Distributional determinants of learning argument structure constructions in first and second language

Yevgen Matusevych, Afra Alishahi, Ad Backus

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Learning argument structure constructions is believed to depend on input properties. In particular, in a cued production task, verb production within each construction has been shown to depend on three input factors: frequency of a verb in a construction, contingency of verb–construction mapping, and verb semantic prototypicality. Earlier studies have estimated these values from a language corpus, without accounting for variation in the input to individual learners. We use a computational model to control for such variation, and our results replicate those reported for human learners. The second issue that we address relates to different ways of representing constructions: while the earlier studies employ form-only representations, we run an additional analysis for form–meaning representations. Again, the results show the impact of all three input properties on the verb production, but their relative impact depends on the representations used.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 37th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society
EditorsDavid C Noelle, Rick Dale, Anne S Warlaumont, Jeff Yoshimi, Teenie Matlock, Carolyn D Jennings, Paul P Maglio
Place of PublicationAustin, TX
PublisherCognitive Science Society
Pages1547–1552
Number of pages6
Publication statusPublished - 2015
EventCogSci 2015 - Pasadena, United States
Duration: 23 Jul 201525 Jul 2015

Conference

ConferenceCogSci 2015
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityPasadena
Period23/07/1525/07/15

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