Abstract
Two experiments are reported which investigate the organization and recognition of morphologically complex forms in American Sign Language (ASL) using a repetition priming technique. Three major questions were addressed: (1) Is morphological priming a modality-independent process? (2) Do the different properties of agreement and aspect morphology in ASL affect priming strength? (3) Does early language experience influence the pattern of morphological priming? Prime-target pairs (separated by 26–32 items) were presented to deaf subjects for lexical decision. Primes were inflected for either agreement (dual, reciprocal, multiple) or aspect (habitual, continual); targets were always the base form of the verb. Results of Experiment 1 indicated that subjects exposed to ASL in late childhood were not as sensitive to morphological complexity as native signers, but this result was not replicated in Experiment 2. Both experiments showed stronger facilitation with aspect morphology compared to agreement morphology. Repetition priming was not observed for nonsigns. The scope and structure of the morphological rules for ASL aspect and agreement are argued to explain the different patterns of morphological priming.
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This work was supported in part by NIH National Research Service Award 5 F32 NS 08343-02 and by NIH grant HD-13249 awarded to Ursula Bellugi and Karen Emmorey, as well as NIH grants DC-00146, DC-0021 and NSF grant BNS86-09085. I would like to acknowledge the helpful assistance of Ursula Bellugi, David Corina, Robert Johnson, Lucinda O'Grady-Batch, Maureen O'Grady-Hynes, Petra Horn, Freda Norman, and Karen van Hoek. I am especially grateful to Gallaudet University, Washington, DC, and to the deaf subjects who participated in these studies.
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Emmorey, K. Repetition priming with aspect and agreement morphology in American Sign Language. J Psycholinguist Res 20, 365–388 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067970
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067970