1887
Volume 15, Issue 2
  • ISSN 1871-1340
  • E-ISSN: 1871-1375
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

The present work investigated how morphological generalization, namely the way speakers extend their knowledge to novel complex words, is influenced by sources of variability in language and speaker properties. For this purpose, the study focused on a Semitic language (Hebrew), characterized by unique non-concatenative morphology, and native (L1) as well as non-native (L2) speakers. Two elicited production tasks tested what information sources speakers employ in verbal inflectional class generalization, i.e., in forming complex novel verbs. Phonological similarity was tested in Experiment 1 and argument structure in Experiment 2. The analysis focused on the two most common Hebrew inflectional classes, and , which also constituted the vast majority of responses in the two tasks. Unlike the commonly found outcomes in Romance inflectional class generalization, the results yielded, solely for Piel, a graded phonological similarity effect and a robust argument structure effect, i.e., more Piel responses in a direct object context than without. The L2 pattern partially differed from the L1: (i) argument structure effect for L2 speakers was weaker, and (ii) L2 speakers produced more Paal than Piel responses. The results are discussed within the framework of rule-based and input-based accounts.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/ml.19001.far
2020-11-06
2024-10-12
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Agathopoulou, E. , & Papadopoulou, D.
    (2009) Regularity patterns of the Greek past perfective: a psycholinguistic study. In G. K. Giannakis , Μ. Baltazani , G. I. Xydopoulos & Α. Tsangalidis (Eds.), Proceedings of the 8th international conference on Greek linguistics, Ioannina (pp.1–13).
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Albright, A.
    (2002) Islands of reliability for regular morphology: Evidence from Italian. Language, 684–709. 10.1353/lan.2003.0002
    https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2003.0002 [Google Scholar]
  3. Albright, A. , & Hayes, B.
    (2003) Rules vs. analogy in English past tenses: A computational/experimental study. Cognition, 90, 119–161. 10.1016/S0010‑0277(03)00146‑X
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(03)00146-X [Google Scholar]
  4. Aronoff, M.
    (1994) Morphology by itself: Stems and inflectional classes. MIT press.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Baayen, R. H. , Davidson, D. J. , & Bates, D. M.
    (2008) Mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects for subjects and items. Journal of Memory and Language, 59, 390–412. 10.1016/j.jml.2007.12.005
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2007.12.005 [Google Scholar]
  6. Baayen, R. H. , & Milin, P.
    (2010) Analyzing reaction times. International Journal of Psychological Research, 3, 12–28. 10.21500/20112084.807
    https://doi.org/10.21500/20112084.807 [Google Scholar]
  7. Berent, I. , Pinker, S. , & Shimron, J.
    (1999) Default nominal inflection in Hebrew: Evidence for mental variables. Cognition, 72, 1–44. 10.1016/S0010‑0277(99)00027‑X
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(99)00027-X [Google Scholar]
  8. Berent, I. , & Shimron, J.
    (1997) The representation of Hebrew words: Evidence from the obligatory contour principle. Cognition, 64, 39–72. 10.1016/S0010‑0277(97)00016‑4
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(97)00016-4 [Google Scholar]
  9. Berman, R. A.
    (1993) Marking of verb transitivity by Hebrew-speaking children. Journal of Child Language, 20, 641–669. 10.1017/S0305000900008527
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000900008527 [Google Scholar]
  10. (1997) Modern Hebrew. In R. Hetzron (Ed.), The Semitic languages (pp.312–333). New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Bolozky, S.
    (1999a) Measuring productivity in word formation: The case of Israeli Hebrew. Brill. 10.1163/9789004348431
    https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004348431 [Google Scholar]
  12. (1999b) On the special status of the vowels a and e in Israeli Hebrew. Hebrew Studies, 40, 233–250. 10.1353/hbr.1999.0033
    https://doi.org/10.1353/hbr.1999.0033 [Google Scholar]
  13. Boudelaa, S. , & Marslen-Wilson, W. D.
    (2015) Structure, form, and meaning in the mental lexicon: Evidence from Arabic. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 30, 955–992. 10.1080/23273798.2015.1048258
    https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2015.1048258 [Google Scholar]
  14. Brooks, P. J. , Braine, M. D. , Catalano, L. , Brody, R. E. , & Sudhalter, V.
    (1993) Acquisition of gender-like noun subclasses in an artificial language: The contribution of phonological markers to learning. Journal of Memory and Language, 32, 76–95. 10.1006/jmla.1993.1005
    https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1993.1005 [Google Scholar]
  15. Brovetto, C. , & Ullman, M. T.
    (2005) The mental representation and processing of Spanish verbal morphology. In Eddington, D. (Ed.), Selected proceedings of the 7th hispanic linguistics symposium (pp.98–105). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Bybee, J. L. , & Moder, C. L.
