SpringerLink
Log in

Auditory Word Recognition in Tashlhit/Berber: Supraliminal Speech Priming

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Handbook of Berber Linguistics

Part of the book series: Springer Handbooks in Languages and Linguistics ((SHLL))

  • 59 Accesses

Abstract

The present study investigates lexical access in Tashlhit, an understudied Hamitic-Semitic language in the psycholinguistic field. We tested the hypothesis that the root morpheme has a lexical status in the Tashlhit lexicon. With this end in mind, we also examined the semantic and phonological factors in lexical access. We report here on two lexical decision experiments using supraliminal priming technique in which the participants are consciously aware of the prime. We used the auditory modality where target and prime words were audible. The results showed a priming effect by pairs sharing the root morpheme with an opaque or transparent semantic relation, but no priming effect was obtained by pairs sharing only phonological properties.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Another category of nouns that has received special interest is referred to in the literature as bu-nouns (Bensoukas 2015a, 2015b).

    • bu. + agajju buwgajju “strong-headed person”

    • bu. + aɣɣu buwɣɣu “the one who sells butter-milk”

    • bu. + zzrriʕa buzzrriʕa “seller of nuts/dried fruit”

    • bu. + lassˤall bulassˤall “owner of the gymnasium”

    The bu of bu-nouns might be attached to borrowings or native words. Bensoukas 2015a, b defines this affix as one that “expresses the generic notion of ‘the one with X’ where X stands for any noun.” In these studies, the author has given these nouns a fully comprehensive morpho-syntactic treatment. In addition, Bensoukas (2015a, b) also points to the similar behavior of bab- and bu-. Both affixes express ownership and are attached to nouns through periphrasis and affixation, respectively. For an exhaustive treatment of bu-nouns, see Bensoukas (2015a, b).

References

  • Al Kaabi M (2015) The anatomy of Arabic words: the role of the root in representations and processing. Doctoral dissertation, New York University

    Google Scholar 

  • Ameur M, Bouhjar A, Boukhris F (2004) Initiation à la langue amazigh. Institut Royal de la Culture Amazighe, Rabat

    Google Scholar 

  • Aronoff M (1994) Morphology by itself: stems and inflectional classes, vol 22. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Balota DA, Pilotti M, Cortese MJ (2001) Subjective frequency estimates for 2,938 monosyllabic words. Mem Cogn 29(4):639–647

    Google Scholar 

  • Basset A (1952/2012) La langue berbère. Oxford University Press/International African Institute, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Bat-El O (1994) Stem modification and cluster transfer in Modern Hebrew. Nat Lang Linguist Theory 12(4):571–596

    Google Scholar 

  • Bates D, Kliegl R, Vasishth S, Baayen H (2015) Parsimonious mixed models. ar**v preprint ar**v:1506.04967

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker CA (1980) Semantic context effects in visual word recognition: an analysis of semantic strategies. Mem Cogn 8(6):493–512

    Google Scholar 

  • Benmamoun E (2003) The role of the imperfective template in Arabic morphology. Lang Acquisit Lang Disord 28:99–114

    Google Scholar 

  • Bensoukas K (1994) Tashlhit Agentive Nouns- An Optimality-Theoretic Approach. D.E.S. dissertation, FLHS, Rabat

    Google Scholar 

  • Bensoukas K (2001) Stem forms in the nontemplatic morphology of Berber. Doctoral dissertation, Mohammed V University, FLSH, Rabat

    Google Scholar 

  • Bensoukas K (2014) Featural dissimilation in Tashlhit: avoiding the repetition of [labial] and [round]. Mohammed V University, FLSH, Rabat

    Google Scholar 

  • Bensoukas K (2015a) Bu-nouns in Tashlhit: an oft-overlooked complex morphosyntactic corpus. Corpus 14:165–188

    Google Scholar 

  • Bensoukas K (2015b) Expressing ownership in Tashlhit: phrasal affix(ation) vs. bound word(hood). Asinag 10:11–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Bensoukas K (2016) Id-pluralization in Tashlhit: definitely not a root-and-pattern morphology! To appear in proceedings of La Catégorisation Grammaticale en Amazighe. IRCAM, Rabat

    Google Scholar 

  • Bensoukas K (2018) Against the consonantal root in Tashlhit. Asinag 13:53–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentin S, Feldman LB (1990) The contribution of morphological and semantic relatedness to repetition priming at short and long lags: evidence from Hebrew. Q J Exp Psychol 42(4):693–711

