Emerging Roots: Investigating Early Access to Meaning in Maltese Auditory Word Recognition.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Emerging Roots: Investigating Early Access to Meaning in Maltese Auditory Word Recognition.
Authors: Nieder, Jessica1 (AUTHOR) jessica.nieder@uni-passau.de, van de Vijver, Ruben2 (AUTHOR), Ussishkin, Adam3 (AUTHOR)
Source: Cognitive Science. Nov2024, Vol. 48 Issue 11, p1-36. 36p.
Subject Terms: *Word recognition, *Lexical access, *Verbs, Semitic languages, Stimulus & response (Psychology), Lexicon, Psycholinguistics
Abstract: In Semitic languages, the consonantal root is central to morphology, linking form and meaning. While psycholinguistic studies highlight its importance in language processing, the role of meaning in early lexical access and its representation remain unclear. This study investigates when meaning becomes accessible during the processing of Maltese verb forms, using a computational model based on the Discriminative Lexicon framework. Our model effectively comprehends and produces Maltese verbs, while also predicting response times in a masked auditory priming experiment. Results show that meaning is accessible early in lexical access and becomes more prominent after the target word is fully processed. This suggests that semantic information plays a critical role from the initial stages of lexical access, refining our understanding of real‐time language comprehension. Our findings contribute to theories of lexical access and offer valuable insights for designing priming studies in psycholinguistics. Additionally, this study demonstrates the potential of computational models in investigating the relationship between form and meaning in language processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Cognitive Science is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
Full text is not displayed to guests.
Description
Abstract:In Semitic languages, the consonantal root is central to morphology, linking form and meaning. While psycholinguistic studies highlight its importance in language processing, the role of meaning in early lexical access and its representation remain unclear. This study investigates when meaning becomes accessible during the processing of Maltese verb forms, using a computational model based on the Discriminative Lexicon framework. Our model effectively comprehends and produces Maltese verbs, while also predicting response times in a masked auditory priming experiment. Results show that meaning is accessible early in lexical access and becomes more prominent after the target word is fully processed. This suggests that semantic information plays a critical role from the initial stages of lexical access, refining our understanding of real‐time language comprehension. Our findings contribute to theories of lexical access and offer valuable insights for designing priming studies in psycholinguistics. Additionally, this study demonstrates the potential of computational models in investigating the relationship between form and meaning in language processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:03640213
DOI:10.1111/cogs.70004