Journal

Volume 24, Issue 4 (December 31, 2023)

5 articles

• Category Membership as a Criterion to Evaluate the Soundness of Analogical Inferences
  by Ricardo A. Minervino, Adrián Margni, Lucía Micaela Tavernini
  J. CS. 2023, 24(4), 401-436;
  Abstract The standard approach to analogical reasoning posits that the mechanism that people employ to ensure the soundness of analogical inferences consists in copying unmapped individual explicit base relations, substituting corresponding source entities with target entities, and generating slots for base ... [Read more].
  Abstract The standard approach to analogical reasoning posits that the mechanism that people employ to ensure the soundness of analogical inferences consists in copying unmapped individual explicit base relations, substituting corresponding source entities with target entities, and generating slots for base entities that were unmapped. Alternatively, we contend that when the gist of the information to be transferred is better captured by relational categories than by explicit individual relations, people resort to searching for target exemplars of the base relational categories, disregarding similarity between relations. Experiment 1 revealed that for this kind of analogy, inferences that did not resemble the base analog in terms of explicit individual relations but were built on exemplars of the base relational category were judged as sounder than inferences that matched the base analog in terms of relations but not in terms of a common category. Within the framework of the proposed approach, we postulated that inference evaluation also depends on the similarity between the base and target exemplars on relevant aspects. Experiment 2 revealed that inferences were judged as sounder when the exemplars upon which the inferences were built matched the base exemplars along salient dimensions of the relational category they shared. The cognitive mechanisms unveiled by the current results suggest new avenues along which current theorization and modeling of analogical inference may develop. [Collapse]
• Spoken Acceptability Judgment, Reaction Time and a Comparison with Written Judgment
  by Eunkyung Yi & Sang-Hee Park
  J. CS. 2023, 24(4), 437-464;
  Abstract This paper explores how the modality of task presentation (spoken vs. written) influences the perception of sentences by native Korean speakers, focusing on ditransitive constructions. We conducted a spoken acceptability judgment experiment to collect acceptability scores and reaction times, examini... [Read more].
  Abstract This paper explores how the modality of task presentation (spoken vs. written) influences the perception of sentences by native Korean speakers, focusing on ditransitive constructions. We conducted a spoken acceptability judgment experiment to collect acceptability scores and reaction times, examining both the judgment outcomes and processes. The spoken judgments were further compared with those obtained in a previous written judgment study by Park and Yi (2021) to directly assess the impact of presentation modality on ditransitive perception. The spoken experiment revealed general and construction-specific patterns in the relationship between acceptability scores and reaction times. Furthermore, we found the presentation modality significantly affects the acceptability scores and reaction times of ditransitives, with its precise influence varying depending on construction type and verb semantics. These results highlight the value of using spoken stimuli in acceptability judgment experiments and incorporating reaction time data in theoretical and psycholinguistic research. [Collapse]
• Exploring AI-Generated English Relative Clauses in Comparison to Human Production
  by Hongoak Yun, Eunkyung Yi and Sanghoun Song
  J. CS. 2023, 24(4), 465-496;
  Abstract Human behavioral studies have consistently indicated a preference for subject-extracted relative clauses (SRCs) over object-extracted relative clauses (ORCs) in sentence production and comprehension. Some studies have further shown that this preference can be influenced by the semantic properties of... [Read more].
