Argument structure and the representation of abstract semantics

According to the dual coding theory, differences in the ease of retrieval between concrete and abstract words are related to the exclusive dependence of abstract semantics on linguistic information. Argument structure can be considered a measure of the complexity of the linguistic contexts that accompany a verb. If the retrieval of abstract verbs relies more on the linguistic codes they are associated to, we could expect a larger effect of argument structure for the processing of abstract verbs. In this study, sets of length-and frequency-matched verbs including 40 intransitive verbs, 40 transitive verbs taking simple complements, and 40 transitive verbs taking sentential complements were presented in separate lexical and grammatical decision tasks. Half of the verbs were concrete and half were abstract. Similar results were obtained in the two tasks, with significant effects of imageability and transitivity. However, the interaction between these two variables was not significant. These results conflict with hypotheses assuming a stronger reliance of abstract semantics on linguistic codes. In contrast, our data are in line with theories that link the ease of retrieval with availability and robustness of semantic information

Location and locatum verbs revisited: Evidence from aspect and quantification

In this paper we claim that location and locatum verbs are grammatically different, contrary to some recent analyses (Mateu 2001; 2008; Harley 2005). While aspectual tests are known to distinguish both classes, we adduce new evidence from degree quantification tests pointing in the same direction. In particular, location verbs seem to be change-of-state verbs, and locatum verbs behave rather like degree achievements and unergative verbs of variable telicity. We claim that these differences must be accounted for in the syntactic representation of locative verbs. While location verbs involve an abstract bounded path, articulated through the combination of a Path preposition and a Place preposition, locatum verbs involve an abstract predicative preposition that allows for degree quantification of the root and contextually determined (a)telicity

Do Learners use Different Strategies for Learning Concrete vs. Abstract Nouns and Verbs?

It is hardly possible to find a learner of a second language who does not use any vocabulary learning strategies. Students might do it unconsciously. The aim of the study is to investigate the strategies that second language learners use to memorize the meanings of the concrete and abstract nouns and verbs and see if they are different. Twenty-seven participants were recruited for the research. One hour interview was held during which students attempted to memorize new words. The results show that the most commonly used strategies for concrete and abstract nouns and verbs were simple word rehearsal, writing of a word and/or its meaning, sound link, cumulative rehearsal, mnemonic use. According to results of the final test nouns had advantage over verbs within concrete category. No other significant differences were found. As for the strategy choice, the research showed that there is no significant difference in the use of strategies between such categories as concrete nouns, concrete verbs, abstract nouns, and abstract verbs. Only abstract verbs seem to stimulate deeper processing which results in the use of more strategies

An Annotation Scheme for Reichenbach's Verbal Tense Structure

In this paper we present RTMML, a markup language for the tenses of verbs and temporal relations between verbs. There is a richness to tense in language that is not fully captured by existing temporal annotation schemata. Following Reichenbach we present an analysis of tense in terms of abstract time points, with the aim of supporting automated processing of tense and temporal relations in language. This allows for precise reasoning about tense in documents, and the deduction of temporal relations between the times and verbal events in a discourse. We define the syntax of RTMML, and demonstrate the markup in a range of situations

Rapid learning of an abstract language-specific category: Polish children's acquisition of the instrumental construction

Rapid acquisition of linguistic categories or constructions is sometimes regarded as evidence of innate knowledge. In this paper, we examine Polish children's early understanding of an idiosyncratic, language-specific construction involving the instrumental case – which could not be due to innate knowledge. Thirty Polish-speaking children aged 2 ; 6 and 3 ; 2 participated in a elicited production experiment with novel verbs that were demonstrated as taking nouns in the instrumental case as patients. Children heard the verbs in sentences with either masculine or feminine nouns (which take different endings in the instrumental case), and were tested with new nouns of the same and of the opposite gender. In both age groups, a substantial majority of children succeeded in generalizing from one gendered form of the instrumental case to the other (especially to the masculine), thus indicating that they have some kind of abstract understanding of the instrumental case in this construction. This relatively early abstract knowledge of an idiosyncratic construction casts doubt on the view that early acquisition requires innate linguistic knowledge

Grounding Abstract Concepts in Action

Sensory-motor information is linguistically encoded by action verbs. Such verbs are not only used to express action concepts and events, but they are also pervasively exploited in the linguistic representation of abstract concepts and figurative meanings. In the light of several theoretical approaches (i.e., Embodied Theories, Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Image Schema Theory), this paper analyzes the mechanisms that enable action verbs to acquire abstract meanings and that motivate the symmetries (or asymmetries) in the semantic variations of locally equivalent verbs (e.g., premere and spingere; Eng., to press and to push). The research is carried out within the IMAGACT framework and focuses on a set of four Italian action verbs encoding force (i.e., premere, spingere, tirare, and trascinare; Eng., to press, to push, to pull, and to drag). The results confirm that metaphorical extensions of action verbs are constrained by the image schemas involved in the core meaning of the verbs. Additionally, the paper shows that these image schemas are responsible for the asymmetries in the metaphorical variation of action verbs pertaining to the same semantic class (i.e., force)

