{"id":{"repo_id":"penn","oai_identifier":"oai:repository.upenn.edu:20.500.14332/31705"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/penn/oai:repository.upenn.edu:20.500.14332/31705","repository":{"repo_id":"penn","name":"University of Pennsylvania","base_url":"https://repository.upenn.edu/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The Processing And Mental Representation Of Ing Variation","abstract":"This dissertation examines the processing and mental representation of the sociolinguistic variable ING (thinking~thinkin'). Sociolinguists have asked questions about the locus of the ING variable using naturalistic speech data, which has resulted in a debate on whether the variable is phonological or morphological. These accounts of ING are not well-defined, and it is hard to isolate these representational properties in conversational data. I propose that locus of variation questions can be thought of as questions about the mental representation of variation, and that it would be fruitful to explore them using a highly-controllable tool from psycholinguistic research: primed lexical decision experiments. This tool is used to show that semantic, phonological, and morphological aspects of representation facilitate processing in different ways. I integrate sociolinguistic knowledge of variable ING with psycholinguistic knowledge on researching mental representations to ask: how are the socially meaningful variants -ing and -in' mentally represented, and which aspects of shared representation contribute to how they are processed? Based on a framework of relevant aspects of representation, I establish a baseline understanding of the mental representation of -ing and -in' across six experiments. Chapter 4 shows that -ing and -in' prime both themselves and each other in words with unrelated stems (e.g. jumping-thinking), and uncovers an asymmetrical priming pattern between -ing and -in' targets; -in'-in' prime-target pairs enjoy a processing boost over -ing-ing, -in'-ing, and -ing-in' pairs. Chapter 5 finds that this \"-in' boost'\" is temporally weak. Chapter 6 establishes that surface phonology does not contribute to the -in' boost. Chapter 7 shows that the -in' boost is insensitive to shared representation between prime-target stems. The results show robust and replicable affix priming for -ing and -in'. They also show a processing difference between the variants, and demonstrate properties of the -in' boost. Taken together, the -in' boost can be interpreted under a representation-based account, which suggests that -ing is the underlying phonological form, and that this can change to -in' via application of a phonological rule. Finally, I propose future avenues of research that test this account and elaborate our understanding of the mental representation of variable ING.","abstract_html":"This dissertation examines the processing and mental representation of the sociolinguistic variable ING (thinking~thinkin'). Sociolinguists have asked questions about the locus of the ING variable using naturalistic speech data, which has resulted in a debate on whether the variable is phonological or morphological. These accounts of ING are not well-defined, and it is hard to isolate these representational properties in conversational data. I propose that locus of variation questions can be thought of as questions about the mental representation of variation, and that it would be fruitful to explore them using a highly-controllable tool from psycholinguistic research: primed lexical decision experiments. This tool is used to show that semantic, phonological, and morphological aspects of representation facilitate processing in different ways. I integrate sociolinguistic knowledge of variable ING with psycholinguistic knowledge on researching mental representations to ask: how are the socially meaningful variants -ing and -in' mentally represented, and which aspects of shared representation contribute to how they are processed? Based on a framework of relevant aspects of representation, I establish a baseline understanding of the mental representation of -ing and -in' across six experiments. Chapter 4 shows that -ing and -in' prime both themselves and each other in words with unrelated stems (e.g. jumping-thinking), and uncovers an asymmetrical priming pattern between -ing and -in' targets; -in'-in' prime-target pairs enjoy a processing boost over -ing-ing, -in'-ing, and -ing-in' pairs. Chapter 5 finds that this "-in' boost'" is temporally weak. Chapter 6 establishes that surface phonology does not contribute to the -in' boost. Chapter 7 shows that the -in' boost is insensitive to shared representation between prime-target stems. The results show robust and replicable affix priming for -ing and -in'. They also show a processing difference between the variants, and demonstrate properties of the -in' boost. Taken together, the -in' boost can be interpreted under a representation-based account, which suggests that -ing is the underlying phonological form, and that this can change to -in' via application of a phonological rule. Finally, I propose future avenues of research that test this account and elaborate our understanding of the mental representation of variable ING.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["White, Yosiane Zenobia"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Meredith M. Tamminga","David D. Embick"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021","date_published":"2021","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:45:26Z","subjects":[],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Yosiane Zenobia White"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://repository.upenn.edu/handle/20.500.14332/31705","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Meredith M. Tamminga","David D. 