The dissertation deals with acquisition and development of conversation between a child and parents. The main objective of the study was to define the development of conversation between a child and parents: to analyse how a child acquires the structure of conversation (learns initiating and closing a conversation, continuing topics, turn-taking, repairing conversation breakdowns), learns certain speech acts (the main focus is on the acquisition of directives and questions), and how the communicative behaviour of parents influences the acquisition of the native language grammar. To achieve these goals the following research methods were applied: a longitudinal observation, a method of corpus linguistics, an analytical method, a descriptive method and a comparative method. A research material contains a corpus of conversations between a child (a Lithuanian girl) and her parents. The corpus has been transcribed and annotated for a multipurpose linguistic analysis using a longitudinal observation method (2000–2002) and tools of the program CHILDES. The size of the corpus is 128,517 running words, which comprises 27 hours of records of the child’s (1;8–2;8) conversations with her parents. A linguistic diary kept 1999–2002 was analysed as an additional material. The results of the analysis has reflected most typical features of conversation between a child and parents, as well as the development of the features as a child grows, such as: the acquisition of initiating and closing... [to full text] / Disertacijoje nagrinėjama vaiko ir tėvų pokalbio ypatybės ir raida. Analizuojama, kaip vaikas įsisavina pokalbio struktūrą (išmoksta savarankiškai pradėti, plėtoti ir baigti pokalbį, keisti pokalbio temą, spręsti komunikacinius nesklandumus, keistis kalbėtojo ir klausytojo vaidmenimis), kaip išmoksta atpažinti ir kurti tam tikrus kalbos aktus (daugiausia dėmesio skiriama nurodymų ir klausimų įsisavinimui) ir kaip komunikacinis tėvų elgesys veikia gimtosios kalbos gramatikos išmokimą. Tyrimas atliktas taikant ilgalaikio stebėjimo, tekstynų lingvistikos, analitinį, aprašomąjį ir lyginamąjį metodus. Empirinę tyrimo medžiagą sudaro ilgalaikio stebėjimo metodu (2000–2002 m.) sukauptas, CHILDES programa transkribuotas ir įvairiapusei kalbinei analizei paruoštas 128 517 žodžių (27 val.) apimties tiriamojo vaiko (1;8–2;8) ir tėvų pokalbių įrašų tekstynas. Papildomai analizuotas 1999–2002 m. rašytas 11 tūkst. žodžių apimties tiriamojo vaiko kalbos dienoraštis. Tyrimo rezultatai atskleidžia būdingiausias vaiko ir tėvų pokalbio ypatybes ir jų kaitą vaikui augant: pokalbio pradžios ir pabaigos taisyklių įsisavinimą, gebėjimų plėtoti pokalbio temą, keistis kalbėtojo ir klausytojo vaidmenimis formavimąsi, taip pat – tėvų komunikacinio elgesio poveikį vaiko gimtosios kalbos gramatinės sistemos įsisavinimui. Remiantis šiais rezultatais, galima numatyti tolesnių vaiko komunikacinės kompetencijos tyrimų gaires, panaudoti šiuos rezultatus kaip pagrindą ir / ar lyginamąją medžiagą tolesniems... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Disertacijoje nagrinėjama vaiko ir tėvų pokalbio ypatybės ir raida. Analizuojama, kaip vaikas įsisavina pokalbio struktūrą (išmoksta savarankiškai pradėti, plėtoti ir baigti pokalbį, keisti pokalbio temą, spręsti komunikacinius nesklandumus, keistis kalbėtojo ir klausytojo vaidmenimis), kaip išmoksta atpažinti ir kurti tam tikrus kalbos aktus (daugiausia dėmesio skiriama nurodymų ir klausimų įsisavinimui) ir kaip komunikacinis tėvų elgesys veikia gimtosios kalbos gramatikos išmokimą. Tyrimas atliktas taikant ilgalaikio stebėjimo, tekstynų lingvistikos, analitinį, aprašomąjį ir lyginamąjį metodus. Empirinę tyrimo medžiagą sudaro ilgalaikio stebėjimo metodu (2000–2002 m.) sukauptas, CHILDES programa transkribuotas ir įvairiapusei kalbinei analizei paruoštas 128 517 žodžių (27 val.) apimties tiriamojo vaiko (1;8–2;8) ir tėvų pokalbių įrašų tekstynas. Papildomai analizuotas 1999–2002 m. rašytas 11 tūkst. žodžių apimties tiriamojo vaiko kalbos dienoraštis. Tyrimo rezultatai atskleidžia būdingiausias vaiko ir tėvų pokalbio ypatybes ir jų kaitą vaikui augant: pokalbio pradžios ir pabaigos taisyklių įsisavinimą, gebėjimų plėtoti pokalbio temą, keistis kalbėtojo ir klausytojo vaidmenimis formavimąsi, taip pat – tėvų komunikacinio elgesio poveikį vaiko gimtosios kalbos gramatinės sistemos įsisavinimui. Remiantis šiais rezultatais, galima numatyti tolesnių vaiko komunikacinės kompetencijos tyrimų gaires, panaudoti šiuos rezultatus kaip pagrindą ir / ar lyginamąją medžiagą tolesniems... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The dissertation deals with acquisition and development of conversation between a child and parents. The main objective of the study was to define the development of conversation between a child and parents: to analyse how a child acquires the structure of conversation (learns initiating and closing a conversation, continuing topics, turn-taking, repairing conversation breakdowns), learns certain speech acts (the main focus is on the acquisition of directives and questions), and how the communicative behaviour of parents influences the acquisition of the native language grammar. To achieve these goals the following research methods were applied: a longitudinal observation, a method of corpus linguistics, an analytical method, a descriptive method and a comparative method. A research material contains a corpus of conversations between a child (a Lithuanian girl) and her parents. The corpus has been transcribed and annotated for a multipurpose linguistic analysis using a longitudinal observation method (2000–2002) and tools of the program CHILDES. The size of the corpus is 128,517 running words, which comprises 27 hours of records of the child’s (1;8–2;8) conversations with her parents. A linguistic diary kept 1999–2002 was analysed as an additional material. The results of the analysis has reflected most typical features of conversation between a child and parents, as well as the development of the features as a child grows, such as: the acquisition of initiating and closing... [to full text]

Pronoun resolution normally takes place without conscious effort or awareness, yet the processes behind it are far from straightforward. A large number of cues and constraints have previously been recognised as playing a role in the identification and integration of potential antecedents, yet there is considerable debate over how these operate within the resolution process. The aim of this thesis is to investigate how the parser handles multiple antecedents in order to understand more about how certain information sources play a role during pronoun resolution. I consider how both structural information and information provided by the prior discourse is used during online processing. This is investigated through several eye tracking during reading experiments that are complemented by a number of offline questionnaire experiments. I begin by considering how condition B of the Binding Theory (Chomsky 1981; 1986) has been captured in pronoun processing models; some researchers have claimed that processing is faithful to syntactic constraints from the beginning of the search (e.g. Nicol and Swinney 1989), while others have claimed that potential antecedents which are ruled out on structural grounds nonetheless affect processing, because the parser must also pay attention to a potential antecedent’s features (e.g. Badecker and Straub 2002). My experimental findings demonstrate that the parser is sensitive to the subtle changes in syntactic configuration which either allow or disallow pronoun reference to a local antecedent, and indicate that the parser is normally faithful to condition B at all stages of processing. Secondly, I test the Primitives of Binding hypothesis proposed by Koornneef (2008) based on work by Reuland (2001), which is a modular approach to pronoun resolution in which variable binding (a semantic relationship between pronoun and antecedent) takes place before coreference. I demonstrate that a variable-binding (VB) antecedent is not systematically considered earlier than a coreference (CR) antecedent online. I then go on to explore whether these findings could be attributed to the linear order of the antecedents, and uncover a robust recency preference both online and offline. I consider what role the factor of recency plays in pronoun resolution and how it can be reconciled with the first-mention advantage (Gernsbacher and Hargreaves 1988; Arnold 2001; Arnold et al., 2007). Finally, I investigate how aspects of the prior discourse affect pronoun resolution. Prior discourse status clearly had an effect on pronoun resolution, but an antecedent’s appearance in the previous context was not always facilitative; I propose that this is due to the number of topic switches that a reader must make, leading to a lack of discourse coherence which has a detrimental effect on pronoun resolution. The sensitivity of the parser to structural cues does not entail that cue types can be easily separated into distinct sequential stages, and I therefore propose that the parser is structurally sensitive but not modular. Aspects of pronoun resolution can be captured within a parallel constraints model of pronoun resolution, however, such a model should be sensitive to the activation of potential antecedents based on discourse factors, and structural cues should be strongly weighted. / Pronomenauflösung erfolgt normalerweise scheinbar mühelos und ohne bewusste Anstrengung. Jedoch ist die Verarbeitung von pronominalen Referenzen aus linguistischer Sicht ein hochkomplexer Prozess. Durch unterschiedliche wissenschaftliche Studien wurden bereits zahlreiche Faktoren ermittelt, die bei der Pronomenauflösung eine Rolle