The utilization of syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic cues in the assignment of subject role in Arabic

1993 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassan A. Taman
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Cue Validity ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Subject Role ◽  
Similar Processing

AbstractThe role of four cues in the assignment of actor role in Arabic was studied. These cues included animacy, case marking, gender agreement, and word order. The cues were set-in-a competing/converging fashion following the framework of the Competition Model of Bates and MacWhinney (1981, 1982, 1987). Fifty-four sentences representing all possible permutations of the cues were presented to 100 native speakers of Arabic, who were asked to identify the actor in each sentence. Subjects relied mainly on gender agreement and case marking in the assignment of the actor role. The results suggested that cue validity is very highly correlated with cue strength. It was also found that cues do not exhibit an additive nature, and that cross-linguistic formal similarities do not warrant similar processing strategies. Order of nouns tended to represent a “latent strategy” to be utilized only when other relevant cues were not available.

scholarly journals Honorifics: A sociocultural verb agreement cue in Japanese sentence processing

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 551-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
YUKI YOSHIMURA ◽  
BRIAN MACWHINNEY
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Role Assignment ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
New Type

ABSTRACTCase marking is the major cue to sentence interpretation in Japanese, whereas animacy and word order are much weaker. However, when subjects and their cases markers are omitted, Japanese honorific and humble verbs can provide information that compensates for the missing case role markers. This study examined the usage of honorific and humble verbs as cues to case role assignment by Japanese native speakers and second-language learners of Japanese. The results for native speakers replicated earlier findings regarding the predominant strength of case marking. However, when case marking was missing, native speakers relied more on honorific marking than word order. In these sentences, the processing that relied on the honorific cue was delayed by about 100 ms in comparison to processing that relied on the case-marking cue. Learners made extensive use of the honorific agreement cue, but their use of the cue was much less accurate than that of native speakers. In particular, they failed to systematically invoke the agreement cue when case marking was missing. Overall, the findings support the predictions of the model and extend its coverage to a new type of culturally determined cue.

scholarly journals The role of case marking and word order in cross-linguistic structural priming in late L2 acquisition

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merel Muylle ◽  
Bernolet Sarah ◽  
Robert Hartsuiker
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Structural Priming ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Learning Paradigm ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Case Marking

Several studies found cross-linguistic structural priming with various language combinations. Here, we investigated the role of two important domains of language variation: case marking and word order. We varied these features in an artificial language (AL) learning paradigm, using three different AL versions in a between-subjects design. Priming was assessed between Dutch (no case marking, SVO word order) and a) a baseline version with SVO word order, b) a case marking version, and c) a version with SOV word order. Similar within- language and cross-linguistic priming was found in all versions for transitive sentences, indicating that cross-linguistic structural priming was not hindered. In contrast, for ditransitive sentences we found similar within-language priming for all versions, but no cross-linguistic priming. The finding that cross-linguistic priming is possible between languages that vary in morphological marking or word order, is compatible with studies showing cross-linguistic priming between natural languages that differ on these dimensions.

Sentence matching and processing in L2 development

1993 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn Eubank
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Work ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Target Language ◽  
German Word ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
L2 Development ◽  
Sentence Matching ◽  
Surprising Finding

The processing strategies described in Clahsen (1984) to explain the develop ment of German word order make predictions that can be tested ex perimentally. Clahsen's Initialization/Finalization Strategy (IFS) in particular predicts that uninverted, ADV-SVO sentences will exact less cost in terms of processing than inverted, ADV-VSO sentences, even though inverted sent ences are grammatical in the target language and uninverted sentences are ungrammatical. The experimental means employed to test this prediction is the Sentence Matching (SM) procedure described originally in Freedman and Forster (1985). In the SM procedure, response times are elicited for particular types of sentences by measuring the time (in msec.) it takes for subjects to determine whether two sentences presented by computer are identical or different. The results of one of the experiments reported here show that inverted sentences result in significantly shorter response times than uninverted sentences for non-native speakers. This finding directly contradicts the IFS-derived prediction. However, further experimental work reported here indicates that native speakers do not respond at all to the inverted-uninverted contrast. The rest of the article thus seeks to explain this somewhat surprising finding. The proposed explanation also suggests that natives and non-natives may process sentences in the SM task in rather different ways.

Cross-linguistic differences and their impact on L2 sentence processing

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
CARRIE N. JACKSON ◽  
PAOLA E. DUSSIAS
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Relevant Research ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
Morphosyntactic Feature

Using a self-paced reading task, the present study investigates how highly proficient second language (L2) speakers of German with English as their native language process unambiguous wh-subject-extractions and wh-object-extractions in German. Previous monolingual research has shown that English and German exhibit different processing preferences for the type of wh-question under investigation, due in part to the robust case-marking system in German – a morphosyntactic feature that is largely absent in English (e.g., Juffs and Harrington, 1995; Fanselow, Kliegl and Schlesewsky 1999; Meng and Bader, 2000; Juffs, 2005). The results revealed that the L2 German speakers utilized case-marking information and exhibited a subject-preference similar to German native speakers. These findings are discussed in light of relevant research regarding the ability of L2 speakers to adopt native-like processing strategies in their L2.

