Search

Moroccan Arabic has two competing syntactic constructions for possessive marking: a synthetic one and an analytic one. The distribution of these constructions is investigated in semi-spontaneous narratives (frog stories) from four Moroccan cities and from the diaspora community in the Netherlands. This distribution is found to depend very much on the individual lexical items that head the construction, and on the form of the dependent, pronominal dependents favouring the synthetic form. Regional variation in Morocco is linked to the sociolinguistic history of the regions. The northern town of Tangier, where language contact with Berber (and Late Latin) had the greatest impact on the formation of Arabic dialects, shows the greatest preference for the analytic genitive. The immigrant community in the Netherlands shows an increased preference for the analytic form in comparison with their peers in Morocco. This concerns possessives with NP dependents in particular, which suggests a direct influence of Dutch as the socially dominant language.

This study uses the morphological family size effect as a tool for exploring the degree of isomorphism in the networks of morphologically related words in the Hebrew and Dutch mental lexicon. Hebrew and Dutch are genetically unrelated, and they structure their morphologically complex words in very different ways. Two visual lexical decision experiments document substantial cross-language predictivity for the family size measure after partialing out the effect of word frequency and word length. Our data show that the morphological family size effect is not restricted to Indo-European languages but extends to languages with non-concatenative morphology. In Hebrew, a new inhibitory component of the family size effect emerged that arises when a Hebrew root participates in different semantic fields.

Functional neuroirnaging, within 10 years, has produced evidence which leads us to question a number of the standard assumptions about the areas which are necessary and sufficient for language processing. Although neuroirnaging evidence has corroborated much neuropsychological data, it forces a revision of a number of the standard interpretations of those data and some traditionally accepted notions must be totally discarded. We will provide an over-view of some issues which have arisen in these years, giving examples from a number of laboratories and illustrating with experiments of our own. The circumstances under which the left posterior temporal lobe (Wermcke's area) and the left inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area) are activated are reviewed, and several views of how they contribute to language processing are considered in the light of this evidence. Further evidence for the contribution of a number of other areas to language comprehension are reviewed, including the anterior temporal lobe, the cerebellum, the left superior median frontal lobe, the anterior insula and the left inferior temporal occipital junction. Further we discuss some of the conditions under which the right hemisphere contributes to language processing. We will conclude by discussing the implications of this research for the concept of modularity in the sense of Fodor [Modularity of Mind, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1983]. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

It has recently been shown that listeners use systematic differences in vowel length and intonation to resolve ambiguities between onset-matched simple words (Davis, Marslen-Wilson, & Gaskell, 2002; Salverda, Dahan, & McQueen, 2003). The present study shows that listeners also use prosodic information in the speech signal to optimize morphological processing. The precise acoustic realization of the stem provides crucial information to the listener about the morphological context in which the stem appears and attenuates the competition between stored inflectional variants. We argue that listeners are able to make use of prosodic information, even though the speech signal is highly variable within and between speakers, by virtue of the relative invariance of the duration of the onset. This provides listeners with a baseline against which the durational cues in a vowel and a coda can be evaluated. Furthermore, our experiments provide evidence for item-specific prosodic effects.

Contains fulltext : 42546.pdf (author's version ) (Closed access) 15 p.

Item does not contain fulltext 13 p.

Contains fulltext : 41299.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) 14 p.

Item does not contain fulltext 22 p.

