scholarly journals Grammatical Number in Psycholinguistic Research

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Gulgowski ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Psycholinguistic Research ◽  
Grammatical Number

On the Impact of Aptness, Conventionality and Familiarity on Metaphor Processing from a Meta-analytical Point of View

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-106
Author(s):  
Csilla Rákosi
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Psycholinguistic Research ◽  
Analytical Point ◽  
Metaphor Processing ◽  
The Impact

Psycholinguistic research into metaphor processing is burdened with empirical problems as experiments provide diverging evidence on the impact of conventionality, familiarity and aptness, and with conceptual issues as the interpretation and operationalization of the three concepts mentioned, as well as the related predictions which can be drawn from theories of metaphor processing, are controversial in the literature. This paper uses tools of statistical meta-analysis in order to bring us closer to the solution of these problems and reveal future lines of research.

Reassessing gender in Ogbe-Oloma

2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 387-403
Author(s):  
Ronald P. Schaefer ◽  
Francis O. Egbokhare
Keyword(s):  
Sound Quality ◽  
Form Class ◽  
Nominal Form ◽  
Grammatical Number ◽  
Gender System

Abstract We re-assess the gender system of Ogbe-Oloma, an Edoid village variety of Nigeria. System exponents are prefixes that define form class and reflect grammatical number. We find that eight agreement classes undergird fourteen genders, while seventeen nominal form classes frame twenty-five number inflections. Prefix mapping from inflection to gender is non-isomorphic. Mapping is however constrained by syllable shape, CV- versus V-, and alliterative sound quality of prefix consonant, not vowel. In addition, several number inflections trigger agreement in multiple genders leading to one gender that exclusively refers to nouns with human reference.

Second language acquisition: Theoretical and experimental issues in contemporary research

1996 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 677-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel David Epstein ◽  
Suzanne Flynn ◽  
Gita Martohardjono
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Functional Categories ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Psycholinguistic Research ◽  
Explanatory Theory ◽  
Parameter Values ◽  
Theoretical Issues

AbstractTo what extent, if any, does Universal Grammar (UG) constrain second language (L2) acquisition? This is not only an empirical question, but one which is currently investigable. In this context, L2 acquisition is emerging as an important new domain of psycholinguistic research. Three logical possibilities have been articulated regarding the role of UG in L2 acquisition: The first is the “no access” hypothesis that claims that no aspect of UG is available to the L2 learner. The second is the “partial access” hypothesis that claims that only LI instantiated principles and LI instantiated parameter-values of UG are available to the learner. The third, called the “full access” hypothesis, asserts that UG in its entirety constrains L2 acquisition.In this paper we argue that there is no compelling evidence to support either of the first two hypotheses. Moreover, we provide evidence concerning functional categories in L2 acquisition consistent with the claim that UG is fully available to the L2 learner (see also Flynn 1987; Li 1993; Martohardjono 1992; Schwartz & Sprouse 1991; Thomas 1991; White 1989). In addition, we will attempt to clarify some of currently unclear theoretical issues that arise with respect to positing UG as an explanatory theory of L2 acquisition. We will also investigate in some detail certain crucial methodological questions involved in experimentally testing the role of UG in L2 acquisition and finally, we will present a set of experimental results of our own supporting the “Full Access” hypothesis.

Nominal Number and Language Pathologies

2021 ◽  
pp. 290-304
Author(s):  
Britta Biedermann ◽  
Nora Fieder ◽  
Karen Smith-Lock
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Developmental Delays ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Number Processing ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Cognitive Neuropsychology ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Grammatical Number ◽  
Insight Into

This chapter provides an overview of the evidence on grammatical number processing taken from cognitive neuropsychology, including developmental delays and impairments of language (e.g. developmental language disorder, and Williams syndrome) and aphasia, an acquired language impairment after brain injury. These types of language impairment can give insight into the functional architecture of nominal number processing by looking at error patterns that arise in each of the aforementioned populations. By classifying observed responses in language production tasks into non-number and number errors, we are able to reveal underlying mechanisms of syntactic rules and their representations when they develop, but also learn about processes and representation of number when this information breaks down.

