Basic Sentence Research Articles

Brain areas associated with sentence processing: A functional MRI study and a lesion study

Abstract The aim of this study was to identify the location associated with primitive sentence processing. Processing related to generation and comprehension of sentences (“sentence processing”) is postulated to be largely divided into syntactic processing (processing related to the formation of sentences and to verb reflection and particles) and verb information (argument structure and thematic role). Numerous lesion studies and functional brain imaging studies on unimpaired individuals have suggested that the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is involved in syntactic processing. In addition, some studies have reported that the area from the left parietal lobe to the posterior superior temporal gyrus is involved in processing information such as argument structure and thematic role. However, studies on sentence processing using functional brain imaging have used complex sentences as tasks, raising the possibility that the results show the demands on not only language processing, but also on working memory. To clarify the brain areas involved in basic sentence processing in human language, there is a need to examine tasks involved in sentence processing that assume more primitive processing with minimal demands on working memory. The present study used sentence-completion tasks in the Japanese language that include basic sentence processing. The results showed activation in the left IFG and left parietal lobe, suggesting that these areas are involved in sentence processing. We then investigated the proportion of patients showing impaired sentence processing from among patients with aphasia and a lesion in the left IFG or from the parietal lobe to the posterior superior temporal gyrus. Four of 5 patients (80%) with lesions mostly in the left IFG showed impaired sentence processing, suggesting that this site plays a critical role in sentence processing. Of the 4 patients with lesions mostly in the area from the left parietal lobe to the posterior superior temporal gyrus, 1 patient (25%) showed impaired sentence processing. Unlike the other 3 subjects, this subject exhibited impaired recalling of verbs. This area is mainly involved in lexical-semantics and the present results suggest that verb information within that field became impaired, in turn causing impaired sentence processing.

An Effective Application of Natural Language Processing in Second Language Instruction

This paper presents an intelligent CALI system called "Nihongo-CALI" (Japanese Computer Assisted Language Instruction), which employs natural language processing to provide immediate, grammatically sophisticated feedback to students in an interactive environment. Using this system, Nagata (1993) previously compared the effectiveness of the two different levels of computer feedback for teaching Japanese passive sentences: traditional feedback (which follows simple pattern-matching error analysis and indicates only missing/unexpected words in the learners' responses) and intelligent feedback (which utilizes a parsing technique to provide detailed grammatical explanations for the source of the learners' errors). The study found a statistically significant difference between traditional and intelligent feedback, favoring intelligent feedback. The present study compares the efficacy of intelligent CALI feedback with that of a more advanced, traditional CALI feedback (which also indicates the positions of missing particles in the learners' responses) for teaching basic sentence constructions in Japanese. The result indicates that the Intelligent CALI feedback is more effective than even the enhanced version of traditional CALI feedback, underscoring the importance of natural language processing technology in second language instruction.

Kategoria "punktu wyjścia" i kategorie pokrewne rozważane z myślą o antropologii filozoficznej. Analiza i konstrukcja "punktu wyjścia"

The very description of the „starting point” needs plenty of explanations, let alone its choice for a given science. Whereas „articulation and choice of a starting point (…) is already taking a position respecting a given subject and determining the direction of further dealing”27. You cannot avoid taking a position, because in order to practice any science, a way of dealing should be taken. Stating point is a place that in a way impinges on the further scientific work, on achieving its goal, so each researcher has to define it (more or less directly). We tried to show in this article that each research, each scientific action has its starting point – even if we verbally define it differently (beginning, basic sentences, starting line, genesis…).

Processing Noncanonical Sentences in Broca's Region: Reflections of Movement Distance and Type

Various noncanonical sentence constructions are derived from basic sentence structures by a phrase displacement called Movement. The moved phrase (filler) leaves a silent copy at the extracted position (gap) and is reactivated when the hearer/reader passes over the gap. Consequently, memory operations are assumed to occur to establish the filler-gap link. For languages that have a relatively free word order like German, a distinct linguistic operation called Scrambling is proposed. Although Movement and Scrambling are assumed to be different linguistic operations, they both involve memory prone filler-gap processes. To clarify whether filler-gap memory processes in Scrambling and Movement differ neuroanatomically, we designed a functional magnetic resonance imaging study and compared the effect of memory load parameterized by filler-gap distance in the 2 sentence types. Here, we show that processing of the 2 sentence types commonly relies on a left hemispheric network consisting of the inferior frontal gyrus, middle part of the middle temporal gyrus, and intraparietal sulcus. However, we found differences for the 2 sentence types in the linearity of filler-gap distance effect. Thus, the present results suggest that the same neural substrate supports the memory processes of sentences constructed by Movement and Scrambling, although differentially modulated by memory load.

