MORPHOLOGY NOV 4, 2015 – DAY 29 Brain & Language LING 4110-4890-5110-7960 NSCI 4110-4891-6110 Fall 2015

MORPHOLOGYNOV 4, 2015 – DAY 29

Brain & Language

LING 4110-4890-5110-7960

NSCI 4110-4891-6110

Fall 2015

2

Course organization• Schedule:

• http://www.tulane.edu/~howard/BrLg/t1-Intro.html#schedule-of-topics

• Today's chapter:• http://www.tulane.edu/~howard/BrLg/t17-LexicalInterface.html

• Fun with https://www.facebook.com/BrLg15/• Quiz before Thanksgiving will be in class & on

Blackboard.

11/04/15 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University

http://www.tulane.edu/~howard/BrLg/t1-Intro.html%23schedule-of-topics

http://www.tulane.edu/~howard/BrLg/t1-Intro.html%23schedule-of-topics

http://www.tulane.edu/~howard/BrLg/t17-LexicalInterface.html

https://www.facebook.com/BrLg15/

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GradesQ1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6

MIN 6 5 5 4 7 3

AVG 9.0 8.8 8.8 8.4 9.2 7.5

MAX 10 10 10 10 10 10


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THE LEXICAL INTERFACE


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The lexical interface


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Areas ~ hubs ~ effects = sensorimotor semantics


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Hypotheses


STS phonological net

p(MTG+ITS)lexical interface

a(MTG+ITS)combinatorial net 1

aIFGcombinatorial net 2

STS phonological net

action words, toolsmotor + somato cortex

a(MTG+ITS)combinatorial net 1 ???

aIFGcombinatorial net 2 ???

imageable wordsmedial temporal gyrus

imageable wordsmedial temporal gyrus

Hickok & Poeppel, symbolic?

Pülvermüller, sensorimotor or embodied

Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 811/04/15

Results

Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 9

Two types of semantic processing

Convergent semantic processing

i. … in linguistic tasks which elicit a limited number of responses.

ii. In such tasks, subjects must suppress alternate meanings or select a single best item from many choices.

iii. For instance, a subject may be presented with a noun such as ‘hammer’ and be asked to supply a verb, giving the response ‘(to) pound’.

Divergent semantic processing

i. … in linguistic tasks which elicit a wide number of responses.

ii. In such tasks, subjects must produce alternate meanings or list as many items as possible.

iii. For instance, the experiment just mentioned can be continued by asking the subject to supply yet another verb, resulting in a response such as ‘(to) throw’.

11/04/15


Summary of lateralization of word semanticsLH RH

a. Slowly selects multiple meanings (divergent processing) that are weakly associated.

b. Primes words that share few semantic features > loosely associated words.

c. Primes the less frequent meaning of an ambiguous word.

d. Primes category, but not others.

e. Priming stays same with more words.

f. Priming is same for unstructured sentences.

g. Priming is same for incongruent sentences.

11/04/15

a. Quickly selects most familiar or dominant meaning (convergent processing) while suppressing other less closely related meanings.

b. Primes words that share many semantic features > closely associated words.

c. Primes the most frequent meaning of an ambiguous word.

d. Primes function, collectives, goal-oriented classes.

e. Priming is faster with more words.

f. Priming is slower for unstructured sentences.

g. Priming is slower for incongruent sentences.

Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 1111/04/15

Associations for “pig” in LH/RH terms

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A conversion to resolutionLeft hemisphere, fine coding:

9 neurons index 9 regions of space

Right hemisphere, coarse coding:

4 neurons index 12+ regions of space


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Summary of lateralization of phonologyLH

fine grained, small window of temporal integration

• high temporal frequency:• rapid cues, like stops

• high spectral frequency: • formants

• categorical distinctions: • lexical, phrasal, clausal

stress;• lexical tone in Thai/Chinese

RHcoarse grained,

large window of temporal integration

• low temporal frequency: • slow cues, like vowels

• low spectral frequency: • fundamental

• graded/coordinate distinctions:• emotional intonation,• sentence type?



