1. Language II
October 15, 2009

2. Why is Language Important?
Represents unique form of abstraction in human species
Language influences perception and memory
Relevant to the form and manner of information storage
Relevance to thinking and problem-solving is unquestioned
Chief means of human communication

3. Key Terminology
Phonology: (the way sounds function in the language) basic unit = phoneme
single speech sound
English has about 45; 9 make up half our words
dimensions: voiced (“a”); unvoiced (“s”); fricatives (“sh”), plosives (“t”); place of articulation (palate v. lips)
Morphology: (study of the internal structure of words) basic unit = morpheme
smallest unit of meaning (words, parts of words, etc.)
free (e.g., “old”, “the”) vs. bound (e.g., “er”, “ist”)
over 100,000 words formed by morpheme combinations
Semantics: (study of meaning)
denotation vs. connotation – e.g., “heart”
words as economic labels; link between language and concepts
Syntax: (study of rules that govern combination of morphemes in phrases and sentences; interdependency)
prescriptive vs. descriptive grammar
“Daddy, what did you bring that book that I don’t want to be read to out of up for”?

4. Language Comprehension

6. Auditory Word Recognition: Basic Processes
Bottom-up: processing of individual phonemic features
Top-down: conceptual processing
phonemic restoration effect:
probably affects response bias, not sensitivity
“the *eel was on the axle” - hear “wheel”
“the *eel was on the shoe” - hear “heel”
“the *eel was on the orange” - hear “peel”

7. Theories of Auditory Word Recognition I
Motor Theory of Speech Perception (Liberman et al., 1967)
during listening, listeners mimic articulatory movements of speaker and depend on this for recognition
Supported by PET studies showing motor activation during speech perception
noninvariance is a problem, as is infant data
Cohort Theory (Marslen-Wilson & Tyler, 1980)
activation of word cohort as speech signal arrives
some activated words eliminated on basis of context; continues until “recognition point” is achieved
assumes that lexical, syntactic, and semantic information interact to analyze speech signal; context effects are probably late
e.g., “The police indicated that excessive SP--- was a factor in the fatal accident.”

8. Auditory Word Recognition: Theories II
TRACE Model (McClelland, 1991)
three units of levels: features, phonemes, words
between-level connections excitatory
within-levels inhibitory
excitation in the network produces pattern, or “trace” of activation
recognized word is that which is highest among candidate words

9. A Simple Feature-Detection Network

10. Auditory Word Recognition: Theories III
Cognitive Neuropsychological Models
derive from studies of how word recognition fails after brain injury
make use of “box models” of cognitive processing popular in mainstream cognitive psychology
basic structural features:
domain-specific systems
lexicons

11. Model of Processes involved in Analysis of Spoken Words
Pattern 2: Word-meaning deafness – can repeat but not understand; can repeat words (80%) better than nonwords (7%); can understand written words
Normally, all routes are available; damage to system reveals fractionated performance which serves to “isolate” each route to a greater or lesser degree
Route 1: accesses full representation of word, including meaning and spoken form
Route 2: same as route 1 without meaning
Route 3: involves phoneme-spoken form conversion (e.g., for repetition)
Pure Word Deafness
Pattern 1: ORF
Repeats words (85%) better than nonwords (39%), but can understand familiar words
Components can be used in various combinations depending upon the situation so there are three routes between hearing a spoken word and saying it:
Auditory Analysis system: phonemic processing
Auditory Input Lexicon: contains information about spoken words known to the listener (not meaning); recognizes spoken words as familiar by activation of the appropriate word units
Semantic System: contains word meanings
Speech Output Lexicon: provides spoken forms of words
Phoneme response buffer: provides distinctive speech sounds
Speech and nonspeech sounds can be separately impaired: Impairment of auditory analysis system in left hemisphere produced PWD; damage to analogous area dealing with nonverbal sounds is an “auditory sound agnosia”, or dealing with prosody is an “aprosodia”.

