On the lexical representation of compound nouns: Evidence from a picture-naming task with compound targets and gender-marked determiner primes in aphasia

Cortex ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antje Lorenz ◽  
Danièle Pino ◽  
Jörg D. Jescheniak ◽  
Hellmuth Obrig
2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 1134-1149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antje Lorenz ◽  
Andreas Mädebach ◽  
Jörg D Jescheniak

We examined how noun–noun compounds and their syntactic properties are lexically stored and processed in speech production. Using gender-marked determiner primes ( dermasc, diefem, dasneut [the]) in a picture naming task, we tested for specific effects from determiners congruent with either the modifier or the head of the compound target (e.g., Teemasckannefem [teapot]) to examine whether the constituents are processed independently at the syntactic level. Experiment 1 assessed effects of auditory gender-marked determiner primes in bare noun picture naming, and Experiment 2 assessed effects of visual gender-marked determiner primes in determiner–noun picture naming. Three prime conditions were implemented: (a) head-congruent determiner (e.g., diefem), (b) modifier-congruent determiner (e.g., dermasc), and (c) incongruent determiner (e.g., dasneuter). We observed a facilitation effect of head congruency but no effect of modifier congruency. In Experiment 3, participants produced novel noun–noun compounds in response to two pictures, demanding independent processing of head and modifier at the syntactic level. Now, head and modifier congruency effects were obtained, demonstrating the general sensitivity of our task. Our data support the notion of a single-lemma representation of lexically stored compound nouns in the German production lexicon.


1995 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 39-48
Author(s):  
Marja van Helden-Lankhaar

There is considerable evidence that young children often use novel compounds to label salient instances in familiar categories, spontaneously as well as in experimental settings. Although examples appear in the literature of innovative labels for categories which are unfamiliar or completely new to children, little is known about the role of compounding in this case. A picture naming task was designed to elicit names for concepts assumed to be unknown to young children and not easily recognisable as belonging to a particular category. Each target picture was presented together with pictures of two related and well known concepts. 180 Dutch speaking children, aged 3;0-8;l, participated in the study. Results show that from age 3 on, children are prepared to label novel concepts, appropriateness increasing with age. About two thirds of the appropriate labels consist of novel compound nouns. Influence of type of target concept on appropriateness and compounding is discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret KEHOE ◽  
Mélanie HAVY

AbstractThis study examines the influence of language-internal (frequency and complexity of linguistic properties), language-external (percent French input, socioeconomic status (SES), and gender), and lexical factors (size of total and French vocabulary) on the phonological production abilities of monolingual and bilingual French-speaking children, aged 2;6. Children participated in an object and picture naming task in which they produced words selected to test different phonological properties. The bilinguals’ first languages were coded in terms of the frequency and complexity of these phonological properties. Results indicated that bilinguals who spoke languages characterized by high frequency/complexity of codas and clusters had superior results in their coda and cluster accuracy in comparison to monolinguals. Bilinguals also had better coda and cluster accuracy scores than monolinguals. These findings provide evidence for cross-linguistic interaction in combination with a ‘general bilingual effect’. In addition, percent French exposure, SES, total vocabulary, and gender influenced phonological production.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 390-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelia Manolescu ◽  
Gonia Jarema

We explored the way grammatical gender is represented in the bilingual mental lexicon in order to determine whether the grammatical gender of the first language (L1) affects the production of nouns in the second language (L2). Furthermore, we explored the representation of the Romanian “neuter” gender to see if it is distinct from the masculine and feminine. Romanian-French bilinguals were tested using a picture-naming task in L2 (Experiments 1 and 2) and a translation task from L1 to L2 (Experiment 3). Participants had to use either a bare noun (Condition 1) or a noun phrase (Condition 2). Responses were faster on gender congruent than on gender incongruent stimuli in both conditions, and neuter was found to be distinct from masculine and feminine. These results suggest that grammatical gender information is available at the level of lexical representation and that the bilingual lexicon is structured in a manner that allows information from the lexical level of both languages to interact. They also point to a tripartite gender system in Romanian.


2009 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 176-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Haman ◽  
Andrea Zevenbergen ◽  
Melissa Andrus ◽  
Marta Chmielewska

Coining Compounds and Derivations - A Crosslinguistic Elicitation Study of Word-Formation Abilities of Preschool Children and Adults in Polish and English This paper examines word-formation abilities in coining compounds and derivatives in preschool children and adult speakers of two languages (English and Polish) differing in overall word-formation productivity and in favoring of particular word-formation patterns (compounding vs. derivation). An elicitation picture naming task was designed to assess these abilities across a range of word-formation categories. Adult speakers demonstrated well-developed word-formation skills in patterns both typical and non-typical for their native language. In contrast with adult results, preschool children predominantly coined innovations conforming to the general pattern of their language: Polish children favoring derivation and American children favoring compounding. The results show that although children are improving their wordformation skills during the preschool years, they need much more experience to come to the mature proficiency in using the variety of word-formation patterns available in their language.


