This study investigates the role of emotional linguistic input in learning novel words with abstract and concrete denotations. It is widely accepted that concrete concepts are processed more easily than abstract ones. Several theories of vocabulary acquisition additionally propose that learning of concrete concepts puts greater weight on sensorimotor information while abstract concepts put greater weight on emotional information. In this study, proficient adult speakers of English read novel words denoting concrete and abstract concepts (e.g., boat vs religion) embedded in informative passages with different emotional valence (positive, neutral and negative). After five exposures to each novel word in an emotionally consistent context, participants were tested on orthographic and semantic vocabulary learning and provided valence judgments of these novel words. Readers successfully learned orthographic form and meaning of novel words, with a concreteness advantage seen in both tasks measuring semantic learning. Critically, valence of linguistic contexts was more influential for novel words with concrete denotations. In line with previous reports, the transfer of context emotionality to novel words (i.e., semantic prosody) took place in concrete stimuli and not abstract stimuli, even though they were both embedded in emotional contexts. An equal advantage was seen for semantic learning of novel words with both concrete and abstract denotations seen in positive contexts. These findings provide counter-evidence to theories advocating greater reliance of abstract concept learning on emotional information. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / “The girl walked her plurk down the street.” Did you think of a dog? Adults are constantly learning new words by inferring the meaning through context. By making small changes to word and sentence stimuli we can study how semantic properties such as emotion (positive, neutral, or negative) and concreteness (e.g., "lamp" is a physical object that can be touched, making it high in concreteness, while "hope" cannot be touched and is therefore low in concreteness, or abstract) interact. In the current study, we manipulate contexts to vary in emotionality and words to vary in concreteness. Participants read short passages containing new words and were given a surprise test after that measured how well they learned the emotionality, forms, and meanings of the new words. This study presents new insight for theories of how new words are learned and stored in the brain and have implications for language learning materials.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/27028 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Lana, Nadia |
| Contributors | Kuperman, Victor, Cognitive Science of Language |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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