Lecture: Psycholinguistics Professor Dr. Neal R. Norrick

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Psycholinguistics

Universität des SaarlandesDept. 4.3: English Linguistics

SS 2009

4.2 Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomena

Thinking on Tip-of-the-Tongue (TOT) phenomena begins with James (1890)

James speaks of “a gap that is intensively active” in consciousness when we try to recall aforgotten name.

Meringer and Mayer (1895), Fromkin (1973) keptpersonal catalogues of error types to gather natural data.

Brown and McNeill (1966) collected intuitions on remembering in diary studies, e.g.

unable to recall the name of the street on which a relative lives,

one of us thought of Congress and Corinth and Concord

and then looked up the address and learned that it was Cornish.

Brown and McNeill also induce TOT states, by reading definitions of uncommon words to subjects, who then answer questions about their search for the missing word, e.g.

subjects asked to identify the target word sextant based on a dictionary definition

“A navigational instrument used in measuring angular distances, especially the altitude of sun, moon and stars at sea.”

Burke et al. (1991) write, “When a TOT occurs, a lexical node in a semantic system becomesactivated, giving access to semantic information about the target word, but at least some phonological information remains inaccessible.”

Subjects in the TOT state often report that a word related to the target comes repeatedly and involuntarily to mind, yielding ‘blockers’,‘interlopers’or ‘persistent alternates’, e.g.

sexton or sextet for sextant

Burke et al. (1991) developed an experimental task, using prompts like those in a trivia game presented on a computer, where subjects typed responses, e.g.

What is the old name of Taiwan?

target: Formosa foils: Taipei, Canton, Ceylon

The foils often acted as blockers for the target word

They then asked questions like:

“How familiar do you think the word is?” “How certain are you that you can recall the word?“ “What is the first letter or group of letters in the word?” Burke et al. (1991) identify a semantic system or network of nodes connecting concepts • the concept chastity is connected with “is a virtue,”

“take a vow of” etc • the concept baker with “bake bread” “get up early”

“sell cakes” “knead dough” etc

Compare scripts of Schank and Abelson (1977),cognitive models of Lakoff (1987):

Cognitive model for chastity would identifyprototypes for the virtue like saints, and distinguishcharacteristics like “is a virtue” from linguisticconstructions in which the word chastity occurs suchas “take a vow of chastity.”

Cognitive model for baker would identify prototypesfor profession like the owner of the bakery at the footof the hill.

Burke et al. (1991) say one word may prime,

i.e. facilitate recognition of, another word,

the activation of nurse facilitates activation of

doctor because priming spreads and summates

via these many shared connections.

Cognitive processes recoded in diary studies

and lab experiments differ from TOT searches

in real conversation, e.g.

1 Helen: in Hammond, north Hammond. Junior Toy Company. 2 they used to make toys, little tricycles and scooters and everything. 3 David: and where was it? 4 Helen: I don't remember the street. 5 Hoffman? 6 No. 7 it was a little beyond right here, you know, 8 it wasn't right in north Hammond. 9 t was around that street that turns into Illinois, 10 there when you go to the cemetery. 11 here's a tavern on one side and a VFW on one side. 12 forget the street. 13 David: Gosselin? 14 Helen: Could be, I don't know. 15 I don't know, 16 but that's where Junior Toy was in the low corner there.

• Helen expresses her forgetfulness at line 4 with “I don’t remember the street.”

• She takes a guess at the name in line 5, but immediately rejects the guess in line 6.

• She begins an extended description of the area in terms of landmarks in lines 7-11.

• She concludes, “I forget the street” at line 12, but David offers a guess of his own, since he’s familiar with the local neighborhood.

• Helen expects help with name or at least assurance that David can identify the place.

Storytellers often name landmarks and major streets, not phonetically similar words.

Note references to cemetery (l. 10), tavern and VFW (l.. 11)

Description “in the low corner” implies that theteller can visualize the scene.

So why not search corpora for natural instances of TOT?

4.3 Discourse, frames, prototypes

Cognitive linguists look at discourse contexts where

words occur, e.g. if, for an item like roof,

The house needs a new roof

Then "house has a roof" is part of discourse frame

Consider also frame effects:

We saw an old house.

The roof was in need of repair.

Consider typical collocations and metaphors:

she has no roof over her head

- for 'no house'

we're finally under one roof

- for 'in the same house‘

Moreover, Rosch and her co-workers have shown: • some properties are more salient than others• some members of a category are more typical

it may be impossible to define certain words without

exemplification,

e.g. colors, fruits, games etc

instead of: "a fruit is the edible part of a plant etc"

we find: "a fruit is like an apple, a peach or a banana"

word meanings and categories are generally not

defined by features or propositions, but by

prototypes

Testing for prototypes

A. Ask subjects to identify the most typical bird:

B. Ask subjects for typical statements about birds,e.g.

A bird was singing outside my window

A bird flew down and caught a worm etc

C. Then substitute different bird names into the statements and ask how well they fit:

A robin/eagle/chicken was singing outside my window

A robin/eagle/chicken flew down and caught a worm

D. Test for speed of verification of identity

statements

A robin/eagle/chicken/penguin/bat

is a bird

Prototype Effects:

prototype: A trout is a typical fish

marginal: A tadpole is a kind of a fish

non-member: Their daughter is a regular fish

Note: real members don't fit here:

*This trout is a regular fish

Prototypical verb meanings extend:

• The kid runs around the house• The pavement runs around the house• The rainwater runs down the spout• The Mississippi runs from Minnesota to

the Gulf• Peter climbed a ladder• The plane climbed to 30,000 feet• The ivy climbed the fence• The temperature climbed to 30° C• Judy climbed down into the well

