ERIC Number: EJ772158
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 35
Abstractor: Author
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ISSN: ISSN-0364-0213
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Extended Article: Situated Language Understanding as Filtering Perceived Affordances
Gorniak, Peter; Roy, Deb
Cognitive Science, v31 n2 p197-231 2007
We introduce a computational theory of situated language understanding in which the meaning of words and utterances depends on the physical environment and the goals and plans of communication partners. According to the theory, concepts that ground linguistic meaning are neither internal nor external to language users, but instead span the objective-subjective boundary. To model the possible interactions between subject and object, the theory relies on the notion of perceived affordances: structured units of interaction that can be used for prediction at multiple levels of abstraction. Language understanding is treated as a process of filtering perceived affordances. The theory accounts for many aspects of the situated nature of human language use and provides a unified solution to a number of demands on any theory of language understanding including conceptual combination, prototypicality effects, and the generative nature of lexical items.
Descriptors: Physical Environment, Linguistic Theory, Computational Linguistics, Concept Formation, Lexicology, Context Effect, Generative Grammar, Language Acquisition, Comprehension
Lawrence Erlbaum. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/default.html
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
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Language: English
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