Cogn Neurodyn. 2009 Dec;3(4):297-316. doi: 10.1007/s11571-009-9093-1. Epub 2009 Oct 1.
Syntactic theory provides a rich array of representational assumptions about linguistic knowledge and processes. Such detailed and independently motivated constraints on grammatical knowledge ought to play a role in sentence comprehension. However most grammar-based explanations of processing difficulty in the literature have attempted to use grammatical representations and processes per se to explain processing difficulty. They did not take into account that the description of higher cognition in mind and brain encompasses two levels: on the one hand, at the macrolevel, symbolic computation is performed, and on the other hand, at the microlevel, computation is achieved through processes within a dynamical system. One critical question is therefore how linguistic theory and dynamical systems can be unified to provide an explanation for processing effects. Here, we present such a unification for a particular account to syntactic theory: namely a parser for Stabler's Minimalist Grammars, in the framework of Smolensky's Integrated Connectionist/Symbolic architectures. In simulations we demonstrate that the connectionist minimalist parser produces predictions which mirror global empirical findings from psycholinguistic research.
句法理论为语言知识和过程提供了丰富的表示假设。这些对语法知识的详细且独立驱动的约束应该在句子理解中发挥作用。然而，文献中大多数基于语法的处理困难解释都试图使用语法表示和过程本身来解释处理困难。它们没有考虑到，在心智和大脑中对更高认知的描述包含两个层次：一方面，在宏观层面上，进行符号计算，另一方面，在微观层面上，通过动力系统内的过程实现计算。因此，一个关键问题是如何将语言理论和动力系统统一起来，为处理效应提供解释。在这里，我们为句法理论的一个特定解释提供了这样的统一：即在 Smolensky 的集成连接主义/符号体系中，为 Stabler 的最小语法提供一个解析器。在模拟中，我们证明了连接主义最小解析器产生的预测与心理语言学研究的全局经验发现相吻合。
