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The Abstractness Controversy: Experimental Input from Hindi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

Manjari Ohala
Manjari Ohala*
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
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Abstract

If the grammars which linguists write are to reflect psychologically real constructs, then purely structural evidence is not sufficient proof of them; some form of psychological evidence is required. The psycholinguistic test described here was designed to show whether or not a Hindi word such as [ghõ:sla:] ‘nest’, which appears only in this form on the surface, has an underlying form with an ‘abstract’ , i.e. ghõ:sla:. The results show that some speakers have the abstract underlying form, others do not.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , June 1974 , pp. 225 - 235
Copyright
Copyright © 1974 Linguistic Society of America

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