A partir do enfoque da neurociência, a cognição pode ser definida como um processo de aquisição de conhecimento que tem como material a informação do meio em que vivemos e o que já está registrado na nossa memória. Esse processo, que visa à melhor adaptação ao meio, envolve percepção, atenção, memória e ação e nem sempre acontece de forma consciente. Mais do que simplesmente a aquisição de conhecimento, é um processo de conversão de tudo o que é captado pelo aprendiz de acordo com sua identidade e suas experiências. Com base nesse conceito, o presente trabalho propõe um modelo teórico para o processamento cognitivo relacionado à produção em língua estrangeira, fundamentado em teorias recentes da neurociência sobre memória, aprendizagem e processamento de representações de seqüências freqüentes na língua (chunks). Parte-se da hipótese de que os dois níveis ou processos de aprendizagem descritos de várias formas em teorias da linguagem (Krashen 1977, 1982, 1985; McLaughlin 1978; Bialystok 1978; Sinclair 1988; Klein 1992 entre outros) relacionam-se a diferentes sistemas da memória humana, que se diferenciam não pela duração do armazenamento da informação (memórias de curta e longa duração), mas pelo tipo ou formato da informação (Squire e Zola-Morgan 1988, 1991). Desses sistemas de memória, o denominado sistema de memória declarativa estaria relacionado ao conhecimento consciente (explicitável) sobre a língua e suas regras. O sistema de memória não-declarativa, por sua vez, seria responsável pelo processamento de informação de forma involuntária e pela habilidade de uso da língua na comunicação. Essa hipótese traz novas interpretações para questões sobre produção em língua estrangeira, sobre automatização do conhecimento, criatividade, papel do output e papel da instrução. Dados da produção de falantes não-nativos de alemão ilustram aspectos do modelo apresentado. / From the perspective of neuroscience, cognition can be defined as a process of knowledge acquisition that operates on environmental information as well as on material registered in our memory. This process aims a better adaptation to the environment, involves perception, attention, memory and action and is not always a conscious one. It is therefore more than a simple acquisition of knowledge, but rather also a process of converting that which is apprehended by the learner in accordance with his identity and experiences. This work proposes a theoretical model for cognitive processes related to foreign language production, based on recent neuroscientific theories about memory, learning and processing of representations of frequent linguistic sequences (chunks). The basic hypothesis is that the two learning levels or processes described diversely in language theories (Krashen 1977, 1982, 1985; McLaughlin 1978; Bialystok 1978; Sinclair 1988; Klein 1992 among others) are related to different systems of human memory which can be differentiated not by the time of information storage (long-term and short-term memories), but by the kind or format of the information (Squire and Zola-Morgan 1988, 1991). The so called declarative memory would be related to conscious (explicable) knowledge about language and its rules. Non-declarative memory, in turn, would be responsible for involuntary processing of information and for the ability of using language in communication. This hypothesis brings new interpretations for questions on foreign language production, on knowledge automatization, creativity, the role of output and instruction. Production data from non-native German speakers illustrate aspects of the model.

A partir do enfoque da neurociência, a cognição pode ser definida como um processo de aquisição de conhecimento que tem como material a informação do meio em que vivemos e o que já está registrado na nossa memória. Esse processo, que visa à melhor adaptação ao meio, envolve percepção, atenção, memória e ação e nem sempre acontece de forma consciente. Mais do que simplesmente a aquisição de conhecimento, é um processo de conversão de tudo o que é captado pelo aprendiz de acordo com sua identidade e suas experiências. Com base nesse conceito, o presente trabalho propõe um modelo teórico para o processamento cognitivo relacionado à produção em língua estrangeira, fundamentado em teorias recentes da neurociência sobre memória, aprendizagem e processamento de representações de seqüências freqüentes na língua (chunks). Parte-se da hipótese de que os dois níveis ou processos de aprendizagem descritos de várias formas em teorias da linguagem (Krashen 1977, 1982, 1985; McLaughlin 1978; Bialystok 1978; Sinclair 1988; Klein 1992 entre outros) relacionam-se a diferentes sistemas da memória humana, que se diferenciam não pela duração do armazenamento da informação (memórias de curta e longa duração), mas pelo tipo ou formato da informação (Squire e Zola-Morgan 1988, 1991). Desses sistemas de memória, o denominado sistema de memória declarativa estaria relacionado ao conhecimento consciente (explicitável) sobre a língua e suas regras. O sistema de memória não-declarativa, por sua vez, seria responsável pelo processamento de informação de forma involuntária e pela habilidade de uso da língua na comunicação. Essa hipótese traz novas interpretações