12. Stages in Lexical Processing (Single Word Recognition)
Contact of the analyzed waveform with the lexicon
Spectrographic (LAFS)
Motor theory
Phonemic theories
Activation of specific lexical entries
Selection of appropriate lexical entry from set of activated candidates
Access to the full information from the lexical entry

15. Reading (Visual Word Comprehension)
Similar processes likely, but entry into the system is a visual (graphemic), not an acoustic (phonemic) representation
Transformation from graphemes to phonemes is critical
Two routes to reading
Grapheme-phoneme conversion
Lexical (whole word) reading

16. How Reading is Studied Eye movement recordings Reading aloud
RSVP (rapid serial visual presentation)
Subject-controlled presentation
Word-identification techniques
lexical decision
naming

17. Eye-Movement Research
Emphasizes a “word-recognition” vs. “meaning construction” approach to reading
Asymmetric perceptual span (3-4 letters to the left of fixation and 15 letters to the right)
Parafoveal preview allows for skipping words
Fixations may be affected by context and meaning
predictable words receive less fixation
“garden path” sentences:
“The young man turned his back on the rock concert stage and looked across the resort lake. Tomorrow was the annual one-day fishing contest and fishermen would invade the place. Some of the best bass guitarists would come to this spot”
derivation of meaning occurs early (parafoveally? instantaneously?)

18. Fixation data from a normal (PP) and a dyslexic (Dave) reader
Numbers immediately below the dots are the sequence of eye movements, and the lower numbers are fixation times

19. Visual Word Identification
Rapid (200ms)
Automatic (e.g., Stroop effect)
Basic effects:
word-letter effect: letters identified better if in words than if alone (e.g., TAKE v. _ _ K _)
word-superiority effect: letters identified better when in real word (e.g., TAKE v. PAKE)
These effects imply that “word environment” influences recognition

20. Visual word recognition is automatic…..
red green blue
green yellow red
blue green blue
red yellow green
yellow red blue red

21. Visual Word Identification: Models I
Serial Letter Model .
Parallel Letter Model
Visual
Processing
Letter Detection
Word Detection
Visual
Processing
Letter Detectors
Word Detectors

22. Visual Word Identification: Models II
Direct Word Model
Interactive Activation Model
Letter Detection
Visual Processing
Word Detection
Visual
Input
Feature Analysis
Letter Analysis
Word Analysis

23. McClelland & Rumelhart’s Interactive Activation Model

24. CAT FOG COMB PINT MANTINESS FASS
Cognitive Neuropsychological Model of Processes involved in Reading – the “Dual Route Cascaded Model” (Coltheart, et al 2001)
Example from book:
CAT FOG COMB PINT MANTINESS FASS

25. Route 1 (Grapheme–Phoneme Conversion)
Converting spelling (graphemes) into sound (phonemes)
Marshall and Newcombe (1973)
Surface dyslexia – poor reading of irregular words; strong reliance on Route 1
McCarthy and Warrington (1984)
KT read 100% of nonwords accurately, and 81% of regular words, but was successful with only 41% of irregular words
Over 70% of the errors that KT made with irregular words were due to regularisation
Significant variability in performance, suggesting that this is not a clear dissociation

26. Phonological Awareness

27. Route 2 (Lexicon Plus Semantic System)
Event sequence
Representations of familiar words are stored in an orthographic input lexicon; activation leads to…
Meaning is activated by the semantic system and..
Sound pattern is generated in the phonological output lexicon
Beauvois and Dérouesné (1979)
Phonological dyslexia – impaired Route 1; use Route 2; 100% real words; 10% nonwords

28. Route 3 (Lexicon Only)
Like Route 2 but the semantic system is bypassed – printed words are pronounced but not understood
Funnell (1983)
Phonological dyslexia with poor ability to make semantic judgments about words
Coslett (1991)
Reasonably good at reading irregular words, but had no understanding of them

29. Deep Dyslexia Characteristics
Particular problems in reading unfamiliar words
An inability to read nonwords
Semantic reading errors (e.g., “ship” read as “boat”)
Damage to the grapheme–phoneme conversion and semantic systems
Patterson, Vargha-Khadem, and Polkey (1989)
Studied left hemispheric removal, producing all of these symtpoms; argued that reading is taking place in right hemisphere
Laine et al. (2000) used MEG
Activation mainly in the left hemisphere

