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Abstract:
In order to allow for multiword entries in the speaker's
lexicon, the the language production model as described in Levelt,
Roelofs, & Meyer (1999) has been extended with the so-called
``superlemmas''. These are integrating nodes that bind simple
lemmas together and supply them with structural information. By
referring to already existing lexical items, the superlemmas
account for the storage of whole phrases in the mental lexicon,
while at the same time extending the lexicon's size only minimally.
First empirical evidence is in favour of this account: in a series
of three experiments we could show that the production of idiomatic
and compositional phrases differs in required planning time and is
affected differentially by acoustic primes.
Sixteen native-speakers of Dutch learned combinations of
prompt-words and phrases by heart, such that they were able to
produce the phrase quickly whenever they saw the prompt on the
computerscreen. An acoustic prime was presented simultaneously. In
Experiment 1 and 3 it was either identical to the noun of the
to-be-produced phrase or semantically and phonologically unrelated.
The phrases were either idiomatic or nonidiomatic. For example,
subjects saw "escalate'', heard "hand'', and produced "get out of
hand'', or they saw "grasp'', heard "hand'' and produced "hold in
your hand'' (note that the original Dutch items have the verb in
final position). In Experiment 3 the prime was either
phonologically related or unrelated. The results show that the
production of idioms requires longer UOLs (Experiments 1, 2, and
3). This is predicted by the superlemma theory, since accessing
simple lemmas via a superlemma involves an additional processing
step. Moreover, identity priming for an early content word
(Experiment 1) speeds up phrase production much more effectively in
the case of idioms. In Experiment 2 we showed that this effect is
not due to phonological facilitation and therefore must be an
effect of lexical access. In Experiment 3 we varied the word order
of the phrases used in Experiment 1, but still primed the same
nouns (now in a late position). We obtained a similar priming
effect. This may be taken as evidence for restricted (or even
absent) incrementality in the production of idioms. Taken together,
the three experiments support the assumption of an integrating
superlemma that allows for quick and parallel access to the words
that are part of an idiom, based on the activation of only one
concept.
Levelt, W., Roelofs, A. & Meyer, A. (1999). A theory of
lexical access in speech production. Behavioral and Brain Sciences,
22(1), 1-75.
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