English
 
Help Privacy Policy Disclaimer
  Advanced SearchBrowse

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT
  Predicting the dative alternation

Bresnan, J., Cueni, A., Nikitina, T., & Baayen, R. H. (2007). Predicting the dative alternation. In G. Bouma, I. Kraemer, & J. Zwarts (Eds.), Cognitive foundations of interpretation (pp. 69-94). Amsterdam: KNAW.

Item is

Files

show Files
hide Files
:
bresnan_2007_predicting.pdf (Publisher version), 163KB
Name:
bresnan_2007_predicting.pdf
Description:
-
OA-Status:
Visibility:
Public
MIME-Type / Checksum:
application/pdf
Technical Metadata:
Copyright Date:
-
Copyright Info:
eDoc_access: USER
License:
-

Locators

show

Creators

show
hide
 Creators:
Bresnan, Joan, Author
Cueni, Anna, Author
Nikitina, Tatiana, Author
Baayen, R. Harald1, 2, Author
Affiliations:
1Pioneer, external, ou_55239              
2Other Research, MPI for Psycholinguistics, Max Planck Society, ou_55217              

Content

show
hide
Free keywords: -
 Abstract: Theoretical linguists have traditionally relied on linguistic intuitions such as grammaticality judgments for their data. But the massive growth of computer-readable texts and recordings, the availability of cheaper, more powerful computers and software, and the development of new probabilistic models for language have now made the spontaneous use of language in natural settings a rich and easily accessible alternative source of data. Surprisingly, many linguists believe that such ‘usage data’ are irrelevant to the theory of grammar. Four problems are repeatedly brought up in the critiques of usage data— 1. correlated factors seeming to support reductive theories, 2. pooled data invalidating grammatical inference, 3. syntactic choices reducing to lexical biases, and 4. cross-corpus differences undermining corpus studies. Presenting a case study of work on the English dative alternation, we show first,that linguistic intuitions of grammaticality are deeply flawed and seriously underestimate the space of grammatical possibility, and second, that the four problems in the critique of usage data are empirical issues that can be resolved by using modern statistical theory and modelling strategies widely used in other fields. The new models allow linguistic theory to solve more difficult problems than it has in the past, and to build convergent projects with psychology, computer science, and allied fields of cognitive science.

Details

show
hide
Language(s):
 Dates: 2007
 Publication Status: Issued
 Pages: -
 Publishing info: -
 Table of Contents: -
 Rev. Type: -
 Identifiers: eDoc: 323872
 Degree: -

Event

show

Legal Case

show

Project information

show

Source 1

show
hide
Title: Cognitive foundations of interpretation
Source Genre: Book
 Creator(s):
Bouma, G., Editor
Kraemer, I., Editor
Zwarts, J., Editor
Affiliations:
-
Publ. Info: Amsterdam : KNAW
Pages: - Volume / Issue: - Sequence Number: - Start / End Page: 69 - 94 Identifier: -