Stem and whole-word frequency effects in the processing of inflected verbs in and out of a sentence context
- ISSN: 01690965
- DOI: 10.1080/01690965.2010.510359
Abstract
The relationship between stem and whole-word frequency was investigated by simultaneously manipulating both frequency measures in a set of inflected verbs. In Experiment 1, these verbs were presented in isolation as part of a lexical decision task, and an effect of stem frequency only was observed. In Experiment 2, the same verbs were presented in sentences in a self-paced reading task, and an interaction between stem and whole-word frequency was observed. These findings contradict either-or models of morphological processing that assume two separate and independent processing routes for morphologically complex words, and also provide further evidence that the relationship between stem and whole-word frequency effects is context-sensitive.
Stem and whole-word frequency effects in the processing of inflected verbs in and out of a sentence context
Stem and whole-word frequency effects in the processing
of inflected verbs in and out of a sentence context
Steven G. Luke*
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Kiel Christianson
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
July 7, 2010
*Correspondence should be addressed to Steven G. Luke, Department of Educational Psychology, Education
Building, Rm. 226A, MC-708, University of Illinois, 1310 S. 6th St, Champaign, IL 61820. E-mail:
sluke@illinois.edu
The authors thank the members of the Educational Psychology Psycholinguistics Lab at the Beckman
Institute for their assistance in running participants and Dick Anderson and Peter Golato for their helpful comments
and suggestions. Corresponding author is Steven Luke <sluke@illinois.edu>. This research was supported in part by
a University of Illinois Campus Research Board Grant to K. Christianson.
1
Abstract
The relationship between stem and whole-word frequency was investigated by simultaneously
manipulating both frequency measures in a set of inflected verbs. In Experiment 1, these verbs
were presented in isolation as part of a lexical decision task, and an effect of stem frequency only
was observed. In Experiment 2, the same verbs were presented in sentences in a self-paced
reading task, and an interaction between stem and whole-word frequency was observed. These
findings contradict “either-or” models of morphological processing that assume two separate and
independent processing routes for morphologically complex words, and also provide further
evidence that the relationship between stem and whole-word frequency effects is context-
sensitive.
Keywords: Morphology; Frequency; Context; Inflection
2
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