Neural correlates of Italian nominal compounds and potential impact of headedness effect: An ERP study

Abstract

An event-related potential (ERP) technique was used to investigate the way in which noun–noun compounds are processed during a lexical decision task with Italian speakers. Reaction times and error rates were higher for compounds than for noncompounds. ERP data showed a more negative peak in the left anterior negativity (LAN) component for compounds. These results are compatible with a dual-route model that posits not only whole-word access for compounds but also an activation of decomposed representations of compound constituents. A final result relates to head position, which in Italian compounds could be on either the left- or the right-hand side of the word. While behavioural analysis did not reveal a difference between left- and right-headed compounds, a difference was found with the P300 component. The role of the compound head as a crucial information-bearing component is discussed.

Keywords:

• Noun-noun compounds
• Headedness effect
• ERPs
• LAN component

This research was supported by a grant from the Marie Curie Research Training Network “NUMBRA: Numeracy And Brain Development” to Radouane El Yagoubi and Carlo Semenza. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers and in particular to the guest Editor, Michele Miozzo, for detailed comments and suggestions on earlier versions of the manuscript.

Notes

¹ Other Italian compounds (i.e., verb–noun compounds, the most productive type in Italian) have an exocentric structure. In exocentric compounds, neither of the two elements is the logical and grammatical head of the compound. For instance, a portamonete, “coin purse” (literally “carry-coins”), is neither a special type of coin nor a special way of carrying something—this compound is a noun and refers to an object that is used to contain (carry) coins. This type of composition is much less common in English (e.g., pickpocket or passport, which are neither a type of pocket nor a type of port). The logical head of this type of compounds is therefore missing—that is to say, it is not phonologically specified.