Human Behavior and Machine Simulation in the Processing of (Mor)Phonotactics

Phonotactics refers to the sequential arrangement of phonemic segments in morphemes, syllables, and words and underlies a wide range of phonological issues as well as in the interface with grammar. Exploring the psycho- computational representation of the phonotactics in French and German is the aim of this research project. Our research will focus on the interplay between phonotactics and morphology and investigate the behavioural and computational representations of consonant clusters according to whether they are: a) exclusively phonotactic clusters, i.e. the consonant cluster occurs only without morpheme boundaries (e.g. Stein); b) exclusively morphonotactic clusters, i.e. the consonant cluster occurs only beyond morpheme boundaries (e.g. lach+st), c) both are true with one of the two being more or less dominant (e.g. dominant lob+st vs. Obst). Thus we test the existence of different `cognitive and computational representations` and processes for the same and for similar consonant clusters according to their appurtenance to a) or b) or c). In particular, we suppose that sequences of phonemes exhibiting morpheme boundaries (the `morphonotactic clusters`) should provide speakers with `functional evidence` about the morphological operation occurring in that sequence, about which Dressler and colleagues have developed a model of morphonotactics and the `Strong Morphonotactic Hypothesis`, that phonotactics and morphology facilitate each other in exclusively or predominantly morphonotactic sequences, which has consequences for modularity hypotheses. The competences of the two research teams overlap and complement each other. The French team will lead in modeling, computational simulation and psycholinguistic experiments, the Austrian team in first language acquisition, phonetic production and microdiachronic change (including corpus-linguistic differentiation of genres). These synergies are expected to enrich each group in innovativ ways.

Be-SyMPHONic was a bilateral research project (ANR: France/FWF: Austria) dedicated to the study of the psycholinguistic and computational representation of phonotactic and morphonotactic consonant clusters in French and German. The study focused on the interaction of phonotactics and morphology. The field of phonotactics is concerned with exploring the patterns that determine in which order phonemes (the smallest units of speech sounds) can appear within larger structures such as morphemes, syllables and words. When such phoneme sequences span a morpheme boundary and are brought about by morphological operations, these sequences are defined as morphonotactic. Thus their status was: a) purely phonotactic clusters, i.e. consonant clusters that do not cross a morpheme boundary, e.g. [t] in Stein stone; b) purely morphonotactic clusters, i.e. consonant clusters that occur only over a morpheme boundary, e.g. [xst] in lach+st (you) laugh; c) both is equally likely, but a) or b) is more or less dominant, e.g. morphonotactics is dominant in [st] as in los+te (I/he/she/it) draw lots vs. phonotactic Kiste box. Different cognitive and computational representations and processes for the same and for similar consonant clusters as belonging to either a) or b) or c) were tested. With regard to this phenomenon, Wolfgang U. Dressler and his research associates have developed a model of morphonotactics and the Strong Morphonotactic Hypothesis which claims that morphonotactic consonant cluster are acquired earlier and that they facilitate language processing. To test this hypothesis, the two research teams in Vienna and Toulouse worked together and complemented each other in exploring the phenomenon using a number of methodological approaches. The hypothesis could not be confirmed for German. Neither for first-language acquisition nor for adult language processing. The Austrian project collaborators introduced on the one hand the concept of morphologicql richness: In the rich German compounding system morphonotactic processing is facilitated, but not in the much poorer inflectional system. On the other hand they introduced two variables that play a major role in processing studies, namely familiarity and foreignness. Results show that words are being faster processed and significantly more accurate when a word is familiar (in particular in compounding, e.g. Haus+tier domestic animal) and when a word is frequent (in particular in derivations, e.g. Zauber+er magician). Unfamiliar and foreign words that also contain a morpheme boundary delay speed of processing significantly, regardless if of the presence or absence of a consonant cluster. Acoustic analyses revealed no significant difference in the realisation of morphonotactic vs. phonotactic consonant clusters. The Austrian subproject mainly addressed investigations of first-language acquisition, phonetic analysis and conducted processing experiments with adults in various areas of word formation morphology.