    (1983) Morphological classes as natural categories. Language, 251–270. 10.2307/413574
    https://doi.org/10.2307/413574 [Google Scholar]
  17. Chen, L. , Shu, H. U. A. , Liu, Y. , Zhao, J. , & Li, P.
    (2007) ERP signatures of subject-verb agreement in L2 learning. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 10, 161–174. 10.1017/S136672890700291X
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S136672890700291X [Google Scholar]
  18. Clahsen, H. , & Felser, C.
    (2006) Grammatical processing in language learners. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27, 3–42. 10.1017/S0142716406060024
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716406060024 [Google Scholar]
  19. (2018) Some notes on the shallow structure hypothesis. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40, 693–706. 10.1017/S0272263117000250
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263117000250 [Google Scholar]
  20. Culbertson, J. , Gagliardi, A. , & Smith, K.
    (2017) Competition between phonological and semantic cues in noun class learning. Journal of Memory and Language, 92, 343–358. 10.1016/j.jml.2016.08.001
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2016.08.001 [Google Scholar]
  21. Culbertson, J. , & Wilson, C.
    (2013) Artificial grammar learning of shape-based noun classification. In M. Knauff , M. Pauen , N. Sebanz , & I. Wachsmuth (Eds.), Proceedings of the 35th annual meeting of the cognitive science society (pp.2118–2123). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Cuskley, C. , Colaiori, F. , Castellano, C. , Loreto, V. , Pugliese, M. , & Tria, F.
    (2015) The adoption of linguistic rules in native and non-native speakers: Evidence from a Wug task. Journal of Memory and Language, 84, 205–223. 10.1016/j.jml.2015.06.005
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2015.06.005 [Google Scholar]
  23. Dawdy-Hesterberg, L. G. , & Pierrehumbert, J. B.
    (2014) Learnability and generalisation of Arabic broken plural nouns. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 29, 1268–1282. 10.1080/23273798.2014.899377
    https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2014.899377 [Google Scholar]
  24. Deutsch, A.
    (2016) The separability of morphological processes from semantic meaning and syntactic class in production of single words: Evidence from the Hebrew root morpheme. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 45, 1–28. 10.1007/s10936‑014‑9317‑3
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-014-9317-3 [Google Scholar]
  25. Dewaele, J. M. , & Véronique, D.
    (2001) Gender assignment and gender agreement in advanced French interlanguage: A cross-sectional study. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4, 275–297. 10.1017/S136672890100044X
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S136672890100044X [Google Scholar]
  26. Dussias, P. E. , Marful, A. , Gerfen, C. , & Molina, M. T. B.
    (2010) Usage frequencies of complement-taking verbs in Spanish and English: Data from Spanish monolinguals and Spanish-English bilinguals. Behavior Research Methods, 42, 1004–1011. 10.3758/BRM.42.4.1004
    https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.42.4.1004 [Google Scholar]
  27. Dussias, P. E. , & Scaltz, T. R. C.
    (2008) Spanish-English L2 speakers’ use of subcategorization bias information in the resolution of temporary ambiguity during second language reading. Acta Psychologica, 128, 501–513. 10.1016/j.actpsy.2007.09.004
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2007.09.004 [Google Scholar]
  28. Eddington, D.
    (2000) Analogy and the dual-route model of morphology. Lingua, 110, 281–298. 10.1016/S0024‑3841(99)00043‑1
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0024-3841(99)00043-1 [Google Scholar]
  29. (2002) Dissociation in Italian conjugations: A single-route account. Brain and Language, 81, 291–302. 10.1006/brln.2001.2525
    https://doi.org/10.1006/brln.2001.2525 [Google Scholar]
