A.H. Neijt

New Machine Learning Methods Demonstrate the Existence of a Human Stylome

Earlier research has shown that established authors can be distinguished by measuring specific properties of their writings, their stylome as it were. Here, we examine writings of less experienced authors. We succeed in distinguishing between these authors with a very high probability, which implies that a stylome exists even in the general population. However, the number of traits needed for so successful a distinction is an order of magnitude larger than assumed so far. Furthermore, traits referring to syntactic patterns prove less distinctive than traits referring to vocabulary, but much more distinctive than expected on the basis of current generativist theories of language learning.

Regular plurals in Dutch compounds: Linking graphemes or morphemes?

In this paper, we address the functional role of the orthographic realisation of the linking schwa in Dutch nominal compounds. From a diachronic perspective, the linking schwa is a historical relic of the now obsolete morphological system of medieval Dutch. Synchronically, however, it appears in two orthographic forms, -e and -en, both of which are homographs of high-frequency inflectional affixes. The suffix -e primarily functions as an agreement marker without intrinsic meaning. The suffix -en primarily realises plural number on nouns and verbs. Are plural semantics activated in the mental lexicon when the linking schwa is written as the plural suffix? This question has become relevant for Dutch in the light of a recent change in the spelling rules which now prescribe the -en spelling for compounds with no meaning of plurality. We addressed this question by means of four experiments, which revealed that writing the linking schwa in the orthographic form of the plural suffix does indeed lead to the activation of the plural semantics, even when plural semantics are not intended. We interpret our results within the framework of a parallel dual-route model of morphological processing.

Word length and the location of primary word stress in Dutch, German, and English*

Abstract This study addresses the extent to which the location of primary stress in Dutch, German, and English monomorphemic words is affected by the syllables preceding the three final syllables. We present analyses of the monomorphemic words in the CELEX lexical database, which showed that penultimate primary stress is less frequent in Dutch and English trisyllabic than quadrisyllabic words. In addition, we discuss paper-and-pencil experiments in which native speakers assigned primary stress to pseudowords. These experiments provided evidence that in all three languages penultimate stress is more likely in quadrisyllabic than in trisyllabic words. We explain this length effect with the preferences in these languages for word-initial stress and for alternating patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables. The experimental data also showed important intra- and interspeaker variation, and they thus form a challenging test case for theories of language variation.

The Relation of Writing to Spoken Language

This volume grew out of the workshop Writing Language, held at the Max Planck Institute, Nijmegen. The papers represent several lines of research into the intricate relation between writing and spoken language: Theoretical and computational linguists discuss the models that explain why orthographies are the way they are and the constraints that hold between writing and speaking a language; researchers in special education deal with the question of how certain aspects of orthography can be learned; and psycholinguists discuss aspects of language processing affected by variation in orthographies.

Two languages, two sets of interpretations: Language-specific influences of morphological form on Dutch and English speakers' interpretation of compounds

Abstract The present study investigates linguistic relativity. Do form differences between Dutch and English influence the interpretations which speakers have? The Dutch element en in noun-noun compounds, for example in aardbeienjam ‘strawberry jam’ is homophonous and homographic with the regular plural suffix -en. English, in contrast, has no such typical linking elements in compounds. We therefore investigated the interpretation of Dutch modifiers in compounds and their English equivalents. We compared the plurality ratings of Dutch modifiers with and without the linking element en by native Dutch speakers, and the plurality ratings of English modifiers by native Dutch speakers and native English speakers. If the Dutch linking en induces plural meaning, we expected a difference between the plurality ratings by English speakers for English modifiers and by Dutch speakers for Dutch modifiers, such that the estimation of the number of strawberries in strawberry jam is lower for the English speakers than the number of aardbeien in aardbeienjam for the Dutch speakers. This is exactly what we found. Moreover, when native Dutch speakers rate the English equivalents, their interpretation of strawberry jam is the same as for native English speakers, which shows the language being used to influence semantic interpretations.

