Composite Abstract Lexical Structure in Interlanguage Production

Most previous studies of difficulties in learning a second/foreign language focused on sources of learner errors caused by cross-linguistic differences in various levels of linguistic structure, but most of such studies remain at a rather superficial level of description. This study explores sources of learning difficulties at an abstract level by studying the nature and activity of the bilingual mental lexicon during interlanguage production. The bilingual mental lexicon is defined as the mental lexicon containing abstract entries called cross-linguistic “lemmas” underlying particular lexeme. This study claims that it is language-specific lemma which drives interlanguage production at three levels of abstract lexical structure: lexical-conceptual structure, predicate-argument structure, and morphological realization patterns. It further claims that it is cross-linguistic lemma variations in abstract lexical-conceptual structure which result in not only inappropriate lexical choices but also errors in interlanguage production of target language predicate-argument structure and morphological realization. Naturally occurring interlanguage production date for the study include several native and target language pairs: Japanese-English, Chinese-English, and English-Japanese. Some typical instances of language transfer involving other language pairs are also cited in support of the argument that the lexical-conceptual approach to interlanguage production is fundamental in any study of the nature of learner errors in interlanguage development.

Detecting Asks in Social Engineering Attacks: Impact of Linguistic and Structural Knowledge

Social engineers attempt to manipulate users into undertaking actions such as downloading malware by clicking links or providing access to money or sensitive information. Natural language processing, computational sociolinguistics, and media-specific structural clues provide a means for detecting both the ask (e.g., buy gift card) and the risk/reward implied by the ask, which we call framing (e.g., lose your job, get a raise). We apply linguistic resources such as Lexical Conceptual Structure to tackle ask detection and also leverage structural clues such as links and their proximity to identified asks to improve confidence in our results. Our experiments indicate that the performance of ask detection, framing detection, and identification of the top ask is improved by linguistically motivated classes coupled with structural clues such as links. Our approach is implemented in a system that informs users about social engineering risk situations.

Codeswitching as Projection of Bilingual Lemmas in Contact

Unlike most previous studies of Codeswitching (CS) focused on describing surface configurations of switched items (i.e., where CS is structurally possible) or the switched items (i.e., what items from another language can be switched), this paper explores formulation processes of bilingual speech and the nature of the bilingual mental lexicon and its activity in CS. More specifically, it applies the Bilingual Lemma Activation Model (Wei, 2002, 2006b) to the data drawn from various naturally occurring CS instances. It claims that the mental lexicon does not simply contain lexemes and their meanings, but also lemmas, which are abstract entries in the mental lexicon that support the surface realization of actual lexemes. Lemmas are abstract in that they contain phonological, morphological, semantic, syntactic and pragmatic information about lexemes. It further claims that lemmas in the bilingual mental lexicon are language-specific and are in contact during a discourse involving CS at three levels of abstract lexical structure: lexical-conceptual structure, predicate-argument structure, and morphological realization patterns. The CS instances described and analyzed in this paper provide evidence that the bilingual speaker’s two linguistic systems are unequally activated in CS, and CS is an outcome of bilingual lemmas in contact.

The Light Verb “Suru” in Japanese Lexical-Conceptual Structure and Sources of Leaning Difficulty

As frequently observed in second or foreign language learning, the Japanese light verb “suru” may course much learning difficulty. Most previous studies focused on the surface description of “suru” in terms of its role in some particular Japanese lexical structure or verbal formation in a particular syntactic environment. This paper assumes that the light verb “suru” drives certain particular Japanese lexical-conceptual structure, and language-specific lexicalization patterns must be learned as such. It offers a linguistic analysis of the sources of the light verb “suru” in structuring particular verbalization patterns and relates this analysis to potential sources of learning difficulty in second or foreign language learning. Instances of cross-linguistic influence or learner errors in learning the Japanese lexical-conceptual structure driven by “suru” are from some early stage American students learning Japanese as a foreign language. This paper implicates a lexicon-driven approach to teaching Japanese lexicalization patterns.

Thesaurus with Predicate-Argument Structure to Provide Base Framework to Determine States, Actions, and Change-of-States

The goal with this chapter is to discuss the possibility of language resources in determining the states, actions, and change-of-states of characters in narratives. An overview of previous work on linguistic theory and language resources is given then the Predicate-Argument Structure Thesaurus (PT), a Japanese language resource constructed based on the extended framework of the Lexical Conceptual Structure (LCS), is proposed. The PT provides hierarchical clusters of synonyms for 11,900 predicates and 22,000 example sentences annotated with semantic role labels. Each concept has an abstracted LCS, and example sentences are attached to each concept. By virtue of the structure, a correlation of the arguments between other clusters can be determined. The semantic structure of the PT is investigated to enrich generated texts of narratives, and the high possibility of lexical semantics contributing to narrative processing is revealed.

Keel meeles: kontseptuaalsest semantikast

Kontseptuaalne semantika on kognitiivse suunitlusega keeleteaduse haru, mille eesmärgiks on välja töötada teooria keele toimimisest tajusüsteemi osana. Kontseptuaalset semantikat iseloomustab pürgimus erinevate keelega seotud kognitiivsete alasüsteemide ja nendevaheliste seoste võimalikult täpse formaalse analüüsi suunas. Käesolev artikkel annab ülevaate kontseptuaalse semantika peamistest teoreetilistest seisukohtadest ning nende metodoloogilisest väljendusviisist, asetades teooria üldisemasse keeleteaduslikku konteksti. Tutvustan lähemalt soome keeleteadlase Urpo Nikanne kontseptuaalse semantika tierneti mudeli metodoloogiat, mille abil analüüsin eesti ja soome keele neutraalsete liikumisverbide minema ja mennä/lähteä leksikaalset kontseptuaalset struktuuri ning nn sujumiskonstruktsioonide (X läheb hästi/lörri) semantikat.Language in mind: about conceptual semantics. This paper discusses the framework of conceptual semantics and its methodological solutions for the semantic analysis. The conceptual semantics theory, based on the ideas of Ray Jackendoff, strives for an integration of the psychological reality of linguistic information with other linguistic faculties. The article discusses the central theoretical assumptions and aims of this theory and also gives a brief presentation of the basic methodology of Urpo Nikanne’s tiernet model of conceptual semantics. The tiernet technology is the basis for the analysis of the lexical conceptual structure of the Finnish neutral motion verbs mennä ‘go’ and lähteä ‘go from a place’ as well as of the Estonian counterpart minema ‘go’. Two “(un)success-constructions” in connection with these verbs are also discussed.