  30. Farhy, Y. , & Veríssimo, J.
    (2019) Semantic Effects in Morphological Priming: The Case of Hebrew Stems. Language and Speech, 62, 737–750. 10.1177/0023830918811863
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0023830918811863 [Google Scholar]
  31. Farhy, Y. , Veríssimo, J. , & Clahsen, H.
    (2018a) Universal and particular in morphological processing: Evidence from Hebrew. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71, 1125–1133. 10.1080/17470218.2017.1310917
    https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2017.1310917 [Google Scholar]
  32. (2018b) Do late bilinguals access pure morphology during word recognition? A masked-priming study on Hebrew as a second language. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21, 945–951. 10.1017/S1366728918000032
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728918000032 [Google Scholar]
  33. Fisher, C. , Hall, D. G. , Rakowitz, S. , & Gleitman, L.
    (1994) When it is better to receive than to give: Syntactic and conceptual constraints on vocabulary growth. Lingua, 92, 333–375. 10.1016/0024‑3841(94)90346‑8
    https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-3841(94)90346-8 [Google Scholar]
  34. Frigo, L. , & McDonald, J. L.
    (1998) Properties of phonological markers that affect the acquisition of gender-like subclasses. Journal of Memory and Language, 39, 218–245. 10.1006/jmla.1998.2569
    https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1998.2569 [Google Scholar]
  35. Garnsey, S. M. , Pearlmutter, N. J. , Myers, E. , & Lotocky, M. A.
    (1997) The contributions of verb bias and plausibility to the comprehension of temporarily ambiguous sentences. Journal of Memory and Language, 37, 58–93. 10.1006/jmla.1997.2512
    https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1997.2512 [Google Scholar]
  36. Hahn, U. , & Nakisa, R. C.
    (2000) German inflection: Single route or dual route?. Cognitive Psychology, 41, 313–360. 10.1006/cogp.2000.0737
    https://doi.org/10.1006/cogp.2000.0737 [Google Scholar]
  37. Hahne, A. , Mueller, J. L. , & Clahsen, H.
    (2006) Morphological processing in a second language: Behavioral and event-related brain potential evidence for storage and decomposition. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18, 121–134. 10.1162/089892906775250067
    https://doi.org/10.1162/089892906775250067 [Google Scholar]
  38. Hopp, H.
    (2013) Grammatical gender in adult L2 acquisition: Relations between lexical and syntactic variability. Second Language Research, 29, 33–56. 10.1177/0267658312461803
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658312461803 [Google Scholar]
  39. Itai, A. , & Wintner, S.
    (2008) Language resources for Hebrew. Language Resources and Evaluation, 42, 75–98. 10.1007/s10579‑007‑9050‑8
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s10579-007-9050-8 [Google Scholar]
  40. Ionin, T. , & Montrul, S.
    (2010) The role of L1 transfer in the interpretation of articles with definite plurals in L2 English. Language Learning, 60, 877–925. 10.1111/j.1467‑9922.2010.00577.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2010.00577.x [Google Scholar]
  41. Jaeger, T. F.
    (2008) Categorical data analysis: Away from ANOVAs (transformation or not) and towards logit mixed models. Journal of Memory and Language, 59, 434–446. 10.1016/j.jml.2007.11.007
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2007.11.007 [Google Scholar]
  42. Jiang, N.
    (2004) Morphological insensitivity in second language processing. Applied Psycholinguistics, 25, 603–634. 10.1017/S0142716404001298
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716404001298 [Google Scholar]
  43. (2007) Selective integration of linguistic knowledge in adult second language learning. Language Learning, 57, 1–33. 10.1111/j.1467‑9922.2007.00397.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2007.00397.x [Google Scholar]
  44. Hudson Kam, C. L. , & Newport, E. L.
    (2005) Regularizing unpredictable variation: The roles of adult and child learners in language formation and change. Language Learning and Development, 1, 151–195. 10.1080/15475441.2005.9684215
    https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2005.9684215 [Google Scholar]
  45. Kam, C. L. H. , & Newport, E. L.
    (2009) Getting it right by getting it wrong: When learners change languages. Cognitive Psychology, 59, 30–66. 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2009.01.001
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2009.01.001 [Google Scholar]