Analogy, frequency, and sound change: The case of Dutch devoicing

This study investigates the roles of phonetic analogy and lexical frequency in an ongoing sound change, the devoicing of fricatives in Dutch, which occurs mainly in the Netherlands and to a lesser degree in Flanders. In the experiment, Dutch and Flemish students read two variants of 98 words: the standard and a nonstandard form with the incorrect voice value of the fricative. Dutch students chose the non-standard forms with devoiced fricatives more often than Flemish students. Moreover, devoicing, though a gradual process, appeared lexically diffused, affecting first the words that are low in frequency and phonetically similar to words with voiceless fricatives. *

The similarity of plural endings and linking elements in regional speech variants of Dutch.

The plural suffix -en (noot+en, ‘nuts’) is pronounced differently by speakers coming from different regions of the Netherlands. In this study, we compared the pronunciation of the plural suffix -en in phrases (noot+en kraken, ‘to crack nuts’) with linking en in compounds (noot+en+kraker, ‘nutcracker’), because some claim that both are similar (Schreuder, Neijt, van der Weide, & Baayen, 1998), whereas others claim that they are not (Verkuyl, 2007). The pronunciations of 109 participants coming from five regions of the Netherlands were therefore compared in a picture naming task. A systematic relation between the pronunciations of plural -en and linking en was detected: Speakers from the Northern and Eastern regions produced [(ᵊ)n] most often for both the linking elements and plural endings, while speakers from the Middle and Western regions produced [ᵊ] most often for both. For speakers from the Southern region, we found no preference to pronounce either [ᵊ] or [ᵊn] in compounds or phrases. It is concluded that Dutch speakers often do not distinguish plural -en from linking en in their speech production. Possibly, speakers of Dutch consider linking en and plural -en as the same morpheme.

De historische ontwikkeling van de tussenklank in Nederlandse nominale samenstellingen

The distribution of linking elements in Dutch nominal compounds seems erratic at first glance. The literature attributes this to the origin of the linking elements as case markers. When the decay of the case system set in, these markers were retained in compounds but gradually lost their meaning. This allowed the case markers to spread to compounds with a paradigmatically incongruous first element and to acquire their new functions as plural ending and prosodic element. This sketch suggests that the decline of the case system was the main factor in the development of the linking elements. We argue against this view. The loss of case does not overtly correlate with the increase of linking elements. Furthermore, already in Middle-Dutch, the linking element had a prosodic function. The loss of case can only partly account for the spread of linking elements. We hypothesize that an equally important factor is the presence of head-initial stress, which also set in motion the decay of the case system. The erratic distribution of the linking elements is the result of an interplay between phonology, morphology and semantics.

Van boekenbonnen en feëverhale. De tussenklank e(n) in Nederlandse en Afrikaanse samenstellingen: vorm of betekenis?

Compounds in Dutch and Afrikaans may contain a linking sound resembling the plural suffix [_] or [_n]. This linking sound can be spelled in Dutch as e or en, a difference which previous research has shown to affect the interpretation of left hand members of compounds regarding their plurality. Here, we look at the existence of the reverse effect: do semantic clues about number influence preferences for a linking sound in novel compounds? Indeed, contexts in which the left hand member of a compound-to-be is present in its plural form increase the tendency to prefer a linking element (using a seven-point rating scale). In contexts which merely suggest a plural interpretation for the left hand member, this propensity is markedly less for speakers of Dutch, and absent for speakers of Afrikaans. Of interest is the asymmetry with previous research that shows how subtle form differences influence number interpretation.

De verenigbaarheid van didactische middelen en taalkundige spellinglogica bij Nederlandse werkwoorden

Despite years of dedicated education, a significant number of Dutch pupils leave primary school each year without mastering verb spelling. At this point, the spelling system appears to be a wolf in sheeps clothing. The system underlying Dutch verb spelling is logical, but it violates the basic rules of Dutch spelling and leads to homophonic forms that have to be spelled differently. The effect of frequency and context increases the uncertainty on how to spell these verb forms. The latest research, by now already about thirty years old, indicated that verb spelling is learned best by whole-class teaching and by means of an algorithm. In this article we discuss the available didactic resources and the problems that students have to overcome when learning Dutch verb spelling. It provides us with a tentative answer as to whether didactic resources and the logic of Dutch verb spelling are compatible.