para questões sobre produção em língua estrangeira, sobre automatização do conhecimento, criatividade, papel do output e papel da instrução. Dados da produção de falantes não-nativos de alemão ilustram aspectos do modelo apresentado. / From the perspective of neuroscience, cognition can be defined as a process of knowledge acquisition that operates on environmental information as well as on material registered in our memory. This process aims a better adaptation to the environment, involves perception, attention, memory and action and is not always a conscious one. It is therefore more than a simple acquisition of knowledge, but rather also a process of converting that which is apprehended by the learner in accordance with his identity and experiences. This work proposes a theoretical model for cognitive processes related to foreign language production, based on recent neuroscientific theories about memory, learning and processing of representations of frequent linguistic sequences (chunks). The basic hypothesis is that the two learning levels or processes described diversely in language theories (Krashen 1977, 1982, 1985; McLaughlin 1978; Bialystok 1978; Sinclair 1988; Klein 1992 among others) are related to different systems of human memory which can be differentiated not by the time of information storage (long-term and short-term memories), but by the kind or format of the information (Squire and Zola-Morgan 1988, 1991). The so called declarative memory would be related to conscious (explicable) knowledge about language and its rules. Non-declarative memory, in turn, would be responsible for involuntary processing of information and for the ability of using language in communication. This hypothesis brings new interpretations for questions on foreign language production, on knowledge automatization, creativity, the role of output and instruction. Production data from non-native German speakers illustrate aspects of the model.

Un des enjeux majeurs de la Psychologie Cognitive est de décrire les grandes fonctions mentales, notamment chez l’humain. Du point de vue neuroscientifique, il s’agit de modéliser l’activité cérébrale pour en extraire les éléments et mécanismes spatio-temporels susceptibles d’être mis en correspondance avec les opérations cognitives. Le travail de cette thèse a consisté à définir et mettre en œuvre des stratégies originales permettant de confronter les modèles cognitifs existants à des données issues d’enregistrements neurophysiologiques chez l’humain. Dans une première étude nous avons démontré que la distinction entre les organisations classiques de la dénomination de dessin sériel-parallèle, doit être adressée au niveau des essais uniques et non sur la moyenne des signaux. Nous avons conçu et mené l’analyse des signaux SEEG de 15 patients pour montrer que l’organisation temporelle de la dénomination de dessin n’est pas, au sens strict, parallèle. Dans une deuxième étude nous avons combiné trois techniques d’enregistrements : SEEG, EEG et MEG pour clarifier l’organisation spatiale des sources d’activité neuronales. Nous avons établi la faisabilité de l’enregistrement sur un patient qui exécute une tâche de perception visuelle. Au delà des corrélations entre les signaux moyens des trois techniques, cette analyse a révélé des corrélations au niveau des essais uniques. À travers deux approches expérimentales, cette thèse propose de nombreux développements méthodologiques et conceptuels originaux et pertinents. Ces contributions ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives à partir desquelles les signaux neurophysiologiques pourront informer les théories des Neurosciences Cognitives. / A major issue in Cognitive Psychology is to describe human cognitive functions. From the Neuroscientific perceptive, measurements of brain activity are collected and processed in order to grasp, at their best resolution, the relevant spatio-temporal features of the signal that can be linked with cognitive operations. The work of this thesis consisted in designing and implementing strategies in order to overcome spatial and temporal limitations of signal processing procedures used to address cognitive issues. In a first study we demonstrated that the distinction between picture naming classical temporal organizations serial-parallel, should be addressed at the level of single trials and not on the averaged signals. We designed and conducted the analysis of SEEG signals from 5 patients to show that the temporal organization of picture naming involves a parallel processing architecture to a limited degree only. In a second study, we combined SEEG, EEG and MEG into a simultaneous trimodal recording session. A patient was presented with a visual stimulation paradigm while the three types of signals were simultaneously recorded. Averaged activities at the sensor level were shown to be consistent across the three techniques. More importantly a fine-grained coupling between the amplitudes of the three recording techniques is detected at the level of single evoked responses. This thesis proposes various relevant methodological and conceptual developments. It opens up several perspectives in which neurophysiological signals shall better inform Cognitive Neuroscientific theories.