Description of Thai as an isolating language

The article illustrates morphosyntactic characteristics of Thai, an isolating language, in contrast to the modern European languages. Thai is characterized as a topic-prominent language, where the voluntary–spontaneous contrast rather than transitive–intransitive one plays significant roles in forming basic sentence constructions. By assuming non-hierarchical serial verb constructions as its basic sentence structures, the author claims that the modern hierarchical view of language structure is not appropriate for Thai. In Thai, verbs are serialized to denote not only successive actions or an action and its objective, but also a cause and its result, an action and its evaluation. Furthermore, causative and passive constructions are analyzed as part of verb serializations which are structurally identical, but antiparallel to each other in the direction of affectedness.

Improved Outcomes with Computer-Assisted Instruction in Mathematics and English Language Skills for Hispanic Students in Need of Remedial Education at Miami Dade College, Florida

In this study, 180 first-time-in-college (FTIC) students at Miami Dade College, Florida in need of remedial instruction in basic mathematics, reading, and sentence skills utilized the A + dvancer® College Readiness Online software. Significant results were found with increased ACCUPLACER® scores; number of students who avoided at least one remedial course; number of students who avoided remediation; number of students who advanced a level within the remedial coursework sequence, enrolled in the next level coursework, and also passed the next course. These results suggest that institutions can use computer-assisted instruction to efficiently allocate resources while addressing the need to provide remedial education in efficient and effective ways. Partial data from this study and results were used to successfully apply for a $1.4 million dollar Federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education to assist with student success, retention, and degree completion.

On the Basic Sentence Patterns of Korean

On the Basic Sentence Patterns of Korean

“Deciphering the Shema: Staircase Parallelism and the Syntax of Deuteronomy 6:4”

Abstract The unusual syntax of Deut 6:4 has long puzzled expositors of the Hebrew Bible. None of the many solutions posed by commentators has ever gained widespread acceptance. The continuing, increasingly strained, efforts to unravel the verse’s syntax testify to the desirability of a new approach. In this essay, I show that the key to understanding Deut 6:4 lies in the recognition that Moses’s exhortation is couched in the AB//AC structure known as “staircase parallelism”. This pattern yields a meaning of ABC—in this case, “YHWH our God is one!” I defend this proposal in three ways, establishing that Deuteronomy is a suitable context for staircase parallelism, that at least two solid biblical precedents share the same basic sentence construction, and that staircase parallelism is literarily apropos in Deut 6.

Basic Sentence Structure in Sudanese Arabic

On the basis of notions developed in respect of attribution in Dickins (2009, which readers are recommended to read before looking at this paper in detail), I address basic sentence structure in Sudanese Arabic. I argue that a central feature of Sudanese Arabic is the bipartite predicand-predicate (mubtada'-xabar) structure, pointing out that this has some tantalisingly unexpected features. I also consider monopartite sentences in Sudanese Arabic, arguing for a more inclusive view of what constitutes a non-elliptical sentence than is commonly accepted. I finally look briefly at bipartite sentences with 'scrambled' word order.

Learning of control in a neural architecture of grounded language processing

Human cognition is characterized by three important features: productivity, dynamics and grounding. These features can be integrated in a neural architecture of language processing. The representations in this architecture always remain “in situ”, because they are grounded in perception, action, emotion, associations and (semantic) relations. The neural architecture shows how these representations can be combined in a productive manner, and how dynamics influences this process. The constraints that each of these features impose on each other result in an architecture in which local and global aspects interact in processing and learning. The architecture consists of neural “binding” mechanisms that produce (novel) sentence structures on the fly. Here, we discuss how the control of this binding process can be learned. We trained a feedforward network (FFN) for this task. The results show that information from the architecture is needed as input to learn control of binding. Thus, the control system is recurrent. We show that this recurrent system can learn control of binding for basic (but recursive) sentence structures. After learning, the binding process behaves well on a series of test sentences, including sentences with (unlimited) embeddings. However, for some of these sentences, difficulties arise due to dynamical binding conflicts in the architecture. We also discuss and illustrate the potential influence that the dynamics in the architecture could have on the binding process.