30. Language Comprehension
Parsing: analysis of syntactical (grammatical) structure of the sentence
Analysis of literal meaning (semantics)
Analysis of intended meaning (pragmatics)

31. Parsing Four major possibilities:
Syntactic analysis generally precedes (and influences) semantic analysis
Semantic analysis usually occurs prior to syntactic analysis
Syntactic and semantic analysis occur at the same time, in parallel
Syntax and semantics are very closely associated, and have a hand-in-glove relationship

32. Grammar/Syntax
Syntax – word order and combination critical to meaning:
“He showed her the boys pants.”
“He showed her boys the pants.”
An infinite number of sentences is possible in any language
Sentences are nevertheless systematic and organised
Chomsky (1957, 1959)
Rules to take account of the productivity and the regularity of language
A grammar should be able to generate all the permissible sentences in a given language

33. Syntactic Ambiguity “They are flying planes” Global and local levels
The grammatical structure is ambiguous
Global and local levels
Making use of prosodic cues
Stress and intonation (illustrate with above example)
Allbritton, McKoon, and Ratcliff (1996)
Doubts about the use of prosodic cues
Snedeker and Trueswell (2003)
Listeners’ interpretation of ambiguous sentences was influenced by prosodic cues even before the start of the ambiguous phrase

34. Garden-Path Model Frazier and Rayner (1982)
Only one syntactical structure is initially considered for any sentence
Meaning is not involved in the selection of the initial syntactical structure
The simplest syntactical structure is chosen, making use of two general principles: minimal attachment and late closure
According to the principle of minimal attachment, the grammatical structure producing the fewest nodes is preferred
The principle of late closure is that new words encountered in a sentence are attached to the current phrase or clause if grammatically permissible

35. Evidence for the Garden-Path Model
Incorrect object: towel on its own
Disambiguating context: presenting an apple on a towel and another on a napkin
Proportion of eye movements to the incorrect target as a function of sentence type and context. Garden path would predict that “on the towel” should be used to determine where the apple should be put.
Disambiguation: Context has an apple on a towel and an apple on a napkin.
“Put the apple on the towel in the box”
Based on data in Spivey et al. (2002).

36. Constraint-based Theory
MacDonald et al. (1994) – all relevant information/constraints are available – various possibilities influence comprehension to the extent they are activated
Grammatical knowledge constrains possible sentence interpretations
The various forms of information associated with any given word are typically not independent of each other
A word may be less ambiguous in some ways than in others (e.g., ambiguous for tense but not for grammatical category)
The various interpretations permissible according to grammatical rules generally differ considerably in frequency and probability on the basis of past experience
As the woman edited the magazine amused all the reporters.
As the woman sailed the magazine amused all the reporters.

37. Unrestricted Race Model (combines features of GP and CB theories)
Van Gompel, Pickering, and Traxler (2000) – combines aspects of GP and UR models
All sources of information are used to identify a syntactic structure, as is assumed by constraint-based models
All other possible syntactic structures are ignored unless the favoured syntactic structure is disconfirmed by subsequent information
If the initially chosen syntactic structure has to be discarded, there is an extensive process of re-analysis before a different syntactic structure is chosen

38. Evidence for the Unrestricted Race Model
Ambig: The burglar stabbed only the guy with the dagger during the night.
Verb-phrase: The burglar stabbed only the dog with the dagger during the night.
Noun-phrase: The burglar stabbed only the dog with the collar during the night.
GP: 2>3
UR: 2=3>1
Data from van Gompel et al. (2001).

39. Inference Drawing Rumelhart and Ortony (1977) Logical inferences
Mary heard the ice-cream truck coming
She remembered the pocket money
She rushed into the house
WHAT’S HAPPENING HERE?
Logical inferences
Depend on the meaning of the words
Bridging inferences
Establish coherence between the current part of the text and the preceding text
Elaborative inferences
Serve to embellish or add details to the text

40. Drawing Inferences in Language Comprehension
“She took out an apple and ate it.”
Anaphora: “Bob told Bill about his serious illness”
Bridging inference: “his” refers to “Bob”
depends on distance between Bob and “his” (probably not)
depends on “Bob” as topic of discourse
Three models:
constructivist: full mental model formed
minimalist: only limited, constrained, inferences are formed (automatic vs. strategic distinction)
search-after-meaning: meaning constructed ‘after the fact’ in accordance to goals

41. The types of inferences normally drawn, together with the predictions from the S-A-M and minimalist perspectives. Adapted from Graesser et al. (1994).

