Doctoral Dissertation Research: The constraints of dual morphological systems on visual word processing in Maltese

所有语言都有将独立有意义的语言单位组合在一起的策略，称为语素，以构建单词。大多数语言，如英语，主要通过将这些单位线性地添加到另一个语言中(例如，重写-重写)来组合这些单位；这样的语言被认为具有线性词法。闪族语言，如阿拉伯语，以具有非线性形态而闻名：表达意义和语法信息的不连续单位是非线性组合的(例如，阿拉伯语k-t-b‘写作’+aa-i‘实施者，名词’-kaatib‘作者’)。马耳他语在形态特征上特别特别：作为一种闪族语言，历史上马耳他语主要使用非线性词法。然而，在过去的千年里，它与一系列使用线性词法的语言(西西里语、意大利语、法语和英语)保持着密切的联系，说话者大量借用这些语言的单词并采用线性词法策略。今天，马耳他语由一种“混合”语言组成：至少一半的单词来自非闪族语言(因此不会表现出非线性构词法)，说话者广泛使用线性和非线性构词策略。这个项目调查了马耳他语中不同形态系统的存在如何影响文字处理，探索马耳他读者识别闪语单词和非闪语借词的差异。它探讨了历史语言混合对日常语言使用过程的影响，并对类似接触情景下的语言研究具有启示意义。一系列实验的结果将包括Co-Pi论文中分析的数据。该项目还将建立一个马耳他单词识别数据的数据库，这是第一个针对具有非线性词法的语言的数据库，其他研究人员可以使用该数据库来研究语言处理。亚利桑那大学的博士生Co-Pi将进行一系列心理语言学实验，调查表现出独特形态特征的不同词汇(本地闪族单词与非闪族借词)的存在如何影响马耳他语的视觉单词识别。先前的研究发现(1)马耳他读者识别闪光词的速度比识别非闪光词的速度快；(2)当被由一个词的子集组成的字母串--S辅音(例如，FRX素数FIREX‘to Send’)启动时，他们识别闪光词(对于这些串包括语素)的速度更快，但识别非闪光词(对于这些串是非语素的)却不快。后者的发现与非闪族语言中的“子集启动”效应相冲突，即由于辅音字母在限制候选词汇方面的作用，暴露在这样的字母串中通常有助于单词识别(例如‘CSN’素数赌场)，并表明特定语言的形态特征，如闪族的非拼接词法，可能进一步塑造辅音字母在词汇加工中的作用。这项研究包括(1)马耳他视觉词汇决策Mega研究，当潜在的混淆因素如拼写邻域密度和形态结构被控制(这将导致马耳他词汇决策反应数据库的出版)时，该研究探索了闪光词和非闪光词在广泛的项目上的加工差异(实验1)；和(2)一系列视觉掩蔽启动研究，在控制混杂因素，即质数的语素状态时，测试非闪族马耳他词的子集启动效应(实验2-3)。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，认为值得支持。

All languages have strategies for combining independently meaningful linguistic units, called morphemes, to build words. Most languages, like English, primarily combine these units by linearly appending them to one another (e.g. re- + write - rewrite); such languages are said to have linear morphology. Semitic languages, like Arabic, are famous for having nonlinear morphology: discontinuous units which express meaning and grammatical information are combined non-linearly (e.g. Arabic k-t-b 'writing' + aa-i 'doer, NOUN' - kaatib 'author'). Maltese is particularly unusual in its morphological characteristics: as a Semitic language, Maltese has primarily used non-linear morphology historically. However, for the past millennium it has been in close contact with a series of languages that use linear morphology (Sicilian, Italian, French, and English), and speakers have heavily borrowed words and adopted linear morphological strategies from these languages. Today, Maltese comprises a "mixed" language: at least half of all words are borrowed from non-Semitic languages (and so do not exhibit non-linear morphology), and speakers use both linear and non-linear word-building strategies extensively. This project investigates how the presence of distinct morphological systems in Maltese affects word processing, exploring differences in how Maltese readers recognize Semitic words vs. non-Semitic borrowings. It explores the impact of historical language mixing on the processes underlying daily language use, and so has implications for the study of languages in similar contact situations. The results of a series of experiments will comprise the data analyzed in the Co-PI's dissertation. The project will also produce a database of Maltese word recognition data, the first such database for a language with non-linear morphology, which other researchers may use to study language processing.The Co-PI, a doctoral student at the University of Arizona, will conduct a series of psycholinguistic experiments investigating how the existence of distinct lexicons exhibiting unique morphological characteristics (native Semitic words vs. non-Semitic borrowings) affects visual word recognition in Maltese. Previous research has found (1) that Maltese readers are faster to recognize Semitic words than non-Semitic borrowings and (2) that, when primed by letter strings consisting of a subset of a word?s consonants (e.g. frx primes FIREX 'to spread'), they are faster to recognize Semitic words (for which such strings comprise a morpheme) but not non-Semitic ones (for which such strings are non-morphemic). The latter finding conflicts with the "subset priming" effect found in non-Semitic languages, namely that exposure to such letter strings typically facilitates word recognition (e.g. 'csn' primes CASINO), owing to the role of consonant letters in constraining lexical candidates, and suggests that language-specific morphological properties such as Semitic nonconcatenative morphology may further shape the role of consonant letters in lexical processing. The proposed research includes (1) a Maltese visual lexical decision megastudy which explores processing differences between Semitic and non-Semitic words across a wide range of items when potential confounding factors like orthographic neighborhood density and morphological structure are controlled for (and which will result in the publication of a database of Maltese lexical decision responses) (Experiment 1); and (2) a series of visual masked priming studies which test for subset priming effects in non-Semitic Maltese words when confounding factors, namely the morphemic status of the prime, are controlled for (Experiments 2-3).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.