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Nominal composition and the demarcation between morphology and syntax
Holden Härtl, Katja Böer, Sven Kotowski & Marco Benincasa Universität Kassel
[email protected] www.uni-kassel.de/go/haertl
Introduction
2
Why do we need compounds?
Classical answers refer to the naming function of compounds, which somehow represent a category / a lexicalized concept.
Why does a language have morphology?
In contrast, syntactic phrases are often claimed to provide descriptions.
Problem:
Many compounds are not established names: Freitagsentscheidung, Nacktprotest, Terroropa
Many phrases are established names: Grüner Tee, Kleiner Tümmler, Deutsch als Fremdsprache
Can we perhaps say that novel compounds are “suggestions for lexicalizations”, cf. Lipka (1977); Motsch (2004)?
Question / Contents
3
What is the cognitive status of morphological products like compounds?
Are they lexicalized differently? Are they more salient in discourse?
1 Linguistic differences between compounds and phrases
2 Learning study: adjective-noun compounds
4 Conclusion
We will argue that compounds indeed deserve a special status as names and have as such, possibly because they are morphological products, a distinct cognitive status.
Grammatical differences
Semantic-pragmatic differences
3 Questionnaire study: discourse salience
Grammatical differences
4
Compounds display lexical integrity:
(1) a. Mia ist Fahrerin eines Audis. Der hat nun einen Motorschaden.
b. Mia ist Audifahrerin. *Der hat nun einen Motorschaden.
The internal structure of (synthetic) compounds is not accessible to syntactic operations:
(2) a. a drunk driver and a melancholic one
b. *a truck driver and an Audi one
cf. Booij (2009); Giegerich (2006)
Semantic-pragmatic differences
5
Compounds often denote kinds:
(1) a. ??Eine Flasche mit Bier hat einen Kronkorken.
b. Eine Bierflasche hat einen Kronkorken.
Novel compounds are linguistically marked expressions. As such, they are compatible with sogenannte-contexts:
(2) a. ??Das ist ein sogenanntes langes Messer.
b. Das ist ein sogenanntes Langmesser.
(3) a. ??Das ist ein sogenannter Henkel der Vase.
b. Das ist ein sogenannter Vasenhenkel.
cf. Bücking (2009); Carlson (1977); Krifka et al. (1995); Schlücker & Hünning (2009)
Semantic-pragmatic differences
6
Compounds often have a specialized meaning.
(1) Max ist ein schöner Raucher.
Max is a smoker and beautiful (intersective)
Max is somebody who smokes beautifully (non-intersective)
(2) Max ist ein Schönraucher.
Max is somebody who smokes beautifully (non-intersective)
cf. Bücking (2009); Egg (2006); Schlücker & Hünning (2009); Schäfer (2010)
For example, an intersective reading is dispreferred with A-N compounds:
Are compounds cognitively different?
7
Compounds are different from phrases.
Does this give us reason to believe that they are treated differently from a cognitive point of view?
Aphasic data: selective impairment for syntactic phrases like strange fever with compound retrieval left intact, see Mondini et al. (2002)
Morphology as an economic way of producing and memorizing complex linguistic structures, see Wunderlich (2008)
Are novel compounds memorized differently than the corresponding phrases?
Williams syndrome: selective impairment for lexical computation/access with grammatical computation left intact, see Clahsen & Almazan (2000)
Learning study
8
Learning phase: subjects were asked to memorize unkonwn picture labels
eine Kurzsäge ein breiter Kamm
Compound Phrase
N = 6 N = 6
see Schöpperle & Härtl (2011)
Learning study
9
Recall phase: subjects were asked to decide on correct / incorrect labels
eine Kurzsäge eine Flachsäge
Compound: learned Compound: not learned
N = 6 N = 6
Response variable: reaction times to decide
Learning study
10
ein breiter Kamm ein tiefer Kamm
Phrase: learned Phrase: not learned
N = 6 N = 6
Response variable: reaction times to decide
Recall phase: subjects were asked to decide on correct / incorrect labels
Learning study
11
Entire procedure was repeated over three days:
H1: Compounds are memorized differently than phrases over time.
Day 1
Day 4
Day 8
Learning study
12
Results: main effects
Learned items are decided faster (p < .001)
Phrases are decided faster (p < .01)
You get better over time (p < .001)
Learning study
13
ITEM TYPE × DAY interaction (not significant)
neither type is memorized better over time (p < .26)
860
910
960
1010
1060
1110
Session 1 Session 2 Session 3
Compounds
PhrasesRT
Learning study
14
LEARNED × ITEM TYPE interaction (p < .09)
stronger effect of memorization for compounds (p < .001)
900
950
1000
1050
1100
1150
Phrases Compounds
Not learned
Learned
not learned compounds take longer to decide than phrases (p < .001)
this difference disappears when the compounds are learned (p < .67)
RT
Learning study
15
Error rates: LEARNED × ITEM TYPE interaction (p < .001)
compounds profit from learning, phrases don’t (p < .75)
4,5
4,6
4,7
4,8
4,9
5,0
5,1
5,2
5,3
5,4
Not learned Learned
CompoundsPhrases
compounds are decided as correctly as phrases when learned (p < .99)
CORRECT
ANSWERS
Learning study
16
Main findings
> =
> >>
(1)
(2)
Testing discourse salience
17
Are novel compounds more salient in discourse?
Environment: Verbs of implicit causality create a strong bias for pronouns to be resolved as STIMULUS.
(1) STIM-EXP: Das Lexikon begeistert den Studenten, weil es / er …
weil es viele Abbildungen enthält.
weil er gerne neue Fakten lernt.
(2) EXP-STIM: Der Student schätzt das Lexikon, weil es / er …
weil es viele Abbildungen enthält.
weil er gerne neue Fakten lernt.
cf. Brown & Fish (1983); Grosz et al. (1995); Härtl (2001)
Testing discourse salience
19
Questionnaire study
(1) a. Die flache Säge begeistert Christoph, weil [sie | er] …
Sentence completion task
Factors: STIM as compound vs. phrase STIM-EXP vs. EXP-STIM verb
b. Die Flachsäge begeistert Christoph, weil [sie | er] …
(2) a. Johanna schätzt das schmale Messer [sie | es] …
b. Johanna schätzt das Schmalmesser, weil [sie | es] …
H1: Novel compounds produce a stronger bias towards STIMULUS explication
N = 6 x 2
N = 6 x 2
Testing discourse salience
20
Results:
Highly significant main effect for implicit verb causality (p < .0001)
STIMULUS is explicated more often than the EXPERIENCER.
Testing discourse salience
21
Results:
Tendency for verb type (not significant)
S-E verbs attrack sightly more STIMULUS explications.
Testing discourse salience
22
Results:
Significant compound effect (p < .02)
Compound STIMULI are explicated more often than phrase STIMULI.
Conclusion
The data are compatible with a lexicalist view, which implies a separation between syntax and morphology.
Novel compounds of the A-N type are linguistically marked and have a pronounced cognitive status.
This is reflected in the memorization procedures employed for the two types of expressions.
Unlearned novel compounds are harder to process than phrases.
Novel compounds raise the discouse salience of the corresponding referents.
23
For compounds a stronger memorization effect was detected.
In the context of implicit verb causality, pronouns are resolved more often as STIMULUS if it is a novel compound.
….
Thank you.
The authors would like to thank Dirk Koester, Susan Olsen, Mathias Schlesewsky, Peter Schöpperle, Katharina Spalek, Tobias Richter and Sascha Schröder.
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References
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