Rules and Exemplars in Inflectional Morphology : Connectionist, Behavioural and Cross-linguistic Studies in In ectional Morphology: Comparing German and English past tense and plural production

ISBN-13: 9783639160505 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 192 str.

Stephan Bandelow

Opis

There are currently two main competing theories that§aim to explain the neural organisation§of in ectional morphology, which concerns the the§generation of past tenses and plurals: Exemplar-based§theories, including connectionist models, and§dual-route accounts. The latter propose the existence§of a distinct symbolic rule system dedicated to human§language processing. These contrasting views can have§significant implications for learning theory.§The work presented in this book relies on§connectionist models and empirical behavioural data§to determine which theory can best account for German§plural and English in ections. The central result§regarding German plurals contradicts previous claims§by nding that neither the -s nor the -(e)n plural§constitute a regular default type. Simulations of§English plural and past tense in ections are also§presented because they offer a novel stochastic§interpretation of rare double dissociations between§regular and irregular in ection. A behavioural§experiment on English past tense production is§included to test the differing predictions from§connectionist and dual-route models. These results§are broadly in favour of exemplar-based theories.

O autorze

Dr Stephan Bandelow completed a BA in Physiology, a Masters in
Neuroscience and a DPhil at Oxford University. He has
subsequently worked at various research institutes, including the
MRC CBU in Cambridge. Since 2005 he works as a lecturer in
Psychology at Loughborough University. This book is an edited
version of his DPhil thesis from 2003.