Joseph F. Kess

The Japanese mental lexicon : psycholinguistic studies of kana and kanji processing

This book surveys the psycholinguistic dimensions of lexical access to the mental lexicon in Japanese, and attempts to synthesize the diversity of Japanese psycholinguistic research into the nature of written word processing in Japanese. Ten chapters focus on the nature of such psycholinguistic inquiry and its history, the structural origins of the Japanese script types and their relative frequencies, lexical access studies in kanji, the hiragana and katakana syllabaries, romaji, and mixed text processing, laterality preferences in kana/kanji processing and their implications for scientific discussions of language and cognition, evidence from eye-movement studies, the acquisition of orthographic skills by Japanese children, and a review of the implications and conclusions that arise from the contributions of such research. The text is directed at filling the need for an overview of this research because of its importance to theoretical modelling in linguistics and psychology, as well as aphasiology, mathematical and statistical linguistics, educational practices and governmental intervention in respect to language policies, and studies of linguistic and cultural history.

On the developing history of psycholinguistics

Abstract This paper describes the developing history of the discipline of psycholinguistics. It contrasts Wundtian psycholinguistics with modern psycholinguistics of the past 50 years, and outlines our progression through the Formative, Linguistic, Cognitive, and Cognitive Science periods in current psycholinguistic research. Particular attention is paid to models and metaphors based on a computational view of natural language and the mind as an information-processing device.

Bias, individual differences, and ‘shared knowledge’ in ambiguity

Abstract This paper deals with two types of shared knowledge in the light of psycholinguistic investigations in ambiguity detection and ambiguity resolution. The first type of shared knowledge is the generally shared knowledge of the world type, an array of facts and related inferences that allow reader/hearers to detect alternate interpretations for sentences with multiple readings. This type of shared knowledge allows for a hierarchically ordered set of choices for likely interpretations of ambiguous sentences in isolation; in context, this shared knowledge provides for the interaction of bias with context to make for a likely interpretation. Secondly, shared knowledge may also be of a second type - that metalinguistic knowledge or ability which is shared and demonstrated by all members of the linguistic community to some degree, but which elicits individual differences. The role of individual differences in ambiguity detection and resolution in English and Japanese is discussed as an example of the range of individual differences in ‘shared knowledge’ of the metalinguistic type.

Persuasive language in the television medium: Contrasting advertising and televangelism

Abstract This paper investigates persuasive communication techniques in the language used by television evangelists. Data is presented which compares the form of persuasive language used in television advertising with the language used by the ‘electronic church’. Conclusions are drawn regarding both the general nature of persuasive language and the specific linguistic mechanisms employed in these two areas of persuasion in this popular media form.

Differential detection of ambiguity in Japanese

The ease of detecting ambiguity in Japanese by Japanese subjects was examined. A total of 20 Japanese adults detected the ambiguity in 60 Japanese sentences. The results were in marked contrast to the earlier results of MacKay and Bever (1967), who found lexical ambiguity the easiest, surface ambiguity the next easiest, and underlying ambiguity the most difficult to detect. Two types of Japanese lexical ambiguity were used in the present study, and the results showed that the surface ambiguity was the easiest to detect and one form of lexical ambiguity was the most difficult to detect. A second form of lexical ambiguity was the second easiest to detect and underlying ambiguity was more difficult to detect than this second form but easier than the first form of lexical ambiguity. Implications of these results are discussed.

On psycholinguistic experiments in ambiguity

Abstract This paper reviews theoretical and methodological considerations in psycholinguistic experiments on ambiguity over the last decade. The treatment of ambiguity is assessed as to whether it should be considered analogous in any significant way to sentence production and processing. The results of this experimental paradigm are also considered to see to what degree they may be artifacts of examining isolated sentences in artificial tasks. The paper suggests that the more interesting questions to be pursued relate to how ambiguity is resolved. Psycholinguistic tasks designed to date differ in their specific conclusions, but most are agreed that ambiguity is not a problematic source of difficulty for individuals. What is it then that makes it not a problem? If almost every sentence is potentially vague at some level, then the study of the resolution of ambiguity may be a useful tool in the comprehension of sentence processing in general.

Biasing thematic contexts for ambiguous sentences in a dichotic listening experiment

In an experiment derived from Lackner and Garrett (1972) 80 subjects were given a dichotic listening task where they were presented with ambiguous sentences to an attended ear and disambiguating sentences to the other, unattended, ear. Each of the sentences was preceded by a thematic context that was biased for one meaning of the ambiguous sentence. In one-half of the instances the contexts biased a meaning consistent with that of the disambiguating sentence, and in the remaining one-half they biased the meaning of the ambiguous sentence in a way that was inconsistent with the meaning of the ambiguous sentence. The meanings of the ambiguous sentences the subjects perceived tended to be those that were consistent with the biasing context, even when that meaning was inconsistent with the meaning of the disambiguating sentence. Therefore, when ambiguous sentences are preceded by a thematic context, a single-reading explanation of the processing is more appropriate than a multiple-reading explanation.