Frequency and morphological irregularity are independent variables. Evidence from a corpus study of Spanish verbs

2014 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Viviana Fratini ◽  
Joana Acha ◽  
Itziar Laka
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
Mechanism Model ◽  
Irregular Verbs ◽  
Dual Mechanism ◽  
Morphological System

AbstractWe present the results of the first corpus analysis of Spanish verbs where the correlation between morphological irregularity and frequency was considered. In English, irregular verbs are more frequent than regular ones (Ullman, 1999 and Michel et al., 2011). We tested whether this frequency-irregularity relation observed in English would also hold in a more complex morphological system like Spanish. Results show that frequency and morphological irregularity do not correlate in Spanish. This pattern of results represents a challenge for the Dual-Mechanism model of morphology (Pinker and Prince 1988; Pinker and Ullman 2002), where all irregulars are argued to be stored whole in memory and are predicted to be more frequent than regulars.

The development of regular and irregular verb inflection in Spanish child language

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 591-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
HARALD CLAHSEN ◽  
FRAIBET AVELEDO ◽  
IGGY ROCA
Keyword(s):  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Small Minority ◽  
Mechanism Model ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Main Observation ◽  
Irregular Verbs ◽  
Verb Inflections ◽  
Dual Mechanism ◽  
Age Range

We present morphological analyses of verb inflections produced by 15 Spanish-speaking children (age range: 1;7 to 4;7) taken from longitudinal and cross-sectional samples of spontaneous speech and narratives. Our main observation is the existence of a dissociation between regular and irregular processes in the distribution of errors: regular suffixes and unmarked (non-alternating) stems are over-extended to irregulars in children's inflection errors, but not vice versa. We also found that overregularization errors at all ages are only a small minority of the children's irregular verbs, that the period of overregularization is preceded by a stage without errors, and that the onset of overregularizations is connected to the emergence of obligatory finiteness markings. These findings are explained in terms of the dual-mechanism model of inflection.

scholarly journals acquisition of tense-aspect morphology and the regular-irregular debate

2003 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 195-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasuhiro Shirai
Keyword(s):  
Past Tense ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Mechanism Model ◽  
The Past ◽  
Single Mechanism ◽  
Early Use ◽  
Irregular Verbs ◽  
Dual Mechanism ◽  
L1 Acquisition

This paper reviews research on English past-tense acquisition to test the validity of the single mechanism model and the dual mechanism model, focusing on regular-irregular dissociation and semantic bias. Based on the review, it is suggested that in L1 acquisition, both regular and irregular verbs are governed by semantics; that is, early use of past tense forms are restricted to achievement verbs—regular or irregular. In contrast, some L2 acquisition studies show stronger semantic bias for regular past tense forms (e.g., Housen, 2002, Rohde, 1996). It is argued that L1 acquisition of the past-tense morphology can be accounted for more adequately by the single-mechanism model.  

scholarly journals Inflectional Change Patterns in Arabic

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-227
Author(s):  
Maisoun Abu Joudeh ◽  
Sabri Al-Shboul
Keyword(s):  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Jordanian Arabic ◽  
Verbal Nouns ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Loan Words ◽  
Mechanism Model ◽  
Single Mechanism ◽  
Type Frequency ◽  
Schema Model ◽  
Dual Mechanism

Abstract Most approaches to inflectional morphology propose a single-default representation. This research on Jordanian Arabic offers an analysis having more than one default inflection. This is accomplished by showing that unlike previous morphological accounts like the single-mechanism model, dual-mechanism model, and the schema model (cf. Pinker, 1990; Rumelhart & McClelland, 1986; and Bybee, 1985), the current research relies upon the ‘openness’ mechanism to define defaultness. Openness is thus defined as the ability of the inflectional process to accept new forms into a language. The corpus used in this research contains diminutives, verbal nouns, derivatives, and loan words used in JA. Other defining factors are modified in this research, such as regularity (rule-based mechanism) and productivity (type frequency). The findings of this research indicate that there are two possible defaults in Jordanian Arabic ordered in terms of openness: the sound feminine plural and the iambic broken plural. The findings have the implication that a language’s grammar can have a multi-default system.

