Research group: Language Production and Comprehension

The phenomenon `language' is studied in various academic disciplines: philosophy, linguistics, psychology, and AI. In the Doctoral Program in Cognitive Science at the University of Hamburg, the methodological tools and theories from these disciplines are combined into an interdisciplinary curriculum and research program. This program is centred around two main questions: (1) how is it possible for people to produce and perceive language (language production and language comprehension) and (2) in what way is the knowledge and use of language related to other cognitive abilities (the interface between language and other cognitive systems).

In cognitive science it is possible to phrase questions about language production and comprehension, and about the interface between language and other cognitive systems at three different levels: what is the formal structure of our knowledge of language, how can the cognitive processes be described in which this knowledge is put to use, and how can the properties of the human brain that sustain those processes be specified? Traditionally, questions at the level of knowledge representation are investigated by linguists and philosophers, questions at the level of cognitive processing by psycholinguists, and questions at the level of the human brain by (psycho)neurologists. In this research group questions with respect to language are studied by taking into account theories at all three levels. In addition, tools that are offered by AI are used to implement ideas in computer systems, so that the consequences and consistency of those ideas can be checked.

In the Spring of 1997, the research in the group Language Production and Language Comprehension can be specified as follows:

Language production and comprehension:

Research on the production and comprehension of language is carried out with respect to different aspects of language. Problems related to the form of language (syntactic structure) are investigated in Monika Hofmann's project "Real-time comprehension of elliptic structures" (structures like `John drank beer and wine, and Mary __ juice'). Problems related to the meaning of language (semantic/conceptual structure) are investigated in Soenke Ziesche's project on the structuring of semantic/conceptual information during the production of spoken language. Developed hypotheses are tested in a computer model (the SYNPHONICS model). Two projects investigate aspects of discourse representation: Barbara Kaup's project "The mental representation of negative facts" investigates how states of affairs like `John is not here' are represented. And Laszlo Nagy's project "A cognitive model for the processing of conditional expressions" investigates the influence of pragmatic constraints on the interpretation of sentences like `If you enter this room, you may get a reward'.

The interface between language and other cognitive systems:

Research on the interface between language and other cognitive systems is focused on interdisciplinary research with other fields of cognitive science. Ellen Fricke's project "Gesture as expression of linguistic processes" studies the relation between spontaneous gestures and spoken language (motor theory and linguistic theory). And Emile van der Zee's project "Spatial language and spatial representation" studies the relation between language and visual information representation (perception theory and linguistic theory).

The research group is supported by Dr. Stephanie Kelter (research on text comprehension and mental imagery) and Prof. Christopher Habel (research on language production and comprehension, and on the language interfaces). This research group works closely together with the research group Language Development, and is associated with the research group Conceptualization Processes and Event Descriptions that is funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG).

(Last change: December 2, 1997)
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