tailieunhanh - Báo cáo khoa học: "Is Conceptual Combination Influenced by Word Order?"

The most available standard relation is the one most frequently used to interpret other compounds containing that same modifier. For instance, the modifier “mountain” is most often associated with the relation thus making the combination “mountain stream” easier to interpret than “mountain magazine” which uses the relation. Important evidence in support of the CARIN model is the finding that the modifier’s relational distribution influences the ease with which a combined concept can be interpreted. . | Is Conceptual Combination Influenced by Word Order Phil Maguire Department of Computer Science University College Dublin Belfield Dublin 4 Ireland Abstract We describe two experiments using French noun-noun combinations which parallel a study carried out by Gagné 2001 using English combinations. The order of the modifier and head noun are reversed in French allowing us to investigate whether the influence of relation priming that Gagné found is due to the order of the modifier and head noun or whether it is due to their different functional roles. While our findings indicate that interpretation is influenced by previous exposure to combinations incorporating one of the same constituent nouns the results show that primes with the same modifier have a greater influence when associated with a different relation to the target. This pattern of influence is similar to that found in English and suggests that the modifier is exclusively involved in relation selection irrespective of its order in a combination. 1 Introduction The combination of two existing words is a productive strategy used by speakers to convey new concepts and extend the limits of the vernacular. The process of understanding these novel compounds is worthy of study both because it is intimately associated with the creativity of language use and because it provides a constrained domain in which to test cognitive theories of conceptual representation and language comprehension. In English compounds the first word or modifier attaches further meaning to the second word or head thus creating a reference to the intended concept. In order to interpret a nominal compound such as mountain stream people must find a relation to link the compound s head and modifier. Several different theories have been proposed as to how people find the correct relation with which to link the constituent nouns. Gagné and Shoben s 1997 Competition Among Relations In Nominals CARIN theory maintains that there is