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

单个单词或语素--构成语言意义的积木--可能会有不同的实现方式，这取决于其所处的语言环境。这种可变性引出了一个问题：单词在记忆中是如何表现的？一种最小理论认为，只有识别单词所需的最少量信息才会包括在表示中，以节省内存空间。单词发音中的任何变化都被理解为独立的认知机制的结果。最大值理论认为，一个给定单词的所有变体都被存储，以最大化上下文敏感度。虽然这两种理论本质上是不同的，但它们很难区分开来：带有认知过程的最小表征解释了变异，也解释了最大表征。在日本东京庆应义乌大学的川原茂教授的指导下，这位研究人员将对一个经验性的领域进行实验研究，在这个领域，理论可以做出明确的预测。中日词根(来自汉语的词根词)成对出现，或“复合词”。根在不同的化合物中有不同的实现。例如，词根意思{Different}被实现为[bet]+Tou和[Betu]+noo。在极小理论下，{Different}的表示为/bet/。/u/是由认知过程派生出来的。然而，在极大值理论下，表示将是/Betu/。这两种理论都解释了常见化合物的差异。然而，这两种理论对说话者在不熟悉的环境中会产生什么做出了不同的预测。因此，研究人员将使用WUG测试来探索中日根源的表征。在WUG测试中，向说话者呈现一个新对象和该对象的新名称(例如，“WUG”)。然后向发言者展示WUG在不同情况下的情况，并询问他们将如何描述这种情况，以便操纵语言语境。这项研究将向说话者展示新奇的中日词根复合词，看看他们如何描述这种情况。通过这种方式，我们可以测试演讲者的行为是否反映了中日根源的最小或最大代表。该奖项由东亚和太平洋暑期学院项目设立，支持一名美国研究生的暑期研究，由NSF和日本科学促进会联合资助。

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.