Length, lexicality, and articulatory suppression in immediate recall:evidence against the articulatory loop

Influential models of short-term memory have attributed the fact that short words are recalled better than longer words in serial recall (the length effect) to articulatory rehearsal. Crucial for this link is the finding that the length effect disappears under articulatory suppression. We show, instead, that, under suppression, the length effect is abolished or reversed for real words but remains robust for nonwords. The latter finding is demonstrated in a variety of conditions: with lists of three and four nonwords, with nonwords drawn from closed and open sets, with spoken and written presentation, and with written and spoken output. Our interpretation is that the standard length effect derives from the number of phonological units to be retained. The length effect is abolished or reversed under suppression because this condition encourages reliance on lexical-semantic representations. Using these representations, longer words can more easily be reconstructed from degraded phonology than shorter words. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A corpus-based investigation of junk emails

Almost everyone who has an email account receives from time to time unwanted emails. These emails can be jokes from friends or commercial product offers from unknown people. In this paper we focus on these unwanted messages which try to promote a product or service, or to offer some “hot” business opportunities. These messages are called junk emails. Several methods to filter junk emails were proposed, but none considers the linguistic characteristics of junk emails. In this paper, we investigate the linguistic features of a corpus of junk emails, and try to decide if they constitute a distinct genre. Our corpus of junk emails was build from the messages received by the authors over a period of time. Initially, the corpus consisted of 1563, but after eliminating the duplications automatically we kept only 673 files, totalising just over 373,000 tokens. In order to decide if the junk emails constitute a different genre, a comparison with a corpus of leaflets extracted from BNC and with the whole BNC corpus is carried out. Several characteristics at the lexical and grammatical levels were identified.

Beyond the aspect hypothesis:tense-aspect development in advanced L2 French

The Aspect Hypothesis (AH) claims that the association of any verb category (lexical aspect) with any grammatical aspect (perfective or imperfective) constitutes the endpoint of acquisition. The present book evaluates the explanatory power of the Aspect Hypothesis for the acquisition of French past tenses, which constitutes a serious stumbling block for foreign learners, even at the highest levels of proficiency. The present research applies the Aspect Hypothesis to the production of 61 Anglophone 'advanced learners' in a tutored environment. In so doing, it tests concurrent explanations, including the influence of the input, the influence of chunking, and the hypothesis of cyclic development. It discusses the cotextual and contextual factors that still provoke «non-native glitches» at the final stage of the Aspect Hypothesis. The book shows that the AH fails to account for the complex phenomenon of past tense development, as it adopts a local and linear approach.

The advanced learner variety:the case of French

This volume originates from a workshop entitled 'Revisiting advanced varieties in L2 learning' organized by the editors at Aston University (Birmingham, UK) in June 2006. It consists of a peer-reviewed selection of the best contributions. Many different approaches have been used in the study of advanced learners and their characteristics. Specific areas of language have repeatedly been found to remain problematic even at advanced levels, and much empirical research has been carried out. In particular, areas of grammar such as the tense or agreement systems often pose difficulties, as well as lexical idiosyncrasies such as formulaic sequences, and the discourse/pragmatic constraints operating in French. This volume brings together recent research exploring the advanced learner capabilities in each of those domains, as well as possible explanations for the difficulties they raise for the L2 learner of French. Additionally, one of the areas which has received considerable attention in the French L2 literature on advanced learners, tense and aspect, is also explored from the point of view of French learners of English, to explore any parallels. In presenting this research, the book clarifies the concept of the advanced learner: how does s/he differ from native speakers and why?

Attentional shifting and the role of the dorsal pathway in visual word recognition

A substantial amount of evidence has been collected to propose an exclusive role for the dorsal visual pathway in the control of guided visual search mechanisms, specifically in the preattentive direction of spatial selection [Vidyasagar, T. R. (1999). A neuronal model of attentional spotlight: Parietal guiding the temporal. Brain Research and Reviews, 30, 66-76; Vidyasagar, T. R. (2001). From attentional gating in macaque primary visual cortex to dyslexia in humans. Progress in Brain Research, 134, 297-312]. Moreover, it has been suggested recently that the dorsal visual pathway is specifically involved in the spatial selection and sequencing required for orthographic processing in visual word recognition. In this experiment we manipulate the demands for spatial processing in a word recognition, lexical decision task by presenting target words in a normal spatial configuration, or where the constituent letters of each word are spatially shifted relative to each other. Accurate word recognition in the Shifted-words condition should demand higher spatial encoding requirements, thereby making greater demands on the dorsal visual stream. Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) neuroimaging revealed a high frequency (35-40 Hz) right posterior parietal activation consistent with dorsal stream involvement occurring between 100 and 300 ms post-stimulus onset, and then again at 200-400 ms. Moreover, this signal was stronger in the shifted word condition, compared to the normal word condition. This result provides neurophysiological evidence that the dorsal visual stream may play an important role in visual word recognition and reading. These results further provide a plausible link between early stage theories of reading, and the magnocellular-deficit theory of dyslexia, which characterises many types of reading difficulty. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A statistical method for the identification and aggregation of regional linguistic variation

