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

PM—Propositional Model

A Computational Psycholinguistic Model of Language Comprehension Based on a Relational Analysis of Written English

Jerry T. Ball, PhD

www.DoubleRTheory.com

Email: [email protected]

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, StateOr Event

Repn of LingExpression

Repn of RelatedLing 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(Prophead)

• Pred(Obj,Prop)

• Pred(Prophead,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{Predhead}(obj)

• Pred{Predhead}(Obj, +Obj)

Predicate Modification Samples

• [am{sad}(I)]

• [over{went}(he,it)]

Conjunctions

• Predconj(Prophead,Prophead)

• Predconj(Prophead,Prophead,…)

• Predconj{Predhead,Predhead}

• Predconj{Predhead,Predhead,…}

• Predconj {Pred-Modhead,Pred-Modhead}

• Predconj{Pred-Modhead,Pred-Modhead,…}

• Predconj{Pred-Spechead,Pred-Spechead}

• Predconj{Pred-Spechead,Pred-Spechead,…}

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<Termhead> Term

• Func<Termhead,Term> Term

• Func-Mod{Funchead} Func

• Func-Spec<Termhead> Obj

• Func(Objhead) Obj

• Func(Objhead,Obj) Obj

Object Form Examples

• <old<man>head>

• <of<canhead,beans>>

• very{oldhead}func

• (the<man>head)

• (all(the<men>head))

• (in(the<man>head,the<park>)

Conjunctions

• Funcconj<Termhead,Termhead>• Funcconj<Termhead,Termhead,…>• Funcconj(Objhead,Objhead)• Funcconj(Objhead,Objhead,…)• Funcconj{Funchead,Funchead}• Funcconj{Funchead,Funchead,…}• Funcconj{Func-Modhead,Func-Modhead}• Funcconj{Func-Modhead,Func-Modhead,…}• Funcconj{Func-Spechead,Func-Spechead,…}• Funcconj{Func-Spechead,Func-Spechead,…}

Conjunction Examples

• (the<and<manhead,womanhead>>)

• (and(the<man>head,the<woman>head))

• (the<and{red,white}<flag>head>)

• (the<and{quickly,quietly}{flying}<bird>head>)

• (and{this,that}<occasion>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<T1>obj

• boy <boy>

• the<T1>obj + <boy > (the<boy>)

• likes likes(O1,O2)prop

• likes(O1,O2) prop + (the<boy>) likes(the<boy>,O2)

prop

• the the<T2> obj

• girl <girl>

• the<T2> obj + <girl> (the<girl>)

• likes(the<boy>,O2) prop + (the<girl>)

[likes(the<boy>,the<girl>)]

Processing an Object Desc• the the<T1> obj

• black black<Ta>term

• robed <robed<T2>term

• black<Ta>term + robed<T2>term black{F1}func + robed<T2>term

• black{F1}func + robed<T2>term black{robed}<T2>term

• judge <judge>• black{robed}<T2>term + <judge>

<black{robed}<judge>>• the<T1>obj + <black{robed}<judge>>

(the<black{robed}<judge>>)

Processing a Prop Desc

• he (he)• is is{PR1}• a a<T1> obj

• man <man>• a<T1> obj + <man> (a<man>)• is{PR1} + (a<man>)

is{(a<man>)pred}(O1) prop

• is{(a<man>)pred}(O1) prop + (he) is{(a<man>)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)]