Latin American Spanish encompasses the variant of the Spanish language spoken in the diverse countries and regions of Latin America. This variant exhibits a range of linguistic features, regional variations, and cultural expressions that contribute to its uniqueness and distinctiveness within the Spanish-speaking world. It is characterized by its own set of linguistic features and regional variations, influenced by the historical, cultural, and geographical contexts of each country and region. Notably, regional variations, such as Mexican Spanish and Colombian Spanish, have garnered significant attention in the field of linguistics.
Our study is led by Dr. Bojana Ristić and Dr. Christina Manouilidou, in collaboration with visiting MA students Martha Juliana Aponte Niño (Comenius University Bratislava) and María Fernanda Silva Azúa (University of Vienna). The study focuses on the processing of suffixed pseudowords in Mexican and Colombian Spanish. It aims to investigate the two stages involved in processing morphologically complex words after decomposition: licensing (checking stem category) and composition (checking semantic compatibility of stem+affix combinations).
Previous behavioral and neuroimaging studies have shown that pseudowords with argument structure violations are rated as more acceptable, rejected more slowly, and less reliably than pseudowords with category violations. Building upon these findings, the current study explores whether these two stages of processing can be distinguished when suffix attachment rules in Mexican and Colombian Spanish are violated.
Our findings thus far provide valuable insights into the processing of suffixed words and shed light on the factors that influence their acceptability in Mexican Spanish. Further research and analysis are necessary to explore the underlying mechanisms and to better understand the implications of these findings.