Collaborative Research: Deconstructing Wordlikeness Judgments

人类对自己所讲的语言有不同的认识。音标知识指的是他们对单词中声音模式的知识。这些知识通常是通过行为实验来研究的，比如词语相似判断任务，在这个任务中，说话者被要求指出一个临时（编造的）词形在他们的语言中是否可能是一个真正的单词。这些研究发现，词语相似性判断是梯度的；也就是说，它们形成了一种可接受度。这个项目考察了不同类型的计算模型和实验设计，以更好地理解语法系统的本质，这些语法系统是各种梯度判断的基础。例如，一类计算模型试图通过在复杂的统计模型中合并细粒度泛化来解释单词相似任务中的这种梯度。相比之下，其他仅基于分类概括的模型似乎在解释行为词语相似的发现方面也做得很好。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。这个合作研究项目开发了一个彻底的调查这些对比帐户的梯度在人类词语相似的判断。本项目为研究生提供现代实验和计算方法方面的指导和研究训练机会；它还创建了一个开放访问的项目实验结果在线数据库，作为语言科学领域其他研究人员的资源。此外，调查人员计划在侧重于非正式科学教育的环境中开展针对公众的外联活动。本研究项目解构了词性判断中涉及的各种因素。它包括实验研究，操纵反应措施和刺激和反应方式，以引出人类受试者对英语和韩语的非once形式的词性判断。通过比较各种计算模型与实验研究结果的拟合程度来评估它们。该项目的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对观察到的词似性判断执行，(b)与人类感知的概率性质相关的可接受性判断的梯度在多大程度上，以及(c)获得的结果是否受到词语形式呈现给说话者的方式（例如，听觉vs视觉）和/或说话者记录他们判断的方式的影响？该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.