The notion that prediction plays a role in language processing is getting less controversial, however research and discussion is ongoing as to the nature and extent of its involvement. Previous studies have mainly focused on prediction during comprehension in restricted paradigms. The current fMRI study makes use of the information theoretic measure of surprisal to investigate the neural basis of predictability during conversation. A computational model determined surprisal for each word of 288 minutes (4.8 hours) of existing conversational data summed up over twenty-four healthy participants and a confederate. Areas sensitive to surprisal for comprehension were the bilateral superior temporal and middle temporal gyri. In production, areas sensitive to surprisal were the bilateral supplementary motor area and sensorimotor areas, importantly extending to the inferior frontal cortex in the left hemisphere. We conclude that predictability during language processing plays a role at the level of word form also during conversation. A novel finding is an asymmetry for the surprisal effects on production and comprehension, respectively. This thesis also shows the viability of combining computational and neuroscientific methods to study linguistic data from naturalistic language use. / Uppfattningen om att förutsägelser är i bruk vid språkprocessning blir allt minde kontroversiell, men forskning och diskussion pågår fortfarande om dess natur och omfattning. Tidigare studier har främst fokuserat på förutsägelse vid förståelse i begränsade paradigm. Den aktuella fMRI-studien använder det informationsteroretiska måttet surprisal för att undersöka de neurala korrelaten för förutsägbarhet under konversation. En beräkningsmodell tog fram surprisalvärden för varje enskilt ord från 288 minuter (4,8 timmar) av befintliga konversationsdata summerat över tjugofyra friska deltagare och en forskningsledare. Områden som var känsliga för surprisal vid förståelse var bilaterala superiora temporala och middle temporala gyrus. Vid produktion var områden känsliga för surprisal de bilaterala supplementära motorområdena och sensorimotor områdena, av vikt också med utbredning till inferiora frontala cortex i vänstra hemisfären. Vi drar slutsatsen att förutsägbarhet under språkprocessning är i bruk på ord-nivå, också under konversation. En ny upptäckt är en asymmetri för surprisaleffekter på produktion respektive förståelse. Denna uppsats visar också på användbarheten av att kombinera beräknings- och neurovetenskapliga metoder för att studera lingvistisk data från naturligt språkbruk.

Diese Dissertation untersucht einige ungeklärten Aspekte der Sprachproduktion. Das erste Ziel war es zu klären, wie Komposita (z.B. Goldfisch) auf der lexikalisch-syntaktischen Ebene unseres Sprachproduktionssystems repräsentiert sind. Gibt es dort einen einzelnen lexikalischen Eintrag für das gesamte Kompositum (GOLDFISCH) oder mehrere Einträge für jedes seiner Konstituenten (GOLD und FISCH), welche beim Sprechen zusammengesetzt werden? Zur Beantwortung dieser Frage wurde die sogenannte kumulative semantische Interferenz (KSI) verwendet. Dieser semantische Kontexteffekt beschreibt die Beobachtung, dass die Benennlatenzen von Sprechern systematisch länger werden, wenn diese eine Reihe von semantisch verwandten Bildern benennen. Obwohl KSI bereits viel als Instrument in der Sprachproduktionsforschung genutzt wird, sind einige Fragen rund um den Effekt selbst noch offen. Das zweite Ziel dieser Dissertation war es daher einige dieser Fragen mit Hilfe von behavioralen und elektrophysiologischen Maßen zu beantworten, um so unser Verständnis von KSI zu erweitern. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass KSI ihren Ursprung auf der konzeptuellen Ebene des Sprachproduktionssystems hat und dass sie nicht von der morphologischen Komplexität der verwendeten Begriffe moduliert wird, aber davon, wie häufig diese benannt werden. Diese Erkenntnisse ermöglichen es in der Zukunft zielgenauere Vorhersagen zu machen, wenn KSI als Forschungsinstrument verwendet wird. Die Ergebnisse zeigen zudem, dass die Konstituenten von Komposita während deren Produktion aktiviert werden. Dies belegt, dass Komposita in einer komplexen Struktur repräsentiert sind, die aus einem Eintrag für das ganze Kompositum und zusätzlichen Einträgen für die Konstituenten besteht. Somit zeigen diese Ergebnisse, dass die Morphologie bereits die Repräsentationen auf der lexikalisch-syntaktischen Ebene beeinflusst und erweitern somit unser Wissen über den Aufbau unseres Sprachproduktionssystems. / This dissertation addresses unresolved issues concerning speech production processes and the cognitive architecture of our speech production system. The first aim was to answer the question how compounds (e.g., goldfish) are represented on the lexical-syntactic level of our speech production system. Is there a single entry for the whole compound (GOLDFISH) or multiple ones for each of its constituents (GOLD and FISH), which