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Sociolinguists have asked questions about the locus of the ING variable using naturalistic speech data, which has resulted in a debate on whether the variable is phonological or morphological. These accounts of ING are not well-defined, and it is hard to isolate these representational properties in conversational data. I propose that locus of variation questions can be thought of as questions about the mental representation of variation, and that it would be fruitful to explore them using a highly-controllable tool from psycholinguistic research: primed lexical decision experiments. This tool is used to show that semantic, phonological, and morphological aspects of representation facilitate processing in different ways. I integrate sociolinguistic knowledge of variable ING with psycholinguistic knowledge on researching mental representations to ask: how are the socially meaningful variants -ing and -in' mentally represented, and which aspects of shared representation contribute to how they are processed? Based on a framework of relevant aspects of representation, I establish a baseline understanding of the mental representation of -ing and -in' across six experiments. Chapter 4 shows that -ing and -in' prime both themselves and each other in words with unrelated stems (e.g. jumping-thinking), and uncovers an asymmetrical priming pattern between -ing and -in' targets; -in'-in' prime-target pairs enjoy a processing boost over -ing-ing, -in'-ing, and -ing-in' pairs. Chapter 5 finds that this \"-in' boost'\" is temporally weak. Chapter 6 establishes that surface phonology does not contribute to the -in' boost. Chapter 7 shows that the -in' boost is insensitive to shared representation between prime-target stems. The results show robust and replicable affix priming for -ing and -in'. They also show a processing difference between the variants, and demonstrate properties of the -in' boost. Taken together, the -in' boost can be interpreted under a representation-based account, which suggests that -ing is the underlying phonological form, and that this can change to -in' via application of a phonological rule. Finally, I propose future avenues of research that test this account and elaborate our understanding of the mental representation of variable ING."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Processing And Mental Representation Of Ing Variation"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Meredith M. Tamminga","David D. Embick"],"dc:creator":["White, Yosiane Zenobia"],"dc:date":["2023-05-18T03:21:57.000"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2023-05-22T18:21:33Z"],"dc:date.available":["2001-01-01T00:00:00Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2021"],"dc:description.abstract":["This dissertation examines the processing and mental representation of the sociolinguistic variable ING (thinking~thinkin'). Sociolinguists have asked questions about the locus of the ING variable using naturalistic speech data, which has resulted in a debate on whether the variable is phonological or morphological. These accounts of ING are not well-defined, and it is hard to isolate these representational properties in conversational data. I propose that locus of variation questions can be thought of as questions about the mental representation of variation, and that it would be fruitful to explore them using a highly-controllable tool from psycholinguistic research: primed lexical decision experiments. This tool is used to show that semantic, phonological, and morphological aspects of representation facilitate processing in different ways. I integrate sociolinguistic knowledge of variable ING with psycholinguistic knowledge on researching mental representations to ask: how are the socially meaningful variants -ing and -in' mentally represented, and which aspects of shared representation contribute to how they are processed? Based on a framework of relevant aspects of representation, I establish a baseline understanding of the mental representation of -ing and -in' across six experiments. Chapter 4 shows that -ing and -in' prime both themselves and each other in words with unrelated stems (e.g. jumping-thinking), and uncovers an asymmetrical priming pattern between -ing and -in' targets; -in'-in' prime-target pairs enjoy a processing boost over -ing-ing, -in'-ing, and -ing-in' pairs. Chapter 5 finds that this \"-in' boost'\" is temporally weak. Chapter 6 establishes that surface phonology does not contribute to the -in' boost. Chapter 7 shows that the -in' boost is insensitive to shared representation between prime-target stems. The results show robust and replicable affix priming for -ing and -in'. They also show a processing difference between the variants, and demonstrate properties of the -in' boost. Taken together, the -in' boost can be interpreted under a representation-based account, which suggests that -ing is the underlying phonological form, and that this can change to -in' via application of a phonological rule. Finally, I propose future avenues of research that test this account and elaborate our understanding of the mental representation of variable ING."],"dc:description.degree":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://repository.upenn.edu/handle/20.500.14332/31705"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Yosiane Zenobia White"],"dc:title":["The Processing And Mental Representation Of Ing Variation"],"dc:type":["Dissertation/Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:45:26Z"}