Abstracts Language, Literature, and Linguistic

Αναπαράσταση και επεξεργασία των παράγωγων λέξεων στην κοινή νεοελληνική: ο ρόλος της σημασιολογικής διαφάνειας

by Nikolaos Ntagkas

This PhD thesis examines the role of semantic transparency (ST) for the representation and processing of derived words in Standard Modern Greek. The first part (Chapters 2–6) provides a critical literature review regarding (a) the concept of ST; (b) the models about the representation and processing of morphologically complex words; (c) the linguistic, cross-linguistic, extra-/socio-linguistic parameters and individual differences involved in morphological processing; (d) the experimental methodology of morphological priming; (e) the case of Standard Modern Greek. In the empirical part (Chapters 7–12), we first conducted three ST judgment pretests for 566 word pairs (each comprising a derived / pseudo-derived verb or adjective and its real / putative noun base, e.g., σκουπίζω-σκούπα ‘to sweep - broom’, δασικός-δάσος ‘forestial - forest’, λαχανιάζω-λάχανο ‘to pant - cabbage’) with 240 participants (typical adult native speakers, male and female students at AUTH) who rated the semantic relatedness between the members of each word pair by means of a seven-point Likert-type scale. Then, we experimentally explored whether ST affects morphological processing and whether any effect is dichotomous or graded by means of morphological priming lexical decision tasks. To this end, we selected 90 prime-target pairs from the pretests and distributed them in three critical ST conditions (opaque, e.g., σκαλίζω-σκαλί ‘to hoe - stairstep’; semitransparent, e.g., ψειρίζω-ψείρα ‘to split hairs - louse’; transparent, e.g., χτενίζω-χτένα ‘to comb - comb’). Next, we carried out three online lexical decision experiments with different priming protocols that tap into different stages / levels of the lexical representation and processing system: (a) forward masked visual priming for early / peripheral processing; (b) overt visual priming for late / central processing; (c) immediate cross-modal priming for modality-independent central lexical representation. In each experiment, participants were matched for sex (male, female) and faculty type (humanities and social sciences, natural sciences and engineering). Analyses of the behavioral data (reaction times, error rates) revealed that masked priming is statistically significant and equivalent in the opaque, semitransparent, and transparent condition (no ST effect). On the other hand, overt priming, as well as immediate cross-modal priming, is statistically significant and equivalent in the transparent and semitransparent condition, but absent in the opaque condition (dichotomous ST effect). Furthermore, sex and faculty type were not found to have a significant impact on morphological priming. Taken together, the experimental findings indicate that ST is not significantly involved in the early / peripheral stages of word recognition, but plays a determinant role in the late / central processing and representation of derived words, where morphemes appear to function as morpho-semantic units. In fact, the dichotomous pattern of ST effects observed in overt and cross-modal priming implies…