The plural of VULCÃO is…

Network Model:
•  Whole
words or frequently used expressions are the
basic units of lexical storage;
•  Human
beings store words exactly as they store
other things in their mind;
•  Distinction
•  Frequency
between type and token frequency;
effects can happen in both regular and
irregular items.
General –S rule:
Singular
Plural
casa
casaS
árvore
árvoreS
gato
gatoS
Translation
Singular
Plural
nariz
narizes
computador
computadores
anel
anéis
mês
meses
Translation
Latin Singular
Latin Plural
manum
manuS
panem
paneS
leonem
leoneS
Translation
Portuguese Singular
Portuguese Plural
mão
mãos
pão
pães
leão
leões
Translation
The plural of CAPITÃO is…
Capitães
Capitãos
Capitões???
The plural of VULCÃO is…
Vulcães
Vulcãos
Vulcões???
Total of 1,389 words
120
100
97.4
80
60
40
20
1.8
0.8
ÃOS
ÃES
0
ÕES
12 words ending with –ÃO, divided in
different frequency ranges: low, medium
and high;
36 speakers selected through social
factors.
What do you see here? Could you make a
comment about the pictures that you see?
Mãos?
Balões?
Pulmões?
vulcões / vulcãos / vulcães??
Os
da Califórnia sempre entram
em erupção.
leões / leãos / leães??
Os
vivem na África.
pães??
Compramos alguns
integrais.
pões / pãos /
What is the plural of the following words?
Words
Reaction
Girafa
GirafaS!
Vulcão
Vulcão? Não sei…
Acho que é vulcões…
Sapato
SapatoS!
Avião
Ehhhhhh… aviões?
Mochila
MochilaS
Translation
1,341 tokens, codified based on:
1) Social Factors:
  Gender:
  Age
Masculine or feminine
Group: 15-30, 31-45, 46-60
  Level
of Education: Elementary, High
School, University
2) Structural Factors:
  Type
of plural applied by the speaker:
–ÕES, –ÃOS, –ÃES
  Etymological
plural: –ÕES, –ÃOS, –ÃES
leão (ões), mão (ãos), pão (ães)
  Number
of syllables:
pão x a-vi-ão
  Stress:
stressed or unstressed syllables
(opinião x órgão)
  Morphology:
suffix or non-suffix
(organização x mão)
  Frequency: low, medium or high
SPSS statistical package
High frequency words will keep their plurals,
no matter which plural group they belong
to;
  Low frequency words pluralized with –ÃOS
or –ÃES are likely to adopt the –ÕES plural,
because this is the most frequent
pluralization in the speakers’ mental lexicon;
  Both regular and irregular words will show
frequency effects, because whole words
are stored in the lexicon.
 
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An interaction between type and token
frequency can justify the phenomenon
analyzed;
  Both regular and irregular words were subject
to frequency effects;
  Speakers make generalizations based on
phonological and semantic similarities;
  Whole words are stored in our mental lexicon;
  Human beings categorize words and nonlinguistic information using the same criteria.