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumstein SE, Milberg W, Shrier R (1982) Semantic processing in aphasia: evidence from an auditory lexical decision task. Brain Lang 17(2):301–315

    Google Scholar 

  • Boudelaa S, Marslen-Wilson WD (2001) Morphological units in the Arabic mental lexicon. Cognition 81(1):65–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Boudelaa S, Marslen-Wilson WD (2004a) Abstract morphemes and lexical representation: the CV-skeleton in Arabic. Cognition 92(3):271–303

    Google Scholar 

  • Boudelaa S, Marslen-Wilson WD (2004b) Allomorphic variation in Arabic: implications for lexical processing and representation. Brain Lang 90:106–116

    Google Scholar 

  • Boudelaa S, Marslen-Wilson WD (2005) Discontinuous morphology in time: incremental masked priming in Arabic. Lang Cogn Proc 20:207–260

    Google Scholar 

  • Boudelaa S, Marslen-Wilson WD (2013) Morphological structure in the Arabic mental lexicon: parallels between standard and dialectal Arabic. Lang Cogn Proc 28(10):1453–1473

    Google Scholar 

  • Boudelaa S, Marslen-Wilson WD (2015) Structure, form, and meaning in the mental lexicon: evidence from Arabic. Lang Cogn Neurosci 30(8):955–992

    Google Scholar 

  • Boukous A (1987) Phonotactique et domaines prosodiques en berbère (parler tachelhit d’Agadir, Maroc). Doctoral dissertation, Université Paris 8

    Google Scholar 

  • Boukous A (2009) Phonologie de l’amazighe. Institut royal de la culture amazighe, Rabat

    Google Scholar 

  • Boumalk A (2004) Manuel de conjugaison du tachelhit (langue berbère du Maroc). Editions L’Harmattan, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Cantineau J (1950) Racines et schèmes. Mélanges offerts à William Marçais. G-P. Maisonneuve, Paris, pp 119–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Carreiras M, Grainger J (2004) Sublexical representations and the ‘front end’ of visual word recognition. Lang Cogn Proc 19(3):321–331

    Google Scholar 

  • Carreiras M, Ferrand L, Grainger J, Perea M (2005) Sequential effects of phonological priming in visual word recognition. Psychol Sci 16(8):585–589

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaker S (1990) La parenté chamito-sémitique du berbère: un faisceau d’indices convergents. Etudes Docu Berbères 7:28–57

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaker S (2008) Un standard berbère est-il possible? Entre réalités linguistiques et fictions sociolinguistiques. Revue Etudes Berbéres 5:77–89

    Google Scholar 

  • Cluff MS, Luce PA (1990) Similarity neighborhoods of spoken two-syllable words: retroactive effects on multiple activation. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 16(3):551–563

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman J (2000) The phonetics and phonology of Tashlhiyt Berber syllabic consonants. Trans Philol Soc 99(1):29–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Corina DP (1992) Syllable priming and lexical representations: Evidence from experiments and simulations. Proceedings of the 14th annual conference of the cognitive science society, pp 779–784

    Google Scholar 

  • Dell F, Elmedlaoui M (1985) Syllabic consonants and syllabification in Imdlawn Tashlhiyt Berber. J Afr Lang Linguist 7(2):105–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Dell F, Elmedlaoui M (1988) Syllabic consonants in Berber: some new evidence. J Afr Lang Linguist 10(1):1–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Dell F, Elmedlaoui M (1992) Quantitative transfer in the nonconcatenative morphology of Imdlawn Tashlhiyt Berber. J Afroasiat Lang 3:89–125

    Google Scholar 

  • Dell F, Elmedlaoui M (2013) Syllables and gemination in imperfective stems in Tashlhiyt Berber. Brills J Afroasiat Lang Linguist 5(1):1–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch A, Frost R, Forster KI (1997) What can we learn from the morphology of Hebrew? A masked-priming investigation of morphological representation. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 23(4):829–856

    Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch A, Frost R, Forster KI (1998) Verbs and nouns are organized and accessed differently in the mental lexicon: evidence from Hebrew. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 24(5):1238–1255

    Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch A, Frost R, Forster KI (2000a) Decomposing morphologically complex words in a nonlinear morphology. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 26(3):751–765

    Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch A, Frost R, Pollatsek A, Rayner K (2000b) Early morphological effects in word recognition in Hebrew: evidence from parafoveal preview benefit. Lang Cogn Proc 15(4–5):487–506

    Google Scholar 

  • Dupoux E, Mehler J (1990) Monitoring the lexicon with normal and compressed speech: Frequency effects and the prelexical code. Journal of Memory and Language 29(3):316–335

    Google Scholar 

  • El Hamdi F (2018) The presence of vowels in Tashlhit root structure: evidence from the free state and the construct state of the noun. Asinag 13:113–133

    Google Scholar 

  • El Moujahid E (1979) Présentation des phonèmes de la langue tamazighte: Le tachelhiyt d’Ighrem. Traces 2:52–78

    Google Scholar 

  • El Mountassir A (2003) Dictionnaire des verbes tachelhit-français:(parler berbère du sud du Maroc). Editions L’Harmattan, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Elmedlaoui M (1992) Aspects des représentations phonologiques dans certaines langues chamito-sémitiques. Doctoral dissertation, FLSH, Rabat

    Google Scholar 

  • Emmorey KD (1989) Auditory morphological priming in the lexicon. Lang Cogn Proc 4(2):73–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Forster KI, Davis C (1984) Repetition priming and frequency attenuation in lexical access. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 10(4):680–698

    Google Scholar 

  • Forster KI, Forster JC (2003) DMDX: a windows display program with millisecond accuracy. Behav Res Methods Inst Comput 35(1):116–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Frauenfelder UH, Komisarjevsky Tyler L (1987) The process of spoken word recognition: an introduction. Cognition 25(1–2):1–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Frost R, Bentin S (1992) Reading consonants and guessing vowels: Visual word recognition in Hebrew orthography. Advances in psychology 94: 27–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Frost R, Kugler T, Deutsch A, Forster KI (2005) Orthographic structure versus morphological structure: principles of lexical organization in a given language. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 31(6):1293–1326

    Google Scholar 

  • Galand L (1984) Le comportement des schèmes et des racines dans l’évolution de la langue: exemples Touaregs. In: Bynon J (ed) Current progress in Afroasiatic linguistics. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp 305–315

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldinger SD, Luce PA, Pisoni DB, Marcario JK (1992) Form-based priming in spoken word recognition: the roles of competition and bias. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 18(6):1211–1238

    Google Scholar 

  • Gonnerman LM, Seidenberg MS, Andersen ES (2007) Graded semantic and phonological similarity effects in priming: evidence for a distributed connectionist approach to morphology. J Exp Psychol Gen 136(2):323–345

    Google Scholar 

  • Grainger J, Muneaux M, Farioli F, Ziegler JC (2005) Effects of phonological and orthographic neighbourhood density interact in visual word recognition. Q J Exp Psychol 58(6):981–998

    Google Scholar 

  • Guerssel M, Lowenstamm J (1996) Ablaut in classical Arabic measure I active verbal forms. In: Lecarme J, Lowenstamm J, Shlonsky U (eds) Studies in Afroasiatic grammar. HAG, The Hague, pp 123–134

    Google Scholar 

  • Gwilliams L, Marantz A (2015) Non-linear processing of a linear speech stream: The influence of morphological structure on the recognition of spoken Arabic words. Brain and language 147: 1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Gwilliams LE, Monahan PJ, Samuel AG (2015) Sensitivity to morphological composition in spoken word recognition: evidence from grammatical and lexical identification tasks. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 41(6):1663–1674

    Google Scholar 

  • Halderman LK, Ashby J, Perfetti CA (2012) An early and integral role in identifying words. In: Visual word recognition volume 1: models and methods, orthography and phonology, vol 1. Psychology Press, New York, pp 207–228

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammond M (1988) Templatic transfer in Arabic broken plurals. Nat Lang Linguist Theory 6(2):247–270

    Google Scholar 

  • Iazzi EM (1991) Morphologie du verbe en tamazight (Parler des Aït Attabn Haut-Atlas Central): Approche prosodique. DES dissertation, Mohammed V University-FLSH, Rabat

    Google Scholar 

  • Idrissi A (2001) Toward a root-and-template approach to shape-invariant morphology. Doctoral dissertation, Québec University, Montréal

    Google Scholar 

  • Jebbour A (1988) Processus de formation du Pluriel nominal en Tamazight. (Tachelhit de Tiznit)- Approche non-Concaténative, D.E.S. dissertation, FLSH, Rabat

