PM—Propositional Model A Computational Psycholinguistic Model of Language Comprehension Based on a Relational Analysis of Written English Jerry T. Ball, PhD

PM Overview Introduction Historical & Theoretical Basis The Representation of Propositional Descriptions The Representation of Object Descriptions The Processing of Propositional and Object Descriptions Summary

Mental Box Real World Linguistic Expression Object, State Or Event Repn of Ling Expression Repn of Related Ling Expressions sense Repn of Prototype Repn of Exemplar Repn of Instance sense reference Linguistic Nonlinguistic sense

|obj is hitting the books| |obj hit the nail on the head| |I hit obj| |I hit the term| |he is hitting obj| |obj likes to hit obj| |subj hit obj| |subj verb obj| |subj predicate| |sentence| |obj hit obj| |obj pred obj| |hitter hit hittee| |agent hit patient| |agent pred patient| |proposition|

Linguistic Influences Cognitive Linguistics (Langacker; Lakoff) Semantics & Cognition (Jackendoff) Traditional Grammar (Jespersen; Quirk et. al) Case Grammar (Fillmore) Valency Grammar (Somers) Functional Grammar (Dik) TG & GB Theory (Chomsky)

Psychological Influences ACT-R (Anderson) Construction-Integration Model (Kintsch) Miller & Johnson-Laird Mental Models (Johnson-Laird) Clark & Clark; Clark & Haviland CAPS (Just & Carpenter)

Artificial Intelligence Influences Preference Semantics (Wilks) Conceptual Dependency Theory (Schank) Conceptual Structures (Sowa) SHRDLU (Winograd)

Propositional Descriptions Predicate Predicate Modifier Predicate Specifier Object Argument Description Propositional Argument Description Propositional Modifier

Propositional Forms Pred(Obj) Pred(Obj,Obj) Pred(Obj,Obj,Obj) Pred(Prop head ) Pred(Obj,Prop) Pred(Prop head,Obj) Pred(Obj,Obj,Prop)

Propositional Form Samples [went(he)] [kissed(he,me)] [gave(he,me,it)] [unfortunately([went(he)] head )] [believes(he,[like(you,me)])] [by([kissed(he,me)] head,it] [told(he,me,[like(you,him)])]

Predicate Modification Pred{Pred head }(obj) Pred{Pred head }(Obj, +Obj)

Predicate Modification Samples [am{sad}(I)] [over{went}(he,it)]

Conjunctions Pred conj (Prop head,Prop head ) Pred conj (Prop head,Prop head,…) Pred conj {Pred head,Pred head } Pred conj {Pred head,Pred head,…} Pred conj {Pred-Mod head,Pred-Mod head } Pred conj {Pred-Mod head,Pred-Mod head,…} Pred conj {Pred-Spec head,Pred-Spec head } Pred conj {Pred-Spec head,Pred-Spec head,…}

Conjunction Examples [and([like(I,you)],[like(you,me)])] [and{hit,kicked}(he,it)] [and{quickly,quietly}{went}(he)] [and{is,was}{sad}(he)]

Object Descriptions Term Function Function Modifier Function Specifier Object Description

Object Forms Func  Term Func-Mod{Func head }  Func Func-Spec  Obj Func(Obj head )  Obj Func(Obj head,Obj)  Obj

Object Form Examples head > > very{old head } func (the head ) (all(the head )) (in(the head,the )

Conjunctions Func conj Func conj (Obj head,Obj head ) Func conj (Obj head,Obj head,…) Func conj {Func head,Func head } Func conj {Func head,Func head,…} Func conj {Func-Mod head,Func-Mod head } Func conj {Func-Mod head,Func-Mod head,…} Func conj {Func-Spec head,Func-Spec head,…}

Conjunction Examples (the >) (and(the head,the head )) (the head >) (and{this,that} head )

Processing Read Text from Left to Right Identify Word Activate Schemas for Word Select Activated Schema Integrate Activated Schema with Previously Activated Schemas Read Next Word

Processing Processor Learns Effective Processing Strategies Limited Backtracking (Jump back to beginning) Relational Lexical Items Set Up Expectations that Drive Processing Mechanism (Lexically Driven) No Separate Syntactic Analysis No Top-Down Processing No Overall Grammar No Crucial Grammatical Unit Like Sentence

Processing the  the obj boy  the obj +  (the ) likes  likes(O1,O2) prop likes(O1,O2) prop + (the )  likes(the,O2) prop the  the obj girl  the obj +  (the ) likes(the,O2) prop + (the )  [likes(the,the )]

Processing an Object Desc the  the obj black  black term robed  term black term + robed term  black{F1} func + robed term black{F1} func + robed term  black{robed} term judge  black{robed} term +  > the obj + >  (the >)

Processing a Prop Desc he  (he) is  is{PR1} a  a obj man  a obj +  (a ) is{PR1} + (a )  is{(a ) pred }(O1) prop is{(a ) pred }(O1) prop + (he)  is{(a ) pred }(he)

Processing a Prop Desc he  (he) stopped  stopped?? stopped + walking  stopped{PR1} + walking(O1) walking(O1) + slowly  walking(O1) + slowly{PR2} pred walking(O1) prop + slowly{PR2} pred  slowly{walking}(O1) prop stopped{PR1} + slowly{walking}(O1) prop  stopped{slowly{walking}}(O1) prop (he) + stopped{slowly{walking}}(O1) prop  [stopped{slowly{walking}}(he)]