Blog Archives
Morphological processing and lexical access in speech production in Hebrew: Evidence from picture–word interference
This study investigated the nature of the retrieval architecture of Semitic morphemic entities in word production in Hebrew, a language with a non-concatenated morphology. By taking advantage of the potential for dissociation of form and meaning in Hebrew, we explored the relative contribution of word-form and semantics to morphological processing. In two picture–word interference (PWI) experiments we investigated the lexical status of the two primary morphemes: the root and the word pattern (WP), with the effects of morphological, phonological and semantic relatedness between written distractors and picture names. Facilitation effects were observed for both the root and the WP. Moreover, neither semantic nor phonological similarity affected picture naming in the absence of a morphological relation. Although both the root and the WP induced equally robust morphological effects, we postulate a typical and distinct processing mechanism for each type of morpheme. We interpret our findings as evidence for a parallel processing mechanism of morphemic entities, which is implemented in part at the lemma level and in part at the lexeme level, where the output of both processes is integrated. Implications of these findings for the retrieval architecture of morphemic entities are discussed.
from the Journal of Memory and Language
The crucial role of thiamine in the development of syntax and lexical retrieval: a study of infantile thiamine deficiency
This study explored the effect of thiamine deficiency during early infancy on the development of syntax and lexical retrieval. We tested syntactic comprehension and production, lexical retrieval abilities and conceptual abilities of 59 children aged 5–7 years who had been fed during their first year of life with a thiamine-deficient milk substitute. We compared them to 35 age-matched control children who were fed with other milk sources. Experiment 1 tested the comprehension of relative clauses using a sentence–picture-matching task. Experiment 2 tested the production of relative clauses using a preference elicitation task. Experiment 3 tested the repetition of various syntactic structures with various types of syntactic movement and embedding. Experiment 4 tested picture naming and Experiment 5 tested lexical substitutions in a sentence repetition task. Experiments 6 and 7 tested the children’s conceptual abilities using a picture association task and a picture absurdity description task. The results indicated a very high rate of syntactic and lexical retrieval deficits in the group of children who were exposed to thiamine deficiency in early infancy: 57 of the 59 thiamine-deficient children examined had language impairment, compared with three of the 35 controls (9%). Importantly, unlike the impairment this group sustained in their language abilities, the conceptual abilities of most of the children were intact (only six children, 10%, were conceptually impaired). These findings indicate that thiamine deficiency in infancy causes severe and long-lasting language disorders and that nutrition may be one of the causes for language impairment.
from Brain
The role of morpho-phonological factors in subject-predicate gender agreement in Hebrew
The present study investigated the role of overt phonological realisation of morphological marking on the implementation of subject-predicate agreement in language production. This study was conducted in Hebrew, and focused on subject-predicate gender agreement for inanimate nouns. In Hebrew, singular masculine forms are usually morphologically unmarked, whereas singular feminine forms are morphologically marked. Although the system is generally consistent, it includes examples of feminine forms which are not marked with feminine suffixes, i.e., unmarked feminine forms. Likewise, there are particular suffixes that usually denote masculine or feminine plurals. However, there are examples of masculine plurals which are inflected irregularly, with a feminine suffix. We took advantage of these characteristics of Hebrew to manipulate morphological factors in the process of agreement production. Using a sentence-completion task for complex noun phrases, we tested the effect of the absence of overt gender marking (Exp. 1) and misleading gender marking (Exp. 2) of the local noun on the frequency of agreement errors. The results revealed that whereas the absence of overt gender marking did not affect the frequency of agreement errors, overt misleading gender marking did affect it. The results are discussed in relation to the distinction between inflectional and derivational structures and their relevance to the process of computing agreement in the Marking and Morphing model (Eberhard, Cutting, & Bock, 2005).
Subtypes of reading disability in a shallow orthography: a double dissociation between accuracy-disabled and rate-disabled readers of Hebrew
Whereas most English language sub-typing schemes for dyslexia (e.g., Castles & Coltheart, 1993) have focused on reading accuracy for words varying in regularity, such an approach may have limited utility for reading disability sub-typing beyond English in which fluency rather than accuracy is the key discriminator of developmental and individual differences in reading ability. The present study investigated the viability of an accuracy/fluency-based typology in a regular orthography, pointed Hebrew. We sought evidence of true or “hard” accuracy/rate subtypes in the strict (double dissociation) sense of selective impairment on only one dimension in the presence of normal levels of performance on the other dimension. In a nationally representative sample of fourth graders, we were able to identify a specific accuracy-disabled sub-group as well as an equally specific rate-disabled subgroup. Validating this subdivision, we show that the nature of reading performance in these subgroups and their converging cognitive/linguistic profiles are unique and distinctive on variables other than the measures used to define them. While the rate-specific disability appeared to reflect a general deficit in speed of processing affecting reading rate, and rapid automatized naming of print-related material, the accuracy-only disability subgroup displayed selective deficits in phonological awareness and morphological knowledge. Biosocial, demographic, and instructional factors, furthermore, did not explain the sub-group differences. It appears that both these subtypes are equally prevalent each counting close to 10% of the population.
from the Annals of Dyslexia
Induced letter migrations between words and what they reveal about the orthographic-visual analyzer
When skilled readers read briefly-presented word pairs, they produce between-word errors, in which letters migrate between neighboring words (e.g., mild wind can be misread as wild mind). Such errors are also produced by individuals with attentional dyslexia, even without time limitation. In this study, we tested several aspects of skilled reading of word pairs in short exposure, such as migrations between vertically and horizontally presented pairs, error types, position preservation, position sensitivity, and the effect of morphology. We compared the results to findings from developmental attentional dyslexia. Whereas both populations make between-word migrations, they crucially differ in the type and distribution of errors. In developmental attentional dyslexia, omission of identical letters is prevalent, but it was rare in skilled reading. Other errors such as intrusions and buffer migrations also happened only in dyslexia but not in skilled reading. The different error patterns may suggest that different mechanisms underlie the incorrect reading in short exposure and the reading impairment in attentional dyslexia. Furthermore, the abundance of between-word migrations and the absence of letter position errors within words support that notion of two separate functions, one for letter-to-word binding, the other for letter position encoding.
from Neuropsychologia
Letter position dysgraphia
The article describes AE, a Hebrew-speaking individual with acquired dysgraphia, who makes mainly letter position errors in writing. His dysgraphia resulted from impairment in the graphemic buffer, but unlike previously studied patients, most of his errors related to the position of letters rather than to letter identity: 80% of his errors were letter position errors in writing, and only 7% of his errors were letter omissions, substitutions, and additions. Letter position errors were the main error type across tasks (writing to dictation and written naming), across output modalities (writing and typing), and across stimuli, e.g., migratable words (words in which letter migration forms another word), irregular words, and nonwords. Letter position errors occurred mainly in the middle letters of a word. AE’s writing showed a significant length effect, and no lexicality, migratability, or frequency effects. His letter position deficit was manifested selectively in writing; he made no letter position errors in reading, demonstrating the dissociability of letter position encoding in reading and writing. These data support the existence of a letter order function in the graphemic buffer that is separate from the function responsible for activating letter identities.
from Cortex
Is the visual analyzer orthographic-specific? Reading words and numbers in letter position dyslexia
Letter position dyslexia (LPD) is a deficit in the encoding of letter position within words. It is characterized by errors of letter migration within words, such as reading trail as trial and form as from. In order to examine whether LPD is domain-specific, and to assess the domain-specificity of the visual analysis system, this study explored whether LPD extends to number reading, by testing whether individuals who have letter migrations in word reading also show migrations while reading numbers. The reading of words and numbers of 12 Hebrew-speaking individuals with developmental LPD was assessed. Experiment 1 tested reading aloud of words and numbers, and Experiment 2 tested same–different decisions in words and numbers. The findings indicated that whereas the participants with developmental LPD showed a large number of migration errors in reading words, 10 of them read numbers well, without migration errors, and not differently from the control participants. A closer inspection of the pattern of errors in words and numbers of two individuals who had migrations in both numbers and words showed qualitative differences in the characteristics of migration errors in the two types of stimuli. In word reading, migration errors appeared predominantly in middle letters, whereas the errors in numbers occurred mainly in final (rightmost) digits. Migrations in numbers occurred almost exclusively in adjacent digits, but in words migrations occurred both in adjacent and in nonadjacent letters. The results thus indicate that words can be selectively impaired, without a parallel impairment in numbers, and that even when numbers are also impaired they show different error pattern. Thus, the visual analyzer is actually an orthographic visual analyzer, a module that is domain-specific for the analysis of words.
from Cortex
The role of morpho-phonological factors in subject-predicate gender agreement in Hebrew
The present study investigated the role of overt phonological realisation of morphological marking on the implementation of subject-predicate agreement in language production. This study was conducted in Hebrew, and focused on subject-predicate gender agreement for inanimate nouns. In Hebrew, singular masculine forms are usually morphologically unmarked, whereas singular feminine forms are morphologically marked. Although the system is generally consistent, it includes examples of feminine forms which are not marked with feminine suffixes, i.e., unmarked feminine forms. Likewise, there are particular suffixes that usually denote masculine or feminine plurals. However, there are examples of masculine plurals which are inflected irregularly, with a feminine suffix. We took advantage of these characteristics of Hebrew to manipulate morphological factors in the process of agreement production. Using a sentence-completion task for complex noun phrases, we tested the effect of the absence of overt gender marking (Exp. 1) and misleading gender marking (Exp. 2) of the local noun on the frequency of agreement errors. The results revealed that whereas the absence of overt gender marking did not affect the frequency of agreement errors, overt misleading gender marking did affect it. The results are discussed in relation to the distinction between inflectional and derivational structures and their relevance to the process of computing agreement in the Marking and Morphing model (Eberhard, Cutting, & Bock, 2005).
Interpretation and Recall of Proverbs in Three School-age Populations
The study investigates schoolchildren’s command of proverbs as a facet of figurative language, testing their ability to go beyond the referential content of the linguistic message and their familiarity with established non-literal sayings as indicative of lexical development. The tasks involved (1) interpretation of unfamiliar proverbial sayings that are non-conventionalized in Hebrew — in context-free and contextualized conditions — and (2) recall of established traditional Hebrew proverbs. Participants were 4th- and 8th-graders from three populations: typically developing children of high and low SES backgrounds respectively and a group of high SES language-impaired children. Results show a clear rise in performance with age and schooling on both tasks, with greater success in interpreting novel sayings than in recalling traditional proverbs. The language-impaired group scored lowest on all tasks, with the low SES children doing less well than their high SES peers on interpretation but better on recall.
from First Language
Hemispheric involvement in reading: The effects of language experience
The goal of this study was to examine whether readers of Hebrew generalize their native-language processing strategies to the representation of English words. To this end, we examined lateralization patterns in the lexical decisions of native English and Hebrew readers to English stimuli, and compared the performance of native Hebrew speakers in English and in Hebrew. We used both unilateral and bilateral presentation modes, which allowed us to assess interhemispheric communications, and manipulated the morphological complexity of the stimuli. The results showed the following pattern: English speakers showed an RVFA for words and not for nonwords, with interhemispheric patterns suggesting independent LH processing and dependent RH processing of words. Hebrew speakers showed no visual field advantage in English, whereas they show an RVFA when they read Hebrew. Findings suggest that the division of labor between the two hemispheres is determined by linguistic experience, whereas the effects of morphological manipulations reflect the structure of the language of the test.
from the Journal of Neurolinguistics
Dyscravia: Voicing substitution dysgraphia
We report a new type of dysgraphia, which we term dyscravia. The main error type in dyscravia is substitution of the target letter with a letter that differs only with respect to the voicing feature, such as writing “coat” for “goat”, and “vagd” for “fact”. Two Hebrew-speaking individuals with acquired dyscravia are reported, TG, a man aged 31, and BG, a woman aged 66. Both had surface dysgraphia in addition to their dyscravia. To describe dyscravia in detail, and to explore the rate and types of errors made in spelling, we administered tests of writing to dictation, written naming, and oral spelling. In writing to dictation, TG made voicing errors on 38% of the words, and BG made 17% voicing errors. Voicing errors also occurred in nonword writing (43% for TG, 56% for BG). The writing performance and the variables that influenced the participants’ spelling, as well as the results of the auditory discrimination and repetition tasks indicated that their dyscravia did not result from a deficit in auditory processing, the graphemic buffer, the phonological output lexicon, the phonological output buffer, or the allographic stage. The locus of the deficit is the phoneme-to-grapheme conversion, in a function specialized in the conversion of phonemes’ voicing feature into graphemes. Because these participants had surface dysgraphia and were forced to write via the sublexical route, the deficit in voicing was evident in their writing of both words and nonwords. We further examined whether the participants also evinced parallel errors in reading. TG had a selective voicing deficit in writing, and did not show any voicing errors in reading, whereas BG had voicing errors also in the reading of nonwords (i.e., she had dyslegzia in addition to dyscravia). The dissociation TG demonstrated indicated that the voicing feature conversion is separate for reading and writing, and can be impaired selectively in writing. BG’s dyslegzia indicates that the grapheme-to-phoneme conversion also includes a function that is sensitive to phonological features such as voicing. Thus the main conclusion of this study is that a separate function of voicing feature conversion exists in the phoneme-to-grapheme conversion route, which may be selectively impaired without deficits in other functions of the conversion route, and without a parallel deficit in reading.
