Professor Greg Francis 5/27/081WordsIIE 269: Cognitive PsychologyGreg FrancisLecture 27What is the plural of walkman?Grammar The rules of phrases rules for combining phrases universals for all languages So why do we have so difficult a timecommunicating with people that speak otherlanguages?Words Even if all languages have similarrules for combining phrases, they usedifferent words Words are symbols that are arbitraryin many respects“dog” is nothing like a dogis it rote memorization?» partly, but it is also more than that--?-E or L--?-E or LWords are special We are better at identifying a word thanan individual letterWord superiority effectXXXX L XXXXFELT--?-E or L--?-E or LWords are special Note: context does not give the answer Just knowing there was a word should not help FEET FELTXXXX L XXXXFELTWords are special Nevertheless, a letter in a word is better identified CogLab class data Results are based on data from 140 participants Condition Percent correct detections Target letter in a word 77.7 Target letter in isolation 79.0 CogLab global data Results are based on data from 10,285 participants Condition Percent correct detections Target letter in a word 79.4 Target letter in isolation 77.9 No convincing explanationProfessor Greg Francis 5/27/082Word rules Part of linguistics identifies the rules for working withwords (morphology) e.g., take a preschooler and say» “Here’s a wug.”» “Now there are two. There are two _____.” The child will say wugs even though he has neverseen a wug before there must be a rule for pluralizing nounsMorphology The rules of word formation In many respects English has a verylimited morphology nouns have two forms verbs have four formsduckducksquackquacksquackedquackingMorphology Other languages have many morevariations Italian and Spanish have 50 forms of each verb classical Greek has 350 forms of each verb Turkish has 2 million forms of each verb some languages build entire sentences aroundone complex verb There are rules for these formsMorphology On the other hand, English morphologyallows one to easily create new wordsfrom old words add suffixes and prefixesteachteachableunteachableteacherteachablenessSuffixes English has lots of these derivational suffixes-able-age-al-ate-ed-en-ify-ion-ish-ize-an-ant-ance-ary-er-ful-hood-ic-ism-ist-ity-ive-ness-ory-ous-yYou probably donot consciously know what some of these mean, but your language system does.Examples of morphemesCompounding English also allows new words to be createdout of other words and combinations can be combinedtoothbrushtoothbrushunmicrowaveabilitybootyliciousProfessor Greg Francis 5/27/083Rules So what are the rules? One looks to be easy to pluralize a noun, add -sNNstem Ninflectiondog-sNNstem Ninflectionwug-sRules The creation of compound nouns also followsa simple ruleNstemNstem NstemtoothbrushNstemNstem NstemdogbiteBy the way, ignore what grammarschool taught, these are not adjective-noun phrasesAmbiguity Some compound words can look like a phrase written language often does not help distinguish thetwo explains why headlines are difficult to writeSquad Helps Dog Bite VictimMan Eating Piranha MistakenlySold as Pet FishJuvenile Court to Try ShootingDefendantMore detail on rules Consider a rule that creates an adjective out ofa verb Or a noun out of a verbAstemVstemAstemaffixcrunch-ableNstemVstemNstemaffixcrunch -erRoot Some morphemes canonly be attached to certaintypes of words a root is a word that cannotbe split into smaller parts some morphemes attachonly to roots thus, Darwinianisms is aword, but not Darwinismiansis not» -ian must attach to a rootNstemNstem NstemaffixNroot-ianDarwinNrootaffix-ismNNinflection-sLexicon To keep track of what can attach to what,there must be a mental dictionary ofmorphemes -able» adjective stem affiix; means “capable ofbeing X’d”;attach me to a verb stem -er» noun stem affix; means “one who X’s”;attach me to a verb stem ...Professor Greg Francis 5/27/084Exceptions You can probably think of lots of exceptions tothese types of rules many words seem to follow arbitrary rules electricity --> not the state of being electric intoxicate --> nothing to do with toxic substances pluralization» mouse, mice teach, taught» leaf, leaves buy, bought» man, men fly, flewExceptions These exceptions generally come from otherlanguages (with appropriate rules) English adopts the words but not the rules These exceptions tend to be very common words drink-drank sink-sank throw-threw ring-rang sit-sat blow-blew All derive from a proto-Indo-European languagethat formed past tense by replacing one vowelwith anotherVery special cases What is the plural of walkman? walkmans? walkmen? Neither feels quite right To answer this question we have to understandhow the word walkman is formed and what it isabout this tells us how to pluralize the wordHeads Most words have a head that indicates whatthe word is “about” In English it is always the rightmostmorpheme crunchable cruncher workman sawtootha thing that can be “x”-eda thing that does “x”a type of persona type of toothHeads and compounds The plural form of a compound word is basedon the plural form of the head of the compoundword toothbrush --> toothbrushes sawtooth --> sawteeth snowman --> snowmen Is walkman a compound noun? yes, but it is not normalNstemNstem NstemwalkmanHeadless compounds Some compound words are headless How can you tell? a walkman is not about a type of man thus, the “head” is not what the word is about this tell us that walkman is more like a new wordthan a compound word (e.g., electricity) For headless compounds the irregular pluralform is not appropriate no plural form “feels” correct because the word hasno headProfessor Greg Francis 5/27/085Headless compounds Sony corporation suggests that the plural ofwalkman is A similar analysis explains the plural form ofnamesWalkman Personal StereosToronto Maple Leafs (not Leaves)Florida Marlins (not Marlin)I am sick of all the Mickey Mouses in thisadministration. (not Mickey Mice)Conclusions Words follow rules Morphology / morphemes Lexicon Explains characteristics of languageNext time Interpreting
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