Diagnostics and repairs in fluid construction grammar

Abstract

Linguistic utterances are full of errors and novel expressions, yet linguistic communication is remarkably robust. This paper presents a double-layered architecture for open-ended language processing, in which 'diagnostics' and 'repairs' operate on a meta-level for detecting and solving problems that may occur during habitual processing on a routine layer. Through concrete operational examples, this paper demonstrates how such an architecture can directly monitor and steer linguistic processing, and how language can be embedded in a larger cognitive system.