Download - PSY 369: Psycholinguistics
PSY 369: Psycholinguistics
Language Comprehension:Discourse
Homework 3 (Due in 1 week) Try to be vigilant for four or five days in noting speech
errors made by yourself and others. Write each slip down (carry a small notebook and pencil with you). Then, when you have accumulated a reasonably size sample (aim for 20 to 30, but don't panic if you don't get that many), try to classify each slip in terms of
the unit(s) involved the type of error
Remember that each error may be interpreted in different ways. For some of them, see if you can come up with more than one possibility.
Read story aloud
Discourse Psycholinguistics How we resolve/understand sentences against the
current discourse representation What is discourse?
Units of analysis larger than a sentence
Local Structure (microstructure): The relationship between individual sentences
Coherence Cohesion
Global Structure (macrostructure): The relationship between the sentences and our
knowledge of the world
Characteristics of Discourse Global Structure (macrostructure):
Jill bought a new sweater. Sweater are sometimes made of wool. Wool production gives some farmers a good livelihood. Farming is a high-risk business. On the news last night, I saw a group of business executives discussing recent trends in the stock market.
The relationship between the sentences and our knowledge of the world
Characteristics of Discourse Global Structure (macrostructure):
Jill bought a new sweater. Sweater are sometimes made of wool. Wool production gives some farmers a good livelihood. Farming is a high-risk business. On the news last night, I saw a group of business executives discussing recent trends in the stock market.
Okay local structure, but each sentence isn’t relevant to an overall topic of discourse
Characteristics of Discourse Global Structure (macrostructure):
Schemas & Scripts General knowledge structures for common social
situations Genres
Narrative structure Story grammars - extension of idea of grammatical
rules, specify the organization of a story Expository structure
Different structures
Effects of world knowledge
Rocky slowly got up from the mat, planning his escape. He hesitated a moment and thought. Things were not going well. What bothered him most was being held, especially since the charges against him had been weak. He considered his present situation. The lock that held him was strong but he thought he could break it. He knew, however, that his timing would have to be perfect.
Prison escape OR Wrestling match
Effects of world knowledge Bartlett (1932)
Read native American folk tale Write down everything that you can
remember from that story that I read earlier Bartlett had them recall after a longer
periods of time (between 15 mins. Up to 10 years later)
Effects of world knowledge Bartlett (1932)
Schema Mental structures of how the world works,
acquired through experience A whole package of information used to facilitate
comprehension of discourse, as well as to guide recall (and reconstruction)
Participants’ memories changed to fit their existing beliefs (reconstructive memories)
Added new details Changed details Deleted details
Effects of world knowledge Invernizzi& Abouzeid (1995)
Read two European tales 2 audiences
European North American children Ponam children (New Guinea)
Effects of world knowledge Invernizzi& Abouzeid (1995)
Retelling of boy who cried wolf Ponam children (New Guinea)
Once upon a time Kalai and his family they lived on an island. Kalai’s mother always carried him everywhere. One day Kalai’s mother and father went out fishing. Kalai’s mother said, “Kalai, you are too small to go out fishing in the sea. You should stay home with your grandfather.” Kalai was lonely on the beach. Kalai said, “How could I get my family home?” He sat down and decided to get his family home. He got his red laplap and ran down to the beach and waved his laplap to his family and said, “Fire, fire.” His brother saw his laplap and went home. When they arrived they saw nothing.
Effects of world knowledge Invernizzi& Abouzeid (1995)
Retelling of boy who cried wolf European North American children
Kalai was running up and down the beach yelling “Fire, fire.” Everybody came home. The next day the same thing happened. They came home. The next day came, but the house caught on fire. He ran up and down the beach, but nobody came. Kalai kept waving the flag. Nobody came. Suddenly they saw the flames and the smoke and they came, but it was too late. Everything had burnt down to the ground, and his brother told him if he kept telling lies that nobody will come when you call for help.
Effects of world knowledge Invernizzi& Abouzeid (1995)
Impact of different schemata European North American children
Setting, precipitating events, goal reaching aspects, story resolutions
Ponam children (New Guinea) Recalled factual detail about settings, events, and
outcomes, but leaving out things like consequence, resolution, moral (generally seemed to miss the point)
Effects of world knowledge Scripts
Generic story of situations
Go inside
Go to table
Sit down
Scene 1: Enter Scene 2: Order
Get menu
Read menu
Choose food
Give order
Scene 3: Eat
Get food
Eat food
Scene 4: Pay
Ask for check
Received check
Tip waiter
Pay check
Exit
Restaurant Script
Effects of world knowledge What happened to semantic networks?
