Models Of Language Production Research Articles

An fMRI study of executive control during translation and oral reading in Cantonese-English bilingual speakers

An fMRI study of executive control during translation and oral reading in Cantonese-English bilingual speakers

The Effect of Pinyin Input Experience on the Link Between Semantic and Phonology of Chinese Character in Digital Writing

With the development of ICT, digital writing is becoming much more common in people's life. Differently from keyboarding alphabets directly to input English words, keyboarding Chinese character is always through typing phonetic alphabets and then identify the glyph provided by Pinyin input-method software while in this process which do not need users to produce orthography spelling, thus it is different from traditional written language production model based on handwriting process. Much of the research in this domain has found that using Pinyin input method is beneficial to Chinese characters recognition, but only a small part explored the effects of individual's Pinyin input experience on the Chinese characters production process. We ask whether using Pinyin input-method will strengthen the semantic-phonology linkage or semantic-orthography linkage in Chinese character mental lexicon. Through recording the RT and accuracy of participants completing semantic-syllable and semantic-glyph consistency judgments, the results found the accuracy of semantic-syllable consistency judgments in high Pinyin input experienced group was higher than that in low-experienced group, and RT was reversed. There were no significant differences on semantic-glyph consistency judgments between the two groups. We conclude that using Pinyin input method in Chinese digital writing can strengthen the semantic-phonology linkage while do not weakening the semantic-orthography linkage in mental lexicon at the same time, which means that Pinyin input method is beneficial to lexical processing involving Chinese cognition.

Mapping Communicative Activity: A CHAT Approach to Design of Pseudo- Intelligent Mediators for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

The development of AAC technologies is of critical importance to the many people who are unable to speak intelligibly (or at all) due to a communication disorder, and to their many everyday interlocutors. Advances in digital technologies have revolutionized AAC, leading to devices that can “speak for” such individuals as aptly as it is illustrated in the case of the world famous physicist, Stephen Hawking. However, given their dependence on prefabricated language (and constant management by teams of people), current AAC devices are very limited in their ability to mediate everyday interactions. We argue here that the limits of AAC are firstly theoretical — grounded in prosthetic models that imagine AAC devices as replacements for damaged body parts and in transmission models of language production as communication. In contrast, our multidisciplinary team aims to design pseudo-intelligent mediators (PIMs) of communication by blending strengths of human mediators with features of current AAC technologies. To inform the design process, we report here our initial situated studies focusing on the distributed nature of everyday communicative activities conducted with potential AAC/PIM users. Our analysis focuses on the discursive alignments of these participants and their interlocutors, attending especially to the various ways their personal aides function as human mediators. Specifically, we focus on mapping the communicative activity around each of these differently-abled individuals (the majority of whom have cerebral palsy) as they navigated a university campus. We profile the everyday interactional patterns within functional systems and across settings, and present close discourse analysis of one interaction to highlight the diverse roles personal aides adopted in mediating communication. Finally, we argue that attending to differently “abled” bodies as they move through everyday communicative environments pushes CHAT to more fully theorize physicality, individual mobilities, and the roles of bodies in the laminated assemblage of functional systems.

Processing linguistic variation through dual mechanisms of cognitive control

AbstractWhile rarely difficult for the average speaker/listener, the ubiquity of variation at all levels of linguistic production is a challenge for modern psycholinguistic models of language processing. Variation is perhaps most extreme at the levels of phonetics and phonology, but many models of language processing all but eschew these levels altogether. The current paper posits that cognitive control mechanisms, when divided into proactive and reactive control via a dual mechanisms framework may effectively describe the strategies individuals use to process linguistic variation and, when incorporated into language processing models, can generate novel, testable predictions regarding the origin and propagation of individual differences. By means of example, I illustrate how dual mechanisms of control could be incorporated into a connectionist model of language production. I then describe how dual mechanisms of cognitive control might be relevant for the Adaptive Control Hypothesis and how individual differences in processing strategies may modulate participation in language changes-in-progress.

Novel L2 words do not facilitate but interfere with their L1 translations during picture naming – behavioural and event-related potential evidence

ABSTRACTEarly and late bilinguals name pictures in their native language faster when accompanied by the name’s translation equivalent from their second language. Here, we tested whether this effect also obtains with recently learned L2 words. Participants learned novel names for 36 familiar objects via a statistical association procedure. These novel words and their L1 translations were subsequently used as auditory (identical, semantic, unrelated) distractors in a picture–word interference task. Participants named the pictures with their L1 name (Experiments 1 and 2) or with their novel name (Experiment 2). Against our prediction, the L2 translations led to interference instead of facilitation in L1 naming. The reverse situation (L2 naming, L1 distractor) showed no interference. In event-related potentials, identical distractors induced a reduced N400 in all conditions except in the one that showed behavioural interference. The results are discussed in relation to models of bilingual language production.

Phonological encoding in speech-sound disorder: evidence from a cross-modal priming experiment.

Psycholinguistic models of language production provide a framework for determining the locus of language breakdown that leads to speech-sound disorder (SSD) in children. To examine whether children with SSD differ from their age-matched peers with typical speech and language development (TD) in the ability phonologically to encode lexical items that have been accessed from memory. Thirty-six children (18 with TD, 18 with SSD) viewed pictures while listening to interfering words (IW) or a non-linguistic auditory stimulus presented over headphones either 150 ms before, concurrent with or 150 ms after picture presentation. The phonological similarity of the IW and the pictures' names varied. Picture-naming latency, accuracy and duration were tallied. All children named pictures more quickly in the presence of an IW identical to the picture's name than in the other conditions. At the +150 ms stimulus onset asynchrony, pictures were named more quickly when the IW shared phonemes with the picture's name than when they were phonologically unrelated to the picture's name. The size of this effect was similar for children with SSD and children with TD. Variation in the magnitude of inhibition and facilitation on cross-modal priming tasks across children was more strongly affected by the size of the expressive and receptive lexicons than by speech-production accuracy. Results suggest that SSD is not associated with reduced phonological encoding ability, at least as it is reflected by cross-modal naming tasks.

Revisiting the 4-M model: Codeswitching and morpheme election at the abstract level

Purpose:This paper offers an overview of the 4-M model from its inception, but pays special attention to how the characterization of morpheme types in the model has evolved. A new proposal is that the level at which morpheme types are “elected” in an abstract model of language production is a critical factor in predicting morpheme distribution across languages in bilingual data.Methodology:A new addition to the model, the Variable Election Hypothesis, predicts which language is likely to be the source of morphemes in certain structures in bilingual speech, based on how they are elected.Data and analysis:Data from available codeswitching literature illustrate the classification of morphemes according to the 4-M model and test this new hypothesis. Much of the analysis focuses on the role of Embedded Language nonfinite verb forms and the structure of mixed determiner phrases (DPs), as well as subordinators in codeswitching data.Findings:Both the 4-M model and the Variable Election Hypothesis make predictions...

Asymmetric Switch Costs in Numeral Naming and Number Word Reading: Implications for Models of Bilingual Language Production.

One approach used to gain insight into the processes underlying bilingual language comprehension and production examines the costs that arise from switching languages. For unbalanced bilinguals, asymmetric switch costs are reported in speech production, where the switch cost for L1 is larger than the switch cost for L2, whereas, symmetric switch costs are reported in language comprehension tasks, where the cost of switching is the same for L1 and L2. Presently, it is unclear why asymmetric switch costs are observed in speech production, but not in language comprehension. Three experiments are reported that simultaneously examine methodological explanations of task related differences in the switch cost asymmetry and the predictions of three accounts of the switch cost asymmetry in speech production. The results of these experiments suggest that (1) the type of language task (comprehension vs. production) determines whether an asymmetric switch cost is observed and (2) at least some of the switch cost asymmetry arises within the language system.

Frequency, activation, and the production of verb inflection in agrammatic aphasia

ABSTRACTBackground: The production of verb inflectional morphology has been shown to be differentially impaired in agrammatic aphasia: agreement is preserved relative to tense. The consistency with which this pattern has been observed across a wide range of typologically diverse languages should be viewed as surprising, given that language-specific characteristics have been demonstrated to correlate with differences in agrammatic performance on various grammatical constructions. In addition, the preservation of agreement, a primarily syntactic inflection, over tense, a semantic inflection, appears to run counter to previous research showing impairments of syntactic processing in agrammatic aphasia. Representational and processing-based accounts have attempted to explain the dissociation of agreement and tense morphology in agrammatic speech, but have neglected these two points.Aims: The purpose of this review is to investigate the degree to which current theories can account for the differential impairment of agreement and tense, and to propose a new theory that is situated in the larger context of language production models. Discussion will explore the role of frequency and the activation effects of elements that frequently co-occur during language production. Based on this review, the Grammatical Encoding Co-Occurrence (GECO) Frequency Hypothesis will be proposed. This hypothesis attributes the preservation of agreement over tense to the co-occurrence of grammatical features at the stage of language production when inflectional morphology is encoded. Main Contribution: The GECO Frequency Hypothesis accounts for the preservation of agreement relative to tense in the context of cross-linguistic differences by making reference to aspects of inflectional morphology and language production that are common across languages. It is compatible with the results obtained from previous studies, and adds precision and clarity to the previous accounts of the differential impairment of agreement and tense. More generally, the hypothesis contributes to an understanding of the role of frequency at different stages in language production. Implications of the GECO Frequency Hypothesis for both agrammatic and normal language production include that language production is an activation-based process rather than one involving syntactic operations per se.Conclusions: The differential impairment of agreement and tense morphology in agrammatic aphasia is a result of the co-occurrence frequency of grammatical features activated during the language production process, rather than impairments to specific morphological representations or syntactic processes.

