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A concreteness judgment of words
Lucila Leal Calais1, Aveliny Mantovan Lima-Gregio, Pablo Arantes
1Departamento de Fonoaudiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil. calais@ig.com.br
Jornal Da Sociedade Brasileira De Fonoaudiologia
|November 7, 2012
Summary
This study established three concreteness categories for Brazilian Portuguese words, finding that word concreteness is independent of word frequency, participant age, or academic year. These findings aid in developing speech recognition tests.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Speech Science
- Lexicography
Background:
- Concreteness is a linguistic feature influencing word processing.
- Establishing word concreteness norms is crucial for developing speech-related tests.
- Previous research has not extensively explored concreteness norms for Brazilian Portuguese.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine concreteness ratings for 162 Brazilian Portuguese words.
- To investigate the influence of word frequency, participant age, and academic year on concreteness judgments.
- To lay the groundwork for a speech recognition test using concrete words.
Main Methods:
- Fifty Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology students rated word concreteness on a 7-point scale.
- Data analysis involved examining word frequency, participant demographics, and concreteness ratings.
- Statistical methods were used to identify correlations and significant influences.
Main Results:
- A tri-modal distribution revealed three distinct concreteness categories: low (1.76-3.45), medium (3.46-4.95), and high (4.96-6.70).
- Higher concreteness ratings correlated with lower variation in participant responses.
- No significant correlation was found between concreteness and word frequency; age and academic year showed some influence.
Conclusions:
- Concreteness is proposed as an independent attribute of words.
- Word frequency, participant age, and academic year did not significantly impact concreteness ratings.
- High-concreteness words were selected for a subsequent speech recognition test.
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