Robust Processing Advantage for Binomial Phrases with Variant Conjunctions.

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Cognitive Science
• Computational Linguistics

Background:

• Conventional multiword chunks are processed faster than novel strings.
• It remains unclear if this processing advantage applies to less formulaic, variant multiword chunks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the processing advantage of binomial phrases with non-canonical conjunctions.
• To determine if the processing advantage of multiword chunks accommodates variations in phrasal templates.

Main Methods:

• Cloze study (Experiment 1) to assess production tendencies.
• Eye-tracking studies (Experiments 2a and 2b) to measure reading times.
• Self-paced reading study (Experiment 3) to replicate findings across conjunction types.

Main Results:

• Canonical conjuncts were readily produced even with non-formulaic conjunctions.
• Canonical conjuncts were read faster than matched novel conjuncts, irrespective of conjunction type.
• Processing advantage was driven by lexical-semantic associations, not frequency.

Conclusions:

• Binomials with variant function words receive facilitated processing compared to novel strings.
• This processing advantage is robust and demonstrates flexibility in multiword chunk processing.
• Current models of multiword storage and processing need to account for this flexibility.