1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. The Mental Lexicon
  4. Volume 19, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 19, Issue 1
  • ISSN 1871-1340
  • E-ISSN: 1871-1375
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

This study investigates word processing in Brazilian Portuguese, focusing on blends, which juxtapose or overlap (W)ords and/or (C)lips (e.g. = ‘Portuguese’ + ‘Spanish’). Blends present intriguing theoretical and empirical challenges to models of morphological analysis, morphological processing, lexical access, and the mental lexicon. Most research on blends has been conducted in languages other than Portuguese. This study addresses this gap by exploring the processing of blends in Brazilian Portuguese through a behavioral lexical decision experiment. We manipulated blends in constituent structure and grammatical structure, considering (H)ead and (M)odification. Additionally, we compared blends against words with various morphological structures, such as derived complex words containing prefixes (e.g., ‘disagreement’) or suffixes (e.g., ‘cook’), and monomorphemic simplex words. We also included simplex and complex pseudowords (e.g., ; ) and nonwords (e.g., ) in the experiment. Accuracy and reaction time results suggest that blends are accepted and processed differently from simplex and complex words, resembling pseudowords. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of blend description and processing, providing valuable insights into lexical access, enhancing theoretical and empirical comprehension of morphological processing.

© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/ml.24018.est
2025-02-25
2026-07-14

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/ml.24018.est
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Amenta, S., & Crepaldi, D.
    (2012) Morphological Processing as We Know It: An Analytical Review of Morphological Effects in Visual Word Identification. Frontiers in Psychology, 3(232). 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00232
     https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00232 [Google Scholar]
  2. 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(4), 390–412. 10.1016/j.jml.2007.12.005
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2007.12.005 [Google Scholar]
  3. Colé, P., Segui, J., & Taft, M.
    (1997) Words and Morphemes as Units for Lexical Access. Journal of Memory and Language, 37(3), 312–330. 10.1006/jmla.1997.2523
     https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1997.2523 [Google Scholar]
  4. de Leeuw, J. R.
    (2015) jsPsych: A JavaScript library for creating behavioral experiments in a Web browser. Behavior Research Methods, 47(1), 1–12. 10.3758/s13428‑014‑0458‑y
     https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-014-0458-y [Google Scholar]
  5. Estivalet, G. L., & Meunier, F.
    (2015) The Brazilian Portuguese Lexicon: An Instrument for Psycholinguistic Research. PLOS ONE, 10(12), e0144016. 10.1371/journal.pone.0144016
     https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144016 [Google Scholar]
  6. Gries, S. T.
    (2004) Shouldn’t it be breakfunch? A quantitative analysis of blend structure in English. Linguistics, 42(3), 639–667. 10.1515/ling.2004.021
     https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.2004.021 [Google Scholar]
  7. (2012) Quantitative corpus data on blend formation: Psycho- and cognitive-linguistic perspectives. In: Renner, V.; Maniez, F.; Arnaud, P. J. L. (Eds.). Cross-disciplinary perspectives on lexical blending. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 145–167. 10.1515/9783110289572.145
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110289572.145 [Google Scholar]
  8. Gonçalves, C. A.
    (2006) A ambimorfemia de cruzamentos vocabulares: uma abordagem por ranking de restrições. Revista da Abralin, 5(1), 169–183. 10.5380/rabl.v5i1/2.52643
     https://doi.org/10.5380/rabl.v5i1/2.52643 [Google Scholar]
  9. Juhasz, B. J., Johnson, R. L., & Brewer, J.
    (2017) An investigation into the processing of lexicalized blend words: Evidence from lexical decisions and eye movements during reading. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 461, 281–294. 10.1007/s10936‑016‑9436‑0
     https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-016-9436-0 [Google Scholar]
  10. Minussi, R. D., & Villalva, A. M. S. M.
    (2020) Reconhecimento e acesso lexical dos blends em português europeu e português brasileiro. Todas as Letras Revista de Língua e Literatura, 22(1). 10.5935/1980‑6914/eLETDO2012839
     https://doi.org/10.5935/1980-6914/eLETDO2012839 [Google Scholar]
  11. Villalva, A. M. S. M., & Minussi, R. D.
    (2022) Description and analysis of a Portuguese blend corpus, Corpus, 231, 1–24. 10.4000/corpus.6436
     https://doi.org/10.4000/corpus.6436 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/ml.24018.est
Loading
Word processing through lexical decision in Brazilian Portuguese
The Mental Lexicon 19, 145 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1075/ml.24018.est
/content/journals/10.1075/ml.24018.est
/content/journals/10.1075/ml.24018.est
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): blends; lexical access; lexical decision; morphological processing; psycholinguistics

Most Cited

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