Possessive Labelling

The possessive labelling experiment had four aims (i) to test for classifier overlap, (ii) to test for speaker variation, (iii) to map semantic domains, and (iv) to test atypical possessions.

Method

Participants completed the experiment using a laptop, in which they listened to 140 names for different things in their language. Participants heard a beep, followed by an audio cue of the target noun, and were asked to say that the referent of the noun belonged to them. The researcher emphasised that there are various ways to express things belong to them, but they should respond with the first way they thought. Participants were given the example: If you hear the word ‘flying fox’ you must say ‘mine’. Or if you hear the word ‘trousers’ you must say ‘mine’. There may be different ways to say ‘mine’ for these things in your language. A short three-word practice task was conducted with all participants.

Results

Participant’s data reveals a list of classifiers that occur with nouns in Oceanic languages. Results are still under analysis.

Data

Data can be accessed…