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41 - The competition model

from Part II - Language processing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Yoshinori Sasaki
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of Second Language Acquisition and Applied Japanese Linguistics, Ochanomizu University
Brian MacWhinney
Affiliation:
Professor of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University
Mineharu Nakayama
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
Reiko Mazuka
Affiliation:
Duke University, North Carolina
Yasuhiro Shirai
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Ping Li
Affiliation:
University of Richmond, Virginia
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Summary

Introduction

One outgrowth of psycholinguists' increasing attention to languages with various structural features is the Competition Model (CM) of MacWhinney and Bates (1989). Invoking emergentist concepts from functional linguistics and cognitive psychology, this model seeks to integrate the traditions of L1 acquisition, L2 acquisition, and adult processing research without relying on hard-wiring of principles from Universal Grammar.

This chapter will outline the model, and then review some of the major findings of research it has inspired, with a focus on sentence comprehension in Japanese and Korean.

Outline of the competition model

Cue coalition and competition

Although the Competition Model addresses issues in both production and comprehension, the majority of studies have focused on comprehension, because it is easier to control experimentally. Many of those studies have examined comprehension of simple sentences with two noun phrases and one transitive verb phrase. Others have looked at comprehension of datives (McDonald, 1987), causatives (Sasaki, 1998), relative clauses (MacWhinney & Pleh, 1988), and pronouns (McDonald & MacWhinney, 1995), as well as sentence production (Bates & Devescovi, 1989).

In standard CM experiments, participants listen to sentences and then judge which of the two nouns was the actor. Young children do this by selecting between toys, or enacting the scene with them (enactment task). Older children and adults may press a button or name the noun.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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  • The competition model
    • By Yoshinori Sasaki, Associate Professor of Second Language Acquisition and Applied Japanese Linguistics, Ochanomizu University, Brian MacWhinney, Professor of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Edited by Mineharu Nakayama, Ohio State University, Reiko Mazuka, Duke University, North Carolina, Yasuhiro Shirai, Cornell University, New York
  • General editor Ping Li, University of Richmond, Virginia
  • Book: The Handbook of East Asian Psycholinguistics
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511758652.044
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  • The competition model
    • By Yoshinori Sasaki, Associate Professor of Second Language Acquisition and Applied Japanese Linguistics, Ochanomizu University, Brian MacWhinney, Professor of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Edited by Mineharu Nakayama, Ohio State University, Reiko Mazuka, Duke University, North Carolina, Yasuhiro Shirai, Cornell University, New York
  • General editor Ping Li, University of Richmond, Virginia
  • Book: The Handbook of East Asian Psycholinguistics
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511758652.044
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The competition model
    • By Yoshinori Sasaki, Associate Professor of Second Language Acquisition and Applied Japanese Linguistics, Ochanomizu University, Brian MacWhinney, Professor of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Edited by Mineharu Nakayama, Ohio State University, Reiko Mazuka, Duke University, North Carolina, Yasuhiro Shirai, Cornell University, New York
  • General editor Ping Li, University of Richmond, Virginia
  • Book: The Handbook of East Asian Psycholinguistics
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511758652.044
Available formats
×