The inflected noun system in Serbo-Croatian: lexical representation of morphological structure

Repetition priming is examined for alternating & nonalternating morphologically related inflected Ns in the speech of native Serbo-Croatian speakers (N = 42). In experiments 1 & 2, latencies to targets in nominative & dative/locative cases, respectively, were invariant over case of prime. In experiment 3, latencies to nominative-case Ns were the same whether the Ns were primed by forms in which the spelling & pronunciation of the common stem were shared (nonalternating) or not (alternating) with the nominative form. Results are interpreted as reflecting lexical organization among the members of a N system. In experiments 1 & 2, the pattern of latencies to primes suggests a satellite organization in which nominative forms are more strongly linked to oblique forms than oblique forms are to each other. In experiment 3, atypical cases of alternating forms showed a different pattern of prime latencies, suggesting that the organization within a N system may differ for alternating & nonalternating forms. 5 Tables, 31 References. HA