Non-Māori-speaking New Zealanders have a Māori proto-lexicon
Abstract We investigate implicit vocabulary learning by adults who are exposed to a language in their ambient environment. Most New Zealanders do not speak Māori, yet are exposed to it throughout their lifetime. We show that this exposure leads to a large proto-lexicon – implicit knowledge of the ex...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | article |
| Language: | EN |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doaj.org/article/e9fbcba6adda49ccb8c0c8abd7b9651d |
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| Summary: | Abstract We investigate implicit vocabulary learning by adults who are exposed to a language in their ambient environment. Most New Zealanders do not speak Māori, yet are exposed to it throughout their lifetime. We show that this exposure leads to a large proto-lexicon – implicit knowledge of the existence of words and sub-word units without any associated meaning. Despite not explicitly knowing many Māori words, non-Māori-speaking New Zealanders are able to access this proto-lexicon to distinguish Māori words from Māori-like nonwords. What's more, they are able to generalize over the proto-lexicon to generate sophisticated phonotactic knowledge, which lets them evaluate the well-formedness of Māori-like nonwords just as well as fluent Māori speakers. |
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