The Semantics-Syntax Interface: Learning Grammatical Categories and Hierarchical Syntactic Structure through Semantics

Autor/inn/en	Poletiek, Fenna H.; Monaghan, Padraic; van de Velde, Maartje; Bocanegra, Bruno R.
Titel	The Semantics-Syntax Interface: Learning Grammatical Categories and Hierarchical Syntactic Structure through Semantics
Quelle	In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 47 (2021) 7, S.1141-1155 (15 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Poletiek, Fenna H.) ORCID (Bocanegra, Bruno R.)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0278-7393
DOI	10.1037/xlm0001044
Schlagwörter	Semantics; Syntax; Grammar; Generalization; Learning Processes; Artificial Languages; Second Language Learning; Psycholinguistics; College Students; Indo European Languages; Native Language; Foreign Countries; Accuracy; Scores; Language Processing; Second Language Instruction; Teaching Methods; Cross Cultural Studies; English; Netherlands; United Kingdom (England) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Semantik; Grammatik; Learning process; Lernprozess; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Psycholinguistik; Collegestudent; Indoeuropäisch; Ausland; Sprachverarbeitung; Fremdsprachenunterricht; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Cultural comparison; Kulturvergleich; English language; Englisch; Niederlande
Abstract	Language is infinitely productive because syntax defines dependencies between grammatical categories of words and constituents, so there is interchangeability of these words and constituents within syntactic structures. Previous laboratory-based studies of language learning have shown that complex language structures like hierarchical center embeddings (HCE) are very hard to learn, but these studies tend to simplify the language learning task, omitting semantics and focusing either on learning dependencies between individual words or on acquiring the category membership of those words. We tested whether categories of words and dependencies between these categories and between constituents, could be learned simultaneously in an artificial language with HCE's, when accompanied by scenes illustrating the sentence's intended meaning. Across four experiments, we showed that participants were able to learn the HCE language varying words across categories and category-dependencies, and constituents across constituents-dependencies. They also were able to generalize the learned structure to novel sentences and novel scenes that they had not previously experienced. This simultaneous learning resulting in a productive complex language system, may be a consequence of grounding complex syntax acquisition in semantics. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01