Contains fulltext : 55021.pdf ( ) (Closed access) Four experiments investigated the role of frequency information in compound production by independently varying the frequencies of the first and second constituent as well as the frequency of the compound itself. Pairs of Dutch noun-noun compounds were selected such that there was a maximal contrast for one frequency while matching the other two frequencies. In a position-response association task, participants first learned to associate a compound with a visually marked position on a computer screen. In the test phase, participants had to produce the associated compound in response to the appearance of the position mark, and we measured speech onset latencies. The compound production latencies varied significantly according to factorial contrasts in the frequencies of both constituting morphemes but not according to a factorial contrast in compound frequency, providing further evidence for decompositional models of speech production. In a stepwise regression analysis of the joint data of Experiments 1-4, however, compound frequency was a significant nonlinear predictor, with facilitation in the low-frequency range and a trend toward inhibition in the high-frequency range. Furthermore, a combination of structural measures of constituent frequencies and entropies explained significantly more variance than a strict decompositional model, including cumulative root frequency as the only measure of constituent frequency, suggesting a role for paradigmatic relations in the mental lexicon. 6 p.

Item does not contain fulltext 24 p.

Contains fulltext : 42008.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)

Item does not contain fulltext 21 p.

Contains fulltext : 41759.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Huddleston, R. en G. Pullum The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language Cambridge:Cambridge University Press ,2002 0-5214-3146-8

Item does not contain fulltext 13 p.

Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words. A vigorous ongoing debate surrounds the question of how such internal structure is best accounted for: by means of lexical entries and deterministic symbolic rules, or by means of probabilistic subsymbolic networks implicitly encoding structural similarities in connection weights. In this review, we separate the question of subsymbolic versus symbolic implementation from the question of deterministic versus probabilistic structure. We outline a growing body of evidence, mostly external to the above debate, indicating that morphological structure is indeed intrinsically graded. By allowing probability into the grammar, progress can be made towards solving some long-standing puzzles in morphological theory.

This study investigates the effects of lexical frequency on the durational reduction of morphologically complex words in spoken Dutch. The hypothesis that high-frequency words are more reduced than low-frequency words was tested by comparing the durations of affixes occurring in different carrier words. Four Dutch affixes were investigated, each occurring in a large number of words with different frequencies. The materials came from a large database of face-to-face conversations. For each word containing a target affix, one token was randomly selected for acoustic analysis. Measurements were made of the duration of the affix as a whole and the durations of the individual segments in the affix. For three of the four affixes, a higher frequency of the carrier word led to shorter realizations of the affix as a whole, individual segments in the affix, or both. Other relevant factors were the sex and age of the speaker, segmental context, and speech rate. To accommodate for these findings, models of speech production should allow word frequency to affect the acoustic realizations of lower-level units, such as individual speech sounds occurring in affixes.

Post-lexical stress shift in English, as exemplified by FIFteen MEN (cf. fifTEEN or FIFTEEN) is sensitive to rhythm and constituency. Rhythm can be accounted for by constraints like NoClash, forbidding adjacent accents within the phonological phrase. Constituency has been accounted for by a cyclic application of right-alignment and left-alignment of accents in the phonological phrase. However, such an account fails to take care of multiply premodified NPs like Fifteen Japanese CDs. Ranking right-alignment above left-alignment gives fifTEEN japaNESE ceeDEES and the reverse ranking gives the equally unacceptable FIFteen JAPanese CEEdees. Abandoning a cyclic treatment, I propose a procliticized structure in which procliticized phonological phrases correspond to embedding premodifiers like fifteen in the above example. Such premodifiers align with the left edge with a phonological phrase but fail to align their right edge with a phonological phrase. As a result, the correct (FIFteen (JAPaNESE ceeDEES)) is produced, or, if NoClash is given a stricter interpretation so as to ban accents with only one unaccented syllable between them, the equally correct (FIFteen (JAPanese ceeDEES)). A systematic but hitherto unnoticed stress contrast is discussed, that between e.g. TOO high BUILdings and TWO HIGH BUILdings, and it is shown that the new account deals with it effortlessly.

This paper discusses four experiments on Dutch which show that distinctive phonological features differ in their relevance for word recognition. The relevance of a feature for word recognition depends on its phonological stability, that is, the extent to which that feature is generally realized in accordance with its lexical specification in the relevant word position. If one feature value is uninformative, all values of that feature are less relevant for word recognition, with the least informative feature being the least relevant. Features differ in their relevance both in spoken and written word recognition, though the differences are more pronounced in auditory lexical decision than in self-paced reading.

