{"id":{"repo_id":"unm","oai_identifier":"oai:digitalrepository.unm.edu:ling_etds-1002"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/unm/oai:digitalrepository.unm.edu:ling_etds-1002","repository":{"repo_id":"unm","name":"University of New Mexico","base_url":"https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"Quantitative determinants of prefabs: A corpus-based, experimental study of multiword units in the lexicon","abstract":"In recent years many researchers have been rethinking the Words and Rules' model of syntax (Pinker 1999), instead arguing that language processing relies on a large number of preassembled multiword units, or 'prefabs' (Bolinger 1976). A usage-based perspective predicts that linguistic units, including prefabs, arise via repeated use, and prefabs should thus be associated with the frequency with which words co-occur (Langacker 1987). Indeed, in several recent experiments, corpus analysis is found to be associated with behavioral measures for multiword sequences (Kapatsinski and Radicke 2009, Ellis and Simpson-Vlach 2009). This dissertation supplements such findings with two new psycholinguistic investigations of prefabs. Study 1 revisits a dictation experiment by Schmitt et al. (2004), in which participants are asked to listen to stretches of speech and repeat the input verbatim, after performing a distractor task intended to encourage reliance on prefabs. I describe the results of an updated experiment which demonstrates that participants are less likely to interrupt or partially alter high-frequency multiword sequences. Although the original study by Schmitt et al. (2004) reported null findings, the revised methodology suggests that frequency indeed plays a role in the creation of prefabs. Study 2 investigates the distribution of affix positioning errors (he go aheads) which give evidence that some multiword sequences (e.g., go ahead) are retrieved from memory as a unit. As part of this study, I describe a novel methodology which elicits the errors of interest in an experimental setting. Errors evincing holistic retrieval are induced more often among multiword sequences that are high in Mutual Dependency, a corpus measure that weighs a sequence's frequency against the frequencies of its component words. Followup analyses indicate that sequence frequency is positively associated with affix errors, but only if component-word frequencies are included as variables in the model. In sum, the studies in this dissertation provide evidence that prefabricated, multiword units are associated with high frequency of a sequence, in addition to statistical measures that take component words' frequency into account. These findings provide further support for a usage-based model of the lexicon, in which linguistic units are both gradient and changeable with experience.","abstract_html":"In recent years many researchers have been rethinking the Words and Rules' model of syntax (Pinker 1999), instead arguing that language processing relies on a large number of preassembled multiword units, or 'prefabs' (Bolinger 1976). A usage-based perspective predicts that linguistic units, including prefabs, arise via repeated use, and prefabs should thus be associated with the frequency with which words co-occur (Langacker 1987). Indeed, in several recent experiments, corpus analysis is found to be associated with behavioral measures for multiword sequences (Kapatsinski and Radicke 2009, Ellis and Simpson-Vlach 2009). This dissertation supplements such findings with two new psycholinguistic investigations of prefabs. Study 1 revisits a dictation experiment by Schmitt et al. (2004), in which participants are asked to listen to stretches of speech and repeat the input verbatim, after performing a distractor task intended to encourage reliance on prefabs. I describe the results of an updated experiment which demonstrates that participants are less likely to interrupt or partially alter high-frequency multiword sequences. Although the original study by Schmitt et al. (2004) reported null findings, the revised methodology suggests that frequency indeed plays a role in the creation of prefabs. Study 2 investigates the distribution of affix positioning errors (he go aheads) which give evidence that some multiword sequences (e.g., go ahead) are retrieved from memory as a unit. As part of this study, I describe a novel methodology which elicits the errors of interest in an experimental setting. Errors evincing holistic retrieval are induced more often among multiword sequences that are high in Mutual Dependency, a corpus measure that weighs a sequence's frequency against the frequencies of its component words. Followup analyses indicate that sequence frequency is positively associated with affix errors, but only if component-word frequencies are included as variables in the model. In sum, the studies in this dissertation provide evidence that prefabricated, multiword units are associated with high frequency of a sequence, in addition to statistical measures that take component words' frequency into account. These findings provide further support for a usage-based model of the lexicon, in which linguistic units are both gradient and changeable with experience.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Beckner, Clayton"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Linguistics","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Department of Linguistics","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Morford, Jill","Bybee, Joan","Croft, William","Wedel, Andrew"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-07-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2013-07-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:25:53Z","subjects":["psycholinguistics","usage-based theory","holistic processing","multiword units","mental lexicon","speech errors"],"languages":["English"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ling_etds/3","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Morford, Jill","Bybee, Joan","Croft, William","Wedel, Andrew"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Beckner, Clayton"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Department