42. Speech/Language Production I
Common Features of Models
extensive pre-planning
distinct stages of processing
general (intended meaning)-to-specific (utterance) organization
most models use of speech errors as data

43. Bock & Levelt (1984) ERRORS Intended meaning
Semantic substitution (“tennis bat”), blending (“sky is shining”), word-exchange errors (“let the bag out of the cat”)
Selection of word concepts, grammatical construction
Ordering parts of sentence, adding inflection
Morpheme exchange errors (“trunked two packs”), spoonerisms (“hissed my mystery lectures”) within same clause
Phonological and prosodic elements worked out

44. Deep
Dysgraphia
Phonological
Dysgraphia

45. Language Disorders

46. Types of Disorders
Aphasia: acquired disorder of language due to brain damage
Dysarthria: disorder of motor apparatus of speech
Developmental language disturbances
Associated disorders
Alexia
Apraxia
Agraphia

47. Major Historical Landmarks
Broca (1861): Leborgne: loss of speech fluency with good comprehension
Wernicke (1874): Patient with fluent speech but poor comprehension
Lichtheim (1885): classic description of aphasic syndromes

48. C A M
Lichtheim’s Model

49. Arcuate fasciculus

50. Syndrome Symptom Deficit Lesion
Contemporary anologues of Lichtheim’s (1885) Aphasic Syndromes
Syndrome
Symptom
Deficit
Lesion
Broca’s Aphasia
 speech production; sparse, halting speech, missing function words, bound morphemes
Impaired speech planning and production
Posterior aspects of 3rd frontal convolution
Wernicke’s Aphasia
 Auditory comprehension, fluent speech, paraphasia, poor repetion and naming
Impaired representation of sound structure of words
Posterior half of the first temporal gyrus
Pure motor speech disorder
Disturbance of articulation, apraxia of speech, dysarthria, aphemia
Disturbance of articulation
Outflow from motor cortex
Pure Word Deafness
Disturbance of spoken word comprehension, repetition also impaired
Failure to access spoken words
Input tracks from auditory cortex to Wernicke’s area
Transcortical Motor Aphasia
Disturbed spontaneous speech similar to BA; relatively preserved repetition, comprehension
Disconnection between conceptual word/sentence representations and motor speech production
Deep white matter tracks connecting BA to parietal lobe
Transcortical Sensory Aphasia
Disturbance in single word comprehension with relatively intact repetition
Disturbed activation of word meanings despite normal recognition of auditorily presented words
White matter tracks connecting parietal and temporal lobe
Conduction Aphasia
Disturbance of repetition and spontaneous speech, phonemic paraphasia
Disconnetion between sound patterns and speech production mechanisms
Arcuate fasciculus; connection between BA and WA

51. Additional Aphasia Syndromes
Symptom
Deficit
Lesion
Anomic Aphasia
 single-word production, marked for common nouns; repetition and comprehension intact
Impaired storage or access to lexical entries
Inferior parietal lobe or connections within perisylvian language areas
Global Aphasia
 Performance in all language functions
Disruption of all/most language components
Multiple perisylvian language components
Isolation of the language zone
 Spontaneous speech, comprehension, some preservation of repetition; echolalia common
Disconnection between concepts and both representations of word sounds and speech production
Cortex outside perisylvian association cortex

52. Broca’s Aphasia Telegraphic, effortful speech Agrammatism
Some degree of comprehension deficit
Writing and reading deficits
Repetition abnormal – drops function words
Buccofacial apraxia, right hemiparesis

53. M.E. Cinderella ... poor ... um 'dopted her ... scrubbed floor,
um, tidy ... poor, um ... 'dopted ... Si-sisters and mother ...
ball. Ball, prince um, shoe ...
Examiner. Keep going.
M.E. Scrubbed and uh washed and un...tidy, uh, sisters and mother, prince, no, prince, yes. Cinderella hooked prince. (Laughs.) Um, um, shoes, um, twelve o'clock ball, finished.
Examiner. So what happened in the end?
M.E. Married.
Examiner. How does he find her?
M.E. Um, Prince, um, happen to, um ... Prince, and Cinderalla meet, um met um met.
Examiner. What happened at the ball? They didn't get married at the ball.
M.E. No, um, no ... I don't know. Shoe, um found shoe ...

