Probabilistic Models of Verb-Argument Structure

EFL learners' learning of English verb argument structure

A Probabilistic Model of Early Argument Structure Acquisition by Afra Alishahi A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements

A Probabilistic Model of Early Argument Structure Acquisition Afra Alishahi Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Computer Science University of Toronto 2008 Developing computational algorithms that capture the complex structure of natural language is an open problem. In particular, learning the abstract properties of language only from usage data remains a challenge. In this dissertation...

Learning Probabilistic Subcategorization Preference by Identifying Case Dependencies and Optimal Noun Class Generalization Level

This paper proposes a novel method of learning probabilistic subcategorization preference. In the method, for the purpose of coping with the ambiguities of case dependencies and noun class generalization of argument/adjunct nouns, we introduce a data structure which represents a tuple of independent partial subcategorization frames. Each collocation of a verb and argument/adjunct nouns is assum...

L1 Transfer in L2 Acquisition of the There-Insertion Construction by Mandarin EFL Learners

This study examined the role of the native language (L1) transfer in a non-native language (L2) acquisition of the there-insertion construction at the syntax-semantics interface. Specifically, the study investigated if Mandarin EFL learners would make overgeneralization errors in the situation where an L1 argument structure constitutes a superset of its L2 counterpart. Verbs of existence and ap...

A Probabilistic Model of Semantic Plausibility in Sentence Processing

Experimental research shows that human sentence processing uses information from different levels of linguistic analysis, for example, lexical and syntactic preferences as well as semantic plausibility. Existing computational models of human sentence processing, however, have focused primarily on lexico-syntactic factors. Those models that do account for semantic plausibility effects lack a gen...