Edward Gibson

a really neat insight which turns out to be true is that the further apart the pair of words are that you're connecting the harder it is to do the production the harder it is to do the comprehension it's harder to produce hard to understand when the words are far apart when they're close together it's easy to produce and it's easy to comprehend let me give you an example okay so

a really neat insight which turns out to be true is that the further apart the pair of words are that you're connecting the harder it is to do the production the harder it is to do the comprehension it's harder to produce hard to understand when the words are far apart when they're close together it's easy to produce and it's easy to comprehend let me give you an example okay so

We have, in any language, we have mostly local connections between words, but they're abstract. The connections are abstract, they're between categories of words. And so you can always make things further apart if you add modification, for example, after a noun, so a noun in English comes before a verb, the subject noun comes before a verb, and then there's an object after, for example.

We have, in any language, we have mostly local connections between words, but they're abstract. The connections are abstract, they're between categories of words. And so you can always make things further apart if you add modification, for example, after a noun, so a noun in English comes before a verb, the subject noun comes before a verb, and then there's an object after, for example.

We have, in any language, we have mostly local connections between words, but they're abstract. The connections are abstract, they're between categories of words. And so you can always make things further apart if you add modification, for example, after a noun, so a noun in English comes before a verb, the subject noun comes before a verb, and then there's an object after, for example.

So I can say what I said before, you know, the dog entered the room or something like that. So I can modify dog. If I say something more about dog after it, then what I'm doing is,

So I can say what I said before, you know, the dog entered the room or something like that. So I can modify dog. If I say something more about dog after it, then what I'm doing is,

So I can say what I said before, you know, the dog entered the room or something like that. So I can modify dog. If I say something more about dog after it, then what I'm doing is,

indirectly i'm lengthening the dependence the dependence between dog and entered by adding more stuff to it so i just make just make it explicit here if i say um uh the the boy who the cat scratched cried we're going to have a mean cat here And so what I've got here is the boy cried. It would be a very short, simple sentence. And I just told you something about the boy.

indirectly i'm lengthening the dependence the dependence between dog and entered by adding more stuff to it so i just make just make it explicit here if i say um uh the the boy who the cat scratched cried we're going to have a mean cat here And so what I've got here is the boy cried. It would be a very short, simple sentence. And I just told you something about the boy.

indirectly i'm lengthening the dependence the dependence between dog and entered by adding more stuff to it so i just make just make it explicit here if i say um uh the the boy who the cat scratched cried we're going to have a mean cat here And so what I've got here is the boy cried. It would be a very short, simple sentence. And I just told you something about the boy.

And I told you it was the boy who the cat scratched, okay?

And I told you it was the boy who the cat scratched, okay?

And I told you it was the boy who the cat scratched, okay?

Right? And so I can do that. I can say that. That's a perfectly fine English sentence. And I can say, the cat which the dog chased ran away or something. Okay? I can do that. But it's really hard now. I've got, you know, whatever I have here. I have the boy who the cat... Now let's say I try to modify cat. Okay? The boy who the cat... which the dog chased, scratched, ran away.

Right? And so I can do that. I can say that. That's a perfectly fine English sentence. And I can say, the cat which the dog chased ran away or something. Okay? I can do that. But it's really hard now. I've got, you know, whatever I have here. I have the boy who the cat... Now let's say I try to modify cat. Okay? The boy who the cat... which the dog chased, scratched, ran away.

Right? And so I can do that. I can say that. That's a perfectly fine English sentence. And I can say, the cat which the dog chased ran away or something. Okay? I can do that. But it's really hard now. I've got, you know, whatever I have here. I have the boy who the cat... Now let's say I try to modify cat. Okay? The boy who the cat... which the dog chased, scratched, ran away.

Oh my God, that's hard, right? I can, I'm sort of just working that through in my head, how to produce and how to, and it's really just horrendous to understand. It's not so bad. At least I've got intonation there to sort of mark the boundaries and stuff, but it's, that's really complicated. That's, sort of English in a way. I mean, that follows the rules of English.

Oh my God, that's hard, right? I can, I'm sort of just working that through in my head, how to produce and how to, and it's really just horrendous to understand. It's not so bad. At least I've got intonation there to sort of mark the boundaries and stuff, but it's, that's really complicated. That's, sort of English in a way. I mean, that follows the rules of English.

Oh my God, that's hard, right? I can, I'm sort of just working that through in my head, how to produce and how to, and it's really just horrendous to understand. It's not so bad. At least I've got intonation there to sort of mark the boundaries and stuff, but it's, that's really complicated. That's, sort of English in a way. I mean, that follows the rules of English.