This paper introduces a method for the analysis of regional linguistic variation. The method identifies individual and common patterns of spatial clustering in a set of linguistic variables measured over a set of locations based on a combination of three statistical techniques: spatial autocorrelation, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. To demonstrate how to apply this method, it is used to analyze regional variation in the values of 40 continuously measured, high-frequency lexical alternation variables in a 26-million-word corpus of letters to the editor representing 206 cities from across the United States.

The role of pragmatics for grammatical change: the case of preverbal non

What is the role of pragmatics in the evolution of grammatical paradigms? It is to maintain marked candidates that may come to be the default expression. This perspective is validated by the Jespersen cycle, where the standard expression of sentential negation is renewed as pragmatically marked negatives achieve default status. How status changes are effected, however, remains to be documented. This is what is achieved in this paper that looks at the evolution of preverbal negative non in Old and Middle French. The negative, which categorically marks pragmatic activation (Dryer 1996) with finite verbs in Old French, loses this value when used with non-finite verbs in Middle French. This process is accompanied by competing semantic reanalyses of the distribution of infinitives negated in this way, and by the co-occurrence with a greater lexical variety of verbs. The absence of pragmatic contribution should lead the marker to take on the role of default, which is already fulfilled by a well-established ne ... pas, pushing non to decline. Hard empirical evidence is thus provided that validates the assumed role of pragmatics in the Jespersen cycle, supporting the general view of pragmatics as supporting alternative candidates that may or may not achieve default status in the evolution of a grammatical paradigm.

Aspects of the learner's dictionary with special reference to advanced Pakistani learners of English

The present work is an empirical investigation into the lq`reference skills' of Pakistani learners and their language needs on semantic, phonetic, lexical and pragmatic levels in the dictionary. The introductory chapter discusses the relatively problematic nature of lexis in comparison with the other aspects in EFL learning and spells out the aim of this study. Chapter two provides an analytical survey of the various types of research undertaken in different contexts of the dictionary and explains the eclectic approach adopted in the present work. Chapter three studies the `reference skills' of this category of learners in the background of highly sophisticated information structure of learners' dictionaries under evaluation and suggests some measures for improvement in this context. Chapter four considers various criteria, eg. pedagogic, linguistic and sociolinguistic for determining the macro-structure of learner's dictionary with a focus on specific Ll speakers. Chapter five is concerned with various aspects of the semantic information provided in the dictionaries matched against the needs of Pakistani learners with regard to both comprehension and production. The type, scale and presentation of grammatical information in the dictionary is analysed in chapter six with the object of discovering their role and utility for the learner. Chapter seven explores the rationale for providing phonological information, the extent to which this guidance is vital and the problems of phonetic symbols employed in the dictionaries. Chapter eight brings into perspective the historical background of English-Urdu bilingual lexicography and evalutes the currently popular bilingual dictionaries among the student community, with the aim of discovering the extent to which they have taken account of the modern tents of lexicography and investigating their validity as a useful reference tool in the learning of English language. The final chapter concludes the findings of individual aspects in a coherent fashion to assess the viability of the original hypothesis that learners' dictionaries if compiled with a specific set of users in mind would be more useful.

Cohesion in text differentiation : a study of English and Arabic

This thesis sets out to investigate the role of cohesion in the organisation and processing of three text types in English and Arabic. In other words, it attempts to shed some light on the descriptive and explanatory power of cohesion in different text typologies. To this effect, three text types, namely, literary fictional narrative, newspaper editorial and science were analysed to ascertain the intra- and inter-sentential trends in textual cohesion characteristic of each text type in each language. In addition, two small scale experiments which aimed at exploring the facilitatory effect of one cohesive device (i.e. lexical repetition) on the comprehension of three English text types by Arab learners were carried out. The first experiment examined this effect in an English science text; the second covered three English text types, i.e. fictional narrative, culturally-oriented and science. Some interesting and significant results have emerged from the textual analysis and the pilot studies. Most importantly, each text type tends to utilize the cohesive trends that are compatible with its readership, reader knowledge, reading style and pedagogical purpose. Whereas fictional narratives largely cohere through pronominal co-reference, editorials and science texts derive much cohesion from lexical repetition. As for cross-language differences English opts for economy in the use of cohesive devices, while Arabic largely coheres through the redundant effect created by the high frequency of most of those devices. Thus, cohesion is proved to be a variable rather than a homogeneous phenomenon which is dictated by text type among other factors. The results of the experiments suggest that lexical repetition does facilitate the comprehension of English texts by Arab learners. Fictional narratives are found to be easier to process and understand than expository texts. Consequently, cohesion can assist in the processing of text as it can in its creation.

