Blocking as a Function of the Nature of Linguistic Representations: Where Psycholinguistics and Morphology Meet

TY - CHAP

T1 - Blocking as a Function of the Nature of Linguistic Representations: Where Psycholinguistics and Morphology Meet

AU - Versloot, A.P.

AU - Hoekstra, E.

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - This paper addresses the question to what extent morphological blocking in language is a rule-based phenomenon. We argue that language users do not operate with a blocking rule, but that a form preference emerges as a result of cognitive selection mechanisms in a neural network of linguistic information. The actual target form develops its own token frequency in a probabilistic process, known as Preferential Attachment. After some time and some generations, one form will develop a nearly absolute dominance with its own local token frequency. This model implies that there is no blocking as an active negative action, but only a local lemma specific frequency, built up by a stochastic Preferential Attachment process, which favours one of the theoretically possible forms and, as a consequence, ‘suppresses’ the other options.

AB - This paper addresses the question to what extent morphological blocking in language is a rule-based phenomenon. We argue that language users do not operate with a blocking rule, but that a form preference emerges as a result of cognitive selection mechanisms in a neural network of linguistic information. The actual target form develops its own token frequency in a probabilistic process, known as Preferential Attachment. After some time and some generations, one form will develop a nearly absolute dominance with its own local token frequency. This model implies that there is no blocking as an active negative action, but only a local lemma specific frequency, built up by a stochastic Preferential Attachment process, which favours one of the theoretically possible forms and, as a consequence, ‘suppresses’ the other options.

M3 - Chapter

SN - 978-3-030-02549-6

T3 - Studies in Morphology

SP - 145

EP - 166

BT - Competition in Inflection and Word-Formation

A2 - Rainer, F.

A2 - Gardani, F.

A2 - Dressler, W.U.

A2 - Luschützky, H.C.

PB - Springer

ER -