A reference grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (review)

Reviewed by: A reference grammar of Modern Standard Arabic by Karin C. Ryding Ernest McCarus A reference grammar of Modern Standard Arabic. By Karin C. Ryding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Pp. xxv, 708. ISBN 0521777712. $39.99. Karin Ryding describes her excellent reference grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) as ‘a handbook intended for the general learner’ (xvii). It serves elementary to advanced level learners: all technical terms—whether conventional grammatical terms, technical linguistic terms, or terms specific to Arabic grammar—are defined and amply exemplified. Throughout the book, when a technical term is used, a more conventional alternate term is added for the beginning student. For example, after pointing out that the two morphological tenses of Arabic are often referred to as the ‘perfect’ and the ‘imperfect’ tenses, she prefers, for the sake of clarity, to use the terms ‘past’ and ‘present’; at the same time, she often includes ‘(imperfect)’ after ‘present’ and ‘(perfect)’ after ‘past’ to help the learner adjust to the broader terminology. Additional clarifications and alternative analyses are often provided in footnotes, and for the advanced specialist there are also generous references to published works for follow-up research. In dealing with MSA, with its multilayered diglossia, there is always the problem of how to define the language to be covered. With the goal of describing contemporary expository prose reflecting a broad range of social and cultural values and interests, R has based her description on a corpus primarily of newspapers and magazines, but also of novels and nonfiction, gathered over a ten-year period. The grammar description is limited to items occurring in the corpus, although alternative analyses or rarer items not occurring in the corpus but current in Arabic writing today are identified in footnotes. In comparing MSA and Classical Arabic, the Arabic of the early Islamic period, R found that there were few structural inconsistencies between them and that the major differences were stylistic and lexical: MSA is a streamlined Classical Arabic. In explaining the basis for her choosing the print media to represent MSA, she says ‘[i]t is just this ability to reflect and embody change while maintaining the major grammatical conventions and standards that make journalistic Arabic in particular, a lively and widely understood form of the written language and, within the style spectrum of Arabic as a whole, a functional written standard for all Arab countries’ (9). Ch. 1 is an overview of Arabic within the Afro-Asiatic and Semitic language families and a brief sketch of the history of Arabic and of Arabic today in the modern period. Ch. 2 deals with phonology and script, starting with the alphabet, including rules for the different hamzas, and then discussing the pronunciation of the phonemes, context vs. pause form, syllable structure, and word stress; the spelling and pronunciation of the definite article and of nunation are also explained. Citations in the book are given in phonemic transcription as well as in voweled Arabic script. Ch. 3, ‘Arabic word structure: An overview’, deals with word structure and derivation, both as word morphology (the root-and-pattern system and word compounding) and as inflection (the inflectional categories of verbs and nouns). Ch. 4 is likewise an overview, the main chapter in the book devoted primarily to syntax. It is a survey of the basic sentence structures: types of sentence, word order, constituent components of the sentence, negation of equational (verbless) sentences, verb-subject agreement, topic-comment constructions, and doubly transitive verbs. The remaining thirty-five chapters are morphology-oriented with relevant observations on syntax [End Page 204] inserted often. Appendix 1 suggests ‘How to use an Arabic dictionary’ and Appendix 2 is a ‘Glossary of technical terms’ (Arabic and English grammatical terms). The coverage is comprehensive and detailed. The presentation of features follows the pattern of definition, semantics, and then form, with each variation in form or structure presented in its own numbered section with examples and further points on meaning and usage. Points of contrast with English grammar are highlighted. There is thus quite detailed coverage of all structures. This provides all the reader might want to know on a given feature, and it occasions a good deal of overlap...

