Is conceptual combination influenced by word order?

Abstract

We describe two experiments using French noun-noun combinations which parallel a study carried out by Gagné (2001) using English combinations. The order of the modifier and head noun are reversed in French, allowing us to investigate whether the influence of relation priming that Gagné found is due to the order of the modifier and head noun or whether it is due to their different functional roles. While our findings indicate that interpretation is influenced by previous exposure to combinations incorporating one of the same constituent nouns, the results show that primes with the same modifier have a greater influence when associated with a different relation to the target. This pattern of influence is similar to that found in English and suggests that the modifier is exclusively involved in relation selection, irrespective of its order in a combination.