spielen, allerdings herrscht weitgehend noch keine Einigkeit darüber, wie genau diese Faktoren die Verarbeitung von Pronomen beeinflussen. Ziel dieser Dissertation ist es zu untersuchen, wie der Leser/Hörer mit Pronomen umgeht, denen mehrere Antezedenten zugeordnet werden können, um zu verstehen, welche Rolle bestimmte Informationsquellen in der Verarbeitung von Pronomen spielen. Besondere Beachtung findet dabei, wie strukturelle Eigenschaften sowie Informationen aus dem vorangegangenen Diskurs für die Suche nach einem passenden Antezedenten benutzt werden. Die angewandte Untersuchungsmethode der vorliegenden Dissertation ist Eye-tracking during reading, ergänzt mit verschiedenen offline-Fragebögen. Die Experimente erforschen die Rolle der folgenden Aspekte in der Verarbeitung von Pronomen: Prinzip B der Bindungstheorie (Chomsky 1981; 1986), Koreferenz und Variablenbindung laut der Primitives of Binding Hypothese (Reuland 2001, Koornneef 2008), Antezedentenreihenfolge im Satz, und Diskursstatus des Antezedents. Obwohl es zeigt sich, dass der Hörer/Leser sensibel für subtile Veränderungen in der syntaktischen Konfiguration ist, wie z.B. für die Reihenfolge der Antezedenten im Satz und für den Diskursstatus des Antezedenten, gibt es keinen Nachweis dafür, dass Variablenbindung zeitlich vor Koreferenz erfolgt. Einige Aspekte der Auflösung pronominaler Referenzen können in einem parallel constraints model erfasst werden, allerdings sollte so ein Modell strukturelle Informationen stark gewichten und sensitiv sein für die Aktivierung potenzieller Antezedenten aufgrund von Diskursfaktoren.

The main objective of this dissertation is to investigate the effects of acquiring a second language (L2) at later periods of language development and native-like homonym processing in the first language (L1) from the perspective of Event-Related brain Potentials (ERP) using a cross-modal lexical decision task. To date, there is a lack of neurophysiological investigations into the effect that acquiring an L2 can have on processing strategies in the L1, and whether or not there is a precise age at which L2 exposure no longer affects native-like language processing. As such, my goal is to pinpoint this sensitive period specifically for homonym processing. To achieve this, I will present and discuss the results of two studies. The first study employs behavioural response measures using a cross-modal lexical decision task where participants simultaneously heard a sentence and made a decision to a visually-presented pseudoword or real word. The second study employs ERP measures using a novel ERP paradigm which investigates not only the main objective of this dissertation, but the second objective as well. This second objective is for this dissertation to become the first to evaluate the outcome of combining the cross-modal lexical decision task with ERPs. The behavioural and neurophysiological results for the monolingual group support the Reordered Access Model (Duffy, Morris, & Rayner, 1988) while the results for the bilingual groups do not. The results of the current studies indicate that those bilinguals who acquired French as an L2 rather than as a second native L1 show increasing divergence from monolingual native speakers in L1 homonym processing, with later acquirers exhibiting an exponentially marked divergence. This was found even though the task was carried out in English, the L1 (or one of the L1s) of all participants. The diverging performances of the bilinguals from the monolinguals were apparent in behavioural responses as well as in the amplitude, scalp distribution, and latency of ERP components, These differences were unique to each group, which supports the hypothesis that the acquisition of an L2 influences processing in the L1 (Dussias & Sagarra, 2007). Specifically, the early and late bilingual groups exhibited a marked divergence from the monolingual group as they revealed syntactic priming effects (p<.001) as well as lexical frequency effects (p<.001). They also revealed the greatest P600-like effect as they processed target words which were inappropriately- related to the priming homonyms (such as skin in Richard had a shed in the back of the garden). This suggests a heightened sensitivity to surface cues due to the L2 influencing homonym processing in the L1 (Cook, 2003; Dussias & Sagarra, 2007). Comparatively, the monolingual group revealed equal N400-like effects for lexical ambiguities overall compared to the unrelated conditions, and a context-by-frequency-interaction slowing their processing of the target word that is appropriately-related to the subordinate reading of the priming homonym, suggesting that they are not as sensitive to these same surface cues. Importantly, these results confirm that using ERPs along with a cross-modal lexical decision task is a promising paradigm to further study language processing.

