Modelling semantic transparency

Melanie J Bell,Martin Schäfer

doi:10.1007/s11525-016-9286-3

Melanie J Bell, Martin Schäfer

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11525-016-9286-3

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Abstract

We present models of semantic transparency in which the perceived transparency of English noun–noun compounds, and of their constituent words, is predicted on the basis of the expectedness of their semantic structure. We show that such compounds are perceived as more transparent when the first noun is more frequent, hence more expected, in the language generally; when the compound semantic relation is more frequent, hence more expected, in association with the first noun; and when the second noun is more productive, hence more expected, as the second element of a noun–noun compound. Taken together, our models of compound and constituent transparency lead us to two conclusions. Firstly, although compound transparency is a function of the transparencies of the constituents, the two constituents differ in the nature of their contribution. Secondly, since all the significant predictors in our models of compound transparency are also known predictors of processing speed, perceived transparency may itself be a reflex of ease of processing.

Highlights

The term ‘semantic transparency’ is often used in the linguistic literature, and variables intended to measure semantic transparency are regularly included in psycholinguistic experiments and theories, yet the nature of that transparency itself is not wellM.J
The aim of the present study is to address this gap by exploring the factors that correlate with more or less perceived transparency in the semantics of English compound nouns
Our central hypothesis is that the perceived semantic transparency of a compound can be understood as the degree of expectedness in its internal semantic structure: we show that human ratings of semantic transparency as a continuous variable can be partially predicted on the basis of quantitative measures of such expectedness

Summary

Introduction

The term ‘semantic transparency’ is often used in the linguistic literature, and variables intended to measure semantic transparency are regularly included in psycholinguistic experiments and theories, yet the nature of that transparency itself is not wellM.J. The term ‘semantic transparency’ is often used in the linguistic literature, and variables intended to measure semantic transparency are regularly included in psycholinguistic experiments and theories, yet the nature of that transparency itself is not well. The compound that Zwitserlood (1994: 344) uses to illustrate semantic transparency, is only transparent on the meaning relatedness view, not on the meaning predictability view. Our central hypothesis is that the perceived semantic transparency of a compound can be understood as the degree of expectedness in its internal semantic structure: we show that human ratings of semantic transparency as a continuous variable can be partially predicted on the basis of quantitative measures of such expectedness

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