  Abstract Human behavioral studies have consistently indicated a preference for subject-extracted relative clauses (SRCs) over object-extracted relative clauses (ORCs) in sentence production and comprehension. Some studies have further shown that this preference can be influenced by the semantic properties of head nouns, particularly animacy. In this study, we use AI language models, specifically GPT-2 and ChatGPT 3.5, to simulate human sentence generation. Our primary goal is to evaluate the extent to which these language models replicate human behaviors in sentence production and identify any divergences. We tasked the models with completing sentence fragments structured as ‘the,’ followed by a head noun and 'that’ (The reporter that …). We varied the semantic property of head nouns such that they are all animate (the secretary that … ) in Study 1 and are either animate or inanimate (the musician/book that … ) in Study 2. Our findings reveal that in Study 1, both GPT models exhibited a robust SRC bias, replicating human-like behavior in relative clause production. However, in Study 2, we observed divergent behavior between the models when head nouns were inanimate, while consistency was maintained when head nouns were animate. Specifically, ChatGTP 3.5 generated more ORCs than SRCs in the presence of inanimate head nouns. These results, particularly those from ChatGPT 3.5, closely mirror human relative clause production patterns. Our study highlights the potential of language generative language models as efficient and versatile corpus simulators. Furthermore, our findings contribute to the evolving field of AI linguistics, shedding light on the capacity of AI generative systems to emulate human-like linguistic patterns in sentence production. [Collapse]
• Non-structural Factors Affecting Interpretations of the Simplex Reflexive Ziji and the Complex Reflexive Taziji in L1 Chinese
  by Chun-yin Doris Chen, Ting-chi Rebecca Lin & Fang-Yen Hsieh
  J. CS. 2023, 24(4), 497-538;
  Abstract The present study investigated Chinese-speaking children’s interpretations of the simplex reflexive ziji and the complex reflexive taziji. The main issues addressed included the effect of non-structural information (i.e., verbal classification and noun prominence) on children’s interpretations of zi... [Read more].
  Abstract The present study investigated Chinese-speaking children’s interpretations of the simplex reflexive ziji and the complex reflexive taziji. The main issues addressed included the effect of non-structural information (i.e., verbal classification and noun prominence) on children’s interpretations of ziji and taziji. Apart from these factors, contextual effect was also considered. A yes/no judgment task was designed to elicit participants’ interpretations of ziji and taziji. The participants in the study consisted of sixty Chinese-speaking children who were divided into three experimental groups: G1 (kindergarteners aged five and six), G2 (second graders aged seven and eight), and G3 (fourth graders aged nine and ten). In addition, twenty Chinese-speaking adults were recruited as the control group. The major findings are summarized as follows: First, all three child groups preferred long-distance binding of ziji and taziji. The adult group showed no significant preference when interpreting ziji, but showed significant preference for local binding when interpreting taziji. Context affected the children’s interpretations of both reflexives. When context was provided, more long-distance interpretations were elicited, same for the adults. Second, verb types influenced the children’s interpretations. The children preferred the local interpretation with reflexive (zizhi) verbs and the long-distance interpretation with irreflexive (tazhi) verbs, same for the adults. Finally, NP prominence determined the children’s interpretations of ziji and taziji. The children preferred an agent or animate antecedent for reflexives, same for the adults. [Collapse]
• Can’t Seem to Verb Construction in English
  by Mija Kim
  J. CS. 2023, 24(4), 539-584;
  Abstract This study addresses the can’t seem to verb construction from a perspective of Construction Grammar. The most salient issue in this construction is the mismatch between the syntactic structure and its meaning. This construction has the superficial syntactic form corresponding to the linear order of ... [Read more].
  Abstract This study addresses the can’t seem to verb construction from a perspective of Construction Grammar. The most salient issue in this construction is the mismatch between the syntactic structure and its meaning. This construction has the superficial syntactic form corresponding to the linear order of can, not, seem, even though its interpretation is derived from a combination of seem, can, not. A variety of analyses in previous literature focus on whether these three elements are compositional, resulting in an idiomatic expression or not. This study aims to identify the syntactic and semantic properties of this construction with the help of raw frequency and collostructional analyses. Focusing on the results presented, the study argues that this construction forms its own unique construction with the prototypical meaning of representing a speaker’s mild feeling of frustration regarding either the lack of ability or improbability of finding something successfully, which is derived from this syntactic form. This interpretation is supported by collostructional analysis. In addition, this study provides a variety of characteristics of this construction. [Collapse]