Memory access in language: how we store and retrieve linguistic information

To be able to talk and to understand each other, we have to continuously store and retrieve linguistic information.

In linguistics, the dominant approach to studying the processes of storing and recall of linguistic information from short-term memory assumes that we can access all items in parallel and that the most highly activated items are the most likely to be retrieved.

Activation, in turn, can be boosted by the requirements of the current cognitive context.This model is related to theories of memory developed independently of linguistics. In linguistics, it has been supported by rich research on production and comprehension. The model, however, has been applied very narrowly.

It focuses only on the recall of some syntactic items, for instance, the recall of arguments during the processing of a verb.

Other functions of memory fall outside the approach.The project’s core idea is that the memory model can be applied to many other cases in which memory has a decisive role.

We will do this by linking the model to theories of other language phenomena developed in linguistics, cognitive sciences and artificial intelligence.

First, we will link it to computational models of lexical knowledge, which will enable us to fully and formally represent what the current cognitive context is and to build an indiscriminate and general approach to memory access.

Second, we will link it to computational models of grammatical knowledge to understand how we store and recall grammatical rules.

Finally, we will link it to discourse theories to have an analysis of storage and recall of textual information.The project will lead to a new view on the memory model, one that is general and cross-domain.

It will provide a more principled account of how memory affects language, will give us a new insight into why the theories of lexical knowledge, grammatical knowledge and discourse theories work, and it will make it possible to tie together accounts that are often treated as independent.