  46. Krause, H. , Bosch, S. , & Clahsen, H.
    (2015) Morphosyntax in the bilingual mental lexicon: An experimental study of strong stems in German. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 37, 597–621. 10.1017/S0272263114000564
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263114000564 [Google Scholar]
  47. Leikin, M. , Schwartz, M. , & Share, D. L.
    (2010) General and specific benefits of bi-literate bilingualism: a Russian-Hebrew study of beginning literacy. Reading and Writing, 23, 269–292. 10.1007/s11145‑009‑9210‑x
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-009-9210-x [Google Scholar]
  48. Leiner, D. J.
    (2016) SoSci Survey (Version 2.6.00) [Computer software]. Available athttps://www.soscisurvey.de
  49. Levy, Y.
    (1983) The acquisition of Hebrew plurals: The case of the missing gender category. Journal of Child Language, 10, 107–121. 10.1017/S0305000900005171
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000900005171 [Google Scholar]
  50. Matthews, C.
    (2010) On the nature of phonological cues in the acquisition of French gender categories: Evidence from instance-based learning models. Lingua, 120, 879–900. 10.1016/j.lingua.2009.06.007
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2009.06.007 [Google Scholar]
  51. Matuschek, H. , Kliegl, R. , Vasishth, S. , Baayen, H. , & Bates, D.
    (2017) Balancing Type I error and power in linear mixed models. Journal of Memory and Language, 94, 305–315. 10.1016/j.jml.2017.01.001
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2017.01.001 [Google Scholar]
  52. Maylor, B. R.
    (2002) Lexical Template Morphology: Change of state and the verbal prefixes in German (Vol.58). John Benjamins Publishing. 10.1075/slcs.58
    https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.58 [Google Scholar]
  53. McCarthy, C.
    (2008) Morphological variability in the comprehension of agreement: An argument for representation over computation. Second Language Research, 24, 459–486. 10.1177/0267658308095737
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658308095737 [Google Scholar]
  54. McDonald, J. L.
    (2006) Beyond the critical period: Processing-based explanations for poor grammaticality judgment performance by late second language learners. Journal of Memory and Language, 55, 381–401. 10.1016/j.jml.2006.06.006
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2006.06.006 [Google Scholar]
  55. McDonald, J. L. , & Roussel, C. C.
    (2010) Past tense grammaticality judgment and production in non-native and stressed native English speakers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13, 429–448. 10.1017/S1366728909990599
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728909990599 [Google Scholar]
  56. Montrul, S.
    (2011) Morphological errors in Spanish second language learners and heritage speakers. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 33, 163–192. 10.1017/S0272263110000720
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263110000720 [Google Scholar]
  57. Morgan-Short, K. , Sanz, C. , Steinhauer, K. , & Ullman, M. T.
    (2010) Second language acquisition of gender agreement in explicit and implicit training conditions: An event-related potential study. Language Learning, 60, 154–193. 10.1111/j.1467‑9922.2009.00554.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2009.00554.x [Google Scholar]
  58. Morgan-Short, K. , Steinhauer, K. , Sanz, C. , & Ullman, M. T.
    (2012) Explicit and implicit second language training differentially affect the achievement of native-like brain activation patterns. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 24, 933–947. 10.1162/jocn_a_00119
    https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00119 [Google Scholar]
  59. Naigles, L. R.
    (1996) The use of multiple frames in verb learning via syntactic bootstrapping. Cognition, 58, 221–251. 10.1016/0010‑0277(95)00681‑8
    https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(95)00681-8 [Google Scholar]
  60. Naigles, L. G. , & Kako, E. T.
    (1993) First contact in verb acquisition: Defining a role for syntax. Child Development, 64, 1665–1687. 10.2307/1131462
    https://doi.org/10.2307/1131462 [Google Scholar]
  61. Parodi, T. , Schwartz, B. D. , & Clahsen, H.
    (2004) On the L2 acquisition of the morphosyntax of German nominals. Linguistics, 669–706.
    [Google Scholar]
  62. Pinker, S.
    (1999) Words and rules. New York, NY: Harper Perennial.
    [Google Scholar]
  63. (2013) Learnability and cognition: The acquisition of argument structure. MIT press. 10.7551/mitpress/9700.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9700.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  64. Plag, I.
    (2000) Irregular past tense formation in English interlanguage. Language Use, Language Acquisition and Language History. (Mostly) Empirical Studies in Honour of Rüdiger Zimmermann, 134–149.
