Lexical access of mass and count nouns

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 354-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Mondini ◽  
Eva Kehayia ◽  
Brendan Gillon ◽  
Giorgio Arcara ◽  
Gonia Jarema
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Access ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Plural Form ◽  
Mass Nouns ◽  
Access System ◽  
Count Nouns ◽  
Priming Task ◽  
Grammatical Sentence ◽  
Syntactic Context

Two psycholinguistic experiments were carried out in Italian to test the role played by the feature that distinguishes mass nouns from count nouns, as well as by the feature that distinguishes singular nouns from plural nouns. The first experiment, a simple lexical decision task, revealed a sensitivity of the lexical access system to the processing of the features Mass and Plural as shown by longer reaction times. In particular, nouns in the plural yielded longer reaction times than in the singular except when the plural form was irregular. Furthermore, the feature Mass also affected processing, yielding longer reaction times. In the second experiment, a sentence priming task, both the Plural and the Mass effects did not surface when a grammatical sentence fragment was the prime. These data show a direct correlation between the linguistic ‘complexity’ of plural/mass nouns and processing time. They also suggest that this complexity does not affect normal fluent spoken language where words are embedded in a semantic and syntactic context.

Effects of the relationships between forms within and across paradigms on lexical processing and representation

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-310
Author(s):  
Jeff Parker
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Lexical Decision Task ◽  
Lexical Access ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Theoretical Studies ◽  
Priming Task ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Visual Lexical Decision

Abstract The frequency and distribution of forms within a lexeme’s paradigm affect how quickly forms are accessed (e.g., Kostić, 1991; Milin, Filipović Đurđević, & Moscoso del Prado Martín, 2009; Moscoso del Prado Martı́n, Kostić, & Baayen, 2004). The distribution of forms across paradigms, in contrast, has received little experimental attention. Theoretical studies investigate the distribution of forms across paradigms because forms vary in how predictive they are of other (unknown) forms. Such investigations have uncovered typological tendencies (e.g., Ackerman & Malouf, 2013; Stump & Finkel, 2013) and contribute to explanations of language-specific phenomena (e.g., Sims, 2015; Parker & Sims, To appear). The intersection of these research approaches raises questions about how the distribution of forms within and across paradigms affects lexical access and representation. Based on forms of Russian nouns representing two morphosyntactic property sets and lexemes from three inflection classes, it is shown that speakers are sensitive to differences in form and morphosyntactic property set in a visual lexical decision task. In a priming task, nominative forms prime locative forms better than vice versa regardless of suffix, despite differences between the same forms in the lexical decision task. These results suggest that speakers make generalizations about forms across classes, including at the level of word forms and morphosyntactic property sets.

Age Stereotypes in Younger and Older Women: Analyses of Accommodative Shifts with a Sentence-Priming Task

2003 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Wentura ◽  
Jochen Brandtstädter
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Priming Effect ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Unrelated Word ◽  
Affective Priming ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Older Person ◽  
Younger Women ◽  
Priming Task ◽  
Semantic Priming Effect

A sentence-priming technique was used to examine whether older women (N = 39) share a more positive view of aging than younger women (N = 35). Situationally specified statements about older and younger persons were presented, followed either by a semantically related word, an unrelated word of the same valence, or a nonword. The accessibility of target words was measured by reaction times in a lexical decision task. Whereas a semantic priming effect for negatively connoted materials emerged for both groups, a priming effect for positively connoted materials was found for older women only. Furthermore, an affective priming effect was found for the older group, i.e., older women tended to respond relatively faster (slower) to semantically unrelated positive (negative) words following a sentence about an older person. The results are discussed within a coping-theoretical framework.

The Pseudohomophone Effect: The Role of Visual Similarity in Non-Word Decisions

1982 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randi C. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Lexical Decision Task ◽  
Lexical Access ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Phonological Similarity ◽  
Visual Similarity ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Phonological Coding

The pseudohomophone effect, that is, the finding that non-words that are pronounced like words (e.g. MEEN) take longer to reject in a lexical decision task than other pronounceable non-words (e.g. NEEN), has been used to support the hypothesis of phonological receding in lexical access. The lexical decision experiments reported here matched pseudohomophones to control non-words that were as visually similar to words as were the pseudohomophones. For both normal and aphasic subjects, reaction times to reject the pseudohomophones were no longer than those for the visual controls. However, the pseudohomophones did take longer to reject than other pronounceable non-words which were not as visually similar to words. The results suggest that most previous findings of the pseudohomophone effect result from the greater visual rather than phonological similarity of the pseudohomophones to words. The absence of a phonological effect on the non-words in the present study implies that phonological coding is an optional rather than a slow, but obligatory process.

Syntactic context effects in visual word recognition

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tal Linzen ◽  
Alec Marantz ◽  
Liina Pylkkänen
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Syntactic Category ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Probability Mass ◽  
Low Entropy ◽  
Increased Activity ◽  
Syntactic Context

Words are typically encountered in the context of a sentence. Recent studies suggest that the contexts in which a word typically appears can affect the way it is recognized in isolation. We distinguish two types of context: collocational, involving specific lexical items, and syntactic, involving abstract syntactic structures. We investigate the effects of syntactic context using the distribution that verbs induce over the syntactic category of their complements (subcategorization frames). Magnetoencephalography (MEG) data was recorded while participants performed a lexical decision task. Verbs with low-entropy subcategorization distributions, in which most of the probability mass is concentrated on a handful of syntactic categories, elicited increased activity in the left anterior temporal lobe, a brain region associated with combinatory processing. Collocational context did not modulate neural activity, but had an effect on reaction times. These results indicate that both collocational and syntactic contextual factors affect word recognition, even in isolation.

