Semantic similarity: normative ratings for 185 Spanish noun triplets.

Abstract

The present study introduces the first Spanish database with normative ratings of semantic similarity for 185 word triplets. Each word triplet is constituted by a target word (e.g., guisante [pea]) and two semantically related and nonassociatively related words: a word highly related in meaning to the target (e.g., judía [bean]), and a word less related in meaning to the target (e.g., patata [potato]). The degree of meaning similarity was assessed by 332 participants by using a semantic similarity rating task on a 9-point scale. Pairs having a value of semantic similarity ranging from 5 to 9 were classified as being more semantically related, whereas those with values ranging from 2 to 4.99 were considered as being less semantically related. The relative distance between the two pairs for the same target ranged from 0.48 to 5.07 points. Mean comparisons revealed that participants rated the more similar words as being significantly more similar in meaning to the target word than were the less similar words. In addition to the semantic similarity norms, values of concreteness and familiarity of each word in a triplet are provided. The present database can be a very useful tool for scientists interested in designing experiments to examine the role of semantics in language processing. Since the variable of semantic similarity includes a wide range of values, it can be used as either a continuous or a dichotomous variable. The full database is available in the supplementary materials.