Grammatical intuitions about irregular verb inflections

If people possess a rule that the root of a verb plus -ed produces the past tense, why does this rule produce an unacceptable form when applied to an irregular verb (e.g., comed)? One possibility is that the unacceptability of comed is the result of lexical priming. That is, comed primes the correct form came, and the awareness of came causes comed to be perceived as unacceptable. If so, then the acceptability of a misinflected form should be determined by the factors that influence the priming of its correct form, such as the frequency and hence speed of retrieval of its correct form. Three experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, subjects were faster to reject misinflected irregular verbs when the correct irregular form had a higher frequency than when it had a lower frequency. Furthermore, the higher the frequency of the correct form, the more unacceptable the misinflected form seemed. Experiment 2 used the naming task to confirm that the presentation of a misinflected form facilitated the naming of its correct form. In Experiment 3, subjects were faster to accept an irregular verb when it was primed by a misinflected irregular verb than with a correct regular verb. This was taken as evidence that the misinflected irregular verb accesses the correct form.     

Training generative verb usage by imitation and reinforcement procedures

Three retarded children were trained, using imitation and reinforcement procedures, to produce past and present tense forms of verbs in response to verbal requests. Two types of experimental sessions were arranged: training sessions and probe sessions. During training sessions, a child was trained to produce one verb in both the past and the present tense. Then, in a probe session, the generalization of this training was tested by presenting to the child a series of untrained verbs interspersed with previously trained verbs. Responses to untrained verbs were never reinforced. Training sessions alternated with probe sessions throughout a multiple baseline design involving four classes of verb inflections as the baselines. The results showed that, as past and present tense forms of verbs within an inflectional class were trained, the children correctly produced past and present tense forms of untrained verbs within this class. When verbs from two or more classes were trained, the children correctly produced the verb tenses from each of these classes. Thus, the imitation and reinforcement procedures were effective in teaching generative use of verb inflections.     

Do Lemmas Speak German? A Verb Position Effect in German Structural Priming

Lexicalized theories of syntax often assume that verb‐structure regularities are mediated by lemmas, which abstract over variation in verb tense and aspect. German syntax seems to challenge this assumption, because verb position depends on tense and aspect. To examine how German speakers link these elements, a structural priming study was performed which varied syntactic structure, verb position (encoded by tense and aspect), and verb overlap. Abstract structural priming was found, both within and across verb position, but priming was larger when the verb position was the same between prime and target. Priming was boosted by verb overlap, but there was no interaction with verb position. The results can be explained by a lemma model where tense and aspect are linked to structural choices in German. Since the architecture of this lemma model is not consistent with results from English, a connectionist model was developed which could explain the cross‐linguistic variation in the production system. Together, these findings support the view that language learning plays an important role in determining the nature of structural priming in different languages.     

Time reference through verb inflection in Turkish agrammatic aphasia

This study tested the production of tensed finite verbs and participles referring to the past and future in agrammatic speakers of Turkish. The agrammatic speakers did not make more time reference errors in tensed verbs than in participles. This is interesting because tense in general cannot therefore be the main problem, since time reference for participles lacking tense inflection is as difficult as for verbs with tense inflection. Besides that, the past tense/perfect aspect was found to be more difficult to produce for the agrammatic speakers than the future tense/imperfect aspect. None of the current theories on agrammatic deficits can explain why reference to the past/perfect aspect is more difficult than reference to future/imperfect aspect, although a similar finding was reported for Dutch by Bastiaanse [Bastiaanse, R. (2008). Production of verbs in base-position by Dutch agrammatic speakers: Inflection versus finiteness. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 21, 104-119]. We present a remoteness model of time reference to account for the data.     

The role of the verb in sentence memory

Investigators have frequently found that nouns are more important than verbs in the memory representation of sentences. This pattern of results is incompatible with recent theories of sentence memory that have emphasized the verb and with the results of sentence comprehension studies that have demonstrated the importance of the verb. The four experiments reported here were designed to reexamine the role of the verb in sentence memory. Linguistic variables other than sentence function were held constant in three studies. Verbs were recalled as well and were as effective retrieval cues as nouns in these experiments. The to-be-remembered sentences were presented in the context of paragraphs in the fourth experiment. This reduced the difference in level of recall between subjects, verbs, and objects. The conclusion was drawn that the verb is no less important than sentence nouns in the memory representation.     

