Chapter 14 The Resolution of Interdeterminacy During Language Comprehension: Perspectives on Modularity in Lexical, Structural and Pragmatic Process

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on an issue central to processing models: that of how the language processor resolves several types of indeterminacy during comprehension. The evidence concerning the resolution of co-reference assignment and the resolution of lexical ambiguity are examined. The chapter discusses the fundamental issue that underlies the concern over indeterminacy resolution, and the issue of the general nature of the cognitive architecture that supports language processing. Two general models are described in the chapter: the interactive model, and the modularity model. In the study of language processing, examination of the effects of one putative information source upon the processing of another has become the empirical testing ground for the interactivity vs. modularity debate. Two processes—co-reference assignment and lexical access—are examined for evidence of the effects of a number of types of semantic and pragmatic contexts upon their operation.

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