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Word formation is aware of morpheme family size.

ABSTRACT: Words are built from smaller meaning bearing parts, called morphemes. As one word can contain multiple morphemes, one morpheme can be present in different words. The number of distinct words a morpheme can be found in is its family size. Here we used Birth-Death-Innovation Models (BDIMs) to analyze the distribution of morpheme family sizes in English and German vocabulary over the last 200 years. Rather than just fitting to a probability distribution, these mechanistic models allow for the direct interpretation of identified parameters. Despite the complexity of language change, we indeed found that a specific variant of this pure stochastic model, the second order linear balanced BDIM, significantly fitted the observed distributions. In this model, birth and death rates are increased for smaller morpheme families. This finding indicates an influence of morpheme family sizes on vocabulary changes. This could be an effect of word formation, perception or both. On a more general level, we give an example on how mechanistic models can enable the identification of statistical trends in language change usually hidden by cultural influences.

SUBMITTER: Keller DB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3976386 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Word formation is aware of morpheme family size.

Keller Daniela Barbara DB Schultz Jörg J

PloS one 20140404 4

Words are built from smaller meaning bearing parts, called morphemes. As one word can contain multiple morphemes, one morpheme can be present in different words. The number of distinct words a morpheme can be found in is its family size. Here we used Birth-Death-Innovation Models (BDIMs) to analyze the distribution of morpheme family sizes in English and German vocabulary over the last 200 years. Rather than just fitting to a probability distribution, these mechanistic models allow for the direc ...[more]

PMID: 24705626

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Project description:For normally sighted readers, word neighborhood size (i.e., the total number of words that can be formed from a single word by changing only one letter) has a facilitator effect on word recognition. When reading with central field loss (CFL) however, individual letters may not be correctly identified, leading to possible misidentifications and a reverse neighborhood size effect. Here we investigate this inhibitory effect of word neighborhood size on reading performance and whether it is modulated by word predictability and reading proficiency. Nineteen patients with binocular CFL from 32 to 89 years old (mean ± SD = 75 ± 15) read short sentences presented with the self-paced reading paradigm. Accuracy and reading time were measured for each target word read, along with its predictability, i.e., its probability of occurrence following the two preceding words in the sentence using a trigram analysis. Linear mixed effects models were then fit to estimate the individual contributions of word neighborhood size, predictability, frequency and length on accuracy and reading time, while taking patients' reading proficiency into account. For the less proficient readers, who have given up daily reading as a consequence of their visual impairment, we found that the effect of neighborhood size was reversed compared to normally sighted readers and of higher amplitude than the effect of frequency. Furthermore, this inhibitory effect is of greater amplitude (up to 50% decrease in reading speed) when a word is not easily predictable because its chances to occur after the two preceding words in a specific sentence are rather low. Severely impaired patients with CFL often quit reading on a daily basis because this task becomes simply too exhausting. Based on our results, we envision lexical text simplification as a new alternative to promote effective rehabilitation in these patients. By increasing reading accessibility for those who struggle the most, text simplification might be used as an efficient rehabilitation tool and daily reading assistive technology, fostering overall reading ability and fluency through increased practice.

Dataset Information

Word formation is aware of morpheme family size.

Publications

Word formation is aware of morpheme family size.

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