ERIC Number: EJ802605
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Jul
Pages: 22
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0278-7393
EISSN: N/A
Grammatical and Nongrammatical Contributions to Closed-Class Word Selection
Alario, F.-Xavier; Ayora, Pauline; Costa, Albert; Melinger, Alissa
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, v34 n4 p960-981 Jul 2008
Closed-class word selection was investigated by focusing on determiner production. Native speakers from three different languages named pictures of objects using determiner plus noun phrases (e.g., in French "la table" (the [subscript feminine] table), while ignoring distractor determiners printed on the pictures (e.g., "le" (the [subscript masculine]). The target and distractor expressed either shared or different grammatical and nongrammatical features (gender, number, and definiteness). A gender-facilitation effect was observed and attributed to noun processing. Crucially, across five experiments, distractors that shared a feature with the target determiner never resulted in longer naming latencies than distractors that were more different. These results indicate that activating related candidates is not detrimental for determiner retrieval, suggesting a noncompetitive mechanism of closed-class word selection. (Contains 11 tables, 3 figures, and 9 footnotes.)
Descriptors: Nouns, Grammar, Native Speakers, Experiments, Sentence Structure, Semantics, School Psychology, Foreign Countries, Higher Education, Spanish, German, French
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org/publications
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: France; Germany; Spain
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A