The crucial role of tense for verb production

The case of an aphasic patient whose spontaneous speech contains very few lexical verbs is reported. Instead of sentences with lexical verbs, the patient produces many (grammatical) copular constructions. He also substitutes lexical verbs with the copula. Although this results in ungrammatical utterances, by doing so, a resemblance of sentence structure and a degree of grammaticality of his utterances are preserved. Although the patient is more impaired in naming action than object pictures, it is unlikely that lexical retrieval difficulties are solely responsible for the paucity of lexical verbs in his speech. A series of tests revealed a profound deficit in producing tense marking inflections and in understanding their significance. We argue that the unavailability of tense features is the primary reason for the lack of lexical verbs in his speech. An alternative possibility, that the tense deficit interacts with the verb retrieval deficit, is also discussed. The patient has a complex lesion and language profile, with features associated with both Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia. However, since the study focuses on his verb and tense deficits and the grammaticality of his utterances, issues that are often discussed in relation to agrammatic Broca's aphasia, the literature that is relevant to these topics and to Broca's aphasia is reviewed, despite the different diagnostic profile of the patient.     

Oral cues improve subject‐verb agreement in written French

The aim of this study was to test the impact of an audible marker on the production of subject‐verb agreements. Earlier studies have shown that educated French‐speaking adults make subject‐verb agreement errors when writing as soon as a secondary task demands their attention. One hypothesis is that these errors occur primarily because in French many of the written inflections of the verbal plural are silent. However, errors of the same type have been reported in spoken English: in configurations such as “the dog of the neighbours arrive(s)”, arrive agrees with the noun closest to the verb rather than with the subject. The current experiment compares the production of subject‐verb agreements in written French depending on whether the singular/plural opposition is audible (finit/finissent) or not (chante/chantent). After having changed the tense of the verb, adult subjects had to recall, in writing, sentences which had been read aloud to them and which shared the same start (La flamme de la bougie = the flame of the candle) but contained different verbs matched for semantic plausibility and frequency, and either possessing (éblouir = to blind) or not possessing (éclairer = to illuminate) an audible singular/plural opposition. The results show that the presence of an audible marker reduces the error frequency and makes the agreement easier to manage. A chronometric study suggests that it is the competition between concurrent markers (e.g., ‐e, ‐s, ‐ent) that causes difficulties with regular verbs and that this competition is resolved at the very last moment, at the point when the marker is transcribed.     

Repetition priming within and between languages in verb generation: evidence for shared verb concepts

Although translation equivalents for concrete nouns are known to have shared core conceptual representations in bilingual memory (Francis, 1999), the status of translation-equivalent verbs has not been systematically tested. Three repetition-priming experiments using a verb generation task were used to determine whether verbs have shared representations across languages and to identify the processes facilitated in repeated verb generation. In Experiment 1 fluent Spanish-English bilingual speakers exhibited repetition priming both within and between languages, but between-language priming was weaker. In Experiment 2 performance of non-bilingual English and Spanish speakers was equivalent to that of bilingual speakers responding in their dominant language. Experiment 3 used manipulations meant to isolate noun comprehension, verb concept selection, and verb production. The between-language priming in Experiments 1 and 3 indicates that verb concepts are shared across languages and that verb concept selection exhibits facilitation. Experiment 3 showed that the greater within-language priming was due primarily to facilitation of verb production processes.     

Repetition priming within and between languages in verb generation: Evidence for shared verb concepts

Although translation equivalents for concrete nouns are known to have shared core conceptual representations in bilingual memory (Francis, 1999), the status of translation-equivalent verbs has not been systematically tested. Three repetition-priming experiments using a verb generation task were used to determine whether verbs have shared representations across languages and to identify the processes facilitated in repeated verb generation. In Experiment 1 fluent Spanish–English bilingual speakers exhibited repetition priming both within and between languages, but between-language priming was weaker. In Experiment 2 performance of non-bilingual English and Spanish speakers was equivalent to that of bilingual speakers responding in their dominant language. Experiment 3 used manipulations meant to isolate noun comprehension, verb concept selection, and verb production. The between-language priming in Experiments 1 and 3 indicates that verb concepts are shared across languages and that verb concept selection exhibits facilitation. Experiment 3 showed that the greater within-language priming was due primarily to facilitation of verb production processes.     

