TY - JOUR A1 - Farhy, Yael A1 - Verissimo, Joao Marques T1 - Semantic Effects in Morphological Priming: The Case of Hebrew Stems JF - Language and speech N2 - To what extent is morphological representation in different languages dependent on semantic information? Unlike Indo-European languages, the Semitic mental lexicon has been argued to be purely "morphologically driven", with complex stems represented in a decomposed format (root + vowel pattern) irrespectively of their semantic properties. We have examined this claim by comparing cross-modal root-priming effects elicited by Hebrew verbs of a productive, open-ended class (Piel) and verbs of a closed-class (Paal). Morphological priming effects were obtained for both verb types, but prime-target semantic relatedness interacted with class, and only modulated responses following Paal, but not Piel primes. We explain these results by postulating different types of morpho-lexical representation for the different classes: structured stems, in the case of Piel, and whole-stems (which lack internal morphological structure), in the case of Paal. We conclude that semantic effects in morphological priming are also obtained in Semitic languages, but they are crucially dependent on type of morpho-lexical representation. KW - Morphology KW - priming KW - Semitic KW - semantic transparency KW - stems Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0023830918811863 SN - 0023-8309 SN - 1756-6053 VL - 62 IS - 4 SP - 737 EP - 750 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Farhy, Yael A1 - Veríssimo, Joao Marques A1 - Clahsen, Harald T1 - Universal and particular in morphological processing BT - evidence from Hebrew JF - The quarterly journal of experimental psychology N2 - Do properties of individual languages shape the mechanisms by which they are processed? By virtue of their non-concatenative morphological structure, the recognition of complex words in Semitic languages has been argued to rely strongly on morphological information and on decomposition into root and pattern constituents. Here, we report results from a masked priming experiment in Hebrew in which we contrasted verb forms belonging to two morphological classes, Paal and Piel, which display similar properties, but crucially differ on whether they are extended to novel verbs. Verbs from the open-class Piel elicited familiar root priming effects, but verbs from the closed-class Paal did not. Our findings indicate that, similarly to other (e.g., Indo-European) languages, down-to-the-root decomposition in Hebrew does not apply to stems of non-productive verbal classes. We conclude that the Semitic word processor is less unique than previously thought: Although it operates on morphological units that are combined in a non-linear way, it engages the same universal mechanisms of storage and computation as those seen in other languages. KW - Language universals KW - morphology KW - priming KW - Semitic Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2017.1310917 SN - 1747-0218 SN - 1747-0226 VL - 71 IS - 5 SP - 1125 EP - 1133 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Farhy, Yael A1 - Verissimo, Joao Marques A1 - Clahsen, Harald T1 - Do late bilinguals access pure morphology during word recognition? BT - a masked-priming study on Hebrew as a second language JF - Bilingualism : language and cognition N2 - This study extends research on morphological processing in late bilinguals to a rarely examined language type, Semitic, by reporting results from a masked-priming experiment with 58 non-native, advanced, second-language (L2) speakers of Hebrew in comparison with native (L1) speakers. We took advantage of a case of ‘pure morphology’ in Hebrew, the so-called binyanim, which represent (essentially arbitrary) morphological classes for verbs. Our results revealed a non-native priming pattern for the L2 group, with root-priming effects restricted to non-finite prime words irrespective of binyanim type. We conclude that root extraction in L2 Hebrew word recognition is less sensitive to both morphological and morphosyntactic cues than in the L1, in line with the Shallow-Structure Hypothesis of L2 processing. KW - grammatical processing KW - morphology KW - behavioural measurements KW - healthy normal subjects KW - Hebrew Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728918000032 SN - 1366-7289 SN - 1469-1841 VL - 21 IS - 5 SP - 945 EP - 951 PB - Cambridge Univ. Press CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Farhy, Yael T1 - Morphological generalization of Hebrew verb classes BT - an elicited production study in native and non-native speakers JF - The mental lexicon N2 - The present work investigated how morphological generalization, namely the way speakers extend their knowledge to novel complex words, is influenced by sources of variability in language and speaker properties. For this purpose, the study focused on a Semitic language (Hebrew), characterized by unique non-concatenative morphology, and native ( L1) as well as non-native (L2) speakers. Two elicited production tasks tested what information sources speakers employ in verbal inflectional class generalization, i.e., in forming complex novel verbs. Phonological similarity was tested in Experiment 1 and argument structure in Experiment 2. The analysis focused on the two most common Hebrew inflectional classes, Paal and Piel, which also constituted the vast majority of responses in the two tasks. Unlike the commonly found outcomes in Romance