are assembled for each use? To investigate this question, we used the cumulative semantic interference (CSI) effect. This semantic context effect describes the observation that speakers’ naming latencies systematically increase when naming a sequence of semantically related pictures. Although CSI has been extensively used as a tool in language production research, several aspects of it are not fully understood. Thus, the second aim of this dissertation was to close some of these knowledge gaps and gain a more comprehensive understanding of CSI. In three studies, we first investigated the CSI effect, before using it as a tool to study the lexical representation of compounds. Behavioural and electrophysiological data from the first two studies point to a purely conceptual origin of CSI. Furthermore, they revealed that CSI is not influenced by the items’ morphological complexity but affected by item repetition. These findings advance our understanding of CSI and thus allow us to make more informed predictions when using CSI as a research tool. The last study showed that the compounds’ constituents are activated during compound production, which provides evidence for a complex lexical-syntactic representation of compounds, consisting of one entry for the holistic compound and additional entries for each of its constituents. This dissertation thus reveals that the morphological complexity of compounds affects the lexical-syntactic level during speech production and thus advances our understanding of the architecture of our speech production system.

[pt] Esta tese investiga como as crianças que vivem no Rio de Janeiro (Rio) lidam com input variável no que concerne às marcas morfofonológicas de concordância de número em Português Brasileiro (PB). Em PB, o plural pode ser expresso apenas no determinante (D) (não-redundante, variedade não-padrão) ou em todos os elementos que concordam com D (redundante, variedade padrão). O grau de variação é influenciado pelo nível de escolaridade e pelo nível socioeconômico (NSE) do falante: quanto mais escolarizado o falante é, mais marcas de plural são produzidas (NARO, 1981; NARO; SCHERRE, 2015; SCHERRE; NARO, 1998). O Rio é um ambiente de contato entre variedades, já que pessoas de diferentes NSE interagem cotidianamente. Sugere-se que input variável resulta em aquisição e representação de traços morfofonológicos pertinentes à expressão da redundância da concordância de número plural subespecificados (cf. ROORYCK, 1994) no léxico. Assume-se que a gradual especificação dessas informações depende de fatores sociais, o que pode acarretar uma espécie de bilinguismo. Um experimento de produção induzida por repetição foi conduzido com crianças em idade pré- escolar de escolas pública e particular, no qual possíveis combinações de concordância foram manipuladas a fim de verificar se há diferença entre a performance dos dois grupos, uma vez que tipo de escola é tomado como variável social (ALVES; SOARES; XAVIER, 2014). Os resultados demonstram que ambos os grupos apresentam variação, mas diferem na produção das variedades não- padrão: Pub apresenta respostas não-padrão com mais frequência que Priv. No momento da codificação morfofonológica, na produção da linguagem, o acesso aos morfemas armazenados em uma espécie de Pool of Variants (ADGER, 2007), sofreria influência de fatores sociais e de frequência (LEVELT, 1999). A marca de plural obrigatória no determinante é explicada pelo viés sintático e pelo viés do processamento via um modelo de computação online para a produção da linguagem (CORRÊA; AUGUSTO, 2007, 2011), assumindo transferência para as interfaces em fases (CHESI, 2007) e que o DP em PB possui duas fases (PICALLO, 2017). O efeito de escolaridade na variação da concordância de número é verificado com dados de crianças do 6º ano de escolas pública e particular também no subúrbio do Rio. Os resultados mostram um efeito de tipo de escola/SES, em que Priv produz respostas padrão mais frequentemente que Pub. Além disso, foi verificado um efeito de desempenho escolar com os alunos de 6º ano de uma mesma escola pública: Pub A (bom desempenho acadêmico) é menos sujeito à variação do que Pub B (desempenho escolar regular). De maneira geral, os resultados do 6º ano indicam interação entre NSE e desempenho escolar em um continuum gradiente de produção de concordância de número: Priv > Pub A > Pub B. Adicionalmente, um teste de habilidades linguísticas (MABILIN II (CORRÊA, 2000)) buscou verificar habilidades dos alunos de 6º ano em extrair informação de número gramaticalmente relevante na compreensão e na produção do PB pelo grupo Pub B, visto que este grupo do 6º ano apresentou performance similar ao grupo de pré-escolares da escola pública, apesar da diferença de idade entre os dois grupos. Os resultados dos experimentos são discutidos em termos de um contexto bi/multilíngue: a) falantes de PB adquirem as duas variedades simultaneamente, como na aquisição bilíngue simultânea (MEISEL, 1994); b) um