Neurocognitive Contexts for Morphological Complexity: Dissociating Inflection and Derivation

Abstract

We review experimental findings about the processing of morphologically complex words, and provide a neuro‐cognitive account of the mechanisms that underlie this processing. Within the framework of the brain network that supports language comprehension, we argue that complex words created by regular and rule‐based combinations, such as regular inflections in English (e.g. played, jumps), engage a left‐lateralized frontotemporal subsystem, specialized for grammatical computations. In contrast, processing of lexicalized and unpredictable complexity, present in derived words (e.g. bravely, warmth), engages a bilateral subsystem, which underpins whole‐word, stem‐based lexical access. We suggest a potential neurobiological framework for this proposed organization.

Phonological and syntactic competition effects in spoken word recognition: evidence from corpus-based statistics

“…L triangularis (BA 45) might be the most frequently reported sub-region of LIFG for multiple cognitive functions, including general control or selection processing (Badre et al, 2005; Bozic & Marslen-Wilson, 2010; Moss et al, 2005; Righi, Blumstein, Mertus, & Worden, 2009; Schnur et al, 2009; Thompson-Schill et al, 1997; Thompson-Schill, Aguirre, Desposito, & Farah, 1999; Wright, Randall, Marslen-Wilson, & Tyler, 2010; Zhuang et al, 2011) and syntactic processing (e.g. Friederici, Bahlmann, Heim, Schubotz, & Anwander, 2006; Kaan & Swaab, 2002; Santi & Grodzinsky, 2007; Tyler et al, 2011).…”

fMRI Evidence for the Involvement of the Procedural Memory System in Morphological Processing of a Second Language

“…The application of inflectional rules may involve different neural substrates compared to the processing of derivation [12]. The effects of rule application have been demonstrated by auditory priming fMRI studies; however, while in auditory studies the various constituents of a complex word become available in a serial manner, in visual tasks all components become available simultaneously.…”

An fMRI Study of Grammatical Morpheme Processing Associated with Nouns and Verbs in Chinese

“…Moreover, nouns and verbs in such languages may have different declensional and conjugational patterns, respectively, depending on their classification. Understanding whether and how representation of morphosyntactic processing at the brain level may differ as a function of complexity will significantly inform us about neurobiology of language [3], and possibly contribute to cross-linguistic studies of first language acquisition [4], second language acquisition [5], and bilingualism or multilingualism.…”

“…In the past decade, a number of functional imaging studies employing tasks that explicitly involved operations of inflectional morphology associated with nouns and verbs were conducted to identify brain areas of noun-specific and verb-specific morphosyntax (see [3] for a review of studies showing a left-lateralized fronto-temporal network supporting the processing of inflected spoken words). In most of these investigations, the participants were asked to provide singular-plural alternations for nouns and present-past tense alternations or person agreement for verbs in phrasal or sentential contexts.…”