Left Constituent Research Articles

CompLex: an eye-movement database of compound word reading in English.

The CompLex database presents a large-scale collection of eye-movement studies on English compound-word processing. A combined total of 440 participants completed eye-tracking experiments in which they silently read unspaced English compound words (e.g., goalpost) embedded in sentence contexts (e.g., Dylan hit the goalpost when he was aiming for the net.). Three studies were conducted using participants representing the non-college-bound population (300 participants), and four studies included participants recruited from the student population (140 participants). The database comprises trial-level eye-movement data (47,763 trials), participant data (including a measure of reading experience estimated via the Author Recognition Test), and lexical characteristics for the set of 931 English compound words used as critical stimuli in the studies. One contribution of the present paper is a set of regression analyses conducted on the full database and individual experiments. We report that the most reliable and consistent main effects were those elicited by compound word length, left constituent frequency, right constituent frequency, compound frequency and semantic transparency. Separately, we also found that the effect of left frequency and compound word length is weaker among more frequent compounds. Another contribution is a power analysis, in which we determined the sample sizes required to reliably detect effect sizes that are comparable to those observed in our regression models. These sample size estimates serve as a recommendation for researchers wishing to either collect eye-movement data for compound word reading, or use the current database as a resource for the study of English compound word processing.

Diagnostic value of VCG combined with CDE for acute inferior MI culprit vessel

Objective: To explore the diagnostic value of vectorcardiography (VCG) combined with color Doppler echocardiography (CDE) for acute inferior myocardial infarction (MI) culprit vessel.Methods: A total of 82 patients who had been clinically diagnosed as acute inferior MI and had received coronary arteriography (CAG) were selected as research objects. They received bedside VCG and CDE examinations after admission. Their culprit vessels were analyzed and compared with CAG results to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency.Results: The detection rate of acute inferior MI culprit vessel by VCG combined with CDE was 76.83%, including 18 left circumflex (LCX) branches and 45 right coronary arteries (RCA). The lower left constituent ratio of LCX was 61.11%, which was significantly higher than 20.00% in RCA (p < .05); the lower right constituent ratio of RCA was 71.11%, which was much higher than 11.11% in LCX (p < .05); the sensitivity and the accuracy of RCA culprit vessel judged with frontal plane ST-vector pointing to the lower right quadrant were 71.11% and 53.33% respectively; the diagnostic efficiency of LCX culprit vessel judged with frontal plane ST-vector pointing to the lower left quadrant was 61.11% and 50.00% respectively. The maximum amplitude of the frontal plane in LCX culprit vessel was significantly lower than that in RCA culprit vessel; and the frontal plane vector angle in LCX was significantly greater than that in RCA culprit vessel (p < 0.05).Conclusions: VCG combined with CDE can effectively diagnose acute inferior MI. It has a good diagnostic efficiency by judging culprit vessels according to the frontal plane ST-vector direction.

On hearts which are module categories

Given a torsion pair $\boldsymbol{t}=(\mathcal{T},\mathcal{F})$ in a module category $R\text{-}\mathrm{Mod}$ we give necessary and sufficient conditions for the associated Happel–Reiten–Smalo t-structure in $\mathcal{D}(R)$ to have a heart $\mathcal{H}_{\boldsymbol{t}}$ which is a module category. We also study when such a pair is given by a 2-term complex of projective modules in the way described by Hoshino–Kato–Miyachi ([HKM]). Among other consequences, we completely identify the hereditary torsion pairs $\boldsymbol{t}$ for which $\mathcal{H}_{\boldsymbol{t}}$ is a module category in the following cases: i) when $\boldsymbol{t}$ is the left constituent of a TTF triple, showing that $\boldsymbol{t}$ need not be HKM; ii) when $\boldsymbol{t}$ is faithful; iii) when $\boldsymbol{t}$ is arbitrary and the ring $R$ is either commutative, semi-hereditary, local, perfect or Artinian. We also give a systematic way of constructing non-tilting torsion pairs for which the heart is a module category generated by a stalk complex at zero.

