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Showing 1 to 15 of 26 results Save | Export
John Duff – ProQuest LLC, 2023
Language comprehension requires a complex series of decisions under uncertainty. This is especially obvious when one string may have multiple different interpretations, whether due to lexical ambiguity, or the potential for an inference beyond literal content. This dissertation profiles how the human system for language comprehension times those…
Descriptors: Language Processing, Ambiguity (Semantics), Decision Making, Reading Comprehension
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Liu, Mingya; Rotter, Stephanie; Giannakidou, Anastasia – Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 2021
The concept of bias is familiar to linguists primarily from the literature on questions. Following the work of Giannakidou and Mari (Truth and Veridicality in Grammar and Thought: Modality, Mood, and Propositional Attitudes, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2021), we assume "nonveridical equilibrium" (implying that p and ¬p as equal…
Descriptors: Form Classes (Languages), Grammar, German, Verbs
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Emberson, Lauren L.; Loncar, Nicole; Mazzei, Carolyn; Treves, Isaac – Journal of Child Language, 2019
Learners preferentially interpret novel nouns at the basic level ('dog') rather than at a more narrow level ('Labrador'). This 'basic-level bias' is mitigated by statistics: children and adults are more likely to interpret a novel noun at a more narrow label if they witness 'a suspicious coincidence' -- the word applied to three exemplars of the…
Descriptors: Vocabulary Development, Nouns, Language Processing, Inferences
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Martelle, Stefanie N.; Namazi, Mahchid – Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 2022
Purpose: The aim of this review is to illuminate the connection between inferential skills and spoken language idiom comprehension (SLIC) with a focus on autism. Idioms are frequently occurring figurative expressions, such as feeling blue, on cloud nine, and all tied up, that have literal and nonliteral meanings. Method: In this review article, an…
Descriptors: Figurative Language, Correlation, Speech Communication, Pervasive Developmental Disorders
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Blumenthal-Dramé, Alice – Discourse Processes: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 2021
This article presents a self-paced reading study comparing the online processing of interclausal discourse relations in native speakers of English and German. The study aims to contribute to two overarching questions: First, it puts to the test the so-called causality-by-default hypothesis, which states that causality is a default assumption,…
Descriptors: Language Processing, German, Reading Processes, Comparative Analysis
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Destruel, Emilie – Second Language Research, 2023
A large amount of literature exists on how native speakers derive and process pragmatic inferences, yet few studies have examined the issue in second language learners, despite a controversial debate of second language (L2) ultimate attainment of phenomena situated at external interfaces. This study contributes to the debate on the integration of…
Descriptors: Language Processing, Inferences, French, Second Language Learning
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Zhang, Jun; Wu, Yan – Second Language Research, 2023
Scalar implicatures involve inferring the use of a less informative term (e.g. some) to mean the negation of a more informative term (e.g. not all). A growing body of recent research on the derivation of scalar implicatures by adult second language (L2) learners shows that while they are successful in acquiring the knowledge of scalar…
Descriptors: Pragmatics, Inferences, Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction
Jennifer Hu – ProQuest LLC, 2023
Language is one of the hallmarks of intelligence, demanding explanation in a theory of human cognition. However, language presents unique practical challenges for quantitative empirical research, making many linguistic theories difficult to test at naturalistic scales. Artificial neural network language models (LMs) provide a new tool for studying…
Descriptors: Linguistic Theory, Computational Linguistics, Models, Language Research
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Feng, Shuo – Second Language Research, 2022
The Interface Hypothesis proposes that second language (L2) learners, even at highly proficient levels, often fail to integrate information at the external interfaces where grammar interacts with other cognitive systems. While much early L2 work has focused on the syntax-discourse interface or scalar implicatures at the semantics-pragmatics…
Descriptors: Mandarin Chinese, Native Language, Second Language Learning, English (Second Language)
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Sullivan, Jessica; Boucher, Juliana; Kiefer, Reina J.; Williams, Katherine; Barner, David – Cognitive Science, 2019
Word learning depends critically on the use of linguistic context to constrain the likely meanings of words. However, the mechanisms by which children infer word meaning from linguistic context are still poorly understood. In this study, we asked whether adults (n = 58) and 2- to 6-year-old children (n = 180) use discourse coherence relations…
Descriptors: Cues, Linguistic Theory, Discourse Analysis, Toddlers
Feng, Shuo – ProQuest LLC, 2019
Recently, there has been considerable L2 research on interfaces between different modules of grammar (internal), such as syntax-semantics, or between grammar and other cognitive systems (external), such as semantics-pragmatics. Sorace's (2011) Interface Hypothesis proposes that L2 learners, even at highly proficient levels, often fail to integrate…
Descriptors: Second Language Learning, Syntax, Semantics, Grammar
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Kohn, Kurt – TESL-EJ, 2022
In pedagogical debates about Global Englishes (GE) and English as a lingua franca (ELF), there is widespread agreement concerning an urgent need for liberating teachers and students from the normative constraints of ELT's orientation towards standard English by raising their awareness of the characteristics and complexities of GE/ELF…
Descriptors: Native Speakers, Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, English (Second Language)
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Piñango, Maria M.; Zhang, Muye; Foster-Hanson, Emily; Negishi, Michiro; Lacadie, Cheryl; Constable, R. Todd – Cognitive Science, 2017
We examine metonymy at psycho- and neurolinguistic levels, seeking to adjudicate between two possible processing implementations (one- vs. two-mechanism). We compare highly conventionalized "systematic metonymy" (producer-for-product: "All freshmen read 'O'Connell'") to lesser-conventionalized "circumstantial…
Descriptors: Psycholinguistics, Neurolinguistics, Language Processing, Comparative Analysis
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Tonini, Elisabetta; Lecce, Serena; Del Sette, Paola; Bianco, Federica; Canal, Paolo; Bambini, Valentina – First Language, 2022
Although metaphors are essential tools in everyday communication and educational settings, the literature lacks evidence of effective training tools to promote metaphor comprehension in typical development. Grounding in theoretical pragmatics, we developed a novel metaphor comprehension training (MetaCom) for school-age children that focuses on…
Descriptors: Figurative Language, Language Processing, Transfer of Training, Reading Comprehension
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Suzuki, Takaaki; Kobayashi, Tessei – Language Learning and Development, 2017
Syntactic bootstrapping facilitates children's initial learning of verb meanings based on syntactic information. A challenging case is the argument-drop languages, where the number of argument NPs is not a reliable cue for distinguishing between transitive and intransitive verbs. Despite this fact, the availability of syntactic bootstrapping in…
Descriptors: Syntax, Cues, Grammar, Verbs
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