    Google Scholar 

  • Jebbour A (1996) Morphologie et contraintes prosodiques en berbère (tachelhit de Tiznit): analyse linguistique et traitement automatique. Doctoral Dissertation, Mohammed V University, FLSH, Rabat

    Google Scholar 

  • Kielar A, Joanisse MF (2011) The role of semantic and phonological factors in word recognition: an ERP cross-modal priming study of derivational morphology. Neuropsychologia 49(2):161–177

    Google Scholar 

  • Kouider S, Dupoux E (2005) Subliminal speech priming. Psychol Sci 16(8):617–625

    Google Scholar 

  • Kunde W (2004) Response priming by supraliminal and subliminal action effects. Psychological Research 68: 91–96

    Google Scholar 

  • Laabdellaoui R, Boumalk A, Iazzi EM, Souifi H, Ansar K (2012) Manuel de conjugaison de l’amazighe. IRCAM, Rabat

    Google Scholar 

  • Lahrouchi M (2004) Gémination, réduplication et gabarits dans un langage secret du berbère tachelhit. JEL [Domaines], Nantes, pp 7–12. <halshs-00187602>

    Google Scholar 

  • Lahrouchi M (2010) On the internal structure of Tashlhiyt Berber triconsonantal roots. Linguist Inquiry 41(2):255–285

    Google Scholar 

  • Lahrouchi M (2018) La racine consonantique en amazighe: construit théorique ou réalité psychologique. Asinag 13:135–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Lasri A (1991) Aspects de la phonologie non-linéaire du parler berbère: Chleuh de tidli. Doctoral dissertation. Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris III

    Google Scholar 

  • Longtin CM, Meunier F (2005) Morphological decomposition in early visual word processing. J Mem Lang 53(1):26–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Longtin CM, Segui J, Halle PA (2003) Morphological priming without morphological relationship. Lang Cogn Proc 18(3):313–334

    Google Scholar 

  • Lukatela G, Turvey MT (1994) Visual lexical access is initially phonological: 2. Evidence from phonological priming by homophones and pseudohomophones. J Exp Psychol Gen 123(4):331–353

    Google Scholar 

  • Marslen-Wilson W, Tyler LK, Waksler R, Older L (1994) Morphology and meaning in the English mental lexicon. Psychol Rev 101(1):3–33

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy JJ (1981) A prosodic theory of nonconcatenative morphology. Linguist Inquiry 12(3):373–418

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy JJ, Prince AS (1990) Foot and word in prosodic morphology: the Arabic broken plural. Nat Lang Linguist Theory 8(2):209–283

    Google Scholar 

  • Milin P, Smolka E, Feldman LB (2017) Models of lexical access and morphological processing. The handbook of psycholinguistics, pp 240–268

    Google Scholar 

  • Prunet JF, Béland R, Idrissi A (2000) The mental representation of Semitic words. Linguist Inquiry 31(4):609–648

    Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2016) R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. https://www.R-project.org/

  • Radeau M (1983) Semantic priming between spoken words in adults and children. Can J Psychol 37(4):547–556

    Google Scholar 

  • Radeau M, Morais J, Dewier A (1989) Phonological priming in spoken word recognition: Task effects. Memory and Cognition 17(5):525–535

    Google Scholar 

  • Radeau M, Morais J, Segui J (1995) Phonological priming between monosyllabic spoken words. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 21(6):1297–1311

    Google Scholar 

  • Rastle K, Davis MH, Marslen-Wilson WD, Tyler LK (2000) Morphological and semantic effects in visual word recognition: a time-course study. Lang Cogn Proc 15(4–5):507–537

    Google Scholar 

  • Schluter KT (2013) Hearing words without structure: subliminal speech priming and the organization of the Moroccan Arabic lexicon. Doctoral dissertation, The University of Arizona

    Google Scholar 

  • Slowiaczek LM, Pisoni DB (1986) Effects of phonological similarity on priming in auditory lexical decision. Mem Cogn 14(3):230–237

    Google Scholar 

  • Smolka E, Komlosi S, Rösler F (2009) When semantics means less than morphology: the processing of German prefixed verbs. Lang Cogn Proc 24(3):337–375

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobin Y (1990) A combinatory phonology of the Hebrew triconsonantal (CCC) root system. La Linguistique 26:99–114

