The syntactic representation and processing of nouns and verbs in language production
Most current theories of language production assume that there are a number of distinct stages intervening between the generation of a preverbal message and its articulation, with stages of linguistic processing at semantic, syntactic, lexical and word-form representations. It is commonly assumed that these processes are separate and driven by lexical entries; for example as in the lemma model of lexical access (e.g. Levelt et al., 1999). While there has been much research into the processes underlying the semantic and phonological components of production, there has been less empirical investigation of syntactic processes, and in particular the nature of the syntactic representations that underlie production. This thesis presents an empirical investigation into the nature of syntactic representations and processing, based on syntactic priming (Bock, 1986). It focuses on a number of specific issues: how syntactic formulation is affected by time constraints, whether syntactic representations are accessed in the same way for written and spoken production, and to what degree semantic and phonological factors can affect syntactic encoding. The finding that speakers have a tendency to reuse syntactic structure
Cleland, Alexandra Alice
The syntactic representation and processing of nouns and verbs in language production. Most current theories of language production assume that there are a number of distinct stages intervening between the generation of a preverbal message and its articulation, with stages of linguistic processing at semantic, syntactic, lexical and word-form representations. It is commonly assumed that these processes are separate and driven by lexical entries; for example as in the lemma model of lexical access (e.g. Levelt et al., 1999). While there has been much research into the processes underlying the semantic and phonological components of production, there has been less empirical investigation of syntactic processes, and in particular the nature of the syntactic representations that underlie production. This thesis presents an empirical investigation into the nature of syntactic representations and processing, based on syntactic priming (Bock, 1986). It focuses on a number of specific issues: how syntactic formulation is affected by time constraints, whether syntactic representations are accessed in the same way for written and spoken production, and to what degree semantic and phonological factors can affect syntactic encoding. The finding that speakers have a tendency to reuse syntactic structure
syntactic_representation processing noun verbs language_production current_theory language_production assume number_distinct stage intervene generation preverbal message articulation stag linguistic processing semantic_syntactic lexical word_form representation commonly_assume process separate driven lexical_entry example lemma model_lexical access much process_underlie semantic phonological component production less empirical_investigation syntactic process particular nature syntactic_representation underlie production present_empirical investigation nature syntactic_representation processing base syntactic_priming focus number specific_issue syntactic formulation affect time constraint whether syntactic_representation access way write_spoken production degree semantic phonological factor_affect syntactic encoding find speaker tendency reuse syntactic_structure