Collaborative Research: Deconstructing Wordlikeness Judgments

人类对他们所说的语言有不同种类的知识。音位知识指的是他们对单词中的语音模式的知识。这些知识通常是通过行为实验来研究的，比如拟词性判断任务，在实验中，说话者被要求指出一个临时(虚构的)单词形式在他们的语言中是否可能是一个真实的单词。这类研究已经观察到，相似词语的判断是梯度的，也就是说，它们形成了可接受性的斜面。这个项目考察了不同类型的计算模型和实验设计，以更好地理解支撑这种梯度判断的语法系统的性质。例如，一类计算模型试图通过将细粒度的概括合并到复杂的统计模型中来解释类词任务中的这种梯度。相比之下，其他仅基于范畴概括的模型在解释行为类词语发现方面似乎也做得同样好。这表明，在行为实验中观察到的梯度可能反映了实验环境，而不是知识本身的潜在语法。这项合作研究项目对人类文字相似判断中的这些不同的梯度描述进行了彻底的调查。该项目为研究生提供现代实验和计算方法的指导和研究培训机会；它创建了一个开放获取的、在线的项目实验结果数据库，作为语言科学其他研究人员的资源。此外，研究人员计划在以非正式科学教育为重点的环境中开展针对公众的外展活动。这项研究项目解构了词汇相似判断所涉及的各种因素。它包括操纵反应测量、刺激和反应通道的实验研究，以引出受试者对英语和韩语使用者的临时词形式的似词判断。通过比较各种计算模型与实验研究结果的拟合程度，对各种计算模型进行评估。该项目相互关联的研究旨在回答以下问题：(A)不同的显式计算模型如何针对观察到的类似词语的判断执行；(B)可接受性判断与人类感知的概率性质相关的程度有多大；以及(C)向说话者呈现词汇形式的方式(例如，听觉与视觉)和/或说话者记录他们的判断的方式是否影响所获得的结果？该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Humans have different kinds of knowledge about the languages they speak. Phonotactic knowledge refers to their knowledge about sound patterns in words. Such knowledge is usually studied through behavioral experiments such as wordlikeness judgment tasks, in which a speaker is asked to indicate whether a nonce (made-up) word form could be a real word in their language. Such studies have observed that wordlikeness judgements are gradient; that is, they form a cline of acceptability. This project examines different types of computational models and experimental designs to better understand the nature of the grammatical system that underly this variety of gradient judgment. For example, one class of computational models seek to account for this gradience in wordlikeness tasks by incorporating fine-grained generalizations in sophisticated statistical models. In contrast, other models based solely on categorical generalizations appear to do just as well in accounting for behavioral wordlikeness findings. This suggests that gradience observed in the behavioral experiments may reflect the experimental setting rather than the underlying grammar of the knowledge itself. This collaborative research project develops a thorough investigation of these contrasting accounts of gradience in human wordlikeness judgements. The project provides mentoring and research training opportunities for graduate students in modern experimental and computational methods; and it creates an open-access, online database of the project's experimental results that serves as a resource for other researchers in the language sciences. In addition, the investigators plan to engage in outreach activities targeting members of the public in settings focusing on informal science education.This research project deconstructs the variety of factors involved in wordlikeness judgements. It includes experimental studies that manipulate response measures and stimulus and response modality to elicit human-subjects' wordlikeness judgments for nonce forms from speakers of English and Korean. A variety of computational models are assessed by comparing how well they can be fitted to the results of the experimental studies. The project's interconnected studies aim to answer the following questions: (a) how do different explicit computational models perform against observed wordlikeness judgments, (b) to what degree is gradience in acceptability judgments related to the probabilistic nature of human perception, and (c) are the results obtained affected by the manner in which words forms are presented to speakers (e.g., auditorily vs. visually) and/or in which speakers record their judgments?This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.