Document Detail


The role of meaning in past-tense inflection: evidence from polysemy and denominal derivation.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  16839538     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Although English verbs can be either regular (walk-walked) or irregular (sing-sang), "denominal verbs" that are derived from nouns, such as the use of the verb ring derived from the noun a ring, take the regular form even if they are homophonous with an existing irregular verb: The soldiers ringed the city rather than *The soldiers rang the city. Is this regularization due to a semantic difference from the usual verb, or is it due to the application of the default rule, namely VERB+ -ed suffix? In Experiment 1, participants rated the semantic similarity of the extended senses of polysemous verbs and denominal verbs to their central senses. Experiment 2 examined the acceptability of the regular and irregular past tenses of the different verbs. The results showed that all the denominal verbs were rated as more acceptable for the regular inflection than the same verbs used polysemously, even though the two were semantically equally similar to the central meaning. Thus, the derivation of the verb (nominal or verbal) determined the past-tense preference more than semantic variables, consistent with dual-route models of verb inflection.
Authors:
Shoba Bandi-Rao; Gregory L Murphy
Related Documents :
8227378 - High-resolution ultrasonography in the diagnosis of scrotal pathology: i. normal scrotu...
18046968 - Use of radiographs for periodontal diagnosis in private practice.
11806148 - Foramen jugulare: a local investigation and a review of the literature.
7162488 - International registration of clinical engineers.
9066838 - Systemic contact dermatitis to hydroxyzine.
2197518 - Building two medical databanks.
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't     Date:  2006-07-12
Journal Detail:
Title:  Cognition     Volume:  104     ISSN:  0010-0277     ISO Abbreviation:  Cognition     Publication Date:  2007 Jul 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2007-04-30     Completed Date:  2007-07-26     Revised Date:  2009-11-18    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0367541     Medline TA:  Cognition     Country:  Netherlands    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  150-62     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Teaching and Learning, New York University, 239 Greene Street, New York, NY 10003, USA. Shoba.Bandi.Rao@nyu.edu
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Humans
Language*
Linguistics
Verbal Behavior*
Vocabulary*
Grant Support
ID/Acronym/Agency:
MH41704/MH/NIMH NIH HHS; R01 MH041704-15/MH/NIMH NIH HHS
Comments/Corrections

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  Self-attributed body-shadows modulate tactile attention.
Next Document:  The probability of causal conditionals.