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Language membership as a gradient emergent feature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2018

MICHAEL A. JOHNS Open the ORCID record for MICHAEL A. JOHNS [Opens in a new window]  and
MICHAEL T. PUTNAM
MICHAEL A. JOHNS*
Affiliation:
Penn State University / Center for Language Science
MICHAEL T. PUTNAM
Affiliation:
Penn State University / Center for Language Science
*
Address for correspondence: Dr. Michael T. Putnam, Penn State University / Center for Language Science, 239 Burrowes Building, University Park, PA 16802[email protected]
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Extract

In their keynote article, Dijkstra, Wahl, Buytenhuijs, van Halem, Al-jibouri, de Korte, and Rekké (2018) introduce the Multilink model representing an integrated bi/multilingual lexicon. This proposal builds upon both previous and recent research on an integrated cognitive architecture underlying the language faculty (for a summary, see e.g., Putnam, Carlson & Reitter, 2018). In our view, the adjustments proposed by the authors are an improvement on previous instantiations of similar models such as those discussed in the present article. In our remarks we explicate how the Multilink model may be further enhanced, by making any appeal to language-specific nodes or representations epiphenomenal. To achieve this, we propose a novel approach to representing language membership as the result of gradient emergent principles that builds upon the integrated lexicon underlying the Multilink model.

Type
Peer Commentaries
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , August 2019 , pp. 701 - 702
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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References

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