bom desempenho escolar pode melhorar a consciência metalinguística do falante, permitindo code-switching entre as variedades, dependendo do nível de proficiência em cada uma delas (CRAIG; WASHINGTON, 2004); c) um bom desempenho escolar e NSE alto podem resultar em uma espécie de bilinguismo passivo ou bidialetalismo passivo em relação às formas não-redundantes (see CORNIPS, 2014). Por fim, os resultados são discutidos em termos de um continuum multilíngue, caracterizado, em um extremo, como uma gramática subespecificada e, em outro, duas gramáticas separadas, acessadas de maneira independente. Esta tese, portanto, está inserida em um campo interdisciplinar com vistas a conciliar sociolinguística, psicolinguística e teorias linguísticas formais. / [en] This thesis investigates how children growing up in Rio de Janeiro city (Rio) deal with variable input regarding the morphophonological expression of number agreement in Brazilian Portuguese (BP). Plural in BP may be expressed only in the determiner (non-redundant, non-standard variety) or in all agreeing elements (redundant, standard variety). The level of variation is influenced by social factors such as level of education and socioeconomic status (SES): the more educated the speaker is, the more redundancy is morphologically expressed (NARO, 1981; NARO; SCHERRE, 2015; SCHERRE; NARO, 1998). In Rio, these varieties co- exist, given that people from different SES interact on a daily basis. It is proposed that exposure to variable input yields underspecification (ADGER, 2006; ADGER; SMITH, 2010). In the case of number agreement in BP, it is suggested that variation results in underspecification (see ROORYCK, 1994) of morphophonological features in the lexicon pertaining to plural agreement redundancy. We hypothesize that there is a level of bilingualism regulated by SES in number agreement in BP: gradual specification of morphophonological information is dependent on social factors, resulting in a sort of bilingualism. An elicited production task was carried out with preschoolers, from both private (Priv) and public (Pub) schools in Rio’s suburban area, in order to verify whether preschoolers exhibit preference for any of the morphophonological expressions of number agreement; type of school is taken as a social variable (ALVES; SOARES; XAVIER, 2014). Results show that preschoolers exhibit a considerable level of variation. However, they differ in terms of production of non-standard varieties, being Pub more likely to produce non- standard forms than Priv. It is argued that during morphophonological encoding in language production, the access to morphemes stored in a Pool of Variants (ADGER, 2007) becomes subject to frequency (LEVELT, 1999) and influence of social factors. Obligatory plural marking in the determiner is explained both from the perspective of language knowledge and its representation and from an online computational model for language production (CORRÊA; AUGUSTO, 2007, 2011), assuming a two-phase DP (PICALLO, 2017) which is phase-based transferred (CHESI, 2007) to morphophonological encoding. The effect of schooling/ literacy in number agreement variation is also verified with Priv and Pub 6th graders. Results show an effect of type of school/ SES in which Priv produces more standard responses than Pub. Additionally, an effect of overall academic performance was obtained among Pub 6th graders from the same school: Pub A (above-average academic performance) are less subject to variation than Pub B (below-average academic performance). Overall, 6th graders results show that academic performance and SES interact in a gradient continuum of number agreement redundancy production: Priv > Pub A > Pub B. Furthermore, a test of assessment of linguistic abilities regarding number agreement, MABILIN II (CORRÊA, 2000), verified whether Pub B 6th graders are able to process grammatical information pertaining to number, given that their performance was similar to Pub preschoolers, despite their age difference. Preschoolers and 6th graders results are discussed in terms of bi/multilingual-like contexts: a) BP speakers acquire both varieties simultaneously, as in Bilingual First Language Acquisition (MEISEL, 1994); b) Good academic performance may enhance metalinguistic awareness allowing for code-switching depending on the level of proficiency in one of the varieties (CRAIG; WASHINGTON, 2004); c) good academic performance and higher SES may result in a sort of passive bilingualism or passive bidialectalism regarding the non-standard forms (see CORNIPS, 2014). Finally, preschoolers and 6th graders results are discussed in terms of a multilingual continuum, characterized as underspecification as variation within one grammar in one extreme to access to different, independent specified grammars in another extreme. More broadly, this thesis is inserted in an interdisciplinary field, combining sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics and theoretical formal linguistics.

