Language Processing and Acquisition in Languages of Semitic Root-Based Morphology

This book puts together contributions of linguists and psycholinguists whose main interest here is the representation of Semitic words in the mental lexicon of Semitic languages, and how elements of the mental lexicon are involved in syntactic operations. Two views about the morphology of Semitic words are debated. Those advocate the root-based approach present empirical evidence demonstrating that the Semitic language speakers are sensitive to the root and the template as the two basic elements of Semitic words. Those supporting the word-based approach, present arguments to the effect that Semitic word processing is not based on the merge of roots and templates, instead, syntactic processing in Semitic languages is performed by operations in which stems and affixes are involved, similar to what we find in Indo-European languages. The contributors are: Outi Bat-El, Robert Hoberman, Mark Aronoff, Sharon Rose, Elabbas Benmamoun, Jeffrey Heath, Samuel Bolozky, Ora Rodrigue Schwarzvald, Avital Deutsch, Ram Frost, Laurie Beth Feldman, Michal Raveh, Mira Gural, Lauren K. Obler, Ruth A. Berman, Dorit Ravid, Hagit Borer, Yonata Levy, Anne Vainikka and Joseph Shimron.

Joseph Shimron (Ed.)
John Benjamins Pub. 2002.