Gesture ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 299-334
Author(s):  
Arianna Bello ◽  
Silvia Stefanini ◽  
Pasquale Rinaldi ◽  
Daniela Onofrio ◽  
Virginia Volterra

Abstract In early communicative development, children with Down syndrome (DS) make extensive use of gestures to compensate for articulatory difficulties. Here, we analyzed the symbolic strategies that underlie this gesture production, compared to that used by typically developing children. Using the same picture-naming task, 79 representational gestures produced by 10 children with DS and 42 representational gestures produced by 10 typically developing children of comparable developmental age (3;1 vs. 2;9, respectively) were collected. The gestures were analyzed and classified according to four symbolic strategies. The two groups performed all of the strategies, with no significant differences for either choice or frequency of the strategies used. The item analysis highlighted that some photographs tended to elicit the use of the same strategy in both groups. These results indicate that similar symbolic strategies are active in children with DS as in typically developing children, which suggests interesting similarities in their symbolic development.


1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 55-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. P. Whiteside ◽  
C. Hodgson

This brief study investigates the development of fundamental frequency (FO) in pre-adolescent children as a function of age and sex. The children who took part in the study were divided into three age groups: 6, 8 and 10 years. Each group consisted of three males and three females. Each subject produced nine target phrases with [] in phrase-final position, which were elicited via a picture-naming task. FO was estimated for the nine target utterances and the following FO parameters were derived: mean FO for the whole phrase; FO range for the whole phrase; standard deviation values of FO for the whole phrase and mean FO for the phrase-final vowel [α:]. Results indicated that FO parameters generally decreased with age, and by age 10 years the males had lower values than the females for all four parameters. Results also indicated that the mean standard deviation of FO across the phrase was significantly higher for the females compared to that for the males.


2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arina Banga ◽  
Esther Hanssen ◽  
Anneke Neijt ◽  
Robert Schreuder

The present study investigates the relation between conceptual plurality and the occurrence of a plural morpheme in novel Dutch and English noun-noun compounds. Using a picture-naming task, we compared the naming responses of native Dutch speakers and native English speakers to pictures depicting either one or multiple instances of the same object serving as a possible modifier in a novel noun-noun compound. While the speakers of both languages most frequently produced novel compounds containing a singular modifier, they also used compounds containing a plural modifier and did this more often to describe a picture with several instances of an object than to describe a picture with one instance of the object. Speakers of English incorporated some regular plurals into the noun-noun compounds they produced. These results contradict the words-and-rules theory of Pinker (1999) and also the semantic constraints for compounding put forth by Alegre and Gordon (1996). Interestingly, it appears, however, that the acceptability constraints put forth by Haskell, MacDonald, and Seidenberg (2003) apply to the production of compounds.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merel Muylle ◽  
Eva Van Assche ◽  
Robert Hartsuiker

Cognates – words that share form and meaning between languages – are processed faster than control words. However, it is unclear whether this effect is merely lexical (i.e., central) in nature, or whether it cascades to phonological/orthographic (i.e., peripheral) processes. This study compared the cognate effect in spoken and typewritten production, which share central, but not peripheral processes. We inquired whether this effect is present in typewriting, and if so, whether its magnitude is similar to spoken production. Dutch-English bilinguals performed either a spoken or written picture naming task in English; picture names were either Dutch-English cognates or control words. Cognates were named faster than controls and there was no cognate-by-modality interaction. Additionally, there was a similar error pattern in both modalities. These results suggest that common underlying processes are responsible for the cognate effect in spoken and written language production, and thus a central locus of the cognate effect.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sau-Chin Chen ◽  
Bjorn de Koning ◽  
Rolf Antonius Zwaan

Language comprehenders have been argued to mentally represent the implied orientation of objects. However, compared to the effects of shape, size, and color, the effect of orientation is rather small. We examined a potential explanation for the relatively low magnitude of the orientation effect: object size moderates the orientation effect. Theoretical considerations led us to predict a smaller orientation effect for small objects than for large objects in a sentence-picture verification task. We furthermore investigated whether this pattern generalizes across languages (Chinese, Dutch, and English) and tasks (picture-naming task). The results of the verification task show an orientation effect overall, which is not moderated by object size (contrary to our hypothesis) and language (consistent with our hypothesis). Meanwhile the preregistered picture-picture verification task showed the predicted interaction between object size and orientation effect. We conducted exploratory analyses to address additional questions.


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