Contains fulltext : 61377.pdf (author's version ) (Open Access)

Contains fulltext : 58026.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) 10 p.

The aim of this introductory article is to provide a background to the articles contained in this special issue of Lingua that centers around variation in form, variation in meaning, and markedness. Theoretical and empirical considerations are brought together in this special issue in which the linguistic disciplines that are covered diverge. The different contributions deal with language processing, first language acquisition, language contact, functional-typology and generative morphology and syntax. Several papers in this special issue argue in favour of an Optimality Theoretic analysis of the data under discussion. This is not a coincidence, given that Optimality Theory is claimed to be a formal theory of markedness (cf. Gilbers and De Hoop, 1998 , Lingua, 104, 1 for an introduction to OT). In Section 1 , we present two hypotheses dealing with the relation between variation in form and variation in meaning. We discuss several dimensions along which markedness of forms and meanings can be measured in Section 2 . In the final section we discuss the possibility that the concept of bidirectional optimization accounts for markedness as well as variation in form versus variation in meaning.

Item does not contain fulltext 9 p.

An experiment is reported in which the interpretation of adjective-noun combinations was investigated. Semantic characteristics of adjectives and nouns were varied. Central adjectives were members of pairs of frequent antonyms (e.g., big-small, wet-dry). Peripheral adjectives were near-synonyms of such antonyms (e.g., sturdy, swampy). Compared to central adjectives, peripheral adjectives have additional collocational restrictions that account for their more restricted usages. Combinations contained nouns in which dimensions that matched the collocational restrictions of the peripheral adjectives were of high or low salience. A speeded classification task for meaningfulness was used. Combinations consisting of peripheral adjectives and low salient nouns resulted in particularly low percentages of meaningful responses. The results confirm important predictions of schema-based theory, but they also point to required elaborations of this theory.

Item does not contain fulltext 4 p.

Contains fulltext : 201857.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)

Item does not contain fulltext The aim of the present study was to investigate whether children with developmental apraxia of speech (DAS) show a deficit in planning syllables in speech production. Six children with DAS and six normally speaking (NS) children produced high- and low-frequency of occurrence syllable utterances, in which the syllable structure was systematically manipulated in an otherwise unchanging phoneme sequence. Anticipatory coarticulation, using second formant trajectories, and durational structure were analysed. The results showed stronger coarticulation in the children with DAS when compared to the normally speaking children. but in contrast to our expectations, in neither group was a systematic effect of syllable structure on the second format trajectory found. Effects of syllable structure did emerge for durational structure in that durational adjustments were found in the segments of the second syllable. These adjustments were less systematic in children with DAS when compared to normally speaking children. Furthermore, at the prosodic level, normally speaking children showed metrical contrasts that were not realized by the children with DAS. The latter results are interpreted as evidence for a problem in the planning of syllables in speech production of children with DAS, in particular concerning prosodic aspects, which is discussed in relation to the automation of speech production.

Objective To investigate the effects of infant orthopedics (IO) administered in the first year of life on the speech characteristics of 2.5-year-old children with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) using a perceptual evaluation instrument with equal-appearing interval (EAI) scales. Design In a prospective randomized clinical trial (Dutchcleft), two groups of children with complete UCLP were followed longitudinally. One group received IO based on a modified Zurich approach (IO group), and the other group did not (non-IO group). The appliance was used until soft palate closure at age 12 months. Hard palate closure is delayed until 9 years of age. Participants Three groups of 2.5-year-old toddlers participated in this investigation: 10 IO, 10 non-IO, and 8 noncleft controls matched for age and socioeconomic status. Method Five trained listeners assessed the children's speech in a blinded perceptual rating procedure. They judged 13 specific speech characteristics and indicated their total impression of speech on EAI scales. Results The reliability and consistency of 11 of the rating scales was good. The intelligibility rating scale was the single speech characteristic that distinguished the IO group from the non-IO group; the IO group was judged to be superior. The cleft groups differed from the noncleft group on 9 of the 11 scales. Conclusions Evaluation of speech by means of the present newly developed perceptual rating instrument showed that the IO group obtained significantly higher ratings for intelligibility than the non-IO group. The groups did not differ regarding any of the other speech aspects.

