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Ambiguous novel compounds and models of morphological parsing
G Libben1, B L Derwing, R G de Almeida
1University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Brain and Language
|August 6, 1999
Summary
This study reveals that morphological parsing of novel English compounds involves generating multiple interpretations, not just dividing words. These representations are then evaluated to determine the preferred parse.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Cognitive Science
- Computational Linguistics
Background:
- Understanding how humans process novel words is crucial for psycholinguistics.
- Investigating morphological parsing sheds light on word recognition and representation.
- Ambiguous novel compounds provide a unique window into these processes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the activation of morphemes in English novel compounds.
- To determine whether morphological parsing divides words into constituents or extracts representations.
- To explore the preference and computation of multiple parses for ambiguous novel compounds.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments were conducted using "ambiguous novel compounds" (e.g., clamprod).
- Stimuli allowed for two interpretable parses (e.g., clam + prod or clamp + rod).
- Analysis focused on preferred parses, computation of both parses, and parsing procedures.
Main Results:
- Morphological parsing does not solely divide words into constituents.
- The process generates multiple representations for ambiguous novel compounds.
- These generated representations are subsequently evaluated.
Conclusions:
- Word parsing involves a more complex process than simple segmentation.
- Multiple morphological representations are computed and then assessed.
- This finding advances our understanding of word recognition and mental lexicon structure.