Abstract
In the process of speaking conceptual content is expressed in linguistic form. This requires the speaker to make a variety of conceptual as well as linguistic decisions, and it is still a mystery how these decisions interact in the generation of fluent speech. Among the conceptual decisions taken are ones of content selection and linear order. Content selection is a matter of deciding what should be expressed, given the speaker’s intentions and given mutual knowledge in the speaker-listener context. It will involve retrieval of information from memory or from the on-going scene in which the speaker is present. However, at the same time it is largely impossible for a speaker to give simultaneous expression to two or more units of information (let us call them “thoughts”). For linguistic expression these need be strictly ordered. The ordering of this information for expression we will call “linearization”. Some major determinants of linearization are, once again, mutual knowledge but also “economy” for working memory: speakers appear to order thoughts for expression such that load on working memory during speaking is minimized (cf. Levelt, 1979 a, b, 1981).
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Wörter müssen nur aktualisiert, Sätze müssen erzeugt werden. Manfred Bierwisch (1979, p. 38)
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bierwisch,M.: 1979, ‘Sprache und Gedächtnis: Ergebnisse und Probleme’, in M. Bierwisch (ed.), Psychologische Effekte sprachlicher Strukturkomponenten, Berlin: Akademie- Verlag.
Bock, J. K. and Irwin, D. E.: 1980, ‘Syntactic effects of information availability in sentence production’, Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 19, 467–484.
Bühler, K.: 1908, Tatsachen und Probleme zu einer Psychologie der Denkvorgänge, Archiv für die gesamte Psychologie 12, 1–92.
Bühler, K 1934, Sprachtheorie, Jena: Fischer (Stuttgart: Fischer, 1965 II)
Flores d’Arcais, G. B.: 1975, ‘Some perceptual determinants of sentence construction’, in G. B. Flores d’Arcais (ed.), Studies in Perception, Milano-Firenze: Martello-Giunti.
Garrett, M. F.: 1975, ‘The analysis of sentence production’, in G. H. Bower (ed.), The
Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Vol. 9, New York: Academic Press.
Garrett, M. F.: 1980, ‘Levels of processing in sentence production’, in B. Butterworth
ed.), Language Production. Vol. I: Speech and Talk, New York: Academic Press.
Kempen, G.: 1977, ‘Conceptualizing and formulating in sentence production’, in S. Rosenberg (ed.), Sentence Production: Developments in Research and Theory, Washington: Erlbaum.
Kempen, G. and Hoenkamp, E.: 1979, ‘A procedural grammar for sentence production’, Internal Report K. U. Nijmegen, Nov. 1979.
Kempen, G. and Huijbers, P.: 1980, ‘The lexicalization process in sentence production and naming: indirect election of words’, Internal Report K. U. Nijmegan, Oct. 1980.
Levelt, W. J. M.: 1979a, ‘Linearization in discourse’, memeo, Max-Planck-Institut für Psycholinguistik.
Levelt, W. J. M.: 1979b, ‘Describing spatial networks’. To appear in Proceedings of the Sloan Symposium on Formal Semantics and Natural Language Processing. Held at Center for Cognitive Science, University of Texas.
Levelt, W. J. M.: 1981, ‘Cognitive styles in the use of spatial direction terms’, in R. J. Jarvella and W. Klein (eds.), Speech, Place and Action. Studies of Language in Context, Chichester: Wiley.
Levelt, W. J. M. and Kelter, S.: 1981, ‘Surface form and memory in question answering’, submitted to Cognitive Psychology.
Lindsley, J. R.: 1976, ‘Producing simple utterances: Details of the planning process’, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 5, 331–354.
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1981 D. Reidel Publishing Company
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Levelt, W., Maasen, B. (1981). Lexical Search and Order of Mention in Sentence Production. In: Klein, W., Levelt, W. (eds) Crossing the Boundaries in Linguistics. Synthese Language Library, vol 13. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8453-0_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8453-0_12
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-009-8455-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-8453-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive