Cognitive morphology in finnish: Foundations of a new model

TLDR

Finnish studies have examined single‑word processing in aphasics and normal speakers using lexical‑decision and eye‑movement tests. The authors propose a processing model of Finnish nouns based on these experimental results. The Stem Allomorph/Inflectional Decomposition (SAID) model assumes morphological decomposition of inflected but not derived noun forms in the input and central lexicons, predicts decomposed representations for both inflected and productive derived forms in the output lexicon, and represents marked stem variation by allomorphs rather than a single morph. The model predicts more suppletion in the input/output lexicons than formal analyses would predict, and the nominative singular of nouns has a special status among allomorphs.

Abstract

AbstractAbstractWe summarise the main results from a series of Finnish studies dealing with single-word experiments with aphasics as well as lexical decision and eye-movement registration tests performed on normals. On the basis of our experimental results, we propose a processing model of Finnish nouns. For the input and central lexicons, this Stem Allomorph/Inflectional Decomposition (SAID) model assumes morphological decomposition of inflected (with the exception of the most frequently encountered inflected noun forms) but not derived noun forms. For the output lexicon, it predicts that both inflected and productive derived forms have decomposed representations. In the case of marked stem variation (resulting from stem formation and/or morphophonological alternation), the model assumes that the stems are represented by their allomorphs, and not by a single morph. In this respect, our model postulates more suppletion in the input/output lexicons than would be predicted on the basis of formal morphological analyses. However, among the allomorphs, the nominative singular of nouns appears to have a special status.