The with Antonymy

[Pages:93]University of Alberta

The Interaction of Suffixation with Synonymy and Antonymy

0 Laura L. Sabourin

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science

Psycholinguistics Department of Linguistics

Edmonton, Alberta Fall, 1998

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Abstract

This thesis reports on two psycholinguistic experiments that explore the question of how synonyms and antonyrns are linked in the Mental Lexicon. The experirnental results confirm theoretical expectations that synonymic and antonymic links are fundamental cognitive relations

among lexical items. The results also suggest that the nature of these relations may not be identical because it was found that synonymic and antonymic pairs behaved differently in the two experirnental paradigms and that they also showed differences in the way they interacted when suffixation was added as a factor. The relevance of these findings to methodological issues in psycholinguistic experimentation is discussed and the implications for further research are outlined.

Table of Contents

2. SEMANnCS. PSYCHOLINGUISTICS. AND SUFFIXATION...........................7

2.1 INTRODUCTI~N .............................................................................................................. -7 2.2 S ~ RELATCION..S................................................................................................. 8

2.2.1 Synonymy............................................................................................................ -9 2.2.2 Antonymy ......................................................................................................... 11 2.2.3 Psycholinguistics and Semnntic Relations .................................................. 13 2.3 THEROLEOFS U ~ X A T I.O...N........................... ..................................................... 18 2.4SUMMAR...Y.................................................................................................................. 21

.3 DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIALS...................

3.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ -22

3.2SELECTIOCNRITERI.A................................................................................................... 23

3.3 SYNONYAMND ANTONYMRATINGTG?K....................................................................? 5

3.3.7 Participants......................................................................................................... 26

3.3.2 Materials .............................................................................................................7-6

3.3.3 Procedzue ............................................................................................................26

3.3.4 Results ............................................................................................................... 27

3.3.5 Discussion .....................................................................................................2.9

3.4 FINALSTIMULULISST.............................. .... ....

30

4 EXPERIMENT 1: RELATEDNESSJUDGMENTTASK..................................... 33

4.1INTRODUC~IO.N............... ............................................................................................. 33 4.2 METHO..D..................................................................................................................... 36

4.2.1 Participants.........................................................................................................36 4.2.2 Materials ............................................................................................................ -36 4.2.3 Procediire ............................................................................................................ 37

4.3 RESULT.S.................................................................................................................... 39 4.4 DISCUSSI.O...N.............................................................................................................. -45

5. EXPERIMENT 2: SEMANTIC PRIMING TASK................................................. 51 5.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 51

5.2~ O ..........D................... , . ..................................................................................... 55

5.2.1 Participants ..................... ............................................................................... .55

5.2.2 Materials .......................................................................................................... 55

5.2.3 Procedure .........................................................................................................

56

5.3 REsu~r.?................................................................................................................. 58

5.3.1 Main Effects ........................................................................................................ 59

5.3.2 Interaction Effects.............................................................................................. 61

5.4 DISCUSSIO...N............................................................................................................... -65

.6 CONCLUDING REMARKS.....*................*.***.*................................................6..9......

6.1THEON-LINEEXPERIMLWSCOMPARE...D.............................................................. -69 6.2 F m WORK ............................................................................................................. -73

6.2.1 The Use of Non-Neufral AfFxation .............................................................73 6.2.2 A Cornparison of Synonymic and Antonymic Subcategories ................74 6.2.3 Priming Pnradigm using Narning Latency..................................................75 6.2.4 Paired Priming...................................................................................................76 6.3 SUMMA.R...Y................................................................................................................. 76

REFERENCES...................................... ...........................................................................78

.. APPENDIX A: INITIAL STIMULUS LIST USED FOR T H E RATING TASK 81

APPENDIX B: ASSOCIATION PAIR RATINGS....................................................83

APPENDIX C: SYNONYM RATINGS......................................................................84

APPENDIX D: RATlNGS FOR ANTONYMS.........................................................85

List of Tables

TABLE3-1: THEBRWU(DOWN OF MORPHOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY FOR EACH STLWLUS PAIR IN BOTHmSYNONYMICAND AN~ONYMICRELATIONS......................................... ...23

TABLE3-2: STIMULUSEXAMPLES FOR EACH CATEGORY OF S E M T I C RELATEDNESS AND

?UFFIXA~ION.................................. ........................................................................-24

TABL3E-3: AVERAGSCEORE FOR EACH CATEGORY (ALLDATA) IN THE RATING TASK.