The research reported in this thesis examines the relative contributions of top-down and bottom-up information during lexical access. I evaluate the Cohort Model of lexical access (Marslen-Wilson and Welsh, 1978; Marslen-Wilson and Tyler, 1980; and Marslen-Wilson, 1987) which specifies that the first stage in lexical access is fully autonomous and that during this stage all processing proceeds in terms of analysis of the acoustic-phonetic input. Implicit in this model is the assumption that bottom-up processing is immune to any effects of contextual or top-down information. I examine the extent to which listeners ever rely exclusively on bottom-up information during lexical access and investigate this issue empirically, by measuring effects of context on both the production and the perception of words in various contexts. I test the hypothesis that a word uttered in a constraining context will be acoustically indistinguishable from its competitors by, first, measuring one acoustic parameter (VOT) across constraining and non-constraining contexts and, then, examining the intelligibility of tokens of that parameter taken from the varyingly constraining contexts. The data from these experiments suggest that the realization of VOT is not an aspect of bottom-up information which would create problems for a bottom-up processor in terms of providing ambiguous acoustic-phonetic information. I then investigate whether bottom-up processing during lexical access is immune to effects of context. Following Grosjean (1980) and Tyler (1984), I utilize the Gating Paradigm. Using incongruous contexts, I argue that direct assessment of the contributions made by different information sources during lexical access can be made. By presenting bottom-up information which is inappropriate to the contextual (topdown) information, I evaluate the extent to which one information source is given priority over the other. I vary both the contextual constraints available to the listener and the acoustic clarity of bottom-up information. The observed pattern of listeners' identifications of the words suggested that whilst bottomup information was given priority, top-down information was available and was utilized during lexical access. I present data which support the working structure of the Cohort Model of lexical access. I conclude, however, that the model places disproportionate emphasis on initial bottom-up processing. It appears that top-down information is not prohibited from contributing to processing during the initial stage of lexical access.

A language comprehension mechanism that immediately starts processing language as it is encountered is typically thought of as one that speeds and facilitates spoken language comprehension. However, there exist cases where the earliest parts of a word or phrase encode information that is somewhat at odds with the remainder of the word or phrase in full. Examples of these "potentially misleading" cases include compound words where the initial subpart of the compound belongs to a different syntactic category than the entire compound (e.g., "popcorn", "greyhound"), or noun phrases where the initial element of the phrase signals perceptual properties possessed by the referent of the noun phrase (e.g., some Chinese Cantonese classifier-noun phrases). Using a visual-world methodology, this dissertation explores the kinds of unintended or "impulsive" activation that are triggered when listeners encounter such cases, as well as how syntactic and contextual cues can constraining this impulsive activation. Experiment 1 examines whether hearing compound subparts (e.g., "pop-" in "popcorn") activates conceptual associates across syntactic categories, and Experiment 2 examines whether this activation is moderated by listeners' expectations about the syntactic structure of the sentences they encounter. Experiments 3 and 4 investigate the processing of compounds whose initial subparts correspond to colour terms (e.g., "greyhound"). Experiment 3 explores whether these colour subparts trigger the activation of phrasal-level descriptions of non-target objects in the visual display, and whether this activation is influenced by the presence/absence of motivation to use colour descriptions when naming screen objects. Experiment 4 further explores whether a perceptual mismatch between a target object and the colour term in its name increases this impulsive activation. Finally, Experiment 5 investigates whether listeners use the perceptual information encoded in pre-nominal classifiers in Cantonese Chinese to guide their consideration of referential candidates whose perceptual properties do or do not match the classifier semantics. The findings from this dissertation point to the highly interactive nature of spoken language comprehension, suggesting that the kinds of impulsive activation under current discussion are rampant and automatic, but can also be suppressed to varying degrees by the syntactic, semantic, and contextual cues available to the listener.

In this thesis, I examine the influence of institutional control on three teachers' and twelve linguistically and culturally diverse childrens' perceptions and constructions of literacy meaning making in English and French in two grade six English and in two grade six French classrooms in the province of Quebec. The children in this study represent a cultural and linguistic mosaic of new arrivals, second-generation immigrant and native Montreal families that include Cambodian, East Indian, French, Italian, Lebanese and Portuguese families. Similarly, the three teachers come from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds that include a native Montreal anglophone, an immigrant from Egypt who is fluent in Arabic, English and French, and a second-generation Italian Quebecer who is fluent in Italian, English and French. The diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the participants add a further dimension to the research project, that is, an understanding of the dialogic encounters between multilingual children and teachers during literacy events in two languages and two classroom contexts. / I draw from Halliday's (1978, 1985) social theory of language use, Bakhtin's (1981, 1984) dialogical theory of discourse and Vygotsky's (1978, 1981, 1986) socio-cultural theory of language and learning to provide a theoretical lens for viewing the childrens' appropriation of literacy meaning making practices. I audiotaped, transcribed and interpreted the literacy events, teachers' discourse and discursive practices and the childrens' literate actions and artifacts for emerging patterns. In addition, interviews were transcribed, coded for emerging patterns and interpreted as socially negotiated texts. / The findings led me to four major conclusions. First, while institutional controls such as textbooks, programs, evaluation, and teacher beliefs about literacy continue to maintain power of literacy meaning making practices in these four classroom contexts, the reconstruction and negotiation of this power varies across the classroom contexts and amongst the teachers and children. Second, the teachers' discourse and discursive practices, as well as, situational complexities such as the intersections of cultures, communities, classrooms and languages shape the childrens' literacy perceptions, interpretations and constructions in English and French within and across the classroom contexts. Third, teaching practices for literacy meaning making are neither solely analytical or experiential nor are they solely explicit or implicit. The three teachers' literacy practices appear to be more along a continuum than a dichotomy, that is, they appear to be local, strategic and contexts-related. Fourth, the recognition of a plurality of literacies suggest that childrens' cultural stances and viewpoints need to be considered, as well as, the kinds of literacy experiences they are and are not being asked to engage in their English and French classrooms.

No description available.

Cognitive Grammar is a theory within the framework of Cognitive Linguistics that gives an account of human linguistic ability based entirely on general cognitive abilities. Because of the general complexity and open-endedness of the theory, there is not much computational work associated with it. This thesis proposes that ACT-R cognitive architecture can provide the basic primitives for the cognitive abilities required for a better implementation of Cognitive Grammar. Thus, a language model was developed on the ACT-R architecture. The model processes active and passive sentences, constructs their propositional representations, and tests the representation on a sentence verification task of the experiment of Anderson (1974).

Age stereotypes have been associated with patterns of communication toward older adults as well as an individual s impression of older adults. Thus far, researchers have not explored these associations using paradigms in which participants engage interactively with the target; rather, studies have placed participants in the role of an objective observer of the target. The current study made use of a simulated communication paradigm to examine change in age stereotype activation, communication patterns and the impressions that are formed of an older adult target over the course of an interaction. Target individuals were portrayed either very positively (as a healthy active older adult) or more negatively (as an unwell stereotypical older adult). The competence of the target was manipulated to examine the effect of this trait on stereotype activation, communication and impressions. Individuals of all ages were found to initially speak in an affirmative way to the older adult target, regardless of initial impression, and then adjusted their speech to reflect the competency of the target. Impressions reflected both initial impressions as well as information gained from the interactive task; middle-aged and older adults focused on diagnostic information while young adults made use of all available information to inform their judgments.