Does the order of head noun and modifier explain response times in conceptual combination?

We describe a speeded sensibility judgment experiment in which noun-noun combinations in the Indonesian language were used that parallels Gagné and Shoben's (1997) study of combinations in the English language. Like English, Indonesian is read from left to right and contains noun-noun combinations that are formed by juxtaposing the nouns. However, unlike in English, the order of the modifier and the head noun is reversed. This difference between English and Indonesian combinations allowed us to assess whether sensibility judgments of combinations are affected primarily by the left-right order of the nouns or by different functional roles of the nouns (i.e., modifier vs. head noun). As in Gagné and Shoben's study, the modifier's relation frequency contributed significantly to predicting sensibility judgment times in a regression analysis, but the head noun's relation frequency did not. We discuss the implications of this finding for models of conceptual combination.