Cognitive Processing of Verb Morphology and Its Implications for Organization of Language Faculty

为了探讨动词形态加工的神经认知基础，我们进行了(1)心理语言学、(2)神经科学、(3)定量语言学、(4)理论语言学、(5)连接主义建模研究。采用跨通道启动范式进行了行为心理语言学实验。结果表明，词形关系规则的派生词(带潜在后缀的动词)比词形关系不规则的词(及物动词/不及物动词)具有更强的启动效应。使用功能磁共振成像作为与广岛县康复中心的联合研究进行了一项神经成像研究。当以日语为母语的人处理具有复杂动词词法的句子时，额叶下部鼓索和颞极的所谓布罗卡区被激活。当母语为日语的人处理动词连词模式时，事件相关电位反应通过脑电图仪进行测量。在有形态违规的表情中观察到名为P600的ERP成分，这是一个与句法违规有关的成分。通过语料库研究，对所谓的“句法复合动词”和“词汇复合动词”进行了区分。定量研究的结果支持理论语言学假设的句法复合动词和词汇复合动词的二分法。对日语复合谓词这一动词形式习得的联结主义模型进行了理论语言学研究。每年都举办国际研讨会，语言认知神经科学领域的顶尖研究人员包括Colin Phillips博士(美国马里兰大学，2002年)、Liina Pylkkanen博士(纽约大学，美国，2003年)和Matt Davis博士(医学研究委员会，英国，2004年)。

To investigate into the neurocognitive basis for the processing of verb morphology, we conducted (1)psycholinguistic, (2)neuroscientific, (3)quantitative linguistic, (4)theoretical linguistic, (5)connectionist modeling researches. A behavioral psycholinguistic experiment was conducted using a cross-modal priming paradigm. The results indicated that derived words with regular morphological relationship (verbs with a potential suffix) showed stronger priming effects compared to semantically related words with irregular morphological relationship (transitive/intransitive verbs). A neuroimaging study was conducted using fMRI as a joint research with Hiroshima Prefectural Rehabilitation Center. So-called Broca region in the inferior frontal gylus and temporal pole were activated when Japanese native speakers processed sentences with complex verb morphology. Event-related potential response was measured by electro-encepharography while Japanese native speakers were processing verb conjugation patterns. An ERP component called P600, a component associated with syntactic violations, was observed in expressions with morphological violation. A corpus study was conducted as to the distinction between so-called ‘syntactic compound verbs' and ‘lexical compound verbs'. The results of quantitative research supported the dichotomy of syntactic vs. lexical compound verbs assumed in theoretical linguistics. Theoretical linguistic studies on Japanese complex predicates, a connectionist modeling of acquisition of verb forms were conducted. International seminars were organized every year with leading researchers in the field of cognitive neuroscience of language, including Dr.Colin Phillips (University of Maryland, USA,2002), Dr.Liina Pylkkanen (New York University, USA,2003), and Dr.Matt Davis (Medical Research Council, UK,2004).