A Structured Context Model for Grammar Learning

Abstract

Abstract-We present a structured model of context that supports an integrated approach to language acquisition and use. The model extends an existing formal notation, Embodied Construction Grammar (ECG), with representations for tracking both entities and events in discourse and situational context. The notation employs an intermediate level of granularity between low-level sensorimotor representations (such as that suitable for dynamic models of action and events for grounded language learning) and the more schematic representations needed for learning and using grammar. The resulting model allows existing systems for simulation-based language understanding and comprehension-driven grammar learning to represent, interpret and acquire a variety of contextually grounded construction.

Embodied Construction Grammar

“…As forewarned, we have omitted detailed specification of the ECG formalism, or any algorithmic or implementational detail of the computational models associated with language comprehension. A major strand of related research has focused on theories and computational models of child language learning (Chang, 2008;Chang & Gurevich, 2004;Chang & Mok, 2006;Mok, 2008); these have shown how a construction-based grammar formalism, a model of (partial) language comprehension like that described above, and usage-based learning strategies can be integrated into a cognitively and developmentally plausible model of how children learn their earliest lexical and grammatical constructions. Also, the x-schema formalism and simulation-based semantics was originally motivated by Narayanan's (1997) model of linguistic aspect and conceptual metaphor (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980); more recent research has been extending the ECG formalism and implementations to accommodate such cross-domain mappings.…”