Acquisition of the Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns - ‘wa’ ‘wo’ ‘ga’ Patterns -

Acquisition of the Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns - ‘wa’ ‘wo’ ‘ga’ Patterns -

THE ROLE OF EMPHASIS AND ARGUMENT ORDER IN THE JUDGMENTS OF GRAMMATICALITY OF JAPANESE BITRANSITIVE SENTENCES VIOLATING CHOMSKY'S PRINCIPLE OF FULL INTERPRETATION

Adult Japanese speakers judged the grammaticality of isolated simple bitransitive sentences involving an illegitimate extra argument in addition to three legitimate arguments. The sentences therefore violated Chomsky’s principle of Full Interpretation. The extra argument was a mere repetition of a preceding legitimate argument. The role of emphasis placed on the extra argument in the judgments was studied. The role of argument type, subjective and objective, was also investigated for sentences different in argument order, basic and transformed. Findings showed first that the sentences were judged moderately on a 7-point scale. Second, the transformed sentences were judged less grammatical than basic sentences. Third, sentences having two objective arguments (objective sentences) were judged more grammatical than those having two subjective arguments (subjective sentences) both for the basic and for the transformed sentences. Lastly, for the transformed sentences emphasis slightly increased the judged grammaticality of both the subjective and the objective sentences. These findings are not compatible with Chomsky’s theory of knowledge of language that he claims every speaker possesses.

The Million Dollar Letter: Some Hints on How to Write One

This article suggests ways of writing a truly effective cover letter, an extremely important document in the search for a job. First, features gleaned from 13 model letters in technical writing textbooks yield figures on the number of words, sentences, and paragraphs per letter, plus the average number of words per sentence and paragraph, information helpful to those with little or no knowledge of how to write a strong cover letter. Second, the article surveys what the textbook writers offer as advice about the rhetorical principles that should be employed in composing cover letters. One piece of advice given by almost all of the experts is that writers should try to exude an energetic attitude, yet these same authorities do not delineate just how to display such a posture in the letters themselves. Third, examination of the letters reveals that one way that experts insert verve into cover letters is to use verbals, particularly gerunds, participles, and infinitives. In fact, 92.58% of the sentences in the 13 model letters have some type of verbal in them. The advantage of employing verbals is that while they are used for other parts of speech, they still retain the residue of action in their meaning. Fourth, the article describes the results of a survey to determine the acceptance of such constructions in the minds of two sets of readers: first-year writing students and third-year technical writing students. In both groups, more than 75% of the students preferred a paragraph with verbals in it over a paragraph devoid of verbals. Finally, the article suggests “sentence combining” as a procedure for teaching technical writing students how to combine basic sentences into verbals to garner variety and economy, one of the hallmarks of technical writing.

Indo-Pakistani Sign Language Grammar: A Typological Outline

This article presents an outline of basic aspects of the grammar of Indo-Pakistani Sign Language (IPSL), the sign language used in deaf communities in parts of the Indian subcontinent, cast in a typological framework. Following a typological profile that is intended to capture the essential character of IPSL grammatical organization by typological standards, the article proceeds to describe important domains of IPSL grammar. This includes word classes and their syntactic functions, the marking of basic syntactic relations, the pronominal paradigm, possessive constructions, and categories of number marking. Basic sentence types (negatives, interrogatives, subordinate clauses) are also covered, as well as some principles of discourse organization. IPSL is quite different in many respects from the better-documented Western sign languages and is therefore very interesting from the point of view of typological variation across sign languages.

Remarks on the basic transitive sentence

In this paper, I discuss some issues that are of importance for the study of the typology of transitivity. Data from numerous languages are presented in order to show what parameters can contribute to the linguistic expression of transitive events typologically. The best starting point for any typological study of transitivity is semantics. The semantic definition usually presented is, however, not sufficient, because there are many properties that can affect the structure of the basic transitive sentence without affecting the inherent semantic transitivity of the sentence in any major way. Some of the most important of these parameters are exemplified and discussed. Finally, a new, specified prototype is proposed.

