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The lexical representation of compound words in English: evidence from aphasia

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Carol Fehringer

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Abstract

This paper investigates nominal compound production in the speech of over a 100 English speakers with aphasia, in the light of current work on compound processing and representation. In particular, the paper will focus on the role of semantic transparency, morphological complexity and headedness in compound processing, and on the representation of compound words in the mexical lexicon in the light of the 'storage versus composition' debate. The results of this study suggest that the salience of a constituent within a compound (defined here as a combination of semantic transparency and lack of morphological complexity) is a very important factor in determining whether that constituent will be produced correctly by a speaker with aphasia. This is particularly the case if the constituent is the head of the compound. With regard to lexical representation, the study advocates a 'maximization of opportunity' approach in which compound words are stored both as whole words and as a combination of morphemes with links to their constituent parts in the mental lexicon. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Fehringer C

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Language Sciences

Year: 2012

Volume: 34

Issue: 1

Pages: 65-75

Print publication date: 12/07/2011

ISSN (print): 0388-0001

ISSN (electronic): 1873-5746

Publisher: Pergamon

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2011.06.001

DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2011.06.001

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