On the role of conjunction in adjective ordering preferences

Rosales, Cesar Manuel; Scontras, Gregory

doi:10.3765/plsa.v4i1.4524

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…11 Relationship between conjoined adjective order probability (Yaxis) and human judgments and model estimates of prenominal adjective order (X-axis) probably many other factors that impinge on how conjoined adjectives are ordered, rendering likely need less central. These factors may have implications for understanding adjective order in languages such as Spanish, in which adjectives must obligatorily be conjoined (Rosales & Scontras, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prenominal adjective order is such a fat big deal because adjectives are ordered by likely need

Westbury

2020

Psychon Bull Rev

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

When multiple adjectives precede a noun in English, they are often ordered in a way that is implicitly understood by all fluent speakers of the language. Adjective order might be described as a big fat deal, but to describe it as a fat big deal betrays a lack of knowledge of English. Sweet (A New English Grammar: Part II, 1898/1955) proposed two related semantic principles to explain the phenomenon: definiteness of denotation (adjectives that denote a property that is most independent of the modified noun must be placed furthest from that noun) and closeness of adjective/noun in meaning (adjectives that denote properties essential to or inherent in the modified noun are placed closer to the noun). These observational descriptions of the phenomenon have received experimental support (Martin, Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 8(6), 697-704, 1969). However, the issue of why Sweet's rules are true has not yet been solved. I propose, operationalize, test, and find strong support for a simple theory: that prenominal adjective order reflects likely need, the a priori probability that a particular adjective will be needed.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prenominal adjective order is such a fat big deal because adjectives are ordered by likely need

Westbury

2020

Psychon Bull Rev

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As mentioned above, adjective ordering preferences are considered robust in many languages (Cinque, 1994; Danks & Glucksberg, 1971; Dixon, 1982; Laenzlinger, 2005; Martin, 1969a, 1969b; Martin & Molfese, 1972; Scontras et al, 2017, 2019; Scott, 2002; Svenonius, 2008; Whorf, 1945), with some cross-linguistic variance (Cinque, 1994; Sproat & Shih, 1991). However, a recent study (Trainin & Shetreet, 2021) suggests that adjective ordering preferences in Hebrew (a post-nominal language where adjectives appear after the noun they modify) are not as robust as has been previously claimed (Shlonsky, 2004; for similar results in Spanish, another post-nominal language, see Rosales & Scontras, 2019). In production, naturalness rating, and forced-choice tasks, ordering preferences in Hebrew were shown to be significantly weaker than in English.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Learning speaker-specific linguistic ‘style’ is mediated by deviance from common language use

Trainin

Shetreet

2023

Lang. cogn.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Different speakers sometimes convey similar meanings differently. This study examined whether listeners could learn to associate a specific linguistic ‘style’ with a certain speaker, with no apparent difference in meaning, and the role of unnatural linguistic choices (or unexpectedness) in such learning. We created an inter-speaker variation in ‘style’ using the weak adjective ordering preferences in Hebrew. Participants were exposed to two different speakers, each producing a different adjective order, consistently. We manipulated the combinations of order pairings, based on their naturalness (with two natural orders, a natural and an unnatural order, and two unnatural orders), and examined participants’ ability to associate a unique order with a specific speaker. In two experiments, using different statistical analyses, we show that listeners can learn speaker-specific language use when it is irrelevant for meaning inferences, when deviance from natural or expected language use is involved. We further discuss whether learning may be facilitated by differences in naturalness or structural form. Our findings suggest that listeners are sensitive to inter-speaker variability in ‘style’, mostly when this ‘style’ is unexpected. This is in line with the predictions of Surprisal theory, and may suggest that surprisal plays a major role in learning speaker-specific language use.

show abstract

“…Importantly, at least in English, conjunction has been claimed to neutralize adjective ordering preferences (e.g., Ford & Olson 1975;Byrne 1979). In other words, although speakers strongly prefer big red apple to red big apple, with conjunction, red and big apple is claimed to be acceptable (but see Rosales & Scontras 2019 for evidence of subjectivity-based preferences even with conjunction in English).…”

Section: Adjectivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adjective ordering in Tagalog: A cross-linguistic comparison of subjectivity-based preferences

Samonte¹,

Scontras

2019

Proc Ling Soc Amer

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Previous studies have shown that speakers have robust adjective ordering preferences. For example, in English, big red apple is strongly preferred to red big apple. Recently, Scontras et al. (2017) showed that an adjective's distance from the noun it modifies is best predicted by the adjective's subjectivity, with less subjective adjectives preferred closer to the modified noun. However, this finding was limited to English. The current study investigates the status of subjectivity-based adjective ordering preference in Tagalog, a language that forms its modification structures with the conjunction-like LINKER particle. Using Tagalog translations of the original English materials, we show that subjectivity predicts ordering preferences in Tagalog, as it does in English.

show abstract

On the role of conjunction in adjective ordering preferences

Cited by 8 publications

References 16 publications

Prenominal adjective order is such a fat big deal because adjectives are ordered by likely need

Prenominal adjective order is such a fat big deal because adjectives are ordered by likely need

Learning speaker-specific linguistic ‘style’ is mediated by deviance from common language use

Adjective ordering in Tagalog: A cross-linguistic comparison of subjectivity-based preferences

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About