Some topological properties of paraconsistent models

In this work, we investigate the relationship between paraconsistent semantics and some well-known topological spaces such as connected and continuous spaces. We also discuss homotopies as truth preserving operations in paraconsistent topological models.     

Formal models of language learning

Research is reviewed that addresses itself to human language learning by developing precise, mechanistic models that are capable in principle of acquiring languages on the basis of exposure to linguistic data. Such research includes theorems on language learnability from mathematical linguistics, computer models of language acquisition from cognitive simulation and artificial intelligence, and models of transformational grammar acquisition from theoretical linguistics. It is argued that such research bears strongly on major issues in developmental psycholinguistics, in particular, nativism and empiricism, the role of semantics and pragmatics in language learning, cognitive development, and the importance of the simplified speech addressed to children.     

Memory models and language comprehension

Abstract.— A schematic model for storage of meaningful verbal material is outlined. Storage of words and meaningful symbols is assumed to be separate. Accordingly it is argued that transformational grammar may be in error, and that the recent distinction between thinking in words versus thinking in imagery may be spurious. Since symbols carrying meaning must be isomorphs of real states, the distinction between abstract and concrete cognition can scarcely be upheld. Cognition, even in its conceptual forms, is seen to be always concrete. The dimensions of word storage are thought to be phonological. A preliminary analysis proceeding by using phonetical molecules results in regarding the distinction between inflectional and agglutinating languages as a purely phonological feature, and an explanation is offered as to the different probabilities of word-form change within different languages.     

Using mathematical models of language experimentally

Understanding developmental and evolutionary aspects of the language faculty requires comparing adult languages users' abilities with those of non-verbal subjects, such as babies and non-human animals. Classically, comparative work in this area has relied on the rich theoretical frameworks developed by linguists in the generative grammar tradition. However, the great variety of generative theories and the fact that they are models of language specifically makes it difficult to know what to test in animals and children lacking the expressive abilities of normal, mature adults. We suggest that this problem can be mitigated by tapping equally rich, but more formal mathematical approaches to language.     

Probabilistic models of language processing and acquisition

Probabilistic methods are providing new explanatory approaches to fundamental cognitive science questions of how humans structure, process and acquire language. This review examines probabilistic models defined over traditional symbolic structures. Language comprehension and production involve probabilistic inference in such models; and acquisition involves choosing the best model, given innate constraints and linguistic and other input. Probabilistic models can account for the learning and processing of language, while maintaining the sophistication of symbolic models. A recent burgeoning of theoretical developments and online corpus creation has enabled large models to be tested, revealing probabilistic constraints in processing, undermining acquisition arguments based on a perceived poverty of the stimulus, and suggesting fruitful links with probabilistic theories of categorization and ambiguity resolution in perception.     

Man-Machine interaction in natural language: Computational models of dialogue

This article presents a state-of-the-art review of studies on computational modeling of dialogue. Particular attention is given to the treatment of ill-formed input, the prevention of the hearer’s misconceptions, the inference of the speaker’s plans, the generation of language, and the recognition of dialogue focus—particularly in terms of implications for linguistics. Specifications and initial results of some recent studies carried out by the author are provided. This article is a revised version of a lecture held at the Third Scientific Meeting “Computer Processing of Linguistic Data,” Bled, 1985.     

Hyperalgebraic primitive elements for relational algebraic and topological algebraic models

Using nonstandard methods, we generalize the notion of an algebraic primitive element to that of an hyperalgebraic primitive element, and show that under mild restrictions, such elements can be found infinitesimally close to any given element of a topological field.Presented by Robert Goldblatt     

Conceptual models and task representation in using a command language

In most cases, there is no direct correspondence between the objectives that users of an interactive device may be led to formulate and the commands that enable them to attain those objectives. In order to set up what Young (1981) calls a “mapping” between the “task and action arenas”, users must (1) reorganize their objectives in order to adapt them to the capabilities of the device and (2) if necessary, combine several commands to reach a given objective. In doing so, they are assumed to rely on a “conceptual model” of the device, a notion whose cognitive status remains to be clarified. In this article, the editing keys of the MS/DOS operating system are taken as an example and described according to two different conceptual models. The links between the task and action arenas, in these two conceptual models and in a third one called the “mixed model”, are analysed in detail. Finally, the performance of three groups of subjects, while editing a line of text, are compared. All three of the dependent variables analysed are shown to vary according to how the objective is assumed to be formulated in the three conceptual models. Some hypotheses are presented concerning the cognitive mechanisms involved in such a situation.     

