An empirical study on word-level language processing: Collaboration of theoretical linguistics and the brain science of language

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25284089
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: English linguistics
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: ITO Takane 東京大学, 総合文化研究科, 教授 (10168354)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 杉岡 洋子 慶應義塾大学, 経済学部, 教授 (00187650) ; 萩原 裕子 首都大学東京, 人文科学研究科(研究院), 教授 (20172835)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 言語脳科学 / レキシコン / 形態論 / 事象関連電位 / 「語」の処理

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We conducted Event Related Potential (ERP) measurement experiments in order to reveal the mental and neurological mechanisms involved in the word-level language processing. Specifically, we examined word-level processes from three different perspectives: (a) phonological aspect, focusing on sequential voicing (rendaku) in compound formation, (b) morphological aspect, taking up verb inflection, and (c) syntactic aspect, focusing on the order of verbal suffixes which realize functional categories (e.g. tense and negation). Our findings suggest that the computational mechanism involved in phrase-level syntactic processing is at work in some word-level processes. Our results on verbal inflection also suggest that network memory is at work in other processes. All things considered, our study corroborates the model where two qualitatively different mechanisms of rule-based computation and associative memory are employed in the word-level processing.

Free Research Field

言語学・英語学