inflectional class generalization, the results yielded, solely for Piel, a graded phonological similarity effect and a robust argument structure effect, i.e., more Piel responses in a direct object context than without. The L2 pattern partially differed from the L1: (i) argument structure effect for L2 speakers was weaker, and (ii) L2 speakers produced more Paal than Piel responses. The results are discussed within the framework of rule-based and input-based accounts. KW - morphology KW - generalization KW - inflectional classes KW - Hebrew KW - non-native KW - speakers Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1075/ml.19001.far SN - 1871-1340 SN - 1871-1375 VL - 15 IS - 2 SP - 223 EP - 257 PB - John Benjamins Publishing Co. CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - GEN A1 - Farhy, Yael A1 - Veríssimo, Joao Marques A1 - Clahsen, Harald T1 - Universal and particular in morphological processing BT - evidence from Hebrew T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Do properties of individual languages shape the mechanisms by which they are processed? By virtue of their non-concatenative morphological structure, the recognition of complex words in Semitic languages has been argued to rely strongly on morphological information and on decomposition into root and pattern constituents. Here, we report results from a masked priming experiment in Hebrew in which we contrasted verb forms belonging to two morphological classes, Paal and Piel, which display similar properties, but crucially differ on whether they are extended to novel verbs. Verbs from the open-class Piel elicited familiar root priming effects, but verbs from the closed-class Paal did not. Our findings indicate that, similarly to other (e.g., Indo-European) languages, down-to-the-root decomposition in Hebrew does not apply to stems of non-productive verbal classes. We conclude that the Semitic word processor is less unique than previously thought: Although it operates on morphological units that are combined in a non-linear way, it engages the same universal mechanisms of storage and computation as those seen in other languages. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 468 KW - language universals KW - morphology KW - priming KW - Semitic Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-412541 EP - 468 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Veríssimo, Joao Marques A1 - Farhy, Yael A1 - Clahsen, Harald T1 - Universal and particular in morphological processing BT - Evidence from Hebrew JF - Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology N2 - Do properties of individual languages shape the mechanisms by which they are processed? By virtue of their nonconcatenative morphological structure, the recognition of complex words in Semitic languages has been argued to rely strongly on morphological information and on decomposition into root and pattern constituents. Here, we report results from a masked priming experiment in Hebrew in which we contrasted verb forms belonging to two morphological classes, Paal and Piel, which display similar properties, but crucially differ on whether they are extended to novel verbs. Verbs from the open-class Piel elicited familiar root priming effects, but verbs from the closed-class Paal did not. Our findings indicate that, similarly to other (e.g., Indo-European) languages, down-to-the-root decomposition in Hebrew does not apply to stems of non-productive verbal classes. We conclude that the Semitic word processor is less unique than previously thought: Although it operates on morphological units that are combined in a non-linear way, it engages the same universal mechanisms of storage and computation as those seen in other languages. KW - Language universals , morphology , priming , Semitic Y1 - 2018 UR - http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17470218.2017.1310917 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2017.1310917 VL - 71 IS - 5 SP - 1125 EP - 1132 ER - TY - THES A1 - Farhy, Yael T1 - Universals and particulars in morphology T1 - Universalien und Einzelheiten in der Morphologie BT - processing and generalization in native and non-native speakers of Hebrew BT - Verarbeitung und Generalisierung bei hebräischen Muttersprachlern und Nicht-Muttersprachlern N2 - For many years, psycholinguistic evidence has been predominantly based on findings from native speakers of Indo-European languages, primarily English, thus providing a rather limited perspective into the human language system. In recent years a growing body of experimental research has been devoted to broadening this picture, testing a wide range of speakers and languages, aiming to understanding the factors that lead to variability in linguistic performance. The present dissertation investigates sources of variability within the morphological domain, examining how and to what extent morphological processes and representations are shaped by specific properties of languages and speakers. Firstly, the present work focuses on a less explored language, Hebrew, to investigate how the unique non-concatenative morphological structure of Hebrew, namely a non-linear combination of consonantal roots and vowel patterns to form lexical entries (L-M-D + CiCeC = limed ‘teach’), affects morphological processes and representations in the Hebrew lexicon. Secondly, a less investigated population was tested: late learners of a second language. We directly compare native (L1) and non-native (L2) speakers, specifically