Wayward associations: When and why people think of similar-sounding words

IF 2.9 1区 心理学 Q1 LINGUISTICS Journal of memory and language Pub Date : 2024-06-10 DOI:10.1016/j.jml.2024.104537
David A. Haslett , Zhenguang G. Cai
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Words with similar meanings sometimes sound similar, which carries both risks, such as confusion, and rewards, such as ease of comprehension. It has been argued that languages evolve to balance these competing pressures, so words more often overlap in both form and meaning when they are less likely to be confused. By measuring the phonological similarity of responses to English cues in a word association megastudy, we provide evidence of a tendency to activate similar-sounding words in response to words that reside in sparse semantic neighbourhoods and in response to words for abstract concepts. Crucially, we provide evidence that the availability of similar-sounding associates helps people retrieve and represent the meanings of words from sparse neighbourhoods and words for abstract concepts, as measured by reaction time in semantic decisions and by accuracy in recognition memory. We propose that phonological connections compensate for weak semantic connections when representing word meanings, which we discuss in terms of multiplex networks, models of word-meaning access, and theories of language evolution.

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错误的联想:人们何时以及为何会想到发音相似的词语
词义相近的词有时听起来很相似,这既有风险,如混淆,也有回报,如易于理解。有人认为,语言的进化就是为了平衡这些相互竞争的压力,因此,当单词不容易混淆时,它们的形式和意义就会经常重叠。通过在单词联想大研究中测量对英语线索反应的语音相似性,我们提供的证据表明,在对位于稀疏语义邻域的单词和抽象概念的单词作出反应时,人们倾向于激活发音相似的单词。最重要的是,我们提供的证据表明,通过语义决策中的反应时间和识别记忆中的准确性来衡量,发音相似的关联词有助于人们检索和表述稀疏邻域中的词语和抽象概念中的词语的含义。我们提出,在表征词义时,语音连接可以弥补语义连接的不足,我们将从多路网络、词义获取模型和语言进化理论等方面对此进行讨论。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
8.70
自引率
14.00%
发文量
49
审稿时长
12.7 weeks
期刊介绍: Articles in the Journal of Memory and Language contribute to the formulation of scientific issues and theories in the areas of memory, language comprehension and production, and cognitive processes. Special emphasis is given to research articles that provide new theoretical insights based on a carefully laid empirical foundation. The journal generally favors articles that provide multiple experiments. In addition, significant theoretical papers without new experimental findings may be published. The Journal of Memory and Language is a valuable tool for cognitive scientists, including psychologists, linguists, and others interested in memory and learning, language, reading, and speech. Research Areas include: • Topics that illuminate aspects of memory or language processing • Linguistics • Neuropsychology.
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