Frequency in Language: Memory, Attention and Learning
Cambridge University Press, 10/10/2019
EAN 9781107085756, ISBN10: 1107085756
Hardcover, 340 pages, 22.9 x 15.7 x 2 cm
Language: English
Cognitive linguists are bound by the cognitive commitment, which is the commitment to providing a characterization of the general principles governing all aspects of human language, in a way that is informed by, and accords with, what is known about the brain and mind from other disciplines. But what do we know about aspects of cognition that are relevant for theories of language? Which insights can help us build cognitive reality into our descriptive practice and move linguistic theorizing forward? This unique study integrates research findings from across the cognitive sciences to generate insights that challenge the way in which frequency has been interpreted in usage-based linguistics. It answers the fundamental questions of why frequency of experience has the effect it has on language development, structure and representation, and what role psychological and neurological explorations of core cognitive processes can play in developing a cognitively more accurate theoretical account of language.
Introduction
1. Frequency of experience
2. A cognitive perspective on language
3. What this book is not about
4. What this book is about
Part I
5. Counting occurrences
how frequency made its way into the study of language
5.1. The frequency wars
the role of frequency in nativist and nurturist frameworks
5.2. Lexical statistics and word (frequency) lists
5.3. Word lists in psycholinguistics
the discovery of the (word) frequency effect
5.4. Word frequency distributions and the beginning of quantitative linguistics
5.5. Summary and outlook
6. Measuring exposure
frequency as s linguistic game-changer
6.1 Frequency and usage-based theories of language
6.2. Frequency measures that have played an important role in the development of usage-based theories of language
6.3. Summary and outlook
7. More than frequencies
towards a probabilistic view on language
7.1. Constructing a grammar from the ground up
7.2. probabilistic grammar
7.3. Probabilities link linguistics to information theory
7.4. Summary and outlook
Part II
8. Committing experiences to memory
8.1. What is memory?
8.2. The physiology or neurobiology of memory
8.3. Memory systems, memory processes and neural mechanisms of memory storage
8.4. Behavioural diagnostics of memory for language
8.5. Summary and outlook
9. Entrenching linguistic structures
9.1. Entrenchment in the mind, or in society?
9.2. Three types of entrenchment
9.3. How are repeated experiences recorded?
9.4. Frequently asked questions
9.5. Summary and outlook
Part III
10. The brain's attention-orienting mechanisms
10.1. Grasping the phenomenon
what is attention and what does it do?
10.2. Ways of deploying attention
10.3. Attention and memory
encoding and retrieving information
10.4. Summary and outlook
11. Salience
capturing attention in and through language
11.1. Capturing attention in language
linguistics versus psychology
11.2. Attention and salience
11.3. Conclusions and outlook
Part IV
12. Predicting
using past experience to guide future action
12.1. Predicting from stored memories
12.2. Memoryless prediction
Bayesian predictive coding frameworks
12.3. What does predictive processing mean for language cognition? 12.4. Conclusions and outlook
13. Learning
navigating frequency, recency, context and contingency
13.1. Background
learning theory
13.2 Applications to linguistics
13.3. Conclusions
the place of frequency in a learning theoretic approach to language
14. Conclusions
14.1. Why do frequencies of occurrence play an important role in usage-based linguistics?
14.2 How can frequency be used to explain the construction of a grammar from the ground up?
14.3. Memory, attention and learning in the emergence of grammar
14.4. Looking forward
what lessons can we learn?
14.5. By way of conclusion.