Sentence and Discourse Processing

University of Connecticut Psychology
Spring Semester, 2005
Course Number: PSYC 383-01

Instructor: Whitney Tabor


 

Syllabus



 

Last update: April 18, 2005

 

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Time and Location: Tuesdays 1-4pm, BOUS 135

 

 

 

 Week

(approx.)

Topic

Reading

Introduction

1

History

 

Language Structure

2-3

Introduction to Generative Syntax

Chomsky (1957)

 Further reading:  Fodor, Bever, & Garrett (1974), pp. 79-132

Assignment 1

Assignment 2

4

Transformational vs. Non-transformational generative syntax;

Constructions

Gazdar (1981) “On Syntactic Categories”

Excerpt from Jackendoff (2002)

Further reading: Pollard & Sag (1994)

5

Coordination and the theory of constituency;  Lexicalism in Syntax; Categorial Grammar;

Phillips (2003)

Steedman (1998)

Further reading:  Karttunen (1987), Steedman (2002)

 

Sentence Processing

6

Garden path phenomena; Lexicalism in Sentence Processing

Ford, Bresnan, & Kaplan (1982)

Further reading: Macdonald, Pearlmutter, & Seidenberg (1994)

7

Garden path phenomena:

Complexity Accounts

Frazier (1987)

Assignment 3

8

Garden path phenomena:  Referential Accounts

Crain & Steedman (1985)

Chambers et al. (2001)

Further reading: Altmann & Steedman (1988),

 

9

Center-embedding phenomena

Miller & Isard (1964)

Further reading: Miller & Chomsky (1956); King & Just (1991); Lewis (1996); Gibson (1998)

 

Dynamical Systems

10

Attractors; Self-organization

Johnson (2002), Part I

 

11

Designing Self-Organizing Systems

Strogatz (1994), Chapters 1-2

Assignment 4

Self-Organized Sentence Processing

11

Predictions and Mechanics

Tabor, Galantucci, & Richardson (2004)

12

Predictions

Tabor & Hutchins (2004)

13

Reflections