One explanation Some representations get so strongly
associated that they get activated as an entire unit
Effects of Genre Not all kinds of discourse follow the same
structure Different effects, purposes, etc.
Expository discourse Convey info about a subject (e.g., textbook, lecture)
Narrative discourse Tell a story: Introduce characters & settings, establish
a goal, etc. APA style Newspaper articles
Expository Structure Reading texts, listening to lectures, etc.
Organized with different relationships (but can still draw a tree structure)
Relationships Collection - ideas or events related on the basis of some commonality Causation - ideas are joined causally so that one idea is identified as
the antecedent and another as the consequence Response - ideas are joined in a problem/solution or question/answer
relationship Comparison - ideas are related by pointing out similarities and
differences Description - general ideas are explained by giving attributes or other
specific details
Narrative structure
Once there was a woman. She saw a tiger’s cave. She wanted a tiger’s whisker. She put food in front of the cave. The tiger came out. She pulled out a whisker.
The story has a structure, a story grammar
Narrative structure Story grammar - can depict with a tree structure
Story
Setting Episode
Event Reaction
Goal Overt Response
Action Consequence
Event Event
Once there was a woman.
She saw a tiger’s cave.
She wanted a tiger’s whisker.
She put food in front of the cave.
The tiger came out. She pulled out a whisker.
Narrative structureThorndyke (1977) Level effect Read more
slowly but are better remembered.
She wanted a tiger’s whisker.
The tiger came out.
High hierarchy statements Lower in the hierarchy.
Comprehensibility and recall were tied to inherent plot structure, independent of passage content
Characteristics of Discourse
Test to see if structure effects whether inferences are made
Task: Think aloud task Read through the story aloud (one sentence at a time) and
talk aloud about their understanding of that sentence
Trabasso & Suh (1993)
Trabasso & Suh (1993)
Sequential version
Once there was a girl named Betty.One day, Betty found that her mother’s birthday was coming soon.Betty really wanted to give her mother a present.Betty went to the department store.
Betty found a pretty purse.Betty bought the purse.Her mother was very happy.
Several days later, Betty saw her friend knitting.Betty was good at knitting.Betty decided to knit a sweater.Betty selected a pattern from a magazine.Betty followed the instructions in the article.Finally, Betty finished a beautiful sweater.Betty pressed the sweater.Betty folded the sweater carefully.
Betty put it in the closet for the next time she was going out.Berry was very happy.
Betty found that everything was too expensive.Betty could not buy anything.Betty felt sorry.
Betty gave the sweater to her mother.Her mother was excited when she saw the present.
Hierarchical version
How does this sentence connect up with the rest of the story?
Trabasso & Suh (1993)
Hierarchical version
Betty was good at knitting.Betty decided to knit a sweater.Betty selected a pattern from a magazine.Betty followed the instructions in the article.Finally, Betty finished a beautiful sweater.Betty pressed the sweater.Betty folded the sweater carefully.Betty gave the sweater to her mother.Her mother was excited when she saw the
present.
SGAAOAAOR
SE
GAOORE
S = SettingE = EventR = ReactionG = GoalO = Overt ResponseA = Action
Once there was a girl named Betty.One day, Betty found that her mother’s birthday
was coming soon.Betty really wanted to give her mother a present.Betty went to the department store.Betty found that everything was too expensive.Betty could not buy anything.Betty felt sorry.Several days later, Betty saw her friend knitting.
Trabasso & Suh (1993)
Once there was a girl named Betty.One day, Betty found that her mother’s birthday
was coming soon.Betty really wanted to give her mother a present.Betty went to the department store.Betty found that everything was too expensive.Betty could not buy anything.Betty felt sorry.Several days later, Betty saw her friend knitting.
Hierarchical version
Betty was good at knitting.Betty decided to knit a sweater.Betty selected a pattern from a magazine.Betty followed the instructions in the article.Finally, Betty finished a beautiful sweater.Betty pressed the sweater.Betty folded the sweater carefully.Betty gave the sweater to her mother.Her mother was excited when she saw the
present.
