PM—Propositional Model

1. PM—Propositional Model A Computational Psycholinguistic Model of Language Comprehension Based on a Relational Analysis of Written English Jerry T. Ball, PhD www.DoubleRTheory.com Email: Jerry@DoubleRTheory.com

2. PM Overview • Introduction • Historical & Theoretical Basis • The Representation of Propositional Descriptions • The Representation of Object Descriptions • The Processing of Propositional and Object Descriptions • Summary

3. Real World Mental Box Repn of Related Ling Expressions sense Repn of Ling Expression Linguistic Expression Linguistic sense Nonlinguistic reference Repn of Prototype Repn of Instance Object, State Or Event sense Repn of Exemplar

4. |obj is hitting the books| |obj hit the nail on the head| |I hit obj| |I hit the term| |he is hitting obj| |obj likes to hit obj| |obj hit obj| |subj hit obj| |hitter hit hittee| |agent hit patient| |subj verb obj| |obj pred obj| |subj predicate| |agent pred patient| |sentence| |proposition|

5. Linguistic Influences • Cognitive Linguistics (Langacker; Lakoff) • Semantics & Cognition (Jackendoff) • Traditional Grammar (Jespersen; Quirk et. al) • Case Grammar (Fillmore) • Valency Grammar (Somers) • Functional Grammar (Dik) • TG & GB Theory (Chomsky)

6. Psychological Influences • ACT-R (Anderson) • Construction-Integration Model (Kintsch) • Miller & Johnson-Laird • Mental Models (Johnson-Laird) • Clark & Clark; Clark & Haviland • CAPS (Just & Carpenter)

7. Artificial Intelligence Influences • Preference Semantics (Wilks) • Conceptual Dependency Theory (Schank) • Conceptual Structures (Sowa) • SHRDLU (Winograd)

8. Propositional Descriptions • Predicate • Predicate Modifier • Predicate Specifier • Object Argument Description • Propositional Argument Description • Propositional Modifier

9. Propositional Forms • Pred(Obj) • Pred(Obj,Obj) • Pred(Obj,Obj,Obj) • Pred(Prophead) • Pred(Obj,Prop) • Pred(Prophead,Obj) • Pred(Obj,Obj,Prop)

10. Propositional Form Samples • [went(he)] • [kissed(he,me)] • [gave(he,me,it)] • [unfortunately([went(he)]head)] • [believes(he,[like(you,me)])] • [by([kissed(he,me)]head,it] • [told(he,me,[like(you,him)])]

11. Predicate Modification • Pred{Predhead}(obj) • Pred{Predhead}(Obj, +Obj)

12. Predicate Modification Samples • [am{sad}(I)] • [over{went}(he,it)]

13. Conjunctions • Predconj(Prophead,Prophead) • Predconj(Prophead,Prophead,…) • Predconj{Predhead,Predhead} • Predconj{Predhead,Predhead,…} • Predconj {Pred-Modhead,Pred-Modhead} • Predconj{Pred-Modhead,Pred-Modhead,…} • Predconj{Pred-Spechead,Pred-Spechead} • Predconj{Pred-Spechead,Pred-Spechead,…}

14. Conjunction Examples • [and([like(I,you)],[like(you,me)])] • [and{hit,kicked}(he,it)] • [and{quickly,quietly}{went}(he)] • [and{is,was}{sad}(he)]

15. Object Descriptions • Term • Function • Function Modifier • Function Specifier • Object Description

16. Object Forms • Func<Termhead>  Term • Func<Termhead,Term>  Term • Func-Mod{Funchead}  Func • Func-Spec<Termhead>  Obj • Func(Objhead)  Obj • Func(Objhead,Obj)  Obj

17. Object Form Examples • <old<man>head> • <of<canhead,beans>> • very{oldhead}func • (the<man>head) • (all(the<men>head)) • (in(the<man>head,the<park>)

18. Conjunctions • Funcconj<Termhead,Termhead> • Funcconj<Termhead,Termhead,…> • Funcconj(Objhead,Objhead) • Funcconj(Objhead,Objhead,…) • Funcconj{Funchead,Funchead} • Funcconj{Funchead,Funchead,…} • Funcconj{Func-Modhead,Func-Modhead} • Funcconj{Func-Modhead,Func-Modhead,…} • Funcconj{Func-Spechead,Func-Spechead,…} • Funcconj{Func-Spechead,Func-Spechead,…}

19. Conjunction Examples • (the<and<manhead,womanhead>>) • (and(the<man>head,the<woman>head)) • (the<and{red,white}<flag>head>) • (the<and{quickly,quietly}{flying}<bird>head>) • (and{this,that}<occasion>head)

20. Processing • Read Text from Left to Right • Identify Word • Activate Schemas for Word • Select Activated Schema • Integrate Activated Schema with Previously Activated Schemas • Read Next Word

21. Processing • Processor Learns Effective Processing Strategies • Limited Backtracking (Jump back to beginning) • Relational Lexical Items Set Up Expectations that Drive Processing Mechanism (Lexically Driven) • No Separate Syntactic Analysis • No Top-Down Processing • No Overall Grammar • No Crucial Grammatical Unit Like Sentence

22. Processing • the  the<T1>obj • boy  <boy> • the<T1>obj + <boy >  (the<boy>) • likes  likes(O1,O2)prop • likes(O1,O2) prop + (the<boy>)  likes(the<boy>,O2) prop • the  the<T2> obj • girl  <girl> • the<T2> obj + <girl>  (the<girl>) • likes(the<boy>,O2) prop + (the<girl>)  [likes(the<boy>,the<girl>)]

23. Processing an Object Desc • the  the<T1> obj • black black<Ta>term • robed  <robed<T2>term • black<Ta>term + robed<T2>term black{F1}func + robed<T2>term • black{F1}func + robed<T2>term black{robed}<T2>term • judge  <judge> • black{robed}<T2>term + <judge>  <black{robed}<judge>> • the<T1>obj + <black{robed}<judge>>  (the<black{robed}<judge>>)

24. Processing a Prop Desc • he  (he) • is  is{PR1} • a  a<T1> obj • man  <man> • a<T1> obj + <man>  (a<man>) • is{PR1} + (a<man>)  is{(a<man>)pred}(O1) prop • is{(a<man>)pred}(O1) prop + (he)  is{(a<man>)pred}(he)

25. Processing a Prop Desc • he  (he) • stopped stopped?? • stopped + walking  stopped{PR1} + walking(O1) • walking(O1) + slowly  walking(O1) + slowly{PR2}pred • walking(O1)prop + slowly{PR2}pred slowly{walking}(O1)prop • stopped{PR1} + slowly{walking}(O1)prop  stopped{slowly{walking}}(O1)prop • (he) + stopped{slowly{walking}}(O1)prop  [stopped{slowly{walking}}(he)]