Language Production-Comprehension Linkage

这个项目测试了关于语言理解、习得和产生之间依赖关系的具体假设，特别是经验在发展语言技能中的作用。虽然经验在词汇发展中的作用众所周知，但关于经验如何影响句子理解的研究却很少。这种差距是非常不幸的，因为对复杂句子的理解对于在学校和阅读中取得成功至关重要，而这一领域尤其受到语言延迟或障碍的影响。首席研究员Maryellen MacDonald将使用她的生产-分配-理解（PDC）框架来指导关于经验在语言理解中的作用的研究。这包括以记录演讲者在各种情况下的生产选择的形式调查经验的来源；为什么说话者做出这些话语选择，而不是其他人；理解者可以从他们在语言环境中经历的话语模式中学到什么；以及对这些模式的了解如何影响后续的理解。为了更好地理解语言生产过程是如何在环境中创造语言模式的，我们在四种不同的语言环境中研究了语言生产：英语、日语、韩语和汉语普通话。理解过程在这四种语言中进行了协调的研究，使研究人员能够将每种语言的生产选择与该语言的理解模式联系起来，从而产生比单独使用一种语言更有力的测试。另外的研究调查了从经验中学习如何塑造语言理解能力。这项研究计划将促进若干国际合作。本研究整合了语言加工中三个典型的不同领域（理解、产生、习得）的研究，揭示了它们之间的相互依赖性以及经验如何塑造加工技能。因此，这项工作应该为理解如何最好地为那些有语言或阅读延迟或障碍的人开发有针对性的治疗性语言体验提供基础。

This project tests specific hypotheses about the dependencies between language comprehension, acquisition, and production, particularly the role of experience in developing language skills. Whereas the role of experience is well known in vocabulary development, there is very little research on how experience affects sentence comprehension. This gap is very unfortunate because comprehension of complex sentences is critical for success in school and reading, and this domain is particularly affected by language delays or impairments. The Principal Investigator, Maryellen MacDonald, will use her Production-Distribution-Comprehension (PDC) Framework to guide research on the role of experience in language comprehension. This includes investigations of where experience comes from in the form of documenting speakers' production choices in various situations; why speakers make those utterance choices and not others; what comprehenders can learn from the patterns of utterances that they experience in their language environment; and how knowledge of these patterns shapes subsequent comprehension. To better understand how language production processes create linguistic patterns in the environment, language production is studied in four distinct language environments: English, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese. Comprehension processes are studied in these same four languages in a coordinated effort that allows the researchers to relate production choices in each language to comprehension patterns in that language, yielding a much stronger test of claims than with a single language alone. Additional studies investigate how learning from experience shapes language comprehension skill. The research plan will further a number of international collaborations. This research integrates the study of three typically-distinct fields in language processing (comprehension, production, acquisition), revealing their mutual dependence and how experience shapes processing skill. As a result, this work should provide a foundation for understanding how targeted therapeutic linguistic experiences can best be developed for those with language or reading delays or impairments.