Morphology 1 & 2

Question 1

What are the two levels of morphology?

Answer 1

• morphosyntax

- morphophonology

Question 2

What is morphosyntax?

Answer 2

content and distributional agreement (i.e., between-word consistency) of the various features that are expressed by inflection, such as number and tense.

Question 3

What is morphophonology?

Answer 3

the encoding of inflectional features in sound patterns that may be:

• regular
• irregular
• null

Question 4

Analytic languages are _______ in morphology

Answer 4

low

Question 5

Synthetic languages are ______ in morphology

Answer 5

high

Question 6

Name the three morphological processes described in class

Answer 6

• compounding
• derivation
• inflection

Question 7

What is compounding?

Answer 7

new word with new meaning from two roots - blackbird, girlfriend

Question 8

What is derivation?

Answer 8

new word from root + bound morpheme - establishment, beautiful

Question 9

What is inflection?

Answer 9

does not result in different words but forms that fit into syntactic and semantic structures; small change in meaning - walks, singing, mother’s

Question 10

In the fMRI study by Sahin et al (2006) they presented subjects with a visual sentence frame, and the subjects had to say aloud the appropriate word for each condition. One condition involved a null-inflection while one required an over inflection (past tense). There was a control read condition.

For the overt inflection condition, what levels of morphology were seen in the brain?

Answer 10

both morphosyntactic and morphonological processing

Question 11

In the fMRI study by Sahin et al (2006) for the null inflection condition, what level of morphology was seen in then rain?

Answer 11

morphosyntactic processing

Question 12

In the fMRI study by Sahin et al (2006) when subjects had to go for overt inflection to null inflection what level of morphology was isolated in the brain?

Answer 12

morphophonological processing

Question 13

In the fMRI study by Sahin et al (2006) when subjects had to go for overt inflection to null inflection what level of morphology was isolated in the brain?

Answer 13

morphophonological processing

Question 14

In the intracranial probing experiment by Sahin et al (2009) what were the components found in Broca’s area?

Answer 14

• 200 ms post-cue: delivery of word identity to the region
• 320 ms post-cue: computation of morphosyntactic features
• 450 ms post-cue: computation of morphophonological form

Question 15

In the intracranial probing experiment by Sahin et al (2009) what were the components found in Broca’s area?

Answer 15

• 200 ms post-cue: delivery of word identity to the region
• 320 ms post-cue: computation of morphosyntactic features
• 450 ms post-cue: computation of morphophonological form

Question 16

What was the main result of the Sahin et al (2006) study?

Answer 16

the two aspects of inflection engaged different sectors of Broca’s area

Question 17

What was the main result of the Sahin et al (2009) study?

Answer 17

morphosyntax and morphophonology of inflection processed sequentially in Broca’s area

Question 18

What was the main result of the Sahin et al (2009) study?

Answer 18

morphosyntax and morphophonology of inflection processed sequentially in Broca’s area

Question 19

What are the two classes of theories proposed to explain the English past tense?

Answer 19

• Single System Models

- Dual System Model

Question 20

What are the two classes of theories proposed to explain the English past tense?

Answer 20

• Single System Models

- Dual System Model

Question 21

Explain the Single System Models

Answer 21

the same system underlies regular and irregular verb forms

-all past tense forms constructed by rules, one rule for regular forms and a small number of different rules for irregular forms

OR

-all past tense forms learned as associations between forms and meanings

Question 22

Describe the Dual System Model

Answer 22

regular forms handled by rules, irregular forms stored as wholes in the mental lexicon

Question 23

How is the Dual System proposed to work when accessing irregular verb forms in the lexicon?

Answer 23

if an inflected form already exists in the lexicon (e.g., for
irregular verbs), it is accessed, and inhibits the grammar system that is trying to construct a regular form

Question 24

What brain pattern of activation would the Single System Models predict for regular vs. irregular verbs?

Answer 24

Single System Models predict largely overlapping brain regions for regulars and irregular verb forms?

Question 25

What is one problem with comparing irregular verb forms to regular verb forms?

Answer 25

the irregular forms are more frequent than the regular forms (this is how they manage to exist)

Question 26

In the Ullman et al (2005) oral reading task, what were the result of the nonfluent aphasics?

Answer 26

• more uninflected forms for regulars and irregulars
• never overregularization for irregulars
• phonological distortions for irregulars

Question 27

In the Ullman et al (2005) oral reading task, what were the result of the nonfluent aphasics?

Answer 27

• more uninflected forms for regulars and irregulars
• never overregularization for irregulars
• phonological distortions for irregulars

Question 28

In the Ullman et al (2005) oral reading task, what were the result of the fluent aphasics?

Answer 28

-more phonological distortions for irregulars than regulars

cug for dug

Question 29

What is the problem with the Ullman et al (2005) oral reading task?

Answer 29

not everyone has gotten these results, not consistent

Question 30

the Dual System and Single System Models were originally developed for ___________

Answer 30

word production

Question 31

How do some researchers extend the Dual System and Single System Models to comprehension?

Answer 31

by assuming a mental lexicon and grammatical system shared by input and output functions

Question 32

The Tyler & Marslen-Wilson (1997) auditory priming paradigm with lexical decision involving agrammatic patients had three primes: semantic, regular past and irregular past. What were the results?

Answer 32

positive priming effects in the semantic and irregular conditions, but not in the regular condition.

Question 33

The Tyler & Marslen-Wilson (1997) auditory priming paradigm with lexical decision involving agrammatic patients had three primes: semantic, regular past and irregular past. What were the results?

Answer 33

positive priming effects in the semantic and irregular conditions, but not in the regular condition.

Question 34

What are the conclusions from the The Tyler & Marslen-Wilson (1997) auditory priming paradigm with lexical decision task?

Answer 34

whereas irregularly inflected verbs like ran are stored as “whole forms,” regularly inflected verbs like walked are normally parsed into their components —a stem and a suffix

the decomposition operation is impaired in aphasic patients leading to lack of priming by regular inflected forms

Question 35

Most neuropsychological evidence supports which model?

Answer 35

The Dual System Model

Question 36

What is the evidence supporting the Dual System Model?

Answer 36

• double dissociations between regular and irregular verbs
• disproportionate difficulty producing regulars most strongly linked with damage to Broca’s area and adjacent frontal regions
• disproportionate difficulty producing irregulars most strongly linked with damage to temporal and temporoparietal regions.