Neural Basis of Semantic Constraints on Adjective Order

描述（由申请人提供）：人们对名词前面的形容词序列的语法性有很强的直觉-例如，漂亮的棕色鸟听起来很自然，但是 * 棕色漂亮鸟听起来很奇怪。这些直觉反映了对形容词顺序的语义限制，不仅适用于英语，而且适用于世界上许多不同的语言。具体来说，表示实体的客观、绝对、固有属性的形容词（如棕色）通常比表示主观、相对、上下文敏感属性的形容词（如漂亮）更靠近名词。形容词的语序是“语法语义学”的一种表现形式，语法语义学是一个技术术语，指的是倾向于与语言的形态句法密切互动的一小部分语义特征。语言学家提出，意义的语法相关成分和语法不相关成分在心理上是相互独立的，这种心理学假设有一个神经生物学的推论，即意义的两个成分也有不同的神经基质。然而，很少有认知神经科学的工作已经解决了这个问题。本研究的目的是从神经心理学、神经解剖学和电生理学的角度探讨形容词语序的神经基础。有三个具体目标。目的1是检验局灶性脑损伤可能导致以下类型的分离的假设：受损的知识的语义限制形容词的顺序，但完整的知识的独特的，特质的意义的形容词。患有这种分离症的患者不再能够判断“漂亮的棕色鸟”听起来比“棕色的漂亮鸟”更自然，但仍然能够将“漂亮的”和“棕色的”与适当的图片相匹配，这些图片显示了形容词的含义。目的2是确定是否有一个大脑区域，是受损的知识受损的患者的语义限制形容词顺序，并保留在患者的正常知识，这些限制。最后，目标3是确定的电生理反应，是由感知违反形容词顺序的语义约束。这将通过记录正常成年人在阅读自然和不自然的形容词顺序的例子时的事件相关电位来完成。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): People have strong intuitions about the grammaticality of adjective sequences that precede nouns - e.g., pretty brown bird sounds natural, but *brown pretty bird sounds odd. These intuitions reflect semantic constraints on adjective order that apply not just in English but in many diverse languages around the world. Specifically, adjectives that denote objective, absolute, inherent properties of entities (like brown) usually occur closer to the noun than adjectives that denote subjective, relativistic, context-sensitive properties (like pretty). Adjective order is one manifestation of 'grammatical semantics,' the technical term for a small set of semantic features that tend to interact closely with the morphosyntax of languages. Linguists have proposed that grammatically relevant and grammatically irrelevant components of meaning are mentally represented independently of each other, and this psychological hypothesis has a neurobiological corollary, which is that the two components of meaning also have distinct neural substrates. However, very little work in cognitive neuroscience has addressed this topic. The goal of this project is to explore the neural basis of grammatical semantics by investigating adjective order from the perspectives of neuropsychology, neuroanatomy, and electrophysiology. There are three specific aims. Aim 1 is to test the hypothesis that focal brain damage can cause the following type of dissociation: impaired knowledge of the semantic constraints on adjective order, but intact knowledge of the unique, idiosyncratic meanings of adjectives. Patients with this dissociation would no longer be able to judge pretty brown bird as sounding more natural than *brown pretty bird, but would still be able to match pretty and brown with appropriate pictures showing the meanings of the adjectives. Aim 2 is to determine whether there is a brain area that is lesioned in patients with impaired knowledge of the semantic constraints on adjective order, and preserved in patients with normal knowledge of these constraints. Finally, Aim 3 is to identify the kind of electrophysiological response that is triggered by perceived violations of the semantic constraints on adjective order. This will be done by recording event-related potentials in normal adults while they read examples of natural and unnatural adjective orders.