Two languages, two sets of interpretations: Language-specific influences of morphological form on Dutch and English speakers' interpretation of compounds
| Autor: | Esther Hanssen, Arina Banga, Robert Schreuder, Anneke Neijt |
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| Rok vydání: | 2013 |
| Předmět: |
Linguistics and Language
Computer science Language in Mind 050105 experimental psychology Language and Linguistics 03 medical and health sciences symbols.namesake 0302 clinical medicine Native english Developmental and Educational Psychology Speech Production and Comprehension 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Linguistic relativity Plural Communication Psycholinguistics business.industry Interpretation (philosophy) 05 social sciences Contrast (statistics) Cross linguistic studies (project of Numerosity in Dutch and related languages) Linguistics symbols Language and Communication [DI-BCB_DCC_Theme 1] Suffix The algorithmic approach to Dutch verb spelling in between phases of preparation and conclusion business 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Meaning (linguistics) |
| Zdroj: | Cognitive Linguistics, 24, 2, pp. 195-220 Cognitive Linguistics, 24, 195-220 |
| ISSN: | 1613-3641 0936-5907 |
| DOI: | 10.1515/cog-2013-0007 |
| Popis: | The present study investigates linguistic relativity. Do form differences between Dutch and English influence the interpretations which speakers have? The Dutch element en in noun-noun compounds, for example in aardbeienjam ‘strawberry jam’ is homophonous and homographic with the regular plural suffix -en. English, in contrast, has no such typical linking elements in compounds. We therefore investigated the interpretation of Dutch modifiers in compounds and their English equivalents. We compared the plurality ratings of Dutch modifiers with and without the linking element en by native Dutch speakers, and the plurality ratings of English modifiers by native Dutch speakers and native English speakers. If the Dutch linking en induces plural meaning, we expected a difference between the plurality ratings by English speakers for English modifiers and by Dutch speakers for Dutch modifiers, such that the estimation of the number of strawberries in strawberry jam is lower for the English speakers than the number of aardbeien in aardbeienjam for the Dutch speakers. This is exactly what we found. Moreover, when native Dutch speakers rate the English equivalents, their interpretation of strawberry jam is the same as for native English speakers, which shows the language being used to influence semantic interpretations. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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