Mass Nouns and Count Nouns in Classical Chinese

Early China ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 147-184
Author(s):  
Dan Robins
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Analysis ◽  
Mass Nouns ◽  
Count Nouns ◽  
Classical Chinese ◽  
Syntactic Context ◽  
Do So

This article defends three theses concerning the semantics of nouns in classical Chinese. First, they are all free to function as mass nouns. Second, though many of them can also function as count nouns, they do not do so as frequently as do corresponding English nouns. Third, unlike English nouns, nouns in classical Chinese do not need to be classified as count nouns and mass nouns in order to explain their behavior in particular contexts. I argue that classical Chinese nouns function as count nouns only when specific elements of the syntactic context force them to do so, including numbers, some quantifiers, and some adjectives. Because classical Chinese nouns usually occur without such elements, they function more often as mass nouns. I develop this argument in opposition to an alternative analysis defended by Christoph Harbsmeier, according to which classical Chinese nouns divide into three classes: count nouns, mass nouns, and generic nouns. I show that the syntactic and semantic distinctions Harbsmeier draws in support of his analysis do not illuminate the behavior of classical Chinese nouns. The article also briefly addresses the ontological issues that have seemed to some linguists and philosophers to be related to the count/mass distinction.

Plural marking in the second language: Atomicity, definiteness, and transfer

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Sea Hee Choi ◽  
Tania Ionin
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Mass Nouns ◽  
Count Nouns ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Plural Marking

Abstract This paper examines whether second language (L2)-English learners whose native languages (L1; Korean and Mandarin) lack obligatory plural marking transfer the properties of plural marking from their L1s, and whether transfer is manifested both offline (in a grammaticality judgment task) and online (in a self-paced reading task). The online task tests the predictions of the morphological congruency hypothesis (Jiang 2007), according to which L2 learners have particular difficulty automatically activating the meaning of L2 morphemes that are incongruent with their L1. Experiment 1 tests L2 learners’ sensitivity to errors of –s oversuppliance with mass nouns, while Experiment 2 tests their sensitivity to errors of –s omission with count nouns. The findings show that (a) L2 learners detect errors with nonatomic mass nouns (sunlights) but not atomic ones (furnitures), both offline and online; and (b) L1-Korean L2-English learners are more successful than L1-Mandarin L2-English learners in detecting missing –s with definite plurals (these boat), while the two groups behave similarly with indefinite plurals (many boat). Given that definite plurals require plural marking in Korean but not in Mandarin, the second finding is consistent with L1-transfer. Overall, the findings show that learners are able to overcome morphological incongruency and acquire novel uses of L2 morphemes.

Mass Nouns and Count Nouns in German

1969 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Madison S. Beeler
Keyword(s):  
Mass Nouns ◽  
Count Nouns

Regional origin affects the interpretation of linking elements in spoken Dutch compounds

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Hanssen ◽  
Arina Banga ◽  
Anneke Neijt ◽  
Robert Schreuder
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Middle Region ◽  
Interference Effects ◽  
Linking Elements ◽  
Regional Origin ◽  
Linking Element

In Dutch, the linking element en in compounds is often homophonous with the regular plural suffix -en. Both are pronounced as [ә], [әn] or [ṇ] in different regions of the Netherlands. As a consequence, speakers of standard Dutch may interpret linking en in spoken compounds as a plural marker. The present study investigates whether the regional origin of the participants affects their interpretation of regional speech variants of linking en. In an auditory decision task, speakers from four regions decided if a compound was singular or plural. While all critical compounds required the singular response, reaction times were delayed when the compound contained a linking en: All speech variants of en produced interference for speakers from four regions of the Netherlands. Region North showed the greatest interference compared to the Middle region. Also, region Northeast revealed larger interference effects for linking [ә] and region South for linking [ṇ]. We conclude that a speaker’s regional origin affects interpretation.

scholarly journals Children’s Early Understanding of Mass–Count Syntax: Individuation, Lexical Content, and the Number Asymmetry Hypothesis

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Barner ◽  
Jesses Snedeker
Keyword(s):  
Word Meaning ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Mass Nouns ◽  
Count Nouns ◽  
Lexical Content

How does mass–count syntax affect word meaning? Many theorists haveproposed that count nouns denote individuals, whereas mass nouns do not(Bloom, 1999; Gordon, 1985; Link, 1983), a proposal that is supported byprototypical examples of each (table, water). However, studies of quantityjudgments in 4-year-olds and adults demonstrate that some mass nouns(furniture) do denote individuals (Barner & Snedeker, 2005). This isproblematic for bootstrapping theories that posit one-to-onesyntax-semantics mappings (individual ↔ count; nonindividual ↔ mass; Bloom,1999), unless mass nouns that denote individuals are late-learnedexceptions to mappings. This article investigates this possibility in3-year-olds and adults using 2 methods: word extension and quantityjudgment. Both methods indicate that novel mass nouns can denoteindividuals in both age groups, and thus fail to support simplifiedsyntax-semantics mappings. Also, differences between word extension andquantity judgment raise the possibility that the tasks measure differentunderlying knowledge.

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