ERIC Number: EJ742731
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005-Dec
Pages: 10
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1092-4388
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Available Date: N/A
The Processing of Morphology in Old Age: Evidence from Hebrew
Kave, Gitit; Levy, Yonata
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, v48 n6 p1442-1451 Dec 2005
Purpose: Taking advantage of the rich morphological structure of Hebrew, the current article aims to examine whether age affects the processing of morphological forms through an investigation of 2 systematic morphological paradigms. Method: Forty-eight young and 48 old Hebrew speakers completed 2 experiments: the 1st investigated sensitivity to subject-verb gender incongruity in a reading task, and the 2nd examined parsing of pseudoverbs containing existing and nonexisting consonantal roots in a lexical-decision task. Results: Older adults were slower relative to the young, but both groups were slower on incongruent relative to congruent targets and on a pseudoverb with a real root relative to a pseudoverb with a nonexistent root. In both experiments the interaction between condition and age was statistically significant. Conclusions: While older adults demonstrate preserved morphological parsing abilities, possible explanations for the interaction effect include cognitive slowing or deficient inhibitory control. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.)
Descriptors: Morphology (Languages), Language Processing, Older Adults, Semitic Languages, Age, Native Speakers, Verbs, Young Adults, Comparative Analysis, Language Skills, Task Analysis, Verbal Stimuli, Aging (Individuals)
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
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Author Affiliations: N/A