A usage-based account of /r/-liaison in Standard British English

The paper looks at the phenomenon of /r/-liaison in Standard British English and aims to assess the degree to which usage-based predictors, such as word frequency or collocability, contribute to its patterning and distribution. The sample consisting of 22 speakers is coded for the occurrence of [ɹ] and Ø in the potential /r/-liaison sites and the influence of the various phonetic, grammatical, and usage-based factors is tested and evaluated by means of a mixed-effects variable rule analysis. The present account tries to explain how the diachrony and synchrony of language use have given rise to linking and intrusive /r/ in British English. It is shown that a large part of the patterning of both /r/-liaison types can be explained through the influence of usage-based and cognitive determinants. The findings of the study lend support to functional (cognitive) models of language and speech production, and demonstrate that /r/-liaison cannot be adequately explained in purely abstract (generative) phonological terms.

Did I say dog or cat? A study of semantic error detection and correction in children

Although naturalistic studies of spontaneous speech suggest that young children can monitor their speech, the mechanisms for detection and correction of speech errors in children are not well understood. In particular, there is little research on monitoring semantic errors in this population. This study provides a systematic investigation of detection and correction of semantic errors in children between the ages of 5 and 8years as they produced sentences to describe simple visual events involving nine highly familiar animals (the moving animals task). Results showed that older children made fewer errors and corrected a larger proportion of the errors that they made than younger children. We then tested the prediction of a production-based account of error monitoring that the strength of the language production system, and specifically its semantic–lexical component, should be correlated with the ability to detect and repair semantic errors. Strength of semantic–lexical mapping, as well as lexical–phonological mapping, was estimated individually for children by fitting their error patterns, obtained from an independent picture-naming task, to a computational model of language production. Children’s picture-naming performance was predictive of their ability to monitor their semantic errors above and beyond age. This relationship was specific to the strength of the semantic–lexical part of the system, as predicted by the production-based monitor.

Reactive and proactive control in bilingual word production: An investigation of influential factors

The present study examined how reactive control (indexed by switching costs) and proactive control (indexed by mixing costs) during bilingual language production was modulated by three factors reflected by different time-courses of stimulus presentation. In three experiments, unbalanced Chinese–English bilinguals named digits in Chinese or English according to a naming cue. In Experiment 1, switching costs reduced when participants had longer preparation time to select the target language to name digits (during the Cue-Stimulus interval, CSI), indicating that longer preparation time helps overcome reactive inhibition. In addition, mixing costs declined drastically at a longer preparation time, indicating that a tiny amount of preparation time allows bilinguals to overcome costs associated with proactively preparing two languages. In Experiment 2, the stimuli were presented prior to the cues, so that participants were given different amounts of time to activate the target lexical nodes in both languages before they were informed of the naming language (during the Stimulus-Cue interval, SCI). Symmetrical switching and mixing costs were observed, indicating that bilinguals can strategically boost activation of the target lexical item in the second language (L2) and attempt to equalize it with its translation equivalent in the native language (L1), when they know previously the specific lexical items to be prepared in two languages. In Experiment 3, different Response-Cue intervals (RCIs) were provided after participants named a digit. It was found that the switching cost asymmetry was more prominent when the time to resolve competition was shorter, while the mixing cost asymmetry emerged only with the longest waiting time. These findings provide the first piece of evidence for the dissipation of the reactive inhibition over time, and suggest that longer preparation would allow the proactive control mechanism to be sensitive the relative proficiency levels of the two languages, leading to stronger proactive control on the dominant language. Taken together, the findings in the present study suggest the dynamic nature of reactive and proactive control in unbalanced bilinguals and have important implications for the current models of bilingual language production, which do not explicitly distinguish the two types of control or address how they adapt to the fine-grained time course of the situation.

Broca’s faculté du langage articulé: Language or Praxis?

De Oliveira-Souza, Moll, and Tovar-Moll (this issue) historically reevaluate that Paul Broca’s aphemia should be considered as a kind of apraxia rather than aphasia. I argue that such a claim is unwarranted, given the interpretation of the faculty of speech Broca derived from his predecessors, Jean-Baptiste Bouillaud and Franz Joseph Gall, and also with a view on the then generally held opinion that the terms aphémie and aphasie were synonyms. I will discuss evidence that patients such as Leborgne, producing only very few words or syllables, suffer from a global aphasia, affecting all modalities, despite Broca’s statement that Leborgne’s comprehension was intact. I also point to Broca’s claim that the faculty of speech, located in the left anterior hemisphere, is independent from hand preference because it is an intellectual and not a motor function, and to his statement that the cerebral convolutions are not motor organs. I finally contend that, in order to determine whether a given language problem should be labeled as aphasia or apraxia, it is crucial to first be clear on the components of old and new models of language production.

