110 research outputs found
sj-pdf-1-qjp-10.1177_17470218231157268 – Supplemental material for The production of referring expressions is influenced by the likelihood of next mention
No full textSupplemental material, sj-pdf-1-qjp-10.1177_17470218231157268 for The production of referring expressions is influenced by the likelihood of next mention by Oliver Bott and Torgrim Solstad in Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology</p
Cataphoric presuppositions: The case of occasion verbs
No full textSolstad T, Bott O. Cataphoric presuppositions: The case of occasion verbs. Presented at the Semantics and Linguistic Theory, Mexico City, Mexico
Towards a model of predictive processing of Implicit Causality
No full textBott O, Solstad T. Towards a model of predictive processing of Implicit Causality. Presented at the LingCologne 2023: Prediction in Language, Köln.# Towards a model of predictive processing of Implicit Causality
Implicit Causality (IC) verbs constitute a central topic in research on prediction in natural language processing. Selecting for two animate arguments, IC verbs display a strong preference for an explanation focusing on one argument:
(1) **Mary** fascinated John because … **she** was very clever. *fascinate*: subject bias
(2) Mary congratulated **John** because … **he** won the competition. *congratulate*: object bias
The predictive nature of IC is still insufficiently understood, however, as witnessed by the recurring debate on integration vs. focusing/prediction. Key questions include: **What is predicted?** A referent, a particular realization of the referent (*she/Mary*) or a type of explanation [1; 10]? Furthermore, **what triggers the prediction**: lexical semantics or world knowledge [2; 8; 10]? And finally, **what is the processing profile** of IC [3]?
Based on a formal theory of IC [1; 10], results from experimental research [3; 5; 9] and recent models of predictive processing [6; 7], we propose a comprehensive framework for the processing of IC. Crucially, we consider in detail the relation between the nature of what is predicted (the *predictee* [8]) and the properties of particular linguistic expressions such as pronouns that may be taken to (in)validate predictions. Based on previous research, we also evaluate the range of top-down and bottom-up processes: Which linguistic levels are involved and how do they interact? Our study shows that a closer investigation of the relation between predictees and (in)validators of predictions in general may contribute towards a better understanding of – and potentially more precise models of – language-based prediction.
## References
1. Bott, Oliver and Torgrim Solstad (2014): "From verbs to discourse – a novel account of implicit causality". In B. Hemforth, B. Mertins, & C. Fabricius-Hansen (Eds.), *Psycholinguistic approaches to meaning and understanding across languages*, 213–251. Springer.
2. Marcelle Crinean and Alan Garnham (2006): Implicit causality, implicit consequentiality and semantic roles. *Language and Cognitive Processes* **21**(5), 636–648.
3. Alan Garnham, Scarlett Child, and Sam Hutton (2020): Anticipating causes and consequences. *Journal of Memory and Language* **114**, Article 104130.
4. Kamide, Yuki (2008): Anticipatory processes in sentence processing. *Language and Linguistics Compass* **2**(4), 647–670.
5. Koornneef, Arnout W., & Joost van Berkum (2006): On the use of verb-based implicit causality in sentence comprehension: Evidence from self-paced reading and eye tracking. *Journal of Memory and Language* **54**(4), 445–465.
6. Kuperberg, Gina and Florian T. Jaeger (2016): What do we mean by prediction in language comprehension? *Language, Cognition and Neuroscience* **31**(1), 32–59.
7. Pickering, Martin J. and Chiara Gambi (2018): Predicting while comprehending language: A theory and review. *Psychological Bulletin* **144**(10), 1002–1044.
8. Pickering, Martin J. and Asifa Majid (2007): What are implicit causality and consequentiality? *Language and Cognitive Processes* **22**(5), 780–788.
9. Pyykkönen, Pirita and Juhani Järvikivi (2010): Activation and persistence of implicit causality information in spoken language comprehension. *Experimental Psychology* **57**(1), 5–16.
10. Solstad, Torgrim and Oliver Bott (2022): On the nature of implicit causality and consequentiality: the case of psychological verbs. *Language, Cognition and Neuroscience* **37**(10), 1311–134
Lexikalische Semantik im Kontext. Die Spezifikation kausaler Relationen am Beispiel von 'durch'
No full textSolstad T. Lexikalische Semantik im Kontext. Die Spezifikation kausaler Relationen am Beispiel von 'durch'. Studien zur deutschen Grammatik. Vol 91. Tübingen: Stauffenburg; 2016.Die vorliegende Untersuchung will zeigen, wie durch das Studium von lexikalischer Mehrdeutigkeit sowohl die lexikalische Semantik wie auch die Kerndisziplinen der Sprachwissenschaft voneinander profitieren können. So wird einerseits betont, dass die präzise Erfassung lexikalisch-semantischer Eigenschaften eine theoretisch fundierte Annäherung nach dem Kompositionalitätsprinzip voraussetzt. Andererseits wird gezeigt, wie die genauere Analyse der syntaktischen, semantischen und pragmatischen Eigenschaften lexikalischer Einheiten wichtige Erkenntnisse für die Theoriebildung in der Sprachwissenschaft liefern können. Den Kern der empirischen Untersuchung bildet eine umfassende Korpusstudie der Verwendungen der Präposition *durch* mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der im weiteren Sinne kausalen Interpretationsvarianten.