Compound stress assignment by analogy: the constituent family bias

Abstract This paper tests the hypothesis that stress assignment to English compounds works on the basis of analogy. In particular, the role of the constituent family, i.e. the set of compounds that share the same right or left constituent with a given compound, is investigated. On the basis of large amounts of data from three different corpora it is shown that the tendency towards a certain kind of stress pattern within the constituent families of a given compound is a strong predictor for stress assignment. This challenges rule-based approaches to compound stress assignment and lends independent evidence to exemplar-based approaches to language structure.

Reading polymorphemic Dutch compounds: Toward a multiple route model of lexical processing.

This article reports an eye-tracking experiment with 2,500 polymorphemic Dutch compounds presented in isolation for visual lexical decision while readers' eye movements were registered. The authors found evidence that both full forms of compounds (dishwasher) and their constituent morphemes (e.g., dish, washer) and morphological families of constituents (sets of compounds with a shared constituent) played a role in compound processing. They observed simultaneous effects of compound frequency, left constituent frequency, and family size early (i.e., before the whole compound has been scanned) and also observed effects of right constituent frequency and family size that emerged after the compound frequency effect. The temporal order of these and other observed effects goes against assumptions of many models of lexical processing. The authors propose specifications for a new multiple-route model of polymorphemic compound processing that is based on time-locked, parallel, and interactive use of all morphological cues as soon as they become even partly available to the visual uptake system.

Morphological dynamics in compound processing

This paper explores the time-course of morphological processing of trimorphemic Finnish compounds. We find evidence for the parallel access to full-forms and morphological constituents diagnosed by the early effects of compound frequency, as well as early effects of left constituent frequency and family size. We also observe an interaction between compound frequency and both the left and the right constituent family sizes. Furthermore, our data show that suffixes embedded in the derived left constituent of a compound are efficiently used for establishing the boundary between compounds’ constituents. The success of segmentation of a compound is demonstrably modulated by the affixal salience of the embedded suffixes. We discuss implications of these findings for current models of morphological processing and propose a new model that views morphemes, combinations of morphemes and morphological paradigms as probabilistic sources of information that are interactively used in recognition of complex words.

Analogical effects on linking elements in German compound words

This paper examines whether the selection of linking elements for novel German compounds can be better explained in terms of a single or a dual-route model. Previous studies had focused on the predictability of linking elements by rules. We investigate a single-route model by focusing on the paradigmatic analogical effect of the compounds sharing the left (right) constituent with the target compound, i.e., the left (right) constituent family. A production experiment reveals an effect of the left, but not of the right constituent family. Simulation studies of the responses, using a computational model of paradigmatic analogy, show that the left constituent and its phonological and morphological properties (rime, gender, and inflectional class) simultaneously codetermine the selection of linking elements. We show how these results can be accounted for by a single-route approach, and we outline a symbolic interactive activation model that merges the factors into one psycholinguistically motivated processing mechanism.

The time course of plausibility effects on eye movements in reading: Evidence from noun-noun compounds.

Readers' eye movements were monitored as they read sentences containing noun-noun compounds that varied in frequency (e.g., elevator mechanic, mountain lion). The left constituent of the compound was either plausible or implausible as a head noun at the point at which it appeared, whereas the compound as a whole was always plausible. When the head noun analysis of the left constituent was implausible, reading times on this word were inflated, beginning with the first fixation. This finding is consistent with previous demonstrations of very rapid effects of plausibility on eye movements. Compound frequency did not modulate the plausibility effect, and all disruption was resolved by the time readers' eyes moved to the next word. These findings suggest (contra Kennison, 2005) that the parser initially analyzes a singular noun as a head instead of a modifier. In addition, the findings confirm that the very rapid effect of plausibility on eye movements is not due to strategic factors, because in the present experiment, unlike in previous demonstrations, this effect appeared in sentences that were globally plausible.

Formal and semantic constraints on the interpretation of the suffix ‑s in reading Dutch nominal compounds

This study addresses the interpretation of a Dutch homonymic suffix, s, as it appears in Dutch compounds. In a series of reading experiments we manipulated the presence versus absence of this suffix in existing compounds as well as in compounds with a pseudoword as left constituent. We observed an asymmetry in the effects of addition and deletion, with deletion not affecting response latencies, and addition leading to increased identification latencies and, conditional on the phonological structure of the left constituent, to a plural interpretation of the left constituent. Our results illustrate how phonological and semantic constraints conspire to induce a plural interpretation of this homonymic suffix.

