Modelització de les bases cognitives del llenguatge: estructura i aprenentatge

This project aims to study the physical and cognitive structure of language using non-linguistic models (that is, probabilistic models, movement dynamics, problem solving, analogical reasoning, pattern recognition, etc...). Aspects of language which cannot be explained by means of general cognitive capacities of this kind will require language specific modules or principles. The scope of the research also includes language acquisition, both first and second, understood as the process by which a structure emerges from the restructuring of lexico-grammatical categories and the acoustic cues of phonological categories, belonging to a common cognitive-conceptual base. Inter-linguistic data will be obtained, on the learning of second languages (compared with that of first languages), and on language processing and perception in mono- and bilinguals. These data will be used to postulate and/or identify the cognitive principles and mechanisms which underline the aforementioned language behaviours. The research design is transversal and quasi-experimental