Leiden University Student Repository

Stolte, Ilse Louise (2017)

Morphological Processing and Relative Frequency

Bachelor thesis | Engelse taal en cultuur (BA)

Most researchers agree that frequency plays a role during the processing or accessing of words. Hay (2001) argues that there is a type of frequency called relative frequency which has an important effect on the processing of derived forms through a two-route model of morphological processing. She argues that complex forms with a frequency lower than the frequency of their base forms (e.g. uncommon) are more likely to be perceived as decomposable than a complex form with a higher frequency than the frequency of their base words (e.g. uncanny). She reports the results of an experiment which provides evidence for this view. Since it is reasonable to assume that these relative frequency effects also occur in other languages, I replicated her experiment for Dutch. The results of my experiment suggest that relative frequency effects are observed in the processing of Dutch derived forms.

morphology

processing

frequency

Author

Stolte, Ilse Louise

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Linguistics

Supervisors

Botma, Bert

ECTS Credits

10

Language

en