Auf der Grundlage dieser Empirie bietet die Arbeit zudem methodologische Neuerungen in Bezug auf die Feststellung von Bedeutungsvarianten und Bedeutungsstruktur, die jenseits des Studiums von Präpositionen von Interesse sein dürften
Expectations in language processing and production: an introduction to the special issue
No full textSolstad T, Daskalaki E, Järvikivi J. Expectations in language processing and production: an introduction to the special issue. Linguistics. 2021;59(2):319–331
Abductive inferences in causal discourse: Evidence from eyetracking during reading
No full textBott O, Solstad T. Abductive inferences in causal discourse: Evidence from eyetracking during reading. Presented at the Experiments in Linguistic Meaning (ELM) 3, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
A Festschrift for Kjell Johan Sæbø : in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the celebration of his 50th birthday
No full textThe festschrift contains contributions from the following authors: Bergljot Behrens, Reinhard Blutner, Pål Kristian Eriksen, Cathrine Fabricius-Hansen, Jens Erik Fenstad, Atle Grønn, Janne Bondi Johannessen, Sveta Krasikova, Jan Tore Lønning, Doris Penka, Wiebke Ramm, Torgrim Solstad, Arnim von Stechow, Ingebjørg Tonne, Eirik Welo, Henk Zeevat and Thomas Ede Zimmerman
Post-nominal genitives and prepositional phrases inGerman: A uniform analysis
No full textSolstad T. Post-nominal genitives and prepositional phrases inGerman: A uniform analysis. In: Alexiadou A, Rathert M, eds. The Syntax of Nominalizations across Languages and Frameworks. Interface Explorations. Vol 23. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter Mouton; 2010: 219-252
Disambiguation and reambiguation
Full text linkThe papers in this volume developed as part of the two projects "The Role of Lexical Information in the Context of Word-formation, Sentence and Discourse" and the project "Representation of Ambiguities and their Resolution in Context". In the former, a theory of "-ung"-nominalisation in German has been developed. The two papers presented in this volume focus on the second part of the joint enterprise of the two projects, namely on disambiguation of "-ung"-nouns in context. Hamm and Kamp study a proto-typical example, "die Absperrung der Botschaft" "the cordoning-off of the embassy", which is three-way ambiguous. This DP can denote a material object (the fence used for cordoning-off), an event (the process of cordoning-off) or a result state (the embassy being cordoned off). Formally, this three-way ambiguity is represented by an underspecified DRS. The paper contributes a partial answer to the general question which contextual factors are responsible for the (partial) disambiguation of this DP in discourse. The disambiguation process is described on the level of DRT.
Building on the results in the first paper, the second paper by Hamm and Solstad focuses on problems that arise in anaphora resolution of pronouns with ambiguous nouns like "die Absperrung der Botschaft" as antecedent. What happens if the selection restriction of the verb in the antecedent sentence and that of the consequent sentence are incompatible? This situation is exemplified in (1):
(1) Die Absperrung der Botschaft wurde vorgestern von Demonstranten behindert. Wegen anhaltender Unruhen wird SIE auch heute aufrecht erhalten.
"The cordoning-off of the embassy was hampered by protesters the day before yesterday. Due to continuing unrest, it [the state of being cordoned off] is sustained today as well."
"Behindern" "to hamper" filters out both the entity-reading and the result state reading of "Absperrung", but the verb "aufrecht erhalten" "to sustain" requires the result state as its argument. Thus, in order for the anaphoric pronoun 'sie' to be resolved successfully, the first sentence should provide a result state which, however, is not available, if the result state reading has been erased.
Hamm and Solstad show that the required result state can be reconstructed - even under the assumption that "behindern" erases the result state reading of the first sentence in (1). This is achieved in a process of "reambiguation". Reambiguation involves a non-monotonic inference process. The question arise what triggers this process and what its restrictions are. Hamm and Solstad provide formally precise answers to these questions. Again a combination of UDRT and the event calculus provide the framework where these puzzles can be solved
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