Interpreting elliptical verb phrases

Elliptical verb phrases are anaphoric expressions whose correct interpretation depends on the exact form of the preceding text as well as its meaning. However, people are not very good at remembering surface details of what they read or hear, so how do they understand such expressions? One alternative to a linguistically based interpretation of elliptical verb phrases is to assign them meanings that are plausible, given general knowledge about the situation being described. In an experiment, subjects read passages in which context provided a plausible interpretation for an elliptical verb phrase that either was or was not at odds with the linguistically correct interpretation. There was a tendency for subjects to assign plausible, but incorrect, meanings to elliptical verb phrases. This tendency increased with the distance between the elliptical verb phrase and its antecedent. Incorrect interpretations were assigned slowly, and the speed of assignment increased with distance from the antecedent. These results suggest that people try to interpret elliptical verb phrases correctly, but that they are not always able to do so. Furthermore, they indicate that the intuition that elliptical verb phrases are easy to interpret is misleading. If text is to be comprehensible, speakers and writers must use such expressions with care.     

Memory for performed and imaged noun pairs and verb pairs

Summary In a previous study by Engelkamp, cued recall of performed verb pairs was shown to be poorer than free recall of the same word pairs. For visually encoded verb pairs and for noun pairs, cued recall gave higher scores than free recall. This interaction between test types and encoding interactions was taken as support for the theory that motormemory representations differ from visual memory representations. With some modifications, the present experiment is an extension of one of Engelkamp's experiments. The subjects were given instructions that emphasized, more than those of Engelkamp, the integration aspect, and a further condition enacting noun pairs was added. Several parallel observations were made, but the crucial interaction between tests and encoding conditions was not replicated. The results are interpreted in terms of a problem-solving analysis.     

汉语母语者英语动词三种屈折变化形式加工机制的差异

采用ERP技术考察了汉语母语者,英语动词三种屈折变化形式加工机制的差异。结果发现,英语动词进行式的屈折变化形式- ing的错误使用诱发了P600成分;完成式的屈折变化形式- ed的错误使用诱发了N400成分;完成式中没有明显屈折变化标识的不规则词的错误使用没有诱发典型的ERP成分。研究结果表明：对于缺乏英语使用环境、母语为汉语的晚期英语学习者来说,屈折变化形式- ing,完成式规则动词的变化形式- ed和没有明显形态变化标识的不规则动词的变化形式具有不同的加工机制,前者可能处于由陈述性记忆系统向程序性记忆系统加工的转变过程中,而后两者更多地由陈述性系统进行加工。这种加工机制的差异可能与动词屈折变化规则的复杂程度有关。     

Effects of verb complexity on speech errors

Two experiments examined whether semantically related verbs that contrast with respect to the absence versus the presence of an additional semantic feature differentially compete for selection during the encoding of a sentence for production. In both experiments, a speech error induction task was used to elicit contextual (misordering) errors involving semantically related verbs that contrasted only in their semantic complexity or in both their semantic and morphophonological complexity. The prediction was that an asymmetry in contextual errors would be observed in which the more complex verbs would replace the simpler verbs more often than the reverse. This prediction was confirmed in both experiments, with more perseverations and anticipations involving the semantically more complex verb of antonym pairs in Experiment 1, and more perseverations and anticipations involving the semantically more-specified verb of a heavy-light pair in Experiment 2. The implications of the results for spreading-activation theories of language production are discussed.     

Use of verb information in syntactic parsing: evidence from eye movements and word-by-word self-paced reading

We investigated whether readers use verb information to aid in their initial parsing of temporarily ambiguous sentences. In the first experiment, subjects' eye movements were recorded. In the second and third experiments, subjects read sentences by using a noncumulative and cumulative word-by-word self-paced paradigm, respectively. The results of the first two experiments supported Frazier and Rayner's (1982) garden-path model of sentence comprehension: Verb information did not influence the initial operation of the parser. The third experiment indicated that the cumulative version of the self-paced paradigm is not appropriate for studying on-line parsing. We conclude that verb information is not used by the parser to modify its initial parsing strategies, although it may be used to guide subsequent reanalysis.     

