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http://hdl.handle.net/11375/25862
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DC Field | Value | Language |
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dc.contributor.advisor | Service, Maarit Elisabet | - |
dc.contributor.author | Ahmadi-Torshizi, Narges (Torshizi, Narcisse) | - |
dc.date.accessioned | 2020-10-05T21:18:02Z | - |
dc.date.available | 2020-10-05T21:18:02Z | - |
dc.date.issued | 2020 | - |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11375/25862 | - |
dc.description.abstract | This thesis examines the processing of N-N compound words in Persian. The main research question is whether and how the order of their functional components, modifier and head, affects their processing. Persian is an Indo-European language with subject object verb (SOV) word order. Persian allows for different head-modifier orders in compounds and, therefore, opens an opportunity for researchers to investigate if the processing effort is different for head-final (right-headed or RH) versus head-initial (left-headed or LH) compounds. In a series of three experiments, this thesis (i) presents a novel database of familiarity, imageability, and age of acquisition (AOA) ratings for Persian compounds, (ii) investigates effects of constituent order and syntactic structure of compound words on their recall from working memory, and (iii) explores the effectivity of different constituents of compounds to activate the whole-word representation for naming. Chapter 2 introduces a database of AOA, familiarity, and imageability ratings as lexical variables that affect compound word processing. The database also includes information on the right and left constituents of these compounds, their headedness, meaning in English, length in letters and in phonemes, and Google frequencies. Correlational analysis indicated that familiarity, imageability, and AOA are highly inter-correlated in both right-headed and left-headed compounds. Chapter 3 presents data on compound word maintenance in short-term memory. The results revealed better recall of commonly occurring RH compounds compared to common LH ones. This supports the view that right headedness is the default form of compound words in Persian. The results also indicated that processing of an irregular or marked structure could negatively affect short term memory span in Persian, and confirmed a syntax-based decomposition approach for the mental lexicon in Persian. Chapter 4 reports the results of a cross-modal primed naming time experiment. The results demonstrated that RH compounds have shorter reaction times than LH compounds. Importantly, there was an interaction between headedness (RH vs. LH) and whether the first or the second constituent was used as prime, suggesting that priming effects are different for the two types of compounds. The results of this chapter provide additional evidence on the role of certain syntactic structures of compounds in the processing and organization of these words in the mental lexicon. Overall, the experimental data suggest that the head position of compound words can affect their processing in the mental lexicon. The three experiments are the first to provide such evidence for Persian. The findings also provide more proof for the decompositional routes of processing in the mental lexicon. The findings are in line with data from other languages, pointing to negative effects of marked structures on complex word access and maintenance. Another major contribution of this thesis is to provide evidence on the importance of the Ezafe construction on the processing of complex words in Persian. | en_US |
dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
dc.title | The Structure and Processing of Persian Compound Words in the Mental Lexicon: Experimental Studies on Compound Word Processing in Persian | en_US |
dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
dc.contributor.department | Cognitive Science of Language | en_US |
dc.description.degreetype | Dissertation | en_US |
dc.description.degree | Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) | en_US |
Appears in Collections: | Open Access Dissertations and Theses |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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Torshizi_Narcisse_202009_PhD.pdf | 1.84 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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