highly proficient and immersed late learners of Hebrew. Throughout all publications, we have focused on a morphological phenomenon of inflectional classes (called binyanim; singular: binyan), comparing productive (class Piel, e.g., limed ‘teach’) and unproductive (class Paal, e.g., lamad ‘learn’) verbal inflectional classes. By using this test case, two psycholinguistic aspects of morphology were examined: (i) how morphological structure affects online recognition of complex words, using masked priming (Publications I and II) and cross-modal priming (Publication III) techniques, and (ii) what type of cues are used when extending morpho-phonological patterns to novel complex forms, a process referred to as morphological generalization, using an elicited production task (Publication IV). The findings obtained in the four manuscripts, either published or under review, provide significant insights into the role of productivity in Hebrew morphological processing and generalization in L1 and L2 speakers. Firstly, the present L1 data revealed a close relationship between productivity of Hebrew verbal classes and recognition process, as revealed in both priming techniques. The consonantal root was accessed only in the productive class (Piel) but not the unproductive class (Paal). Another dissociation between the two classes was revealed in the cross-modal priming, yielding a semantic relatedness effect only for Paal but not Piel primes. These findings are taken to reflect that the Hebrew mental representations display a balance between stored undecomposable unstructured stems (Paal) and decomposed structured stems (Piel), in a similar manner to a typical dual-route architecture, showing that the Hebrew mental lexicon is less unique than previously claimed in psycholinguistic research. The results of the generalization study, however, indicate that there are still substantial differences between inflectional classes of Hebrew and other Indo-European classes, particularly in the type of information they rely on in generalization to novel forms. Hebrew binyan generalization relies more on cues of argument structure and less on phonological cues. Secondly, clear L1/L2 differences were observed in the sensitivity to abstract morphological and morpho-syntactic information during complex word recognition and generalization. While L1 Hebrew speakers were sensitive to the binyan information during recognition, expressed by the contrast in root priming, L2 speakers showed similar root priming effects for both classes, but only when the primes were presented in an infinitive form. A root priming effect was not obtained for primes in a finite form. These patterns are interpreted as evidence for a reduced sensitivity of L2 speakers to morphological information, such as information about inflectional classes, and evidence for processing costs in recognition of forms carrying complex morpho-syntactic information. Reduced reliance on structural information cues was found in production of novel verbal forms, when the L2 group displayed a weaker effect of argument structure for Piel responses, in comparison to the L1 group. Given the L2 results, we suggest that morphological and morphosyntactic information remains challenging for late bilinguals, even at high proficiency levels. N2 - Diese Dissertation untersucht, wie die morphologische Verarbeitung und Generalisierung von der Sprache und den Sprechern beeinflusst werden. Die Arbeit fokussiert sich auf die hebräische Sprache und analysiert, wie ihre ungewöhnliche, nicht-verkettende morphologische Struktur, die die Kombination von Wurzelkonsonanten und Vokalmustern umfasst (z. B. L-M-D + CiCeC = limed ‚beibringen‘), die Organisation von komplexen Repräsentationen im mentalen Lexikon beeinflusst. Dieser Aspekt wird im Hinblick auf zwei Sprechergruppen betrachtet: hebräische Muttersprachler und Nicht-Muttersprachler, die aber ein hohes Sprachniveau erworben haben. Alle vier Publikationen der Dissertation behandeln das morphologische Phänomen von Flexionsklassen in Verben (auf Hebräisch: binyanim) und vergleichen eine produktive Klasse und eine unproduktive Klasse mithilfe von empirischen Methoden wie Worterkennung mit Priming und Produktion von neuartigen Wörtern. Die Ergebnisse zeigten erstens eine enge Verbindung zwischen der Produktivität einer Klasse und Worterkennungsprozessen, wie dies auch in anderen indoeuropäischen Sprachen der Fall ist, in denen die Erkennung von produktiven morphologischen Schemata (z. B. gefragt) durch eine Dekomposition von Wortbestandteilen ausgeführt wird. Die Erkennung von unproduktiven morphologischen Schemata (z. B., geschlafen) wird jedoch nicht durch eine Dekomposition ausgeführt. In Bezug darauf ergaben die Ergebnisse der Produktionsstudie jedoch, dass es einen Unterschied zwischen dem hebräischen und indoeuropäischen Sprachen gibt, besonders in der Art der Information, auf die die Sprecher sich verlassen, wenn sie neue Wörter formulieren. In einem zweiten Ergebnis wurden bedeutende Unterschiede zwischen Muttersprachlern und Nicht-Muttersprachlern hinsichtlich Worterkennung und Produktion beobachtet. Beide Experimente wiesen eine eingeschränkte Sensitivität der Nicht-Muttersprachler für abstrakte morphologische und morpho-syntaktische Informationen nach. KW - psycholinguistics KW - morphology KW - Hebrew KW - second language KW - Psycholinguistik KW - Morphologie KW - Hebräisch KW - Nicht-Muttersprachler Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-470033 ER -