The dual-mechanism model of inflectional morphology: A connectionist critique

1999 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 1026-1027 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc F. Joanisse ◽  
Todd R. Haskell
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
The Body ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Connectionist Models ◽  
Mechanism Model ◽  
Single Mechanism ◽  
Dual Mechanism

Clahsen has added to the body of evidence that, on average, regular and irregular inflected words behave differently. However, the dual-mechanism account he supports predicts a crisp distinction; the empirical data instead suggest a fuzzy one, more in line with single-mechanism connectionist models.

Past-Tense Marking by Children With and Without Specific Language Impairment

1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janna B. Oetting ◽  
Janice E. Horohov
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Impaired Group ◽  
Irregular Verbs ◽  
Morphological System

This study examined the productivity and representation of past-tense marking in children with and without specific language impairment (SLI). Participants were 11 6-year-olds with SLI, 11 age-matched controls, and 11 MLU-matched controls. Regular and irregular verbs were used to examine the productivity of regular marking. Past-tense representation was examined by asking children to inflect homophonous pairs of denominal and irregular root verbs. All three groups demonstrated productive marking of past tense, although as expected the accuracy of the impaired group was less than that of either control group. Patterns of past-tense marking as a function of a word's phonological composition and inflectional frequency were the same for the SLI- and MLU-matched groups, and all children presented a past-tense system that was sensitive to grammatical structure. The findings replicate previous research of the SLI morphological system and provide additional specification of these children's morphological strengths and weaknesses. Strengths include the children's sensitivity to grammatical and phonological characteristics of the lexicon; weaknesses include limited productivity of regular past-tense marking and a greater sensitivity to frequency manipulations as compared to normally developing children. Results are discussed in terms of the nature of the SLI profile. They also are used to evaluate the theoretical model on which the study was based.

Wie wär's mit einem richtigen Mädelsabend? Plural -s within Compounds in Colloquial Northern German

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Fehringer
Keyword(s):  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
The Other ◽  
Standard Language ◽  
Mechanism Model ◽  
Morphological Theory ◽  
Linguistic Constraints ◽  
Dual Mechanism

In standard German, the non-occurrence of -s plurals as the first element of a lexical compound (e.g., *Auto-s-berg ‘heap of cars') vs. the regular occurrence of the other plural suffixes (e.g., Kind-er-club ‘children's club', Frau-en-fete 'women's party') has often been quoted as evidence for a dual mechanism model of morphology, which sees irregular forms as stored in the mental lexicon while regular forms are generated by rule (see Marcus et al. 1995). However, in colloquial northern German, where the s-plural is more widely used than in the standard language, it is possible to form productive compounds containing this suffix (e.g., Mädel-s-treff ‘girls’ meeting'). This paper investigates to what extent -s plurals are acceptable within compounds in colloquial northern German, whether they are subject to any linguistic constraints (for example, morphological or phonological), and what implications they might have for current morphological theory.*

The history of the quasi-auxiliary use(d) to

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob Neels
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Representation ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Time Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Aspect Marker ◽  
Feeding Process ◽  
Discourse Frequency ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