S E G A O O R
E
SGAAOAAOR
S G A A O
A A O R
SE
GAOORE
Is a superordinate goal that motivates the subgoal of the next episode
Trabasso & Suh (1993)
Once there was a girl named Betty.One day, Betty found that her mother’s birthday
was coming soon.Betty really wanted to give her mother a present.Betty went to the department store.Betty found a pretty purse.Betty bought the purse.Her mother was very happy.Several days later, Betty saw her friend knitting.
Sequential version
Betty was good at knitting.Betty decided to knit a sweater.Betty selected a pattern from a magazine.Betty followed the instructions in the article.Finally, Betty finished a beautiful sweater.Betty pressed the sweater.Betty folded the sweater carefully.Betty put it in the closet for the next time she
was going out.Berry was very happy.
SGAAOAAO
R
SE
GAOORE
S E G A O O R
E S G A A O A A O
The goal is already filled, so not related to the subgoal of the next episode
Trabasso & Suh (1993)
Results
In a think aloud task participants mentioned the superordinate
goal in the hierarchical condition but not the sequential condition
Story grammar structure matters Strongly support the hypothesis that readers do make
global causal connections during reading.
Discourse in memory
Evidence supports the psychological reality of a number of different representations Propositions Semantic (propositional) networks Inferences Schemata and scripts Situation models
Discourse in memory Kintsch’s model
The Construction-Integration Model Discourse occurs in a series of cycles
As each sentence comes in it gets integrated into the discourse
In each cycle Construction phase - activate relevant concepts Integration phase - keep only the most relevant
elaborations Multiple levels of representation formed
Surface form, textbase (propositional), situation model
Discourse in memory Kintsch and colleagues (1990)
Jack scanned the newspaper.Jack looked through the newspaper.Jack looked through the movie ads.Jack looked over some editorials.
It was Friday night and Jack and Melissa were bored, so they decided to catch a movie. Jack scanned the newspaper. He saw that they could just make the nine o’clock showing of the hot new romantic comedy. Off they went. Did this sentence occur in the paragraph?Read before
Discourse in memory Kintsch’s model
Jack scanned the newspaper.
Jackscanned the newspaper
S
N VP
NPV
Surface form
Jackscanned the newspaper
S
N VP
NPV
Surface form
Discourse in memory Kintsch’s model
Jack scanned the newspaper.
Textbase
Examine
Jack Newspaper
Jackscanned the newspaper
S
N VP
NPV
Surface form
Discourse in memory Kintsch’s model
Jack scanned the newspaper.
Textbase
Examine
Jack Newspaper
Situational Model
Discourse in memory Kintsch and colleagues (1990)
Jack scanned the newspaper.Jack looked through the newspaper.Jack looked through the movie ads.Jack looked over some editorials.
It was Friday night and Jack and Melissa were bored, so they decided to catch a movie. Jack scanned the newspaper. He saw that they could just make the nine o’clock showing of the hot new romantic comedy. Off they went. Did this sentence occur in the paragraph?Read before
Evidence for surface form
Similar meaning
If Better memory here
Discourse in memory Kintsch and colleagues (1990)
Jack scanned the newspaper.Jack looked through the newspaper.Jack looked through the movie ads.Jack looked over some editorials.
It was Friday night and Jack and Melissa were bored, so they decided to catch a movie. Jack scanned the newspaper. He saw that they could just make the nine o’clock showing of the hot new romantic comedy. Off they went. Did this sentence occur in the paragraph?Read before
Evidence for Strong textbase
If Better memory hereAdds inference
Infers which section did he scan.
Discourse in memory Kintch and colleagues (1990)
Jack scanned the newspaper.Jack looked through the newspaper.Jack looked through the movie ads.Jack looked over some editorials.
It was Friday night and Jack and Melissa were bored, so they decided to catch a movie. Jack scanned the newspaper. He saw that they could just make the nine o’clock showing of the hot new romantic comedy. Off they went. Did this sentence occur in the paragraph?
Evidence for Strong situation model
inconsistent
If Better memory here
consistent
Consistent with situation model.
Discourse in memory Kintch and colleagues (1990)
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Delay
Trace strength
SituationalmodelTextbase
Surface form
Summary Discourse processing is both complex and
flexible Multiple representations Processing depends on context