A context-free language for binary multinomial processing tree models

This paper provides a new formalization for the class of binary multinomial processing tree (BMPT) models, and theorems for the class are developed using the formalism. MPT models are a popular class of information processing models for categorical data in specific cognitive paradigms. They have a recursive structure that is productively described with the tools of formal language and computation theory. We provide an axiomatization that characterizes BMPT models as strings in a context-free language, and then we add model-theoretic axioms and definitions to interpret the strings as parameterized probabilistic models for categorical data. The language for BMPT models is related to the Full Binary Tree language, a well-studied context-free language. Once BMPT models are viewed from the perspective of the Full Binary Tree language, a number of theoretical and computational results can be developed. In particular, we have a number of results concerning the enumerations of BMPT models as well as the identifiability of subclasses of these models.     

Positive feedback in hierarchical connectionist models: Applications to language production

Recent connectionist models of the perception and production of words make use of positive feedback from later to earlier levels of processing. This paper focuses on production and identifies several specific effects of phoneme-tomorpheme feedback. In addition, I argue that there is support for the use of this kind of feedback in production from experimental and naturalistic studies of slips of the tongue.     

The language of worry: Examining linguistic elements of worry models

Despite strong evidence that worry is a verbal process, studies examining linguistic features in individuals with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) are lacking. The aim of the present study is to investigate language use in individuals with GAD and controls based on GAD and worry theoretical models. More specifically, the degree to which linguistic elements of the avoidance and intolerance of uncertainty worry models can predict diagnostic status was analysed. Participants were 19 women diagnosed with GAD and 22 control women and their children. After participating in a diagnostic semi-structured interview, dyads engaged in a free-play interaction where mothers' language sample was collected. Overall, the findings provided evidence for distinctive linguistic features of individuals with GAD. That is, after controlling for the effect of demographic variables, present tense, future tense, prepositions and number of questions correctly classified those with GAD and controls such that a considerable amount of the variance in diagnostic status was explained uniquely by language use. Linguistic confirmation of worry models is discussed.     

Deficits in lexical and semantic processing: implications for models of normal language

The investigation of language processing following brain damage may be used to constrain models of normal language processing. We review the literature on semantic and lexical processing deficits, focusing on issues of representation of semantic knowledge and the mechanisms of lexical access. The results broadly support a componential organization of lexical knowledge—the semantic component is independent of phonological and orthographic form knowledge, and the latter are independent of each other. Furthermore, the results do not support the hypothesis that word meaning is organized into modality-specific subcomponents. We also discuss converging evidence from functional imaging studies in relation to neuropsychological results.     

Null subjects: a problem for parameter-setting models of language acquisition

Some languages, like English, require overt surface subjects, while others, like Italian and Spanish, allow "null" subjects. How does the young child determine whether or not her language allows null subjects? Modern parameter-setting theory has proposed a solution, in which the child begins acquisition with the null subject parameter set for either the English-like value or the Italian-like value. Incoming data, or the absence thereof, force a resetting of the parameter if the original value was incorrect. This paper argues that the single-value solution cannot work, no matter which value is chosen as the initial one, because of inherent limitations in the child's parser, and because of the presence of misleading input. An alternative dual-value solution is proposed, in which the child begins acquisition with both values available, and uses theory-confirmation procedures to decide which value is best supported by the available data.     

Disentangling the far transfer of language comprehension gains using latent mediation models

While we know that interventions targeting oral language can be effective, little is known about what drives these effects. In this study, we examine whether gains in transfer measures are mediated through the specific words that are trained in a language intervention. Based on a large‐scale randomized controlled trial of language intervention in 4‐ to 5‐year‐old children, latent mediation models were used to disentangle oral language gains in transfer measures. The results first showed that the effects of the language intervention and the transfer effects are generated through expressive rather than receptive measures of language. Second, we found that the effects of the intervention on intermediate transfer measures of language were mediated through the ability to define the trained words. Third, and critically, for far transfer measures that did not contain any of the trained words, the effects were mediated through the trained words. The findings relate to theories of transfer and support the idea that far transfer is possible, at least within the same domain. In addition, it seems that effects on receptive language skills are difficult to obtain and that what is improved is instead the children's ability to express themselves and use procedures to explain words. Thus, to optimize intervention effects, future studies should focus on expressive language.     

Finding common ground: Alternatives to code models for language use

The papers in this special issue offer valuable perspectives on public language activities as they are embedded in cultural and social contexts. The perspectives are diverse in their theoretical perspectives, the issues on which they focus, and the methodologies they use and promote using. They represent language studies from the perspective of ecological psychology, dynamical systems approaches, the Distributed Language Approach, and others. The contributions are, in some cases, revolutionary and dis-equilibrating. Different contributions to the special issue offer critiques of conventional scientific studies of decontextualized language and language processing, and offer new perspectives on such diverse domains as the understanding of agency, the study of reading, educational practice, and understanding how articulatory speech actions can have significance beyond that of the physical actions themselves.