Summary of lateralization of word semanticsLH

fine grained, small window of temporal integration

RHcoarse grained,

large window of temporal integration

a. Slowly selects multiple meanings (divergent processing) that are weakly associated.

b. Primes words that share few semantic features > loosely associated words.

c. Primes the less frequent meaning of an ambiguous word.

d. Primes category, but not others.

e. Priming stays same with more words.

f. Priming is same for unstructured sentences.

g. Priming is same for incongruent sentences.

11/04/15

a. Quickly selects most familiar or dominant meaning (convergent processing) while suppressing other less closely related meanings.

b. Primes words that share many semantic features > closely associated words.

c. Primes the most frequent meaning of an ambiguous word.

d. Primes function, collectives, goal-oriented classes.

e. Priming is faster with more words.

f. Priming is slower for unstructured sentences.

g. Priming is slower for incongruent sentences.

MORPHOLOGY

11/04/15 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 15

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What is a word?• Phonologically

• a spike in the level of uncertainty as to what the next sound will be• d• o• g• ?

• Semantically• that is the topic of this chapter


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Morphological decomposition• Recall that words can be analyzed in terms of inflection &

derivation• inflection: cats > cat+s, sleeping > sleep+ing• derivation: government > govern+ment

• argument• detriment• department


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Form-frequency relations in English past tenseTable 1.9

Basic form Past tense Occurrence in speech Morphological type

go went high token frequency suppletive

leave left mid token frequency partially regular

depart departed low token frequency (fully) regular


These relations generalize to other morphemes and other languages, eg. tack~tacks, knife~knives, ox~oxen.

Can one learning model account for all three, or is a dual-route model necessary, or perhaps even a triple-route model?

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Dual-route model


phonological input

/di.paɹ.tɪd/ /wɪnt/

meaning

verb + past tense

morphological analysis

/di.paɹ.t + ɪd/

com

posi

tiona

l rou

te lexical route

Priming in psychology

• ‘the facilitatory effect that presentation of an item can have on the response to a subsequent item’

• usually measured in terms of reaction time


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An example of primingTable 9.2

Conditions prime ~ probe Priming effect

[+morph, +phon] friendly ~ friend yes

[+morph, –phon] elusive ~ elude yes

[+morph, –phon] serenity ~ serene yes

[–morph, +phon] tinsel ~ tin no


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What causes the priming effect?Table 9.3


[–sem, +morph] casualty ~ casual no

[+sem, +morph] punishment ~ punish yes

[+sem, –morph, –phon] idea ~ notion yes

[–sem, –morph, +phon] bulletin ~ bullet no


Answer: The semantic relationship.

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What causes the priming effect?Table 9.4


1. [–sem, +morph] casualty ~ casual no

2. [+sem, +morph] punishment ~ punish yes

3. [–sem, +morph] successful ~ successor no

4. [+sem, +morph] confession ~ confessor no

5. [–sem, +morph] restrain ~ strain no

6. [+sem, +morph] insincere ~ sincere yes

7. [–sem, +morph] depress ~ express no

8. [+sem, +morph] unfasten ~ refasten yes


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A little too early• The previous experiment suggests that prefixes and

suffixes are processed differently.• Next time, we look at more recent neuroimaging research.


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Final project• Improve a Wikipedia article about any of the topics

mentioned in class or any other topic broadly related to neurolinguistics.

• Write a short essay explaining what you did and why you did it.

• Print the article before you improve it, highlighting any subtractions.

• Print the article after you improve it, highlighting your additions.


NEXT TIMEMorphology/syntax


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MORPHOLOGY NOV 4, 2015 – DAY 29 Brain & Language LING 4110-4890-5110-7960 NSCI 4110-4891-6110 Fall 2015