Preliminary evidence for impaired rapid verb generation in schizophrenia

It has been hypothesized that nouns and verbs are processed within relatively separable semantic memory networks. Although abnormal semantic processing is a common feature of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, no prior studies have specifically examined the comparability of noun and verb generation deficits in schizophrenia. In the current study, verb (action), noun (animal), and letter (f) fluency performance was evaluated in 22 inpatients with schizophrenia and 27 healthy comparison subjects. On average, individuals with schizophrenia performed approximately one standard deviation below the healthy comparison subjects on action, animal, and letter fluency. Action fluency-but not letter or animal fluency-was moderately correlated with tests of working memory, response inhibition, semantic memory, and cognitive flexibility. Findings suggest that verb- and noun-based fluency deficits are of comparable severity in schizophrenia, but that the impairment in verb generation may be driven by different underlying cognitive mechanisms. Further, hypothesis-driven research on the nature and extent of verb network disruption in schizophrenia appears warranted.     

Inflection and computational load in agrammatic speech

In this study we investigate the production of verb inflection in agrammatic aphasia. In a number of recent studies it has been argued that tense inflection is harder to produce for agrammatic individuals than agreement inflection. However, results are still inconclusive, at least for Dutch and German. Here, we report three experiments in which this matter is further investigated. Our first goal was to determine whether tense was indeed more difficult to produce than agreement. Also, we investigated whether error rates were influenced by computational load. The results for nine Dutch-speaking agrammatic participants generally indicated that tense was indeed harder to produce than agreement, but that for both types of inflection, the number of errors increased with computational load. Taking care of word order and inflection induced more errors than taking care of just inflection. These findings are discussed in relation to current processing and representational models of agrammatic production.     

Can word formation be understood or understanded by semantics alone?

Arguments concerning the relative role of semantic and grammatical factors in word formation have proven to be a wedge issue in current debates over the nature of linguistic representation and processing. In the present paper, we re-examine claims by Ramscar [Ramscar, M. (2002). The role of meaning in inflection: Why the past tense does not require a rule. Cognitive Psychology, 45, 45-94.] that it is semantic rather than grammatical factors that influence the choice of regular or irregular past tense forms for English verbs. In Experiment 1, we first replicated Ramscar's (2002) experiment, which showed semantic influences on choice of past tense inflection. A novel verb, splink, was introduced in a semantic context that was reminiscent of an existing regular or irregular rhyme verb: blink or drink. Participants favored the past tense form (splinked or splank) that matched that of the semantically similar verb. In Experiment 2, we introduced novel verbs in a context suggesting that they were grammatically derived from nouns (i.e., denominals). Some current symbolic processing models propose that regular past tense forms should be preferred for such forms. When Ramscar's (2002) original contexts for derivational verbs were re-tested in this condition, we replicated his failure to find a preference for regular past tense forms. However, when the contexts were modified to make the grammatical process more salient, we did find a preference for regular past tense forms, suggesting that the derivational status might have been ambiguous in the original materials. In Experiment 3, we tested whether acceptability ratings for regular or irregular past tense forms of grammatically derived verbs could be explained by semantic distance metrics or by ratings of noun-to-verb derivational status. Ratings of semantic distance and grammatical derivation were orthogonal factors in Experiment 3. Only derivational status predicted acceptability ratings for regular past tense forms. Taken together, the present results suggest that semantic factors do not explain the regularization of irregular verbs in derivational contexts, although semantic factors can affect the choice of past tense forms in certain circumstances.     

Learning about what others were doing: verb aspect and attributions of mundane and criminal intent for past actions

Scientists have long been interested in understanding how language shapes the way people relate to others, yet it remains unclear how formal aspects of language influence person perception. We tested whether the attribution of intentionality to a person is influenced by whether the person's behaviors are described as what the person was doing or as what the person did (imperfective vs. perfective aspect). In three experiments, participants who read what a person was doing showed enhanced accessibility of intention-related concepts and attributed more intentionality to the person, compared with participants who read what the person did. This effect of the imperfective aspect was mediated by a more detailed set of imagined actions from which to infer the person's intentions and was found for both mundane and criminal behaviors. Understanding the possible intentions of others is fundamental to social interaction, and our findings show that verb aspect can profoundly influence this process.     

Notes on Time and Aspect

Abstract

What is time? Neither the numbering of the motion of things nor their schema, but their way of being. In language, time shows itself as tense. But every verb has both tense and aspect. So what is aspect? Irreducible to tense, it is the way in which anything is at any time whatsoever. Thus the way things are, their being, is not merely temporal – for it is just as aspectual.