The mental representation of singular and plural nouns in Algerian Arabic as revealed through auditory priming in agrammatic aphasic patients

Author(s): Kehayia, E., Jarema, G.

Journal/Book: Brain Lang. 1998; 61: 525 B St, Ste 1900, San Diego, CA 92101-4495. Academic Press Inc Jnl-Comp Subscriptions. 63-87.

Abstract: Working within the theoretical framework of prosodic nonconcatenative morphology developed by McCarthy (1975) for Semitic languages, we addressed, in the present paper, the issues of lexical representation, morphological relatedness, and modes of access in Algerian Arabic-a dialect of Standard Arabic-in an auditory morphological priming experiment. More specifically, we investigated the process of word recognition of singular and plural nouns in the performance of 24 non-brain-damaged subjects and 2 Algerian-speaking agrammatic aphasics. Plurals in Arabic involve either suffixation as in the sound plural (e.g., Ibas ''dress''/lbasat ''dresses''), or stem-internal changes as in the broken plurals (e.g., kursi ''chair''/krasa ''chairs''). Our findings reveal a differential processing of the two forms; indicating whole word access for broken plurals and decomposition into word and suffix for suffixed plurals. Further, the evidence suggests for Algerian Arabic an architecture of the lexicon reflecting a family-like organization which takes into account language-specific features.

Note: Article Mimouni Z, Ctr Hosp Cote Des Neiges, Ctr Rech, Lab Theophile Alajouanine, 4565 Chemin Queen Mary, Montreal, PQ H3W 1W5, CANADA

Keyword(s): MORPHOLOGICALLY RELATED WORDS; LEXICAL ACCESS; AFFIXED WORDS; RECOGNITION

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