A Model on the Processing of Noun-Noun Conceptual Combination and Its Verification

In this study, a model on the processing of noun-noun conceptual combination was proposed and an experiment was conducted to verify it. The model suggests that thematic-relation interpretation can be facilitated when there are any salient external properties in the head and the modifier is relevant to one of them. On the other hand, property-mapping interpretation can be facilitated when there are any salient internal properties in the modifier and the head has any relevant slot (dimension) to one of them. The experiment examined whether external/internal properties in the heads/modifiers and relevance between modifier and head can facilitate property or relation interpretation by measuring interpretation times and degrees of interpretation convergency. The results showed that the interpretation time is faster and the interpretation convergency is higher when there are external or internal properties and their relevant slots as well.