Dissertation Research: A Study of Diverging Morphology: Native and Loan Verb Formation in Modern Maltese

论文研究：分歧形态研究：现代马耳他语中的母语动词和借用动词的构成

• 批准号: 0449757
• 负责人: Adam Ussishkin
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-03-01 至 2006-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0449757&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Study; Diverging; Morphology

Under the direction of Dr. Adam Ussishkin, Ms. Alina Twist will conduct research on verb formation processes in Maltese for her doctoral dissertation. Maltese is a dialect of Arabic that has been influenced extensively by contact with English and other Indo-European languages. Maltese speakers appear to make use of two separate systems of word formation. Non-linear word formation, as illustrated by Maltese kiser 'he broke' and kisser ' he smashed', is typical of Arabic dialects. In this type of system, segmental material is added or changed in the middle of the word to alter the meaning. Linear word formation, in which segmental material is added to the edges of words, also occurs in Maltese, which is not typically found in core word formation in other Arabic dialects. Ms. Twist's research project will collect psycholinguistic evidence about how speakers use each of these strategies. This evidence will be analyzed to determine how the two word formation systems interact. A masked priming experiment will ask Maltese speakers to judge whether or not test items are words of their language. The test items will include real verbs of both Semitic and English origin. Filler items will be nonsense verbs constructed to mirror the properties of the test items. Accuracy rates and reaction time will be recorded and reaction times of correct responses compared across speakers. An elicitation experiment will ask native speakers of Maltese to provide a verb form that corresponds to a given noun or adjective, as illustrated by the English pair destruction ~ destroy. The test items will be nouns and adjectives of Semitic and English origin. Responses will be broadly transcribed and analyzed for their similarity to the expected patterns.This research builds on past studies on word formation in languages that exhibit only one type of core word formation strategy, like English or Hebrew. In the past it has been difficult to compare research between these languages, because the writing systems of the two types of languages are so different. Non-linear languages like Hebrew and most dialects of Arabic are written without many vowels. Maltese, on the other hand, is written in Roman letters, including all vowels. This difference will allow direct comparison between this study and previous work in the field of word formation.

在Adam Usssishkin博士的指导下，Alina Twist女士将为她的博士论文进行马耳他语动词形成过程的研究。 马耳他语是阿拉伯语的一种方言，受到英语和其他印欧语言接触的广泛影响。 马耳他语使用者似乎使用两种不同的构词法。 非线性构词法，如马耳他语kiser 'he broke'和kisser ' he smashed'，是阿拉伯语方言的典型。 在这种类型的系统中，在单词中间添加或改变部分材料以改变含义。 线性构词法，即在单词的边缘添加分段材料，也出现在马耳他语中，这在其他阿拉伯语方言的核心构词法中并不常见。 Twist女士的研究项目将收集说话者如何使用这些策略的心理语言学证据。 这些证据将被分析，以确定如何两个构词系统相互作用。 一个掩蔽启动实验将要求马耳他人判断测试项目是否是他们语言的单词。 测试项目将包括犹太语和英语起源的真实的动词。 填充项将是无意义的动词，以反映测试项目的属性。准确率和反应时间将被记录下来，正确反应的反应时间将被比较。 一项启发实验将要求以马耳他语为母语的人提供与给定名词或形容词相对应的动词形式，如英语成对的破坏~破坏所示。 测试项目将是名词和形容词的闪族语和英语起源。 反应将被广泛转录和分析其相似性的预期patterns.This研究建立在过去的研究中的语言，表现出只有一种类型的核心构词策略，如英语或希伯来语的构词。 在过去，很难比较这两种语言之间的研究，因为这两种语言的书写系统是如此不同。 非线性语言，如希伯来语和大多数阿拉伯语方言，没有很多元音。 另一方面，马耳他语是用罗马字母书写的，包括所有的元音。 这种差异将允许本研究和以前的工作在构词法领域的直接比较。