Le rôle du verbe dans le réseau dérivationnel des prédicats nominaux

The paper focuses on the category of verb and more specifically on support verbs which form compound predicates with abstract nouns. We discuss various functions of verbs within the language system and the role of the support verb in compound predicative expressions. We observe numerous cases where different verbs may co-occur with one and the same abstract noun. The substitution of one support verb for another partially or totally changes the meaning of the whole compound predicative expression. Analysis of such cases may be useful for studying different meanings of nouns

Levels of Abstractness in Semantic Noun and Verb Processing:The Role of Sensory‑Perceptual and Sensory‑Motor Information

Effects of concreteness and grammatical class on lexical-semantic processing are well-documented, but the role of sensory-perceptual and sensory-motor features of concepts in underlying mechanisms producing these effects is relatively unknown. We hypothesized that processing dissimilarities in accuracy and response time performance in nouns versus verbs, concrete versus abstract words, and their interaction can be explained by differences in semantic weight—the combined amount of sensory-perceptual and sensory-motor information to conceptual representations—across those grammatical and semantic categories. We assessed performance on concrete and abstract subcategories of nouns and verbs with a semantic similarity judgment task. Results showed that when main effects of concreteness and grammatical class were analyzed in more detail, the grammatical-class effect, in which nouns are processed more accurately and quicker than verbs, was only present for concrete words, not for their abstract counterparts. Moreover, the concreteness effect, measured at different levels of abstract words, was present for both nouns and verbs, but it was less pronounced for verbs. The results do not support the grammatical-class hypothesis, in which nouns and verbs are separately organized, and instead provide evidence in favor of a unitary semantic space, in which lexical-semantic processing is influenced by the beneficial effect of sensory-perceptual and sensory-motor information of concepts

Language impairments in ALS/MND (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Motor Neuron Disease)

Paolo Bongioanni §, Giancarlo Buoiano C§, Marzia Magoni § § Neuroscience Dpt., Univ. Of Pisa, Italy c Corresponding author: Giancarlo Buoiano Via del Morello 8 Bargecchia I-55040 Corsanico (LU) email: [email protected] Language impairments in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Motor Neuron Disease (ALS/MND) Abstract We review 6 papers on Motor Neuron Disease (MND) and language impairments. ALS/MND (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/MND) is an wide-ranging term used to cover several derangements of the motor neurons. ALS/MND brings to progressive degeneration of the motor neurons. The motor neurons control the muscles that consent us to move and act. Until some years ago, ALS/MND was thought not to affect language and higher-order cognitive functions, but at present it is acknowledged that about 3-5% of patients affected by ALS/MND show cognitive impairments. Up to date, it is not possible to establish whether this subgroup is affected by ALS/MND and Fronto-Temporal Dementia (FTD) or FTD/Aphasia syndrome or whether FTD/aphasia syndrome can be, in some cases, a consequence of ALS/MND. Furthermore, it is not clear whether MND/FTD syndrome brings to language breakdown or whether MND/Aphasia can be considered a self-standing syndrome. Lexical category-specific impairments affect more often than not verbs, while nouns appear to be by some means preserved. The verbs deficit is remarkable because it can place a new light on the link between actions, verbal and cognitive imagery, and ideomotor praxis. Language impairments detected in ALS/MND point largely to frontal and frontostriatal damages. Actually functional neuroimaging studies show reduced frontal activation. Alterations in Broca’s area, DorsoLateral PreFrontal Cortex (DLPFC) and fronto-striatal circuit have been all reported in ALS/MND: several functional studies link Broca’s area to syntactic processing and DLPFC to verbs production as well as language Short Term Memory (STM). A basic issue is the link between action and verbs and, as a result, between action syntax and speech syntax. This connection would be involved in the origin of language: it would be evolved passing from action to speech syntax. According to our point of view, verbs are pivotal in this system. In short, when actions are missing, verbs, ideomotor praxis and their neurocorrelates would deteriorate. A longitudinal study on the effect of massive motor derangement on the verb degeneration is at present carried out by our research group, so to date this is a working hypothesis waiting for further evidence. Keywords: ALS/MND, syntax, verbs, action, fronto-striatal circuit