Connectionism, HPSG signs and SLA representations: specifying principles of mapping between form and function

Abstract

A current limitation of the connectionist approach to second language acquisition (SLA) research is that it does not, to my knowledge, include complex linguistic representations. This article proposes a partial solution to this limitation by motivating and illustrating specific analyses that utilize the sign-based representations developed within Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG). To motivate the proposed representations, the article applies them to an analysis of four types of mappings between form and function: one-to-one, primed redundancy, nonprimed redundancy and polyfunctional. The paper summarizes representative SLA data that indicate how these mappings may appear in second language (L2) production. Key properties of HPSG analyses are discussed, indicating how they are consistent with connectionist assumptions. Sign-based representations of the four types of mappings are then provided, including several modifications to HPSG formalisms. The article concludes with a discussion of future directions.

Vigilance, expectancy, and noise: Attention in second language lexical learning and memory

“…are necessary to scale the model up to include grammatical knowledge. Important theoretical work on connectionist implementations of HPSG for SLA has already been done (Mellow, 2004).…”

How big is minimal?

“…I am much more optimistic that minimally necessary innate capacities will be revealed by comparing O'Grady-style emergentist analyses to monostratal grammars such as HPSG or Construction Grammar (cf. Mellow, 2004).…”

Developing a unified feature-based model for L2 lexical and syntactic processing

“…However, the implementations directly related to language processing phenomena have not been pursued to the same extent as those in computer science. Nevertheless, some notable efforts in this direction have been made in the last two decades, in terms of first language acquisition (Green, 2011), processing of longdistance dependencies (Chaves, 2013), analysis of spoken language (Lücking et al, 2019) and second language acquisition (Mellow, 2004). Before turning to the specifics of these studies, the three key characteristics that HSPG proponents singled out for a grammar to be processing compatible will be examined.…”

“…Closely related to the present research is the work carried out by Mellow (2004) in which he modelled the L2 language representations focusing on form-meaning mappings.…”

“…Quite often L2 speakers tend to generate false associations between what should be the suitable form and the intended meaning (Corver, 2003;Mellow, 2004). This results in a 138 mismatch between the content of the PHON feature and the other features associated with lexical representations, namely SEM and SYN.…”