RATINGS RANGED FROM 1(WORST) TO 5 (BE?T)........................................................2.7

TABL3E-41 AVERAGERATINGS INEACH OF THE SIX CATEGORIESOF MORPHOLOGICAL

COMPLEXITY A F E R EXCLUSION OF THE TWO WORST SYNONYMS AND THE TWO BEST

MOM.

................................................................................................................-29

TABL3E-5: FWAL!XIMULUS PAIRS FOR BOTH SEMAiWC RELATIONS ACROSS EACH LEVEL

OF MORPHOLOGICAL COMPLEMTY........... ........................................................ ..32

TABL4E-1: SUMMARY OF THE NUMBERS OF PAIRS FOR EACH TYPE OF RELATION INCLUDED

?V THE EXPERIMENT AND THEIR CORRECT RESPONSE................................................... -37

TABL4E2 : MW RESPONSE TI- (AND ?TPUUDARDDEVIATION) IN MILLISECONDS FOR

EACH SEMAANTIC RELATIONSHIP AVERAGED OVER LEVEL OF .MORPHOLOGICAL

COMPLEXI'~~.......................... .............................................................................. -40

TABL4E-3: MEANRESPONSEmm (AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS) IN MILLISECONDSFOR EACH LEVEL OF SUFFIXATION, AVERAGING OVER LEVELS OF SEMANTIC RELATION.....41

TABL4E-4: MEANRESPONSE MES AND STANDARD DEVIATION ( P R E S E ~ E DIN BRACKETS)

FOR EACH LEVEL OF THE INTERACTION OF SEMANTIC RELATIONSHIP ;V\IDSL'FFU(ATION.~~

TABLE4-5: THESTIMULUS PAIRS USED FOR EACH SELMANTICRELATION AT THE S-S L E V E L . ~ ~

TABL5E-2: MEANR E ? P O ~ ETIME?AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS (IN MILLISECONDS)FOR

EACH CATEGORY OF THE INTERACTIONOF SEMAhmC RELATION?HIP A ! ! S U F F ~ X A T I O N . ~ ~

TABL5E-3: MEANPRiMING EFFECT AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS (IN MILUSECONDS) FOR EACH CATEGORY OF THE INEWCTION OF SEMANTIC RELATIONSHIPAND SUFFIXATION.^^

List of Figures

FIGURE41: MEANRESPONSE TLMES (INMILUSECONDS)FOR EXCH CATEGORY OF THE INTERACTION.....................................,....................................................................... -42

FIGURE42: MEANRE?PON?E? (INM ~ ~ E C O N D S )COMPARING ?YNONYMC AND

ANTONYMIC RELATiONS IN WHICH BOTH ITEhdS OF THE PAIR ARE MORPHOLOGKALLY

SIMPLETO PAIRS IN WHICH AT LEAST ONE ITEMIS MORPHOLOGIC.4LLY COMPLEX........ FIGURE5-1: MEANRESPONSE TIMES (REPRESENTED IN MILLISECONDS ALONG THE Y-AXS)

FOR EACH CAEGORY OFTHE INTERACTION................................................................. 62 FIGURE5-2: THERESPONSET M E PATTERNS FOR THE ITEMSANALYSIS INTERACTION OF

SEMANTIC RELATION AND PRIME RPE. .................................................................... .-63 FIGURE5-3: PRIMINEGFFECf (PE)PATTERN FOR EACH CATEGORY OF THE INTERACTION.64

1. Introduction

1.1 Preliminaries Within the mental lexicon the storage of lexical items is govemed

by multiple and diverse organizational patterns. These patterns are

exhibited in many fundamental lexical-semantic relations and basic morphological relations among words. An example of a lexical-semantic relationship cm be seen in the word pair cat-dog, where both items are related to each other through membership in the superordinate category animal. An example of a morphological relationship can be seen in the word pair manage-manaeement, where the items are related to each other @oth in meaning and morphology) in a regular and predictable manner by English lexical rules of derivational morphology.

Semantic and morphological relations such as the ones above are important to the structure of the mental lexicon and they point to the

fundamental role played by links among lexical items in the organization of words in the mind. Evidence that systematic links or pathways

somehow connect semantically related words is presented most

straightforwardly in word generation studies in which a participant is given a word and asked to produce the first word that comes to mind (e.g., Goldfarb and Halpern, 1984). Since the word that cornes to mind is a

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