Abstract
The ability to combine the meanings of individual words into complex semantic representations is a defining trait of human linguistic competence. Despite its significance, little is known about the neurocognitive mechanisms responsible for language comprehension. An important step is to establish the neural correlates of simple linguistic composition. In the present work, we studied on-line event related potentials (ERPs) and off-line behavioral responses to adjective-noun phrases in Bokmål Norwegian. We included NPs from three semantic conditions: privative adjectives (“fake doctor”), non-privative adjectives (“real doctor”) and semantic anomalies (“quadrangular doctor”). We contrasted these semantic conditions, requiring composition, to three non-semantic conditions, where the adjective was replaced by either a non-word, a pseudo-word or an adverb. Looking at the critical noun (“doctor”), this contrast revealed a larger P600 in the semantic trials. This might suggest that the P600 is an ERP signature of composition.
Due to the paucity of research on how adjectival modification influences the on-line composition of phrasal meaning, we further investigated the impact of privative vs. non privative adjectives on ERP signals and behavioral responses. We found an effect of privative trials in the post-N400 time window. Lastly, we contrasted the semantically anomalous trials against the non-privative trials. This comparison did not reveal the expected N400 component, but rather a modulation of the P600 component.
The thesis will discuss these findings in light of formal theories of compositional semantics and current models of language processing.
