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Passing Markers: A Theory of Contextual Influence in Language Comprehension*

Cognitive SciencePublished 1 July 1983
Eugene Charniak
Citations135
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score1.13
SNIP1.32

TL;DR

An alternative which, while keeping modularity, will account for several puzzles for typical “syntax first” theories, which includes a “marker passing” (or “spreading activation”) component, which operates in parallel to the normal syntactic component.

Abstract

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.

Keywords

Computer ScienceSocial Sciences