Die Auswahl eines passenden Wortes aus semantisch verbundenen Wettbewerbern ist eine wesentliche Funktion der Sprachproduktion. Neuere strittige Befunde scheinen traditionellen lexikalischen Selektionsmodellen zu widersprechen. Der swinging lexical network (SLN) Ansatz offeriert eine kompetitiven Bezugsrahmen, der spezifische Voraussetzungen formuliert, unter denen semantische Erleichterungs- als auch Interferenzeffekte in Bildbenennungsparadigmen beobachtet werden können. Diese spezifischen Voraussetzungen betreffen a) die Manipulation eines Trade-offs zwischen konzeptueller Erleichterung und lexikalischer Interferenz, b) das Ausmaß an lexikalischer Kohortenaktivierung und c) die flexible Anpassungsfähigkeit des Sprachproduktionssystems. Die Trade-off-Annahme wurde durch Einflüsse von Assoziationen auf die Benennungslatenz untersucht (Studie 1), wenn Stimuli im kontinuierlichen Benennungsparadigma in einer scheinbar zufälligen Reihenfolge benannt werden. Information über den Einfluss lexikalischer Kohortenaktivierung auf die Wortproduktion wurde durch Manipulation semantischer Distanz und durch Kombination des kontinuierlichen Benennungsparadigmas mit ereignis-korrelierten Potentialen (EKPs) gewonnen (Studie 2). Zur Überprüfung der Flexibilitätsannahme werden Benennungslatenzen von Homophonen mittels Bild-Wort-Interferenzparadigma untersucht, nachdem Versuchspersonen wiederholt linguistische Mehrdeutigkeit verarbeiten haben (Studie 3). Die Ergebnisse zeigen semantische Interferenzeffekte für assoziativ und für eng kategorial verbundene Stimuli im kontinuierlichen Benennungsparadigma (Studie 1 & 2) und Erleichterungseffekte für Homophone im PWI, nachdem das kognitive System sich auf Mehrdeutigkeit adaptiert hatte (Studie 3). Eng kategorial verbundene Stimuli modulierten EKP-Komponenten in der P1, zwischen 250 und 400 ms und im N400-Zeitfenster, welche mit Wortproduktions-prozessen in Verbindung gebracht werden. / The selection of an appropriate word from other meaning-related competitors is a main function of language production. Recent inconclusive findings have casted doubt about traditional lexical selection accounts. The swinging lexical network (SLN) account presents a competitive framework that formulates specific conditions under which semantic facilitation or interference effects can be observed in picture naming paradigms. These specific conditions concern a) the manipulation of the trade-off between conceptual facilitation and lexical interference, b) the extent of lexical cohort activation and c) the flexible nature of the language production system. The trade-off assumption was assessed by investigating the impact of associations on naming latencies in the continuous naming paradigm in which semantically related items are named within a seemingly random sequence (Study 1). Information for the understanding of lexical cohort activation on word production was obtained by manipulating semantic distance in the continuous naming paradigm combined with event-related potentials (ERP; Study 2). Aiming at testing the flexibility assumption, effects of unrelated meaning alternatives of homophones in a picture-word interference (PWI) paradigm were investigated, after participants repeatedly processed linguistic ambiguities (Study 3). Results show semantic interference for associates and for closely related category co-ordinates in the continuous naming paradigm (Study 1 & 2), and facilitation effects for homophone names in the PWI after the cognitive system adapted to the processing of linguistic ambiguities (Study 3). Closely related stimuli modulated ERPs in the P1, between 250 and 400 ms, and in the N400 time window, which are known to be associated with single word naming processes. These results support the SLN model and enhance the understanding of semantic and cognitive factors that shape the microstructure of language production.

