EAPSI: Wugs, Words, and Memory: An Experimental Investigation into the Mental Representation of Sino-Japanese Roots

单个词或语素——语言意义的组成部分——可能因其所处的语言环境而有不同的理解。这种可变性引出了一个问题：单词是如何在记忆中表示的？最小化理论认为，为了节省内存空间，表征中只包含识别单词所需的最少数量的信息。单词发音的任何变化都被理解为独立认知机制的结果。最大理论认为，一个给定单词的所有变体都被存储，以最大限度地提高上下文敏感性。虽然这两种理论在本质上是不同的，但它们很难分开：认知过程的最小表征解释了变异和最大表征。在日本东京庆应义塾大学Shigeto Kawahara教授的指导下，研究人员将对一个经验领域进行实验研究，在这个领域中，理论做出了不同的预测。中日词根（来自汉语的词根）成对出现，或称为“复合词”。根在不同的化合物中有不同的实现。例如，根含义{DIFFERENT}被实现为[bet]+tou和[betu]+noo。在最小理论下，{DIFFERENT}的表示为/bet/。/u/是由认知过程产生的。在极大值理论下，表示是/betu/。这两种理论都解释了常见化合物的变化。然而，这些理论对说话人在不熟悉的语境中会说什么做出了不同的预测。因此，研究者将使用wug检验来探讨中日根的表征。在wug测试中，说话者会看到一个新奇的物体和这个物体的新奇名字(例如：“wug”)。然后向说话者展示不同情境下的wug，并询问他们如何以操纵语言语境的方式描述情境。该研究将向演讲者介绍新的中日词根化合物，并看看他们如何描述这种情况。通过这种方式，我们可以测试说话者的行为是否反映了中日根的最小或最大表征。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会和日本科学促进会共同资助，隶属于东亚和太平洋暑期研究所项目，支持一名美国研究生进行暑期研究。

A single word or morpheme - the building block of linguistic meaning - may be realized differently, depending on its linguistic environment. This variability begs the question: how are words represented in memory? A minimal theory holds that only the minimum amount of information necessary to identify a word is included in a representation, to conserve space in memory. Any variation in a word's utterance is understood as a result of independent cognitive mechanisms. A maximal theory holds that all variants of a given word are stored, to maximize contextual sensitivity. While the two theories are substantively different, they are difficult to tease apart: minimal representation with cognitive processes accounts for variation as well as maximal representation. Under the direction of Prof. Shigeto Kawahara at Keio University, in Tokyo, Japan, the researcher will experimentally investigate an empirical domain where the theories make distinct predictions. Sino-Japanese roots (root words from Chinese) appear in pairs, or "compounds". Roots have different realizations in different compounds. For instance, the root meaning {DIFFERENT} is realized as [bet]+tou and [betu]+noo. Under the minimal theory, the representation of {DIFFERENT} would be /bet/. The /u/ would be derived by cognitive process. Under the maximal theory though, the representation would be /betu/. Both theories account for the variation in common compounds. However, the theories make different predictions about what speakers would produce in unfamiliar contexts. Thus, the researcher will use wug-tests to probe the representation of Sino-Japanese roots. In a wug-test, speakers are presented with a novel object and a novel name for that object (e.g. "wug"). A speaker is then shown the wug in different situations, and asked how they would describe the situation in such a way as to manipulate linguistic context. The research will present speakers with novel Sino-Japanese root compounds, and see how they describe the situation. In this way, we can test if speakers' behavior reflects the representation of Sino-Japanese roots as minimal or maximal.This award, under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program, supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.