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Passing Markers: A Theory of Contextual Influence in Language Comprehension *
Author(s) -
Charniak Eugene
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.498
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1551-6709
pISSN - 0364-0213
DOI - 10.1207/s15516709cog0703_1
Subject(s) - modularity (biology) , syntax , component (thermodynamics) , comprehension , computer science , linguistics , artificial intelligence , natural language processing , cognitive science , programming language , psychology , philosophy , physics , genetics , biology , thermodynamics
Most Artificial Intelligence theories of language either assume a syntactic component which serves as “front end” for the rest of the system, or else reject all attempts at distinguishing modules within the comprehension system. In this paper we will present an alternative which, while keeping modularity, will account for several puzzles for typical “syntax first” theories. The major addition to this theory is a “marker passing” (or “spreading activation”) component, which operates in parallel to the normal syntactic component.