of Linguistics"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation","Doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Linguistics"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["psycholinguistics","usage-based theory","holistic processing","multiword units","mental lexicon","speech errors"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ling_etds/3"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In recent years many researchers have been rethinking the Words and Rules' model of syntax (Pinker 1999), instead arguing that language processing relies on a large number of preassembled multiword units, or 'prefabs' (Bolinger 1976). A usage-based perspective predicts that linguistic units, including prefabs, arise via repeated use, and prefabs should thus be associated with the frequency with which words co-occur (Langacker 1987). Indeed, in several recent experiments, corpus analysis is found to be associated with behavioral measures for multiword sequences (Kapatsinski and Radicke 2009, Ellis and Simpson-Vlach 2009). This dissertation supplements such findings with two new psycholinguistic investigations of prefabs. Study 1 revisits a dictation experiment by Schmitt et al. (2004), in which participants are asked to listen to stretches of speech and repeat the input verbatim, after performing a distractor task intended to encourage reliance on prefabs. I describe the results of an updated experiment which demonstrates that participants are less likely to interrupt or partially alter high-frequency multiword sequences. Although the original study by Schmitt et al. (2004) reported null findings, the revised methodology suggests that frequency indeed plays a role in the creation of prefabs. Study 2 investigates the distribution of affix positioning errors (he go aheads) which give evidence that some multiword sequences (e.g., go ahead) are retrieved from memory as a unit. As part of this study, I describe a novel methodology which elicits the errors of interest in an experimental setting. Errors evincing holistic retrieval are induced more often among multiword sequences that are high in Mutual Dependency, a corpus measure that weighs a sequence's frequency against the frequencies of its component words. Followup analyses indicate that sequence frequency is positively associated with affix errors, but only if component-word frequencies are included as variables in the model. In sum, the studies in this dissertation provide evidence that prefabricated, multiword units are associated with high frequency of a sequence, in addition to statistical measures that take component words' frequency into account. These findings provide further support for a usage-based model of the lexicon, in which linguistic units are both gradient and changeable with experience."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Quantitative determinants of prefabs: A corpus-based, experimental study of multiword units in the lexicon"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Morford, Jill","Bybee, Joan","Croft, William","Wedel, Andrew"],"dc:creator":["Beckner, Clayton"],"dc:description.abstract":["In recent years many researchers have been rethinking the Words and Rules' model of syntax (Pinker 1999), instead arguing that language processing relies on a large number of preassembled multiword units, or 'prefabs' (Bolinger 1976). A usage-based perspective predicts that linguistic units, including prefabs, arise via repeated use, and prefabs should thus be associated with the frequency with which words co-occur (Langacker 1987). Indeed, in several recent experiments, corpus analysis is found to be associated with behavioral measures for multiword sequences (Kapatsinski and Radicke 2009, Ellis and Simpson-Vlach 2009). This dissertation supplements such findings with two new psycholinguistic investigations of prefabs. Study 1 revisits a dictation experiment by Schmitt et al. (2004), in which participants are asked to listen to stretches of speech and repeat the input verbatim, after performing a distractor task intended to encourage reliance on prefabs. I describe the results of an updated experiment which demonstrates that participants are less likely to interrupt or partially alter high-frequency multiword sequences. Although the original study by Schmitt et al. (2004) reported null findings, the revised methodology suggests that frequency indeed plays a role in the creation of prefabs. Study 2 investigates the distribution of affix positioning errors (he go aheads) which give evidence that some multiword sequences (e.g., go ahead) are retrieved from memory as a unit. As part of this study, I describe a novel methodology which elicits the errors of interest in an experimental setting. Errors evincing holistic retrieval are induced more often among multiword sequences that are high in Mutual Dependency, a corpus measure that weighs a sequence's frequency against the frequencies of its component words. Followup analyses indicate that sequence frequency is positively associated with affix errors, but only if component-word frequencies are included as variables in the model. In sum, the studies in this dissertation provide evidence that prefabricated, multiword units are associated with high frequency of a sequence, in addition to statistical measures that take component words' frequency into account. These findings provide further support for a usage-based model of the lexicon, in which linguistic units are both gradient and changeable with experience."],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ling_etds/3"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:subject":["psycholinguistics","usage-based theory","holistic processing","multiword units","mental lexicon","speech errors"],"dc:title":["Quantitative determinants of prefabs: A corpus-based, experimental study of multiword units in the lexicon"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Department of Linguistics"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation","Doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["Linguistics"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:25:53Z"}