PA N G A S I N A N S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y G R A D U AT E S C H O O L U R D A N E TA C I T Y

R EPORT

IN SOCIO - PSYCHOLINGUISTICS A presentation in Socio-Psycholinguistics

Professor: Dr. Leticia B. Ursua Discussant: Mariciele Z. Dagdag

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DO WE UNDERSTAND SPEECH ?

Sentence comprehension is like riding a bicycle- a feat far easier performed than described (Cutler 1976) Is there a link between speech comprehension and production?

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The four possibilities:

1. 2. 3.

Comprehension and production are totally different. Comprehension is production in reverse. Comprehension is the same as production; that is, comprehenders reconstruct the message for themselves in the same way as they would construct it if they were speakers. Comprehension and production are partially the same and partially different.

4.

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I. Hearing what we expect to hear

Passive Secretary Approach

Fingerprints Approach

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Reasons why the passive secretary and fingerprints approach was disproved:

First of all, it is clear that hearers cannot take down or match sounds one by one.

4 sounds/English word w/ a speed of 5 words/sec = the ear and brain can cope around 20 sounds/sec
Humans cannot process this number of separate signals in the that time Liberman et. al. 1967

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Reasons why the passive secretary and fingerprints approach was disproved:

A second reason is that: (a)there is no fixed acoustic representation of a sound parallel to the fixed typewriter symbol. Ex. T in the typewriter symbol T

(b) each sound varies considerably depending on what comes before or after it.
Ex. T in TOP T in STOP T in BOTTLE (c) sound varies from speaker to speaker

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Reasons why the passive secretary and fingerprints approach was disproved:

A third related problem is that sounds are acoustically on a continuum.

There is no sure way in which a human can fingerprint a sound or match it to a single mental symbol, because the acoustic patterns of sounds are not fixed and distinct. And even if they were, people would not have time to identify each one positively.

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II. Identifying words

Listeners are constrained by the sounds of language, on the one hand, and by the desire to make sense of what they hear on the other. (Bond 1999). As soon as a hearer comes across the beginning of a word, he or she starts making preliminary guesses as to what it might be. RACING for RAISING in the sentence: Hes in the turkey-raising business.

GRAMMAR in the phrase Grammar Workshop,

CHAMELEON heard as COMEDIAN

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A. COHORT MODEL Words beginning with the same sounds are envisaged as lining up like soldiers in a cohort, a division of the Roman army. The hearer then eliminates those that do not fit in with the sound or meaning of the rest of the sentence. Ex. HAVE YOU SEEN MY P? PACK, PAD, PADLOCK, PAN, PANDA, PANSY BLEASANT to PLEASANT The model was amended to allow for more than just the initial sound, even though it was widely recognized that initial sounds, if heard properly, are very. important for word identification.

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B. SPREADING ACTIVATION MODEL OR INTERACTIVE ACTIVATION MODEL Words and sounds are working somewhat like electricity circuitry, in which the current flows backwards and forwards, rushing between the initial sounds heard and the words aroused. The sounds will activate multiple meanings, then the other meanings triggered will arouse further sounds. BLEASANT -> PLEASANT -> PHEASANT, PLEASURE etc. CONNECTIONISM Words which fitted in with other aspects of the sentence, the meaning and the syntax, would get more and more activated and those which seemed unlikely would fade away.

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C. SHORTLIST MODEL

A lexical lookup process identifies all the words that correspond to sequences of phonemes in the input.
Ex. CATALOG -> CAT, CATTLE, A , LOG, CATALOG
SOUND SEGMENTS

LEXICON

COMPETING WORDS
Catalogue

WORD REORGANIZED

[Kaetalog]

Cat

Log

Catalog

Cattle

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Phoneme monitoring

THE SEAMEN STARTED TO DRILL BEFORE THEY WERE ORDERED TO DO SO.

THE SEAMEN STARTED TO MARCH BEFORE THEY WERE ORDERED TO DO SO.

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Lexical decision task

THE MAN FOUND SEVERAL SPIDERS, ROACHES AND OTHER BUGS IN THE CORNER OF THE ROOM

Faster response on:

Slower response on:

ANT and SPY

SEW

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Veiled controlled process

THEY BOUGHT A ROSE. THEY BOUGHT A SHIRT. THEY ALL ROSE. THEY ALL STOOD.

