Frequency in Language: Memory, Attention and Learning

✍ Scribed by Dagmar Divjak

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2019
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 342
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Cognitive linguists are bound by the cognitive commitment, which is the commitment to providing a characterization of the general principles governing all aspects of human language, in a way that is informed by, and accords with, what is known about the brain and mind from other disciplines. But what do we know about aspects of cognition that are relevant for theories of language? Which insights can help us build cognitive reality into our descriptive practice and move linguistic theorizing forward? This unique study integrates research findings from across the cognitive sciences to generate insights that challenge the way in which frequency has been interpreted in usage-based linguistics. It answers the fundamental questions of why frequency of experience has the effect it has on language development, structure and representation, and what role psychological and neurological explorations of core cognitive processes can play in developing a cognitively more accurate theoretical account of language.

✦ Table of Contents

Frequency in Language
Dedication
Contents
Figures
Table
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I
1. Counting Occurrences: How Frequency Made Its Way into the Study of Language
2. Measuring Exposure: Frequency as a Linguistic Game Changer
3. More than Frequencies: Towards a Probabilistic View on Language
Part II
4. Committing Experiences to Memory
5. Entrenching Linguistic Structures
Part III
6. The Brain’s Attention-Orienting Mechanisms
7. Salience: Capturing Attention in and through Language
Part IV
8. Predicting: Using Past Experience to Guide Future Action
9. Learning: Navigating Frequency, Recency, Context and Contingency
10. By Way of Conclusion
References
Index