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. 2019 May 7:10:942.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00942. eCollection 2019.

Plural Conjuncts and Syncretism Facilitate Gender Agreement in Serbo-Croatian:Experimental Evidence

Ivana Mitić  1 , Boban Arsenijević  2
Affiliations

Plural Conjuncts and Syncretism Facilitate Gender Agreement in Serbo-Croatian:Experimental Evidence

Ivana Mitić et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

The literature on agreement in South Slavic generalizes that conjunct agreement in gender is only possible when all conjuncts are plural (e.g., Bošković, 2009). Marušič et al. (2015) and Arsenijević and Mitić (2016a,b) attest a significant level of patterns contradicting this claim in elicited production experiments. They weaken the earlier generalization to a facilitating role of plural number for conjunct agreement in gender. However, the stimuli in the two respective experiments involve syncretism between the members of conjunction. The syncretism removes the possibility - at Phonological Form at least - that by agreeing with one conjunct, the verb disagrees with the other. It is hence expected to result in a similar surface effect as the facilitation by plurals, which makes it a potential confound variable. We report and discuss the results of an experiment aimed to test both the effect of syncretism and the reality of the facilitating effects of plural number. The results of the experiment yield positive answers to both questions: syncretism is a facilitating factor, but plural number nevertheless has its facilitating effect too - as confirmed by the stimuli without syncretism. Since syncretism is a phenomenon in which phonological information plays a central role, our findings support syntactic models of agreement which extend to the interface with phonology. Moreover, our results reveal a double similarity of conjunct agreement with agreement attraction, in both showing a (stronger) attraction effect of plural number compared to singular, and in being sensitive to syncretism (cf. Badecker and Kuminiak, 2007; Malko and Slioussar, 2013; i.e., Bader and Meng, 2002; Hartsuiker et al., 2003; Slioussar, 2018).

Keywords: Serbo-Croatian; agreement; gender; number; syncretism.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The ratio between DEF, LCA, and FCA for all plural conjuncts.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
A graphical representation of the produced patterns and errors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Arsenijević B., Mitić I. (2016a). “Effect of animacy and agentivity on the processing of agreement in Serbo-Croatian,” in Studies in Languages and Mind, Selected papers from third Novi Sad Workshop on Psycholinguistics, Neurolinguistic and Clinical Linguistic Research eds Halupka-Rešetar S., Martínez-Ferreiro S. (Novi Sad: Faculty of Philosophy; ) 41–77.
    1. Arsenijević B., Mitić I. (2016b). On the in dependence of gender with respect to number in agreement with coordinated subjects: an experimental study. J. Slavic Linguist. 24 41–69.

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