Categorical and grammatical factors in word association

Abstract

The present study undertook to investigate the relationship between semantic or categorical and grammatical scoring systems for word association data. Three "equivalent form" 60-word association lists were read aloud to 180 college students who wrote down their responses in prepared answer booklets. Several analyses were performed for the purpose of comparing word lists. In addition, an average correlation matrix was devised, based only on interlist correlation values. This matrix was subsequently factored and rotated using the varimax procedure. Canonical analysis and factor intercorrelations were also performed, the latter being based on factors defining the grammatical and categorical variables separately. Results were discussed in terms of the separate sets of variables and in terms of the two variable sets jointly, with the final conclusions being that both the grammatical as well as the "older" categorical methods reveal a basic dichotomy between paradigmatic and syntagmatic responses. The possibilities of a noun response tendency were discussed along with a speculated semantic versus syntactic mode of responding.