The Oxford Handbook of Grammatical Number

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Mental Representation ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Numeral Classifiers ◽  
Number Marking ◽  
The Core ◽  
Grammatical Number ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Linguistic Means

This volume offers an overview of current research on grammatical number in language. The chapters Part i of the handbook present foundational notions in the study of grammatical number covering the semantic analyses of plurality, the mass–count distinction, the relationship between number and quantity expressions and the mental representation of number and individuation. The core instance of grammatical number is marking for number distinctions in nominal expressions as in English the book/the books and the chapters in Part ii, Number in the nominal domain, explore morphological, semantic, and syntactic aspects of number marking within noun phrases. The contributions examine morphological marking of number the relationship between syntax and nominal number marking, and the interactions between numeral classifiers with semantic number and number marking. They also address cases of mismatches in form and meaning with respect to number displayed by lexical plurals and collective nouns. The final chapter reviews nominal number processing from the perspective of language pathologies. While number marking on nouns has been the focus of most research on number, number distinctions can also be found in the event domain. Part iii, Number in the event domain, presents an overview of different linguistic means of expressing plurality in the event domain, covering verbal plurality marking, pluractional modifiers of the form Noun preposition Noun, frequency adjectives and dependent indefinites. Part iv provides fifteen case studies examining different aspects of grammatical number marking in a range of typologically diverse languages.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. xx-12
Author(s):  
Patricia Cabredo Hofherr ◽  
Jenny Doetjes
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Number Marking ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Grammatical Number

This introduction gives an outline of the major issues in the research on grammatical number, covering different types of nominal number marking, the relation between number and individuation, and number in the event domain. The second part of the chapter provides a summary of the chapters of the book, which is divided into four parts: foundations, nominal number, event number, and case studies.

scholarly journals Can you reach for the planets or grasp at the stars? – Modified noun, verb, or preposition constituents in idiom processing

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Smolka ◽  
Carsten Eulitz
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Type ◽  
The Other ◽  
Psycholinguistic Research ◽  
Idiom Comprehension ◽  
Figurative Meaning ◽  
Idiomatic Phrase ◽  
Idiom Processing ◽  
Special Case ◽  
Idiomatic Meaning ◽  
Control Sentence

Idioms are a special case of multi-word expressions in that their meaning cannot be compositionally constructed from the meaning of the single constituents. The question of how the idiomatic meaning is assembled remains an unsettled issue in psycholinguistic research. The present study examines whether the figurative meaning of an idiom is recognized if critical idiomatic constituents, such as the noun, verb, or preposition, are modified. In three paraphrase experiments, participants saw (a) the canonical idiomatic phrase (e.g., She reached for the stars), (b) the idiomatic phrase with a modified constituent (e.g., She reached/grasped for/at the stars/planets), or (c) a matched literal control sentence (e.g., She reached for the sweets) and rated on a scale from 1 (not at all) - 7 (completely) how strongly the sentence reflected the meaning of a paraphrase of the idiom (e.g., She has always aspired to unattainable goals). Sentence type and constituent type strongly affected paraphrase ratings with highest ratings for canonical idiomatic phrases, lowest ratings for control sentences, and ratings in between for idioms with modified constituents. Further, idioms with modified verbs were rated higher in matching the figurative meaning than idioms with modified prepositions or nouns. Overall these findings indicate that the figurative meaning was assembled in spite of the modifications. We conclude that idioms are not fully ‘semantically fixed’ but allow for some flexibility in the processing of idioms. Modified constituents that activate meanings similar to those of the canonical constituents will co-activate the figurative meaning of the idiom together with the other idiomatic constituents. We discuss psycholinguistic models on idiom comprehension.

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