Resultative Secondary Predicates and Prefixes in German and Dutch

Certain prefixed verbs in German have been shown to be incompatible with adjectival Resultative Secondary Predicates (RSPs) (Kratzer 2005). Similarly, verbal prefixes have been shown to be incompatible with RSPs in Dutch (Hoekstra et al. 1987, Hoekstra 1988). In this paper, I give a unified account for the the incompatibility of verbal prefixes and RSPs in German and Dutch. I show that, similar to what has been argued for Dutch, it is not transitivity that precludes RSPs in German, but rather the prefixes themselves. I provide evidence that non-prefixed verbs that obligatorily express their internal argument (such as transitive and unaccusative verbs) can combine with RSPs in German. I propose that the right generalization for the incompatibility of prefixes and RSPs follows from a semantic restriction that prevents the occurrence of multiple states in a single event (Tenny 1987)

Morphological Processing And The Effects Of Semantic Transparency

This dissertation examines the theoretical construct of a ‘morpheme’ as a unit that is independent of semantics and phonology. Specifically, the dissertation examines multi-morphemic words that are semantically opaque, i.e., words whose meaning is not derivable from the meaning of the separate morphemes. While some models of lexical access posit abstract morphological representations (i.e., Full-Decomposition models), other models posit whole-word storage and processing either for all forms or for certain forms depending on factors like semantic transparency. Semantically opaque words are crucial for testing predictions of these different models of lexical access, as they allow us to investigate whether morphological processing occurs in the absence of semantic relatedness. Building on the extensive prior literature from both theoretical linguistics and experimental psychology, this dissertation probes questions about morphological relatedness using an auditory primed continuous lexical decision task. In particular, the dissertation examines the processing of the following types of words: (i) Dutch prefixed verbs, which differ in meaning relatedness between the stem and the complex verb from fully transparent (e.g., aanbieden ‘offer’) to fully opaque (e.g., verbieden ‘forbid’, with the stem bieden ‘offer’) (Chapters 3 and 6); (ii) English suffixed words like treatment and their relation to pseudo-suffixed words like pigment (Chapter 4); and (iii) compound words, which may be transparent (e.g., bedroom) or opaque (e.g., strawberry, with an opaque modifier, or staircase, with an opaque head) (Chapter 5). The results in Chapter 3 show equal and robust priming effects for transparent and opaque prefixed verbs. A significant difference is found between the priming effects for suffixed words and pseudo-derived words in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 shows priming effects for both constituents in a compound, regardless of semantic transparency. Finally, the results in Chapter 6 show associative priming effects for the meaning of the stem in semantically opaque complex words. Together, the results offer a window into the issue of how (apparent) multi-morphemic words are processed and represented in the mental lexicon during auditory word recognition. In line with a Full-Decomposition view, the results suggest that morphemes form the basic units of lexical processing, and provide evidence that morphological relatedness does not require shared meaning. Moreover, the results provide evidence that the meanings of morphemes are accessed also in opaque forms

Interpreting presuppositions in the scope of quantifiers: Every vs. at least one

This paper experimentally investigates presupposition projection from the scope of the quantifiers every and at least one, as triggered by the factive verb be aware and the iterative adverb again. The first issue we are concerned with is whether presuppositions project universally or existentially from quantified sentences. Different theoretical accounts endorse opposing views here (e.g., Heim, 1983; Geurts, 1999; Beaver, 2001; Schlenker, 2008, 2009; Fox, 2012), while recent experimental work (Chemla, 2009; Tiemann, 2014) suggests that the force of the projected presupposition varies by quantifier. The second issue we look at is how the descriptively observed readings arise—in particular, as a direct result output from the projection mechanism, or via additional, independent mechanisms such as domain restriction (e.g., Geurts and van Tiel, 2016): if the domain of the quantifier is restricted, this can yield what looks like non-universal inferences in light of the overall, unrestricted domain, even if the projection mechanism itself yields a universal presupposition. Finally, we test whether the presupposed content also forms part of the entailed content, at least for certain triggers (Sudo, 2012; Klinedinst, 2016; Zehr and Schwarz, 2016). Our results yield clearly different patterns for every and at least one, with every giving rise to universal presuppositions, which, to a very limited extent, can be weakened by domain restriction, and at least one overwhelmingly giving rise to non-universal presuppositions. Our results also indicate the availability of presupposition-less readings for both triggers in the task at hand, apparently more prevalent than domain restriction. Thereby, we present novel evidence that helps to pinpoint which of the theoretical options can be substantiated experimentally

Retrieving stem meanings in opaque words during auditory lexical processing

Recent constituent priming experiments show that Dutch and German prefixed verbs prime their stem, regardless of semantic transparency (e.g. Smolka et al. 2014). We examine whether the processing of opaque verbs (e.g. herhalen “repeat”) involves the retrieval of only the whole-word meaning, or whether the lexical-semantic meaning of the stem (halen as ‘take/get’) is retrieved as well. We report the results of an auditory semantic priming experiment with Dutch prefixed verbs, testing whether the recognition of a semantic associate to the stem (BRENGEN “bring”) is facilitated by the presentation of an opaque prefixed verb. In contrast to prior visual studies, significant facilitation after semantically opaque primes is found, which suggests that the lexical-semantic meaning of stems in opaque words is retrieved. The scripts and datasets to reproduce the analyses reported in Creemers & Embick "Retrieving stem meanings in opaque words during auditory lexical processing" can be found in this repository. Link to paper (open access): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23273798.2021.190908

Retrieving stem meanings in opaque words during auditory lexical processing

Recent constituent priming experiments show that Dutch and German prefixed verbs prime their stem, regardless of semantic transparency (e.g. Smolka et al. 2014). We examine whether the processing of opaque verbs (e.g. herhalen “repeat”) involves the retrieval of only the whole-word meaning, or whether the lexical-semantic meaning of the stem (halen as ‘take/get’) is retrieved as well. We report the results of an auditory semantic priming experiment with Dutch prefixed verbs, testing whether the recognition of a semantic associate to the stem (BRENGEN “bring”) is facilitated by the presentation of an opaque prefixed verb. In contrast to prior visual studies, significant facilitation after semantically opaque primes is found, which suggests that the lexical-semantic meaning of stems in opaque words is retrieved. The scripts and datasets to reproduce the analyses reported in Creemers & Embick "Retrieving stem meanings in opaque words during auditory lexical processing" can be found in this repository. Link to paper (open access): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23273798.2021.190908