This article is a corpus-based study on the grammaticalization of the quasi-auxiliary use(d) to. It describes and seeks to explain the historical process whereby use(d) to, starting from the Middle English source construction use ‘be in the habit of’ + to + verb, grammaticalized into a habitual aspect marker with idiosyncratic morphosyntactic properties. A detailed corpus study is presented, based on four historical English corpora, which together cover a time period from 1410 to 2009. The results of the corpus analysis are interpreted within the theoretical framework of usage-based grammar, with the aim of uncovering the mechanisms that propelled the gradual grammaticalization of use(d) to on the semantic, morphological, syntactic and phonological dimensions. Among the underlying mechanisms and processes identified are semantic generalization via host-class expansion and habituation, pragmatic enrichment, analogy, chunking, loss of analyzability and internal structure, as well as phonological reduction through neuromotor automation. Supported by the quantitative empirical evidence from the corpus analysis and drawing on findings from usage-based research on language change, the present study depicts the grammaticalization of use(d) to as a self-feeding process driven by frequency effects, i.e. by the effects that the increasingly high discourse frequency of the use(d) to construction had on its cognitive representation.

scholarly journals Morpheme Analysis Associated with German Noun Plural Endings among Second Language (L2) Learners Using Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 866
Author(s):  
Guiyoung Son
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Mechanism Model ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Syntactic Process ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Anterior Negativity ◽  
Dual Mechanism

This paper aims to examine the morpho-syntactic process of noun plural endings, “-n” and “-s”, in adult second language (L2) learners using event-related potentials (ERPs). German noun plural endings consist of many inflectional forms. They are one of the difficulties faced by German L2 learners. We recorded an electroencephalogram (EEG) study of German L2 learners by dividing study subjects into low and high L2 learners according to the learning level. We examined what ERP components were associated with L2 language processing. All participants were Korean German L2 learners who had achieved varying levels of proficiency. As a result of our analysis, we confirmed different morpho-syntactic processing between the two groups. First, N400 was detected at any learning level. It confirmed language processing supportive of the Full-Listing Model for irregular endings. Second, we confirmed left anterior negativity (LAN), as detected in both low and high proficiency L2 learners. LAN is supportive of a Full-Parsing Model for regular endings, as it was detected in both low and high proficiency L2 learners. However, P600 was detected in highly proficient L2 learners only. It implies that high proficiency learners differ from low proficiency L2 learners. P600 is processed in a reparsing process after recognition of grammatical errors. Based on this result, more active use of a Dual Mechanism Model is possible as learning levels improve. It confirms that improvement in L2 learners results in an approach to cognitive processing similar to that of German first language (L1) speakers.

Punctuation and syntactic structure in obwohl and weil clauses in nonstandard written German

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Schäfer ◽  
Ulrike Sayatz
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Corpus Studies ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Insight Into

In this paper, we analyze written sentences containing the German particles obwohl (“although”) and weil (“because”). In standard written German, these particles embed clauses in verb-last constituent order, which is characteristic of subordinated clauses. In spoken and – as we show – nonstandard written German, they embed clauses in verb-second constituent order, which is characteristic of independent sentences. Our usage-based approach to the syntax – graphemics interface includes a large-scale corpus analysis of the patterns of punctuation in the nonstandard variants that provides clues to the syntactic structure and degree of sentential independence of the nonstandard variants. Our corpus study confirms and refines hypotheses from existing theoretical approaches by clearly showing that writers mark obwohl clauses with verb-second order systematically as independent sentences, whereas weil clauses with verb-second order are much less strongly marked as independent. This work suggests that similar corpus studies could provide deeper insight into the interplay between syntax and graphemics.

Producing inflected verbs

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wieke Tabak ◽  
Robert Schreuder ◽  
R. H. Baayen
Keyword(s):  
Picture Naming ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Mechanism Model ◽  
The Past ◽  
Inflected Form ◽  
Present Tense ◽  
Dual Mechanism ◽  
As Effects

Four picture naming experiments addressing the production of regular and irregular pasttense forms in Dutch are reported. Effects of inflectional entropy as well as effects of the frequency of the past-tense inflected form across regulars and irregulars support models with a redundant lexicon while challenging the dual mechanism model (Pinker, 1997). The evidence supports the hypothesis of Stemberger (2004) and the general approach of Word and Paradigm morphology (Blevins, 2003) according to which inflected forms are not derived from the present-tense stem, but accessed independently.

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