The Effects of Iconicity and Conventionalization on Word Order Preferences

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Psycholinguistics
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Cross-linguistically, Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) and Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) are the predominant word orders.
• Previous research indicates factors like reversibility, salience, and animacy influence word order preferences in silent gesture tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how gestural iconicity and lexicon knowledge affect semantic conditioning of word order preferences.
• To compare findings between speakers of SVO-dominant (English) and SOV-dominant (Turkish) languages.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a silent gesture paradigm with hearing participants producing or responding to gestures.
• Tested the impact of individual gesture iconicity and learning a conventional lexicon on ordering preferences.
• Compared English (SVO) and Turkish (SOV) speakers' preferences across different event types.

Main Results:

• Confirmed semantic conditioning of word order, with SOV and SVO orders preferred for different event types.
• Found no significant effect of individual gesture iconicity on ordering preferences.
• Observed a stronger preference for SVO-like orders after learning a lexicon, an effect modulated by language background and event type.

Conclusions:

• Word order preferences are a gradient phenomenon influenced by multiple interacting biases.
• Lexicon knowledge plays a significant role in shaping word order preferences, particularly towards SVO.
• Language background and event semantics interact to determine specific word order preferences.