Connectionists: Computational Modeling of Bilingualism Special Issue

[Juyang Weng]

Ping Li:

As far as I understand, traditional connectionist architectures cannot 
do abstraction well as Marvin Minsky, Michael Jordan
and many others correctly stated.  For example, traditional neural 
networks cannot learn a finite automaton (FA) until recently (i.e.,
the proof of our Developmental Network).  We all know that FA is the 
basis for all probabilistic symbolic networks (e.g., Markov models)
but they are all not connectionist.

After seeing your announcement, I am confused with the book title
"Bilingualism Special Issue: Computational Modeling of Bilingualism" but 
with your comment "most of the models are based on connectionist 
architectures."

Without further clarifications from you, I have to predict that these 
connectionist architectures in the book are all grossly wrong in terms
of brain-capable connectionist natural language processing, since they 
cannot learn an FA.   This means that they cannot generalize to 
state-equivalent but unobserved word sequences.   Without this basic 
capability required for natural language processing, how can they claim 
connectionist natural language processing, let alone bilingualism?

I am concerned that many papers proceed with specific problems without 
understanding the fundamental problems of the traditional connectionism. 
The fact that the biological brain is connectionist does not necessarily 
mean that all connectionist researchers know about the brain's 
connectionism.

-John Weng

On 3/22/13 6:08 PM, Ping Li wrote:
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> A Special Issue on Computational Modeling of Bilingualism has been 
> published. Most of the models are based on connectionist architectures.
>
> All the papers are available for free viewing until April 30, 2013 
> (follow the link below to its end):
>
> http://cup.linguistlist.org/2013/03/bilingualism-special-issue-computational-modeling-of-bilingualism/
>
> Please let me know if you have difficulty accessing the above link or 
> viewing any of the PDF files on Cambridge University Press's website.
>
> With kind regards,
>
> Ping Li
>
> =================================================================
>
> Ping Li, Ph.D. | Professor of Psychology, Linguistics, Information 
> Sciences & Technology  |  Co-Chair, Inter-College Graduate Program in 
> Neuroscience | Co-Director, Center for Brain, Behavior, and Cognition 
> | Pennsylvania State University  | University Park, PA 16802, USA  |
>
> Editor, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, Cambridge University 
> Press | Associate Editor: Journal of Neurolinguistics, Elsevier 
> Science Publisher
>
> Email: pul8 at psu.edu <mailto:pul8 at psu.edu>  | URL: 
> http://cogsci.psu.edu <http://cogsci.psu.edu/>
>
> =================================================================
>

-- 
--
Juyang (John) Weng, Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
MSU Cognitive Science Program and MSU Neuroscience Program
428 S Shaw Ln Rm 3115
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824 USA
Tel: 517-353-4388
Fax: 517-432-1061
Email: weng at cse.msu.edu
URL: http://www.cse.msu.edu/~weng/
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