Detecting plagiarism in the forensic linguistics turn

This study investigates plagiarism detection, with an application in forensic contexts. Two types of data were collected for the purposes of this study. Data in the form of written texts were obtained from two Portuguese Universities and from a Portuguese newspaper. These data are analysed linguistically to identify instances of verbatim, morpho-syntactical, lexical and discursive overlap. Data in the form of survey were obtained from two higher education institutions in Portugal, and another two in the United Kingdom. These data are analysed using a 2 by 2 between-groups Univariate Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), to reveal cross-cultural divergences in the perceptions of plagiarism. The study discusses the legal and social circumstances that may contribute to adopting a punitive approach to plagiarism, or, conversely, reject the punishment. The research adopts a critical approach to plagiarism detection. On the one hand, it describes the linguistic strategies adopted by plagiarists when borrowing from other sources, and, on the other hand, it discusses the relationship between these instances of plagiarism and the context in which they appear. A focus of this study is whether plagiarism involves an intention to deceive, and, in this case, whether forensic linguistic evidence can provide clues to this intentionality. It also evaluates current computational approaches to plagiarism detection, and identifies strategies that these systems fail to detect. Specifically, a method is proposed to translingual plagiarism. The findings indicate that, although cross-cultural aspects influence the different perceptions of plagiarism, a distinction needs to be made between intentional and unintentional plagiarism. The linguistic analysis demonstrates that linguistic elements can contribute to finding clues for the plagiarist’s intentionality. Furthermore, the findings show that translingual plagiarism can be detected by using the method proposed, and that plagiarism detection software can be improved using existing computer tools.

The development of a new compiler-compiler front-end

The increasing cost of developing complex software systems has created a need for tools which aid software construction. One area in which significant progress has been made is with the so-called Compiler Writing Tools (CWTs); these aim at automated generation of various components of a compiler and hence at expediting the construction of complete programming language translators. A number of CWTs are already in quite general use, but investigation reveals significant drawbacks with current CWTs, such as lex and yacc. The effective use of a CWT typically requires a detailed technical understanding of its operation and involves tedious and error-prone input preparation. Moreover, CWTs such as lex and yacc address only a limited aspect of the compilation process; for example, actions necessary to perform lexical symbol valuation and abstract syntax tree construction must be explicitly coded by the user. This thesis presents a new CWT called CORGI (COmpiler-compiler from Reference Grammar Input) which deals with the entire `front-end' component of a compiler; this includes the provision of necessary data structures and routines to manipulate them, both generated from a single input specification. Compared with earlier CWTs, CORGI has a higher-level and hence more convenient user interface, operating on a specification derived directly from a `reference manual' grammar for the source language. Rather than developing a compiler-compiler from first principles, CORGI has been implemented by building a further shell around two existing compiler construction tools, namely lex and yacc. CORGI has been demonstrated to perform efficiently in realistic tests, both in terms of speed and the effectiveness of its user interface and error-recovery mechanisms.

A unification-based natural language interface to a database.

An implementation of a Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) natural language front-end to a database is presented, and its capabilities demonstrated by reference to a set of queries used in the Chat-80 system. The potential of LFG for such applications is explored. Other grammars previously used for this purpose are briefly reviewed and contrasted with LFG. The basic LFG formalism is fully described, both as to its syntax and semantics, and the deficiencies of the latter for database access application shown. Other current LFG implementations are reviewed and contrasted with the LFG implementation developed here specifically for database access. The implementation described here allows a natural language interface to a specific Prolog database to be produced from a set of grammar rule and lexical specifications in an LFG-like notation. In addition to this the interface system uses a simple database description to compile metadata about the database for later use in planning the execution of queries. Extensions to LFG's semantic component are shown to be necessary to produce a satisfactory functional analysis and semantic output for querying a database. A diverse set of natural language constructs are analysed using LFG and the derivation of Prolog queries from the F-structure output of LFG is illustrated. The functional description produced from LFG is proposed as sufficient for resolving many problems of quantification and attachment.