ERIC Number: EJ1080402
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Nov
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0278-7393
EISSN: N/A
Sensitivity to Morphological Composition in Spoken Word Recognition: Evidence from Grammatical and Lexical Identification Tasks
Gwilliams, Laura E.; Monahan, Philip J.; Samuel, Arthur G.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, v41 n6 p1663-1674 Nov 2015
Access to morphological structure during lexical processing has been established across a number of languages; however, it remains unclear which constituents are held as mental representations in the lexicon. The present study examined the auditory recognition of different noun types across 2 experiments. The critical manipulations were morphological complexity and the presence of a verbal derivation or nominalizing suffix form. Results showed that nominalizations, such as "explosion," were harder to classify as a noun but easier to classify as a word when compared with monomorphemic words with similar actionlike semantics, such as "avalanche." These findings support the claim that listeners decompose morphologically complex words into their constituent units during processing. More specifically, the results suggest that people hold representations of base morphemes in the lexicon.
Descriptors: Morphology (Languages), Grammar, Speech Communication, Word Recognition, Cognitive Processes, Auditory Perception, Nouns, Verbs, Classification, Semantics, Listening Skills, Listening Comprehension, College Students, School Personnel, Spanish, Auditory Stimuli, Morphophonemics, Phonemes, Statistical Analysis, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Spain
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A