Neural Correlates for Pragmatic Inference

Shin-ae Yoon

(Konkuk University)

In this study, I reassure the neuralcorrelates in pragmatics inference processing during conversational implicatureusing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Tothis end, the linguistic experiment was conducted; this experiment was modifiedfrom the study where pragmatic inferential processing was required. Thecondition comprises question and answer conversation pairs which aredifferentiated in the degree of implicitness and the unrelated condition inwhich semantic integration or association with world knowledge is not required.

Behavioral differences were influenced by the implicit degree in bothaccuracy and reaction time. The results suggested that implicitness increasedthe difficulty of discourse comprehension, and recruited further processing,such as semantic and the world knowledge integration while the unrelatedcondition showed relatively high accuracy and short reaction time, indicatingthat there was no difficulty in doing the task. With respect to theneuroimaging results, not only did this study confirm the brain corticalregions involved in language processing established in earlier neurolinguisticresearch, but also identified subcortical region, caudate activation. Theseresults suggest that subcortical region such as caudate as well as the corticalregions are actively involved in the linguistic processing. I will introducethe basic principles of functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI), its usesin linguistic research and the experimental design and method with the resultsin this study.

The Interface of Syntax, Semantics, andPragmatics

in the Use of Medially Positioned Conjunctsin English

Wonseok Kim

(Yonsei University)

Since the 1970s,discourse markers have drawn a lot of attention from scholars working in thefields such as pragmatics, discourse analysis, language acquisition, andlanguage pedagogy. This has resulted in a rapidly expanding body of research.However, there have been relatively few studies about the medial placement ofdiscourse markers, especially a particular subtype known as conjuncts. Mostprevious studies simply stated the obvious fact that these discourse markers orconjuncts occur initially, medially, or finally in a sentence. The purpose ofthis research, in contrast, is to explain the medial placement of theseconjuncts in detail. In order to provide a comprehensive explanation for theirmedial placement, this study used the British National Corpus (BNC). Since thetargeted discourse marker subtype exists in large numbers, only 10 items wereselected for the purposes of a qualitative and quantitative research. As aresult of this analysis, this research suggests the following multi-dimensionalexplanation for the medial placement of the conjuncts: the constraints placedon actual discourse marker presence; the minimal argument; the free shiftingcondition; optimal approximation; information partitioning and focus; syntacticform; semantic typology; medial placement constraint; and style. These variousfactors operate in parallel in order to position the conjuncts in a suitablemedial position in a sentence, revealing the interface of syntax, semantics,and pragmatics.

An Empirical Study of Internally Headed Relative Clauses in Korean

Sanghoun Song

(Korea University)

This study concerns a linguistic phenomenon for which theories are ampleand pretty old but data are scant and relatively new; namely, Internally HeadedRelative Clauses in Korean. IHRCs have been one of the hot issues since theearly days of Korean generative grammar, but an empirical base for establishingthe theoretic foundations remains unsettled. The erstwhile studies have yet notformed a consensus even as to whether Korean indeed employs IHRCs. The othermajor issues include whether and how IHRCs in Korean (if exist) differ fromExternally Headed Relative Clauses and which grammatical factors constrain theconstruction. When the basic puzzles have been left unresolved in theory forquite a while as such, using a data-based method is particular rewarding inlanguage research. Thus, the present study aims to provide an empirical bottom linefor a livelier discussion about IHRCs in Korean. To this end, the present studyexplores a spoken corpus and conducts acceptability judgment testing followedby a survey and interview with the participants. This methodological pipelineleads us to verify that there exists an individual variation across speakers inacceptability judgments and interpretation of IHRCs in Korean. The conditionsfor IHRCs in Korean include distinction between individual-level andstage-level, grammatical and lexical aspects of the predicates in the relativeand main clauses, animacy of the relativized head, and indexation of kes in IHRCs. Accordingly, we classifiedthe IHRCs in Korean into the five subtypes, three of which are genuine typesand the others are pseudo types. In addition, via the survey and interview itis revealed that IHRCs and EHRCs in Korean differ in implications; the formerinvolves immediacy, simultaneity, adjacency, specificity, and particularlyrelevancy whereas the latter conveys a neutral meaning.