Are super-complex words represented like sentences in speakers' minds?

Abstract

This project aims to examine speakers' knowledge of super-complex words in the remote Australian language Wubuy. The project will provide a crucial test of current theories of language processing and linguistic typology via experimental work on the Indigenous language Wubuy, a language that defies the perceived fundamental distinction between words and phrases. This will have significant benefit to Indigenous language maintenance and revitalisation efforts and thus help improve Indigenous education outcomes and reinforce cultural pride.

Related publications (2)

Pause acceptability indicates word-internal structure in Wubuy

Rikke L Bundgaard-Nielsen, Brett J Baker

2020-05-01

Words in polysynthetic languages, such as the Australian language Wubuy, can be semantically complex and translate into whole phra..

Acoustic correlates of lexical stress in Wubuy

Brett Baker, Rikke Bundgaard-Nielsen, Sarah Babinski, Janet Fletcher

2019-01-01

We examined the acoustic correlates of lexical stress in the non-Pama-Nyungan language Wubuy (Northern Territory, Australia). We t..