    [Google Scholar]
  65. Prasada, S. , & Pinker, S.
    (1993) Generalisation of regular and irregular morphological patterns. Language and Cognitive Processes, 8, 1–56. 10.1080/01690969308406948
    https://doi.org/10.1080/01690969308406948 [Google Scholar]
  66. Ramscar, M.
    (2002) The role of meaning in inflection: Why the past tense does not require a rule. Cognitive Psychology, 45, 45–94. 10.1016/S0010‑0285(02)00001‑4
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0285(02)00001-4 [Google Scholar]
  67. Reeder, P. A. , Newport, E. L. , & Aslin, R. N.
    (2017) Distributional learning of subcategories in an artificial grammar: Category generalization and subcategory restrictions. Journal of Memory and Language, 97, 17–29. 10.1016/j.jml.2017.07.006
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2017.07.006 [Google Scholar]
  68. Rumelhart, D. E. , & McClelland, J. L.
    (1986) On learning the past tenses of English verbs. In J. L. McClelland , D. E. Rumelhart , & The PDP Research Group (Eds.). Parallel distributed processing: Explorations in the microstructure of cognition (Vol.2, pp.216–271). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 10.7551/mitpress/5236.003.0008
    https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/5236.003.0008 [Google Scholar]
  69. Say, T. , & Clahsen, H.
    (2002) Words, rules and stems in the Italian mental lexicon. In S. Nooteboom , F. Weerman , & F. Wijnen (Eds.), Storage and computation in the language faculty (pp.93–129). Dordrecht: Kluwer. 10.1007/978‑94‑010‑0355‑1_4
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0355-1_4 [Google Scholar]
  70. Schuler, K. D. , Reeder, P. A. , Newport, E. L. , & Aslin, R. N.
    (2017) The effect of Zipfian frequency variations on category formation in adult artificial language learning. Language Learning and Development, 13, 357–374. 10.1080/15475441.2016.1263571
    https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2016.1263571 [Google Scholar]
  71. Skousen, R. , Lonsdale, D. , & Parkinson, D. B.
    (Eds.) (2002) Analogical modeling: An exemplar-based approach to language (Vol.10). John Benjamins Publishing. 10.1075/hcp.10
    https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.10 [Google Scholar]
  72. Stavrakaki, S. , & Clahsen, H.
    (2009) The perfective past tense in Greek child language. Journal of Child Language, 36, 113–142. 10.1017/S0305000908008866
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000908008866 [Google Scholar]
  73. Steinhauer, K. , White, E. J. , & Drury, J. E.
    (2009) Temporal dynamics of late second language acquisition: Evidence from event-related brain potentials. Second Language Research, 25, 13–41. 10.1177/0267658308098995
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658308098995 [Google Scholar]
  74. Traxler, M. J.
    (2005) Plausibility and verb subcategorization in temporarily ambiguous sentences: Evidence from self-paced reading. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 34, 1–30. 10.1007/s10936‑005‑3629‑2
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-005-3629-2 [Google Scholar]
  75. Velan, H. , & Frost, R.
    (2011) Words with and without internal structure: What determines the nature of orthographic and morphological processing?. Cognition, 118, 141–156. 10.1016/j.cognition.2010.11.013
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2010.11.013 [Google Scholar]
  76. Veríssimo, J. , & Clahsen, H.
    (2014) Variables and similarity in linguistic generalization: Evidence from inflectional classes in Portuguese. Journal of Memory and Language, 76, 61–79. 10.1016/j.jml.2014.06.001
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2014.06.001 [Google Scholar]
  77. White, L. , Valenzuela, E. , Kozlowska-Macgregor, M. , & Leung, Y. K. I.
    (2004) Gender and number agreement in nonnative Spanish. Applied Psycholinguistics, 25, 105–133. 10.1017/S0142716404001067
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716404001067 [Google Scholar]
  78. Wilson, M. P. , & Garnsey, S. M.
    (2009) Making simple sentences hard: Verb bias effects in simple direct object sentences. Journal of Memory and Language, 60, 368–392. 10.1016/j.jml.2008.09.005
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2008.09.005 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/ml.19001.far
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/ml.19001.far
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): generalization; Hebrew; inflectional classes; morphology; non-native speakers
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error