from Neuropsychologia
Hebrew Adjectives in Later Language Text Production
The study investigates the distribution and use of adjectives in 252 texts produced by 63 Hebrew-speaking children, adolescents, and adults who were asked to tell and write a story about a personal fight or a quarrel, and to present a talk and write an expository text on the topic of school violence. All adjective types and tokens in each text were identified, counted, classified, and analyzed using semantic, morphological, and syntactic criteria. Findings show that the adjective class grows larger, richer, and more diverse with age and schooling — in lexicon, morpho-semantics, and syntax. Also, adjectives configure by text genres and modalities in ways that provide independent support for text type classification from spoken narratives, on the one hand, to written expositories, on the other. Finally, gender effects point in the direction of Hebrew-speaking girls and women employing a richer and more diverse adjective lexicon than boys and men in this study.
from First Language
Developing Noun Phrase Complexity at School Age: A Text-Embedded Cross-Linguistic Analysis
Development of noun phrase structure and use is analyzed as an important facet of syntactic acquisition from middle childhood to adolescence. Noun phrases occurring in narrative and expository texts produced in both speech and writing by 96 native speakers of English and Hebrew were identified and examined by a set of specially devised criteria including length in words, syntactic depth, abstractness of head nouns, and nature of modifiers. Results reveal a clear and consistent developmental increment in NP complexity from age 9 to 12, and particularly from age 16 years; written expository texts emerge as a favored site for use of syntactically complex constructions; and nominal elements play a more central role in the discursive syntax of Hebrew than English. Findings are discussed in terms of the interplay between psycholinguistic factors of cognitive processing constraints and the impact of increased literacy in later language development.
from First Language
Copyright © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Letter-transposition effects are not universal: The impact of transposing letters in Hebrew
We examined the effects of letter-transposition in Hebrew in three masked-priming experiments. Hebrew, like English has an alphabetic orthography where sequential and contiguous letter strings represent phonemes. However, being a Semitic language it has a non-concatenated morphology that is based on root derivations. Experiment 1 showed that transposed-letter (TL) root primes inhibited responses to targets derived from the non-transposed root letters, and that this inhibition was unrelated to relative root frequency. Experiment 2 replicated this result and showed that if the transposed letters of the root created a nonsense-root that had no lexical representation, then no inhibition and no facilitation were obtained. Finally, Experiment 3 demonstrated that in contrast to English, French, or Spanish, TL nonword primes did not facilitate recognition of targets, and when the root letters embedded in them consisted of a legal root morpheme, they produced inhibition. These results suggest that lexical space in alphabetic orthographies may be structured very differently in different languages if their morphological structure diverges qualitatively. In Hebrew, lexical space is organized according to root families rather than simple orthographic structure, so that all words derived from the same root are interconnected or clustered together, independent of overall orthographic similarity.
from the Journal of Memory and Language
Listening with an Accent: Speech Perception in a Second Language by Late Bilinguals
Abstract The goal of the present study was to examine functioning of late bilinguals in their second language. Specifically, we asked how native and non-native Hebrew speaking listeners perceive accented and native-accented Hebrew speech. To achieve this goal we used the gating paradigm to explore the ability of healthy late fluent bilinguals (Russian and Arabic native speakers) to recognize words in L2 (Hebrew) when they were spoken in an accent like their own, a native accent (Hebrew speakers), or another foreign accent (American accent).
from the Journal of Psycholinguistic Research
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