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II. Versatile verbs

Verbs associated with multiple constructions Theyve temper some of them particularly verbs, theyre the proudest adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs. (Humpty Dumpty to Alice in
Lewis Carrolls Through the Looking Glass) Example: KICK EXPECT + + + + NP NP TO THAT HE KICKED THE BALL HE EXPECTED A LETTER HE EXPECTED TO ARRIVE AT SIX OCLOCK HE EXPECTED THAT HE WOULD BE LATE.

verbal complexity hypothesis

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Tests on Versatile verbs THE LETTER WHICH THE SECRETARY MAILED WA S LATE. THE LETTER WHICH THE SECRETARY EXPECTED WAS LATE. I THINK THAT (e.g. I THINK THAT MAVIS IS A FOOL.)

I THINK AS (e.g. I THINK AS I WALK TO WORK).

THE PERSON WHO COOKS DUCKS OUT OF WASHING THE DISHES. THE PERSON [WHO COOKS] DUCKS OUT OF WASHING THE DISHES. SHELDON SENT DEBBIE THE LETTER.

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top-down approach bottom-up approach

Hearers impose their expectations on what they are hearing.

Hearers listen to the words said to them then try to assemble them in some type of order

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The 4 Assumptions Assumption 1 Every sentence consist of one or more sentoids (sentence-like chunks) and each sentoid normally includes a noun-phrase followed by a verb, optionally followed by another noun-phrase. DO YOU LIKE CURRY? TADPOLES TURN INTO FROGS. DONT TOUCH THAT WIRE.

IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT THE FACT THAT PETER SINGS IN HIS BATH UPSETS THE LANDLADY.

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IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT THE FACT UPSETS THE LANDLADY THAT PETER SINGS IN HIS BATH THE LARGE GORILLA GROWLED. COWS CHEW THE CUD. Divide each sentence up into sentoids by looking for noun phrase verb ( - noun phrase) sequences. CANONICAL SENTOID STRATEGY

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The 4 Assumptions Assumption 2 In noun phrase verb noun phrase sequence, the first noun is usually the actor and the second the object.

ACTOR ----------- ACTION ----------- OBJECT GIRAFFES EAT LEAVES. DIOGENES BOUGHT A BARREL. interpret an NP V NP sequence as actor action object unless you have a strong indications to the contrary.

NP
actor PENGUINS

V
action EAT

NP
object FISH

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The 4 Assumptions Assumption 3 When a complex sentence is composed of a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses, the main clause usually comes first. NERO FIDDLED [WHILE ROME BURNED]. than: [WHILE ROME BURNED] NERO FIDDLED.

PETRONILLA EXPECTED [THAT PERICLES WOULD SCRUB THE FLOOR]. than [THAT PERICLES WOULD SCRUB THE FLOOR] PETRONELLA EXPECTED.

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The 4 Assumptions Assumption 4 Sentences usually make sense. HAVE YOU DONE THE WASHING UP? THE TRAIN GOES AT EIGHT OCLOCK.

rather than:
HAPPINESS SHOOTS LLAMAS. THE HONEY SPREAD MOTHER WITH A KNIFE. Use your knowledge of the world to pick the most likely interpretation of the sentence you are hearing.

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Perceptual Strategies 1. Divide each sentence up into sentoids by looking for NP V (- NP) sequences (canonical sentoid strategy). 2. Interpret an NP V NP sequence as actor action object. 3. Interpret the first clause as the main clause. 4. Use your knowledge of the world to pick the most likely interpretation

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V. Word-by word
Automatic parser a.k.a. left-to-right model or incremental parser

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VI. Further difficulties psychological limits

A. B. C. D. E. F. Length Structure Memory load Interruptions Compression of information Repetition of terms and structure

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Conclusion:
1. We can explore the lexicon, looking in particular at how words are identified, at the treatment of ambiguous words and at the role of the verbs. 2. We can build up a list of basic assumptions that hearers make about their language and the strategies which they utilize when they understand sentences. 3. We can explore both the step-by-step stages and the multiple actions which are taking place as a human tries to interpret what he hears. 4. We can assess the general psychological difficulties which affect speech processing. 5. In the future, we can integrate all these various strands into a coherent model of comprehension.

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The human mind is an amazingly powerful machine, capable of multiple parallel processing. The major question for the future is how it manages to amalgamate everything together into a manageable whole, instead of getting lost in the umpteen possibilities which are inherent in the data.

Thank you and have a great day ^ __ ^

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