Word-Order Based Grammar (review)

Reviewed by: Word-order based grammar by Eva Koktova Agustinus Gianto Word-order based grammar. By Eva Koktova. (Trends in linguistics: Studies and monographs 121.) Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1999. Pp. xv, 389. Koktova’s monograph offers a novel theory of grammar which purports to handle questions that neither Chomskyan generativism nor Prague functionalism has adequately answered. To be sure, Kconsiders deep and surface structures, recursion, and lexical valency in treating word-order (Ch. 2), adverbial modification (Ch. 3), wh-extraction (Ch. 4), anaphora (Ch. 5), and formalization (Ch. 6). This book grew out of her 1986 monograph on sentence adverbials and other papers appearing in Theoretical linguistics in 1987, 1992, 1996, and 1997. In the present work K’s assessment of other proposals has become somewhat more articulate. K posits five types of word order (WO) in Ch. 2, namely, (1) fixed deep WO reflected in the fixed order of the elements in the information structure and basic sentence; (2) free deep WO, the opposite of the first type; (3) fixed surface WO, reflecting Joseph Greenberg’s parameters and constraints; (4) free surface WO corresponding to free deep WO or to fixed surface WO which is ‘relaxed’ by the mechanism of topicalization and focalization; (5) free surface WO not corresponding to deep WO. The last type is the major type. The actual order here is regulated by pragmatic factors called surface segmentation and pulsation. These notions are among K’s original contributions. Ch. 3 argues that sentence adverbials (surprisingly), modal adverbs (probably), focalizers (only), negators, and interjections are generated by a new type of adverbial modification which Kcalls ‘modification of attitude’. Their sequence, as in surprisingly probably not only, reflects the deep order and information structure. The treatment of wh-elements in Ch. 4 is perhaps the best part of the book. Here K convincingly demonstrates how these elements are universally extractable. When extracted, they invariably maintain their information status as focus. Likewise, non wh-elements will keep their information status as topic or focus. This will in turn provide an explanation for split focus or topic. K also proposes a subcategorization of empty categories and pronouns in an effort to account for their surface manifestation as nominals. This subcategorization is based on the position of the element as a node in the deep representation and on its status as sentence topic or focus. Ch. 5 discusses anaphora in complex and simple sentences besides anaphora in general. The first is almost unrestricted simply because the antecedent and the anaphoric element are found in different clauses, which is not the case in simple sentences where several restrictions apply. Here and at the phrase level, ease in the processing of information, rather than syntax, seems to be the guiding principle. Even nonconfigurational languages like Czech and Russian are said to follow this principle. K shows in Ch. 6 how the components of her grammar fit together in a formal system and illustrates its use in elucidating Czech surface word-order. A four-page concluding chapter reiterates the insights shared throughout this forbiddingly ambitious book. Agustinus Gianto Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome Copyright © 2001 Linguistic Society of America

Premiers symptômes syntaxiques d'une grammaire brésilienne

This article studies the linguistic bases of the discussions out of which Brazilian grammar was developed at the turn of the century. From the end of the 19th century, this grammar reveals obvious differencies with respect to Portuguese grammar, differencies that have since continued to increase. We study, here, four important syntactic facts that are specially Brazilian: first, the rearrangement of the preonominal system and its consequencies on the implementation of zero objects and the increasing number of lexical subjects; second, the change in strategies of relativization; third, a rearrangement in the patterns of basic sentences; fourth, changes in the patterns of direct and indirect questionning.

EARLY, MANDATORY, PRAGMATIC PROCESSING

The experiment reported in this paper used a delayed same/different sentence matching task with concurrent measurement of eye movements to investigate three questions: whether pragmatic plausibility effects are restricted to certain phrasal environments; how rapidly such effects are shown in on-line sentence processing; and whether they are a product of optional, high-level, inferential processes. The results clearly show that plausibility effects are not restricted to low–level phrasal units and that they appear to arise as a necessary consequence of the process responsible for deriving basic sentence meaning. The rapid and highly localized nature of the effects supports a view of sentence processing involving incremental interpretation of the earliest available syntactic representations. We argue that the apparently mandatory nature of plausibility effects, coupled with their insensitivity to repetition context, presents difficulties for both modular and interactive views of sentence processing.

Fechamento de subtópicos em diálogos assimétricos

This essay classifies sub-topic closing in two categories: the phrastic, in which the discurse sections are developed in a linear manner, in contrast with the paraphrastic, in which the rhetorical closing recycles the previous information. The data are then subjected to a computational programme which selects factors, which determine the same paraphrastic closing: (–) world knowledge; (+) argumentation; (+) subjectivity; (+) basic sentence; (+) the female sex.