meaningful stimuli was remembered :
Typical Bartlett paradigm :
Subject studies some meaningful reading : such as a story or a poem
Then, they must recall the material several times, at different intervals.
Bartlett was able to conclude that memory is not a static picture retrieved from the memory vaults, but an elaborate reconstruction .
Reconstructive Memory
We construct (or recall) a memory by combining elements form the original material together with existing knowledge.
Which aspects of his results led Bartlett (1932) to this conclusion ?
Omissions : The specific information which subjects typically failed to recall : Specific Names, places and specific events within the story are frequently left out.
Normalization and Rationalization : As subjects recalled the story over and over, they alter the story to make it seem more reasonable or understandable --- They edit the story so it becomes consistent with their own understanding of the world.
These two factors led Bartlett to propose the idea of "schemas" or mental scripts.
Schema Theory
Schemata are mental templates which we use to perceive and understand our environment.
Schemata provide context and predictability to novel situations.
As we grow, our schemata becomes more numerous, more detailed, and more reliable.
Schema : a stored framework or body of knowledge
Schemas hold together general thematic information.
Common Schema which develop early in life : Restaurant schemas, school schemas, birthday party schemas, movie theater schemas, grocery shopping schemas.
Other studies showing shematic influence:
Sulin and Dooling (1974) : Students read a paragraph concerning :
Gerald Martin’s Rise to Power
Adolf Hitler’s Rise to Power
Five minutes after reading the passage, subjects are shown sentences and asked,
Which sentences appeared in the reading ?
Those who read the passage with Adolf Hitler’s name were much more likely to "false alarm" to sentences which contain knowledge consistent with the history of Adolf Hitler.
"Hitler was obsessed by the desire to conquer the world"
A second experiment of Sulin & Dooling (74)
Read a passage about a problem child named Carol Harris or Helen Keller;
Carol was stubborn, violent, ……
Test for sentence recall one week later :
5 % false alarm rate to :
Carol Harris was deaf, dumb and blind.
50 % false alarm rate one week later to:
Helen Keller was deaf, dumb, and blind.
Both experiments show this strong influence of previous knowledge on our ability to remember written passages.