54. Wernicke’s Aphasia Fluent, nonsensical speech Impaired comprehension
Grammar better preserved than in BA
Reading impairment often present
May be aware or unaware of deficit
Finger agnosia, acalculia, alexia without agraphia

55. Wernicke description of “Cookie Theft Picture”
C.B. Uh, well this is the ... the /dødøü/ of this. This and this and this and this. These things going in there like that. This is /sen/ things here. This one here, these two things here. And the other one here, back in this one, this one /gø/ look at this one.
Examiner. Yeah, what's happening there?
C.B. I can't tell you what that is, but I know what it is, but I don't now where it is. But I don't know what's under. I know it's you couldn't say it's ... I couldn't say what it is. I couldn't say what that is. This shu-- that should be right in here. That's very bad in there. Anyway, this one here, and that, and that's it. This is the getting in here and that's the getting around here, and that, and that's it. This is getting in here and that's the getting around here, this one and one with this one. And this one, and that's it, isn't it? I don't know what else you'd want.

56. Conduction Aphasia Fluent language Naming and repetition impaired
May be able to correct speech off-line
Hesitations and word-finding pauses
May have good reading skills

57. Global Aphasia
Deficits in repetition, naming, fluency and comprehension
Gradations of severity exist
May communicate prosodically
Involve (typically) large lesions
Outcome poorest; anomic

58. Transcortical Aphasias
Transcortical Motor
Good repetition
Impairment in producing spontaneous speech
Good comprehension
Poor naming
Transcortical Sensory
Good repetition
Fluent speech
Impaired comprehension
Poor naming
Semantic associations poor

60. Fundamental Lessons Language processors are localized
Different language symptoms can be due to an underlying deficit in a single language processor
Language processors are regionally associated with different parts of the brain in proximity to sensory or motor functions

61. What Language Disorders Reveal about Underlying Processes
Pure Word Deafness: selective processing of speech sounds implies a specific speech-relevant phonological processor
Transcortical Sensory Aphasia: repetition is spared relative to comprehension; selective loss of word meaning; some cases suggest disproportionate loss of one or more categories

62. What Language Disorders Reveal about Underlying Processes
Aphasic errors in word production: reveal complex nature of lexical access
Phonological vs. semantic errors: independent vs. interactive relationship?
Grammatical class: nouns vs. verbs (category specificity)
Broca’s aphasia: syntax comprehension and production
Central syntactic deficit; loss of grammatic knowledge
Problems in “closed-class” vocabulary (preposition, tense markers)
Limited capacity account
Mapping account (inability to map from parsing to thematic roles)
Jargon Aphasia: can construct gramatically “better” sentences than agrammatics, but can’t find words, producing neologisms; reinforces distinction between content and grammatical struture

63. Prosody Linguistic vs. nonlinguistic prosody
Evidence for hemispheric differences
Clinical syndromes
Disturbances of comprehension
Auditory affective agnosia
Phonagnosia
Disturbances of prosodic output
Aprosodias

64. Spontaneous Prosody
Good
Poor
Ross & Monnot (2007) Brain and Language

65. Ross & Monnot (2007) Brain and Language

66. Semantic System System for storing meaning
Meaning stored separately from form
Models of representation in semantics
Feature-based models (see categorization)
Nondecompositional meaning (lexicons)
Modality-specific (fractionated) semantic deficits
Modality-specific deficts (e.g., optic aphasia) Category-specific: e.g. living things, fruits

67. Two Example Models of Semantic Organization
One Semantic System
Multiple Semantic Systems