Explain Me This
Adele E. Goldberg
Sold by Bookbot, Prague, Czech Republic
AbeBooks Seller since 7 October 2023
Used - Soft cover
Condition: Used - Fine
Ships from Czech Republic to U.S.A.
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketSold by Bookbot, Prague, Czech Republic
AbeBooks Seller since 7 October 2023
Condition: Used - Fine
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketGebrochener Buchrücken / Seiten oder Softcover umgeknickt. We creatively use language to express ourselves, often extending constructions in novel ways. However, native speakers instinctively recognize when certain phrases, like "Explain me this" or "She considered to go," sound off. In this incisive exploration, Adele Goldberg examines how our constrained language skills arise from a blend of cognitive mechanisms and experience. She sheds light on a linguistic paradox, illustrating how words and abstract constructions are both generalized and constrained. Language learning involves recording partially abstracted tokens within a high-dimensional conceptual space used during communication. Our implicit language knowledge encompasses form, function, and social context. Additionally, abstract memory traces of linguistic events cluster on specific dimensions, with repeated elements reinforcing overlaps. This process leads to the emergence of dynamic categories corresponding to words and constructions, which compete for selection when we convey our messages. While much research has leaned toward semantic or functional explanations, Goldberg emphasizes that both functional and statistical aspects of constructions originate from the same learning mechanisms.
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Why our use of language is highly creative yet also constrained
We use words and phrases creatively to express ourselves in ever-changing contexts, readily extending language constructions in new ways. Yet native speakers also implicitly know when a creative and easily interpretable formulation―such as “Explain me this” or “She considered to go”―doesn’t sound quite right. In this incisive book, Adele Goldberg explores how these creative but constrained language skills emerge from a combination of general cognitive mechanisms and experience.
Shedding critical light on an enduring linguistic paradox, Goldberg demonstrates how words and abstract constructions are generalized and constrained in the same ways. When learning language, we record partially abstracted tokens of language within the high-dimensional conceptual space that is used when we speak or listen. Our implicit knowledge of language includes dimensions related to form, function, and social context. At the same time, abstract memory traces of linguistic usage-events cluster together on a subset of dimensions, with overlapping aspects strengthened via repetition. In this way, dynamic categories that correspond to words and abstract constructions emerge from partially overlapping memory traces, and as a result, distinct words and constructions compete with one another each time we select them to express our intended messages.
While much of the research on this puzzle has favored semantic or functional explanations over statistical ones, Goldberg’s approach stresses that both the functional and statistical aspects of constructions emerge from the same learning mechanisms.
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