In this article, two hypotheses were tested to explain attitudinal ratings like SURPRISE, SUGGESTION, REMINDER etc. of four rising nuclear contours observed in a Dutch question corpus and described as (a) H*L H%, (b) H* H%, (c) L*H H% and (d) L* H%. According to one hypothesis, the middle tones in (a) and (c) should be parcelled out, such that their absence produces contours (b) and (d), respectively, predicting communality of meaning within (a, c) that excludes (b, d). That is, (b, d) could be viewed as undershot variants of (a, c), with undershoot expressing a shade of meaning different from that of the fully realised pitch accents. This hypothesis was not confirmed by the data, though. The other hypothesis was based on the concept of the ‘frequency code’, which associ ates high/rising F₀ values with non-assertive behaviour and appeared to provide a much better model to predict listeners’ ratings.

Item does not contain fulltext The aim of the present study is to answer three research questions on moral attitudes (i.e., attitudes concerning abortion, premarital and extramarital relations, and homosexual relations) Which parental and individual characteristics affect moral attitudes? Do the effects of parental and individual characteristics vary across countries? And, if so, can these effect differences an moral issues be explained by national characteristics? To answer these questions, we use the 1991 ISSP database containing relevant data of 16,604 inhabitants of 15 countries. Hypotheses are tested using multi-level analyses. We find that parental and individual religiosity, as well as individual educational attainment, have strong effects on moral attitudes. However, we observe considerable effect differences across countries, which is a rather new finding. Effects of individual religiosity on moral attitudes appear to be stronger in more religious countries and weaker in more secularized countries. Effects of individual education are stronger in more religiously heterogeneous countries and weaker in more religiously homogeneous countries. Finally, effects of individual education on moral attitudes are weaker in short-standing democracies than in long-standing ones 20 p.

Contains fulltext : M_170139.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) 28 p.

Item does not contain fulltext 7 p.

Item does not contain fulltext Dieter Mindt Emperical grammar of the English verb system Berlin:Cornelsen Verlag ,2000 3-464-37110-7

In this study, we use the association between various measures of the morphological family and decision latencies to reveal the way in which the components of Dutch and English compounds are processed. The results show that for constituents of concatenated compounds in both languages, a position-related token count of the morphological family plays a role, whereas English open compounds show an effect of a type count, similar to the effect of family size for simplex words. When Dutch compounds are written with an artificial space, they reveal no effect of type count, which shows that the differential effect for the English open compounds is not superficial. The final experiment provides converging evidence for the lexical consequences of the space in English compounds. Decision latencies for English simplex words are better predicted from counts of the morphological family that include concatenated and hyphenated but not open family members.

As in many other languages, the constituents of nominal compounds in Dutch are often separated by a linking element. This study investigates to what extent form and semantic properties of the right constituents in Dutch compounds affect the choice of the linker. Using both lexical statistics and experimentation, we show that the left and right constituent families affect the choice of the linker independently of the semantic categories of the left and right constituents themselves. We also show that the choice of the linker is co-determined by the animacy and concreteness of the left constituent. No role for the semantic class of the head constituent was observed in the experiment. Apparently, linkers are non-canonical suffixes in the sense that their occurrence is codetermined by the form properties of the constituent to their right.

Item does not contain fulltext 9 p.

