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Organising principles in lexical access and representation? A view across languages
Authors:
MARSLEN-WILSON, W.D.
Reference:
In A. Cutler, J.M. McQueen & R. Zondervan (Eds), Proceedings of the Workshop on Spoken Word Access Processes 19 - 22, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Year of publication:
2000
CBU number:
4174
Abstract:
The notion "word" is investigated cross-linguistically in a series of studies systematically comparing lexical representation and processing in English, Polish, Arabic, and Mandarin Chinese, using a variety of priming techniques. The studies so far reveal considerable diversity, with languages differing widely in types of lexical organisation. Mandarin appears to rely primarily on non-combinatorial representations, while English and Polish employ in addition a decompositional, morphemically based system. The non-concatenative morphology of Arabic is also highly combinatorial, and plays an obligatory morpho-phonological structural role. We find little evidence for specific cross-linguistic constraints on lexical structure and content.