5. First Language Acquisition

Natural acquisition with no special learningnecessary

critical period resulting from a combination of factors:

• development of connections between nerve cells• myelination of nerve cells

• lateralization of brain functions• dominance of left hemisphere• corresponding development of motor skills• general cognitive stages of development

(Piaget)

5.1 Developmental sketch

Age Language General

(months)

9 babbling crawling

10 first words standing,

precurrent, maintained claps hand,

(ba)nana(na) for holds spoon

'banana, food, mama'

Age Language General(months)

11 5-10 recurrent words first steps, fulfills requests like: recognizesbring me the blue ball pictures inshow me the big red dog books

12 5 distinct vowels starts walking5 distinct consonants

Age Language General

(months)

13 recognizable words running,

daddy nein ball climbing furniture

allgone

14 imitations: horse, train simple puzzles

reduplications: turns book pages

choochoo

byebye taktak ‘clock’

Age Language General

(months)

16 recognizes own name points to himself:

20+ words Where's Nicky?

18 vocabulary explosion climbs stairs

2-word units: without rail

ducky allgone

Nicky haben

Age Language General

(months)

20 3-word units: hangs on monkey

Nicky cookie haben bars, points to

also: eyes, nose, mouth

haben Nicky cookie

Age Language General

(months)

22 verb + particle: lock up/ dramatic

deck zu play,

4-word units: stuffed Mami Auto fahren kauft animals,

dolls

Inni gute Nacht sagen

Age (months): 24

Language General

verb endings: Inni spuckt bisschen kicks soccer ball

statement: Nicky auch essen plays hide-n-seek

question: Nicky auch essen, ja? draws details:

command: Nicky auch essen ears, tails, wheels

word-formation: cutter ‘knife’

auskleben ’tear apart’

umwärts

Age (months): 26

Language General

participles: Mami ist weggegingt draws objectively das ist runtergefallt recognizable figures,

recognizes colorscomparison: Pferdchen ein kleineres

Mond grösser als Daddy

Monologues/ Mami kommt darein, tic-tacstories: Danke, Post schickt Daddy

Age Language General

(months)

27 future orientation: sings melodies

Let's build a castle

I'll put it in

28 recursive structures: counts to 5

Ich weiss nicht, wen recognizes letters:

der Deckel verloren hat N, C, O

questions with

when, how

Age Language

(months)

30 conditionals:

ich suche, ob ich den Hasen finde

Timmy ist traurig, wenn das

Osterhäschen hier schläft

plans:

I want to read a book about a story

Age Language General (months)

32 first real narrative: builds LegosIt was a wooden lamby draws people and it was on the floor and housein a barn with chimneyand they took it home and windowsand they washed itand it wasn't ugly

Age Language General (months)

34 reports on TV program: learns toPlötzlich kamen zwei peddle

trikeKrokodile und haben das Kälbchen ge'essen

reports on activities:I'm pretending this is a castle

(continued: 34 months)

explains actions:

I break it that I can make it new

predicts:

It's gonna be real beautiful,

you're gonna love it

Age (months): 36

Phonetics• voiced th: initial okay in the this etc• medial v in other• voiceless th: initial s in sing• final f in both• vocalizes final l and r• mispronunciations: amimals, cimamon, pasketti

Morphology• double plurals: mens, feets, mices• double preterites: sawed, standed• regularized preterites: goed, sitted• reverse word-formations: popcorner, mowgrasser

Syntax• negation: I see it not, That doll sits not right• questions: What it did? What the lady said?• counting: 1 2 3 4 5 6 20 14 fiveteen 16

Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)

as standard measure of first language development as opposed to age

5.2 Natural order of acquisition:

5.2.1 "Why mama and papa?“

Jakobson's order for phoneme acquisition

• in babbling, children produce all kinds of sounds and sound combinations; many children produce imitations after babbling

• but around age 2, children narrow their sound repertory and begin to produce sounds of their language in fixed order

order reflects an attempt to create the clearest possible set of distinctions at any given point, within the given physiological limits

• this order of acquisition also reveals parallel between different languages• most salient distinction is between Vowels (V) and Consonants (C)

Vowels are characteristically open and resonant: • the prototypical V is a

Consonants are characteristically closed and obstruent:

• stops are prototypical Cs• the prototypical stop is p

the prototypical syllable is CV: maximizing the C-V distinction, a child's first syllable should be pa given children's tendency to reduplication, a child's first real word should be papa

the first division within the class of Cs is that between oral and nasal; the nasal counterpart of bilabial p is m

maximizing the p-m distinction and reduplicating,

the child's second word should be mama

(actually initial nasals often appear first, because of the association with sucking; and mama is often first word recorded, because of the centrality of mother for the child)

major divisions within the class of Vs are those between front and back, high and low, spread and open; the vowel most distinct from a along all these parameters is i

again maximizing the a-i distinction (and reduplicating), the child's next words should be pipi and mimi

extending the pattern of Vs, always seeking to maximize distinctness, the child should move to a triplet:

a

u i

after the Cs p and m , the child usually acquires t , then the third voiceless stop k and so on: p m t k

child moves on to ever larger patterns with increasing numbers of distinctive features

only when child controls the individual consonants can they occur together in 2-consonant clusters:

• then word-initial clusters like pl- and st- precede final clusters like -lp and –st• later come initial 3-consonant clusters like spr- and str-• and then word-final 3-consonant clusters like -rst and -sks

of course, kids don't learn sounds in isolation, but only in words and syntactic structures