Phonological coactivation in the bilinguals’ two languages: Evidence from the color naming task

We evaluate whether bilinguals activate the phonology of their first language (L1) when they speak in their second language (L2). In Experiment 1, Spanish–English (L1–L2) bilinguals performed a color naming task in which they named the color of pictures in L2 while the phonological relationship between the color names and picture names in L1 was evaluated. The bilinguals were slower when color names and picture names were phonologically related in L1 relative to a control condition in which they were unrelated. The same pattern of results was obtained in Experiment 2 when bilinguals with less L2 proficiency were evaluated. These results suggest that bilinguals coactivated the phonology of their two languages and that the phonology in L1 influenced the production of speech in L2. This finding is explained in terms of cascade models of bilingual language production.

Salience Effects: L2 Sentence Production as a Window on L1 Speech Planning.

Salience influences grammatical structure during production in a language-dependent manner because different languages afford different options to satisfy preferences. During production, speakers may always try to satisfy all syntactic encoding preferences (e.g., salient entities to be mentioned early, themes to be assigned the syntactic function of object) and adjust when this is not possible (e.g., a salient theme in English) or, alternatively, they may learn early on to associate particular conceptual configurations with particular syntactic frames (e.g., salient themes with passives). To see which of these alternatives is responsible for the production of passives when dealing with a salient theme, we looked at the second language effects of salience for English-speaking learners of Spanish, where the two preferences can be satisfied simultaneously by fronting the object (Prat-Sala and Branigan in J Mem Lang 42:168-182, 2000). In accordance with highly incremental models of language production, English speakers appear to quickly make use of the alternatives in the second language that allow observance of more processing preferences.

Editorial: The production of speech sounds across languages

Editorial: The production of speech sounds across languages

Friends and foes in the lexicon: homophone naming in aphasia.

The study of homophones--words with different meanings that sound the same--has great potential to inform models of language production. Of particular relevance is a phenomenon termed frequency inheritance, where a low-frequency word (e.g., deer) is produced more fluently than would be expected based on its frequency characteristics, presumably because of shared phonology with a high-frequency homophone counterpart (e.g., dear). However, prior studies have been inconsistent in showing frequency inheritance. To explain this inconsistency, we propose a dual nature account of homophony: a high-frequency counterpart exerts 2 counterposing effects on a low-frequency homophone target during the 2 main stages of naming: (a) a detrimental impact during semantically driven lexical retrieval; (b) a beneficial impact during phonological retrieval. In a study of naming in participants with chronic aphasia followed by computational investigations, we find strong evidence for the dual nature account of homophony.

Beyond cry and laugh: toward a multilevel model of language production.

Language production is a multilevel phenomenon, and human capacities to communicate vocally progress from early forms, based on projections of motor cortex to brainstem nuclei, to complex elaborations, mediated by high-order cognition and fostered by socially mediated feedback.

Facilitation and interference in the color-naming task.

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the phonological activation of the name of pictures when participants had to name the color in which these pictures were depicted. In Experiment 1, participants named the color of pictures whose names and color names shared the phonological beginning (phonologically related condition), the color of pictures whose names and color names did not share phonology (phonologically unrelated condition), and the color of abstract forms (neutral condition). A facilitatory effect was obtained, so participants were faster in the related condition than in the unrelated condition. However, naming latencies were similar in the neutral condition and the unrelated condition. In Experiment 2, the unrelated condition was replaced by a phonologically incongruent condition in which the name of the picture was phonologically unrelated to its color name but related to the name of other response color names. The results showed again a facilitatory effect when the related condition was compared with the incongruent condition. Importantly, an interference effect was also observed, so naming latencies were longer in the incongruent condition than in the neutral condition. These results are discussed in terms of language production models.

Parallel processing in language production

Following the Sixth International Workshop on Language Production (Edinburgh, UK, Sept., 2010), this special issue presents a collection of contributions concerned with a wide range of representational and processing components. In the present article, we review the evidence for parallel processing at different levels within the production system with the aim of identifying any generalisation or common characteristics that might underpin a robust model of language production. Our review synergises with the other articles of the special issue. After reviewing the literature, we conclude that the evidence for parallelism is stronger at some levels than at others and it is premature to take a strong stand for a unified principle that applies equally to all components of the production system. Following our review, we introduce the other articles represented within this special issue.