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The thesis analyses the accuracy and fluency exhibited in the spoken advanced-learner English of Czech students of English philology. It draws its data from a learner corpus comprising fifty 15-minute interviews with these learners and from a parallel native-speaker corpus of forty-nine 15-minute interviews. As regards accuracy, the learner data is analysed using techniques of error analysis. Salient features of advanced learner English are identified and the subsequent quantitative analyses reveal that throughout the entire group of students (which is characterized by what revealed itself to be a wide proficiency span) two groups of error types are found to be much more frequent than any other, namely errors in the use of articles and tenses. For the fluency measurements a small selection of variables has been chosen to describe speed fluency (speech rate) and breakdown fluency (the frequency of unfilled and filled pauses), and the results are compared with those for the parallel native-speaker corpus. The analysed native speakers are found to produce speech at a generally much higher rate than the majority of the learners. There does not appear - at least in the light of the given sample - to be any direct correlation between fluency and the frequency of errors. Moreover, the learners are found...

Der Prozess der lexikalischen Selektion, d.h. die Auswahl der richtigen Wörter zur Übermittlung einer intendierten Botschaft, ist noch nicht hinreichend verstanden. Insbesondere wurde kaum erforscht, inwiefern Bedeutungsaspekte, welche in sensomotorischen Erfahrungen gründen, diesen Prozess der Sprachproduktion beeinflussen. Die Rolle dieser Bedeutungsaspekte wurde mit zwei Studien untersucht, in denen Probanden Sätze vervollständigten. In Studie 1 wurde der visuelle Eindruck der Satzfragmente manipuliert, so dass die Sätze auf- oder absteigend am Bildschirm erschienen. In Studie 2 mussten die Probanden Kopfbewegungen nach oben oder unten ausführen, während sie die Satzfragmente hörten. Wir untersuchten, ob räumliche Aspekte der produzierten Wörter durch die räumlichen Manipulationen sowie die räumlichen Eigenschaften der präsentierten Satzfragmente beeinflusst werden. Die vertikale visuelle Manipulation in Studie 1 wirkte sich nicht auf die räumlichen Attribute der produzierten Wörter aus. Die Kopfbewegungen in Studie 2 führten zu einem solchen Effekt – bei Kopfbewegungen nach oben waren die Referenten der produzierten Wörter weiter oben im Raum angesiedelt als nach Bewegungen nach unten (und anders herum). Darüber hinaus war dieser Effekt stärker, je ausgeprägter die interozeptive Sensibilität der Probanden war. Zudem beeinflussten die räumlichen Aspekte der Satzfragmente die räumlichen Eigenschaften der produzierten Wörter in beiden Studien. Somit zeigt diese Arbeit, dass in der Erfahrung basierende Bedeutungsanteile, welche entweder in Sprache eingebettet sind oder durch körperliche Aktivität reaktiviert werden, die Auswahl der Wörter beim Sprechen beeinflussen und dass interindividuelle Unterschiede diesen Effekt modulieren. Die Befunde werden in Bezug zu Theorien der Semantik gesetzt. Darüber hinaus wird das Methodenrepertoire erweitert, indem mit Studie 3 ein Ansatz für die Durchführung von Online-Sprachproduktionsexperimenten mit Bildbenennung vorgestellt wird. / The process of lexical selection, i.e. producing the right words to get an intended message across, is not well understood. Specifically, meaning aspects grounded in sensorimotor experiences and their role during lexical selection have not been investigated widely. Here, we investigated the role of experientially grounded meaning aspects with two studies in which participants had to produce a noun to complete sentences which described sceneries. In Study 1, the visual appearance of sentence fragments was manipulated and they seemed to move upwards or downwards on screen. In Study 2, participants moved their head up- or downwards while listening to sentence fragments. We investigated whether the spatial properties of the freely chosen nouns are influenced by the spatial manipulations as well as by the spatial properties of the sentences. The vertical visual manipulation used in Study 1 did not influence the spatial properties of the produced words. However, the body movements in Study 2 influenced participants’ lexical choices, i.e. after up-movements the referents of the produced words were higher up compared to after downward movements (and vice verse). Furthermore, there was an increased effect of movement on the spatial properties of the produced nouns with higher levels of participants’ interoceptive sensibility. Additionally, the spatial properties of the stimulus sentences influenced the spatial properties of the produced words in both studies. Thus, experientially grounded meaning aspects which are either embedded in text or reactivated via bodily manipulations may influence which words we chose when speaking, and interindividual differences may moderate these effects. The findings are related to current theories of semantics. Furthermore, this dissertation enhances the methodological repertoire of language production researchers by showing how language production studies with overt articulation in picture naming tasks can be run online (Study 3).