The Role of Zero-Derivation in Lexical Processing
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1
Northwestern University, Aphasia and Neurolinguistics Laboratory, Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, United States
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2
Northwestern University, Department of Linguistics, United States
Introduction. Word-class deficits are common in individuals with stroke-induced aphasia, who often show difficulty in accessing either nouns or verbs (Cappa & Perani, 2003, Thompson et al., 2012, Zingeser & Berndt, 1990). Researchers have primarily studied object nouns and event verbs, however, there is a large class of nouns that can denote events (bite) and verbs that carry an object meaning (brush). Under Zero-Derivation theories (Don 2005), it has been argued that these words are either derived from a noun (the base category) to become a verb ([V[N brush]-ø]) or from a verb to become a noun ([N[V bite]-ø]). Zero-derivation has received little attention in normal or impaired lexical processing. The current study used a binary forced-choice response paradigm to examine healthy and aphasic adults’ (with and without verb deficits) ability to process derived and non-derived nouns and verbs. We hypothesized that if derived forms are computed from their base-category via a morphological operation, then a bias towards base-category will occur.
Method. Fifty-four healthy adults (28 younger: age 18-28 years; 26 older: age 37-69 years) and thirteen aphasic adults (5 with and 8 without verb production deficits; age 23-67 years) were enrolled in the study. Using a binary forced-choice task (Figure 1), participants were presented with derived or non-derived target words as in (1,2), and were asked to fill in the blank preceding each target word, with one of two word forms: a determiner the or infinitive marker to. This experiment included four conditions constructed based on the words’ derivational status (Myers’s generalization test, 1984): noun-derived verbs (brush) and verb-derived nouns (bite) as in (1) as well as non-derived nouns (bell) and verbs (bake) as in (2)(20 items per condition).
(1) Derived: a. __ brush (the/to) b. __ bite (the/to)
(2) Non-derived: a. __ bell (the/to) b. __ bake (the/to)
Results. Healthy and aphasic (without verb deficit) adults, respectively, showed base-category effects: a noun bias (selection of the) for non-derived nouns (98%: p< .001; 96%: p< .001) and noun-derived verbs (55%: p< .05; 57%: p< .001) and a verb bias (selection of to) for non-derived verbs (96%: p< .001; 99%: p< .001) and verb-derived nouns (68%: p< .001; 78%: p< .001). Aphasic participants with verb impairments demonstrated a base-category effect only for the noun-base condition: a noun bias for non-derived nouns (95%: p< .001) and noun-derived verbs (68%: p< .001). At chance performance was found for non-derived verbs (40%: p> .05) and verb-derived nouns (50%: p> .05) (Figure 1).
Discussion. These data suggest that derivational processes are crucially involved in lexical access in normal processing. Greater selection rates of to and the found for derived nouns (bite) and verbs (brush), respectively, in healthy participants and aphasic individuals without verb deficits support the hypothesis that derived words are computed on-line rather than stored. Aphasic individuals with verb impairments showed this pattern for derived verbs, but not derived nouns, suggesting that derivational processes per se are not impaired, but that impaired access to the base category (i.e., verbs) precludes associated morphological processes.
References
Cappa, S.F. & Perani, D. (2003). The neural correlates of noun and verb processing. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 16: 183-189.
Don, J. (2005). On Conversion, Relisting and Zero-Derivation. SKASE, Journal of Theoretical Linguistics, 2: 2–16.
Myers, Scott. 1984. Zero-derivation and inflection. In Papers from the January 1984 MIT Workshop in
Morphology, ed. by Margaret Speas and Richard Sproat, 53–69. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics
7. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, MITWPL.
Thompson, C. K., Lukic, S., King, M. C., Mesulam, M. M., & Weintraub, S. (2012). Verb and noun deficits in stroke-induced and primary progressive aphasia: The Northwestern Naming Battery. Aphasiology, 26: 632-655.
Zingeser, L.B., & Berndt, R.S. (1990). Retrieval of nouns and verbs in agrammatism and anomia. Brain and Language, 39: 14-32.
Keywords:
Lexical Processing,
morphology,
Zero-derivation,
Aphasia,
Word-class impairments
Conference:
54th Annual Academy of Aphasia Meeting, Llandudno, United Kingdom, 16 Oct - 18 Oct, 2016.
Presentation Type:
Poster Sessions
Topic:
Student Submissions
Citation:
Lukic
S,
Yoshida
M and
Thompson
CK
(2016). The Role of Zero-Derivation in Lexical Processing.
Front. Psychol.
Conference Abstract:
54th Annual Academy of Aphasia Meeting.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2016.68.00137
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Received:
01 May 2016;
Published Online:
15 Aug 2016.
*
Correspondence:
Ms. Sladjana Lukic, Northwestern University, Aphasia and Neurolinguistics Laboratory, Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States, Sladjana.lukic@ucsf.edu