Abstruse neologism formation: parallel processing revisited.
Aspects of two different approaches to normal syllable formation (Berg, 1989; Clements, 1988, 1990) are incorporated into a model of abstruse neologism production characterized by redundant coding of sonority at various levels of parallel language processing. Data suggesting that the sonority profiles of abstruse neologisms accord with patterns found in legitimate English words are presented. Discussion explores neologism genesis from two well-known theoretical perspectives, illustrates how each theory of syllable formation might be instantiated within the model, and illustrates the role of sonority in constraining abstruse neologism production at several levels of parallel processing.
Christman
S S
SS
Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, USA.