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A Level Playing-Field: Perceptibility and Inflection in English Compounds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Robert Kirchner  and
Elena Nicoladis
Robert Kirchner
Affiliation:
University of Alberta
Elena Nicoladis
Affiliation:
University of Alberta
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Abstract

To explain why English compounds generally avoid internal inflectional suffixation (e.g., key-chain rather than keys-chain), linguists have often invoked the Level Ordering Hypothesis, that is, that particular types of morphology, in this case inflectional suffixation, are derivationally ordered after compounding. However, a broad range of counter-examples and conceptual objections to Level Ordering have emerged. We propose an alternative account, based on the observation that certain English inflectional suffixes are more perceptible than others (-ing > -s > -ed), and that these suffixes are less crucial to lexical access and recovery of meaning than corresponding root-final segments. This proposal was tested in perception and production experiments. In the perception experiment, compounds with a nonsense word as modifier (e.g., dacks van, dacked van) were auditorily presented to native English speakers, who were asked to spell what they heard. The participants omitted significantly more -ed than -s or -ing. In the production experiment, native English speakers read these compounds. The speakers dropped significantly more -ed than -s or -ing. Furthermore, they dropped more of these sounds when they were spelled as affixes than as part of the root (e.g., dacked van vs. dact van). These results suggest that English speakers’ avoidance or inclusion of inflection in compounds is based not on Level Ordering but on perceptibility, as well as the status of the consonant as an affix. We further present a formal analysis capturing these factors in terms of Steriade’s Licensing-by-Cue proposal.

Résumé

Résumé

Afin d’expliquer le manque d’inflection à l’intérieur des mots composés anglais (par ex. key-chain plutôt que keys-chain), les linguistes invoquent souvent l’hypothèse des niveaux séquentiels. Néanmoins, cette hypothèse est confrontée à de nombreux contre-exemples et objections conceptuelles. Nous proposons une analyse alternative, basée sur l’observation que certains suffixes inflectionnels anglais sont plus perceptibles que d’autres (-ing > -s > -ed), et que l’accès lexique et la récupération du sens dépendent moins de ces suffixes que des segments finaux des racines. Nous testons cette analyse par des expériences de perception et de production. Les résultats indiquent que la perceptibilité et le rôle affixal de la consonne expliquent mieux l’exclusion ou l’inclusion d’une flexion dans les mots composés anglais que ne le fait l’hypothèse des niveaux séquentiels. Nous présentons aussi une analyse formelle qui explique ces facteurs dans le cadre de la phonotactique perceptuelle.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 54 , Issue 1 , March 2009 , pp. 91 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association/Association canadienne de linguistique 2009 

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