Sublexical units and supralexical combinatorics in the processing of interfixed Dutch compounds

This study addresses the supralexical inferential processes underlying wellformedness judgements and latencies for a specic sublexical unit that appears in Dutch compounds, the interfix. Production studies have shown that the selection of interfixes in novel Dutch compounds and the speed of this selection is primarily determined by the distribution of interfixes in existing compounds that share the left constituent with the target compound, i.e. the “left constituent family”. In this paper, we consider the question whether constituent families also affect wellformedness decisions of novel as well as existing Dutch compounds in comprehension. We visually presented compounds containing interfixes that were either in line with the bias of the left constituent family or not. In the case of existing compounds, we also presented variants with replaced interfixes. As in production, the bias of the left constituent family emerged as a crucial predictor for both acceptance rates and response latencies. This result...

Sublexical units and supralexical combinatorics in the processing of interfixed Dutch compounds

This study addresses the supralexical inferential processes underlying wellformedness judgements and latencies for a specic sublexical unit that appears in Dutch compounds, the interfix. Production studies have shown that the selection of interfixes in novel Dutch compounds and the speed of this selection is primarily determined by the distribution of interfixes in existing compounds that share the left constituent with the target compound, i.e. the “left constituent family”. In this paper, we consider the question whether constituent families also affect wellformedness decisions of novel as well as existing Dutch compounds in comprehension. We visually presented compounds containing interfixes that were either in line with the bias of the left constituent family or not. In the case of existing compounds, we also presented variants with replaced interfixes. As in production, the bias of the left constituent family emerged as a crucial predictor for both acceptance rates and response latencies. This result supports the hypothesis that, as in production, constituent families are (co-)activated in comprehension. We argue that this co-activation is part of a supralexical inferential process, and we discuss how our data might be interpreted within sublexical and supralexical theories of morphological processing.

Linking Elements in Dutch Noun–Noun Compounds: Constituent Families as Analogical Predictors for Response Latencies

This study addresses the choice of linking elements in novel Dutch noun–noun compounds. Previous off-line experiments (Krott, Baayen, & Schreuder, 2001) revealed that this choice can be predicted analogically on the basis of the distribution of linking elements in the left and right constituent families, i.e., the set of existing compounds that share the left (or right) constituent with the target compound. The present study replicates the observed graded analogical effects under time pressure, using an on-line decision task. Furthermore, the analogical support of the left constituent family predicts response latencies. We present an implemented interactive activation network model that accounts for the experimental data.

Semantic Influence on Linkers in Dutch Noun-Noun Compounds

As in many other languages, the constituents of nominal compounds in Dutch are often separated by a linking element. This study investigates to what extent form and semantic properties of the right constituents in Dutch compounds affect the choice of the linker. Using both lexical statistics and experimentation, we show that the left and right constituent families affect the choice of the linker independently of the semantic categories of the left and right constituents themselves. We also show that the choice of the linker is co-determined by the animacy and concreteness of the left constituent. No role for the semantic class of the head constituent was observed in the experiment. Apparently, linkers are non-canonical suffixes in the sense that their occurrence is codetermined by the form properties of the constituent to their right.

A note on the use of lamda conversion in generalized phrase structure grammars

The restrictive grammatical format suggested in GPSG provides an extremely interesting alternative to transformational approaches to grammar. However, we have seen that the way the grammar is currently organized, it will in certain cases fail to give the correct interpretation to sentences with displaced constituents. Whenever a left or rightward displaced constituent contains an element that can stand in an anaphoric relation with some other element in the sentence, i.e. contains a quantifier or a pronoun, the semantic rules as given do not provide the intended reading. It should be made clear, however, that this shortcoming pertains to one particular type of GPSG, namely one whose interpretation procedures make use of lambda abstraction. The problematic cases addressed here do not by themselves invalidate the syntactic framework of a GPSG. It seems quite plausible that one could construct a semantics that does not depend on lambda conversion, in which case the problem addressed in this note is presumably no longer relevant. One such proposal is put forward in Cooper (forthcoming) where a non-movement syntax is combined with interpretation procedures that do not involve translation into a lambda calculus.