In their keynote contribution, Truscott and Sharwood Smith offer a general model of language development from a processing perspective. As they state, their model is very ambitious: Their ‘acquisition by processing’ theory (APT) aims not only at explaining both first and second language acquisition but also real-time processing in language comprehension and production. APT takes a cross-disciplinary approach that intends to bring together research on linguistic structure and on general cognition. However, the joint contribution of linguistic and psycholinguistic approaches is mainly evident in terms of theoretical concepts (e.g. UG, syntactic rules, modules, activation) because the presented empirical evidence is limited in scope.

Item does not contain fulltext The Longman Web Dictionary London:Longman

Contains fulltext : 61883.pdf (author's version ) (Open Access) [University College London] Linguistics Colloquium, 27 oktober 2004 University College London : [s.n.]

Contains fulltext : 42043.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) R.H. Baayen: Invited speaker LSA Summer School MIT, Cambridge (MA)

This study investigates whether regular morphological complex neologisms leave detectable traces in the mental lexicon. Experiment 1 (subjective frequency estimation) was a validation study for our materials. It revealed that semantic ambiguity led to a greater reduction of the ratings for neologisms compared to existing words. Experiment 2 (visual lexical decision) and Experiment 3 (self-paced reading in connected discourse) made use of long-distance priming. In both experiments, the prime (base or neologism) was followed after 39 intervening trials by the neologism. As revealed by mixed-effect analyses of covariance, the target neologisms elicited shorter processing latencies in the identity priming condition compared to the condition in which the base word had been read previously, indicating an incipient facilitatory frequency effect for the neologism.

Acoustic duration and degree of vowel reduction are known to correlate with a word’s frequency of occurrence. The present study broadens the research on the role of frequency in speech production to voice assimilation. The test case was regressive voice assimilation in Dutch. Clusters from a corpus of read speech were more often perceived as unassimilated in lower-frequency words and as either completely voiced (regressive assimilation) or, unexpectedly, as completely voiceless (progressive assimilation) in higher-frequency words. Frequency did not predict the voice classifications over and above important acoustic cues to voicing, suggesting that the frequency effects on the classifications were carried exclusively by the acoustic signal. The duration of the cluster and the period of glottal vibration during the cluster decreased while the duration of the release noises increased with frequency. This indicates that speakers reduce articulatory effort for higher-frequency words, with some acoustic cues signaling more voicing and others less voicing. A higher frequency leads not only to acoustic reduction but also to more assimilation.

A great deal of recent research has addressed the representation of laryngeal features. Debates in the literature focus on several major aspects of phonological theory, including monovalent versus bivalent features, gradient versus categorical processes, and phonetic detail in phonological representation. In discussions of these issues, evidence from a range of sources has been used, including phonetics, phonology, typology, and diachrony. Surprisingly, very little evidence from acquisition has been brought to bear on the issue of laryngeal representation.

This article clarifies the distinction between the meaning associated with the structural elements making up an intonation contour (linguistic meaning), and paralinguistic meaning, which derives from the way an intonation contour is pronounced. Phrasing, pitch accent distribution, and choice of pitch accent contribute to the linguistic meaning of an expression. Paralinguistic meanings are linked to physiological conditions in the speech production process that have an effect on the rate of vocal fold vibration, such as the size of the vocal folds, the degree of effort, and the gradual decrease in subglottal pressure over the egressive breathing phase used for speech.

Contains fulltext : 40990.pdf (author's version ) (Open Access) Boston University Conference on Language Development University of Boston, USA

Item does not contain fulltext

Contains fulltext : 41329.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Invited speaker Second Multilingual Acquisition and Processing Workshop Potsdam

Item does not contain fulltext Nijmegen Bilingualism Group MPI, Nijmegen

Op het eerste gezicht lijkt ’t kofschip een gemakkelijke regel. Maar voor een gemakkelijke regel vraagt het wel om heel veel lestijd. De auteurs van dit artikel onderzochten de problemen en suggereren een oplossing.

Item does not contain fulltext

Contains fulltext : 41797.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) 12 p.