    Google Scholar 

  • Ussishkin A (1999) The inadequacy of the consonantal root: modern Hebrew denominal verbs and output–output correspondence. Phonology 16(3):401–442

    Google Scholar 

  • Ussishkin A, Twist A (2009) Auditory and visual lexical decision in Maltese. In: Introducing Maltese linguistics: selected papers from the 1st international conference on Maltese linguistics. John Banjamins, Amserdam, pp 233–249

    Google Scholar 

  • Ussishkin A, Dawson CR, Wedel A, Schluter K (2015) Auditory masked priming in Maltese spoken word recognition. Lang Cogn Neurosci 30(9):1096–1115

    Google Scholar 

  • Winther Balling L, Harald Baayen R. (2008) Morphological effects in auditory word recognition: Evidence from Danish. Language and Cognitive processes 23(7–8):1159–1190

    Google Scholar 

  • Yates M, Locker L, Simpson GB (2004) The influence of phonological neighborhood on visual word perception. Psychon Bull Rev 11(3):452–457

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work has been undertaken within the Partenariat Hubert-Curien Toubkal “Actions Intégrées” Volubilis project MA/14/311-Campus France N° 30285ZM entitled “De la nature et du rôle de la racine en amazighe: investigations sur la représentation mentale des mots”; and was supported by the Fulbright joint-supervision grant by MACECE (Moroccan-American Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English, Mohammed V University in Rabat, Rabat, Morocco

    Fatima El Hamdi

Authors
  1. Fatima El Hamdi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fatima El Hamdi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

    Alireza Korangy

  2. Mohamed V University, Rabat, Morocco

    Karim Bensoukas

Appendices

Appendix A (Stimuli Used in Experiment 1)

See Tables 8.7 and 8.8

Table 8.7 Real words with morphologically related words having a transparent semantic relation
Full size table
Table 8.8 Real words with morphologically related words having an opaque semantic relation
Full size table

Appendix B (Real Words Used in Experiment 2)

Target

Phonology

Morphology

Control

frs

srs

Phon1

afras

rʃq

xmr

gwmr

Phon1

taxmirt

nɣd

zˤbˤrˤ

sˤbˤrˤ

Phon1

azˤbbˤarˤ

nqqʃ

ɣwdˤrˤ

dˤrˤ

Phon1

aɣddˤarˤ

xtm

rˤdˤl

mdˤl

Phon1

arttˤal

zɦr

krz

mmrz

Phon1

amkraz

brˤm

xdm

zdm

Phon1

axddam

rˤzˤm

ʒdr

bdr

Phon1

aʒdar

lˤbˤʒ

fsr

nsr

Phon1

afsar

ʒɦl

ftl

ntl

Phon1

tiftilt

rbħ

mgr

mtr

Phon2

tamgra

ʒllx

sbɣ

stɣ

Phon2

asbbaɣ

ʃrk

ħfr

ɣfr

Phon1

aħfur

slɣ

rkm

rgm

Phon2

tirkmin

ʃtˤn

nkr

ndr

Phon2

tankra

msl

gnu

gru

Phon2

tigni

nql

kʃm

kwrm

Phon2

akʃʃum

gzzr

ħgrˤ

ħzzˤrˤ

Phon2

aħggarˤ

tlf

ħzzm

ħʃʃm

Phon2

aħzzam

qrrˤb

lgr

lwr

Phon2

talgrawt

dˤlm

srm

sri

Phon3

asram

ndm

frg

frn

Phon3

afrig

xlˤdˤ

akwl

akwr

Phon3

akal

xwmʒ

arm

ars

Phon3

tirmt

ɦddn

brrħ

brrd

Phon3

lbriħ

xnng

kwms

kwmz

Phon3

akwmmis

fdˤħ

ɣwrˤsˤ

ɣwrˤdˤ

Phon3

tiɣrˤsˤi

nħs

sɣl

sɣi

Phon3

asɣal

kwrf

frrˤʃ

frrˤʒ

Phon3

lfrˤaʃ

zdɣ

nʒħ

nʒm

Phon3

nnaʒaħ

rkkz

zlf

zlɣ

Phon3

azlaf

dˤmn

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2024 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

El Hamdi, F. (2024). Auditory Word Recognition in Tashlhit/Berber: Supraliminal Speech Priming. In: Korangy, A., Bensoukas, K. (eds) The Handbook of Berber Linguistics. Springer Handbooks in Languages and Linguistics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5690-6_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation