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Default nominal inflection in Hebrew: evidence for mental variables.

I Berent1, S Pinker, J Shimron

  • 1Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton 33431-0991, USA. iberent@fau.edu

Cognition
|October 16, 1999
PubMed
Summary

Hebrew speakers use regular inflection as a default, even with overlapping regular and irregular noun patterns. This challenges theories linking default acquisition solely to distributional asymmetries in word forms.

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Area of Science:

  • Psycholinguistics
  • Cognitive Science
  • Linguistics

Background:

  • Existing theories propose that regular inflection acquisition relies on distributional asymmetries between regular and irregular word forms.
  • The 'word/rule' account suggests regular inflection uses a symbolic process, while irregular inflection uses associative memory.
  • Pattern-associator accounts attribute both inflection types to associative processes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the acquisition of default inflection in Hebrew nominal morphology.
  • To test the hypothesis that distributional asymmetry is necessary for acquiring a regular default.
  • To examine whether Hebrew speakers utilize a regular default inflection despite overlapping distributions of regular and irregular nouns.

Main Methods:

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  • Experiment 1: Assessed productive application of regular inflection to novel nouns and sensitivity to similarity with existing irregular nouns.
  • Experiment 2: Evaluated the regular default's application to phonologically idiosyncratic novel words.
  • Experiment 3: Examined the assignment of regular inflection to borrowings and names identical to existing irregular nouns.

    • Main Results:

    • Hebrew speakers productively apply regular inflection to novel nouns irrespective of similarity to existing regular forms.
    • Inflection of irregular-sounding nouns is sensitive to similarity with stored irregular forms.
    • Regular default inflection is applied to novel, idiosyncratic words, borrowings, and names, even when identical to irregular nouns.

    Conclusions:

    • The existence of a regular default inflection in Hebrew contradicts the distributional asymmetry hypothesis.
    • Findings do not support type-frequency accounts for default inflection acquisition.
    • The consistent triggering of default inflection across Hebrew, German, and English suggests a general capacity for default inflection.