The production of gender agreement in native and L2 Spanish: The role of morphophonological form

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Foote
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Head Noun ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Model Simulations ◽  
Subject Noun ◽  
And Gender

In native speakers of gender-marking languages, mechanisms of gender production appear to be affected by the morphophonological cues to gender present in the noun phrase. This influence is manifested in higher levels of production accuracy when more transparent cues to gender are present in comparison to when they are not. The goal of the present study was to examine the role of morphophonological cues to gender in the production of gender agreement in native speakers and second language learners of Spanish in light of the Marking and Morphing account of agreement (Eberhard et al., 2005). Participants repeated and completed complex subject noun phrases with head nouns that varied in gender and gender-marking transparency. Analyses of accuracy rates along with Marking and Morphing model simulations of the results indicated that, contrary to previous findings, native speakers were not affected by gender-marking transparency. However, based on model simulations, second language (L2) learners were affected by the morphophonological form of the head noun.

Case Syncretism, Animacy, and Word Order in Continental West Germanic: Neurolinguistic Evidence from a Comparative Study on Standard German, Zurich German, and Fering (North Frisian)

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 217-310
Author(s):  
Alexander Dröge ◽  
Elisabeth Rabs ◽  
Jürg Fleischer ◽  
Sara K. H. Billion ◽  
Martin Meyer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Semantic Cues ◽  
West Germanic ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
On Line ◽  
North Frisian ◽  
Present Event

To understand a sentence, it is crucial to understand who is doing what. The interplay of morphological case marking, argument serialization, and animacy provides linguistic cues for the processing system to rapidly identify the thematic roles of the arguments. The present event-related brain potential (ERP) study investigates on-line brain responses during argument identification in Zurich German, a High Alemannic dialect, and in Fering, a North Frisian variety, which both exhibit reduced case systems as compared to Standard German. Like Standard German, Zurich German and Fering are Continental West Germanic varieties, and indeed argument processing in sentences with an object-before-subject order engenders a qualitatively similar ERP pattern of a scrambling negativity followed by a P600 in all tested varieties. However, the P600 component—a late positive ERP response, which has been linked to the categorization of task-relevant stimuli—is selectively affected by the most prominent cue for argument identification in each variety, which is case marking in Standard German, but animacy in Zurich German and Fering. Thus, even closely related varieties may employ different processing strategies based on the language-specific availability of syntactic and semantic cues for argument identification.*

Processing of grammatical gender in French as a first and second language: Evidence from ERPs

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 76-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Frenck-Mestre ◽  
Alice Foucart ◽  
Haydee Carrasco-Ortiz ◽  
Julia Herschensohn
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Language Background ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Phonetic Cues

The present study examined the processing of grammatical gender in second language (L2) French as a function of language background (Experiment 1) and as a function of overt phonetic properties of agreement (Experiment 2) by examining Event Related Potential (ERP) responses to gender discord in L2 French. In Experiment 1 we explored the role of the presence/absence of abstract grammatical gender in the L1 (gendered German, ungendered English): we compared German and English learners of French when processing post-nominal plural (no gender cues on determiner) attributive adjectives that either agreed in gender with the noun or presented a gender violation. We found grammaticalized responses (P600) by native and L1 English learners, but no response by German L1, a result we attribute to the possible influence of plurality, which is gender neutralized in German DP concord. In Experiment 2, we examined the role of overt phonetic cues to noun-adjective gender agreement in French, for both native speakers and Spanish L2 learners of French, finding that both natives and L2 learners showed a more robust P600 in the presence of phonetic cues. These data, in conjunction with those of other ERP studies can best be accounted for by a model that allows for native language influence, that is not, however constrained by age of acquisition, and that must also allow for clear cues in the input to influence acquisition and/or processing.

THE ACQUISITION OF CASE MARKING BY ADULT LEARNERS OF RUSSIAN AND GERMAN

1998 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Kempe ◽  
Brian MacWhinney
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Approaches To Learning ◽  
Connectionist Model ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Cue Validity ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Rule Based Approach

This study investigated the acquisition of the comprehension of overt morphological case marking by adult native speakers of English who were learning Russian or German as a second language (L2). The Russian case-marking system is more complex than the German system, but it almost always provides the listener with case inflections that are reliable cues to sentence interpretation. Two approaches to learning of inflectional morphology were contrasted: the rule-based approach, which predicts that learning is determined by paradigm complexity; and the associative approach, which predicts that learning is determined by the cue validity of individual inflections. A computerized picture-choice task probed the comprehension of L2 learners by varying the cues of case marking, noun configuration, and noun animacy. The results demonstrated that learners of Russian use case marking much earlier than learners of German and that learners of German rely more on animacy to supplement the weaker case-marking cue. In order to further explore the underlying mechanisms of learning, a connectionist model was developed that correctly simulated the obtained results. Together, these findings support the view that adult L2 learning is associative and driven by the validity of cues in the input.

Processing strategies used by Basque-French bilingual and Basque monolingual children for the production of the subject-agent in Basque

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 514-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Duguine ◽  
Barbara Köpke
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Competition Model ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Cue Validity ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
Case Marker ◽  
Different Ages ◽  
The Subject

Abstract We sought to describe the strategies used by 2L1 and L2 Basque-French bilingual children and monolingual Basque children to express subject-agent function in a free elicitation context in Basque. Based on a three-year longitudinal study, the analysis focused on transitive constructions requiring a subject-agent noun marked for ergative case. The results showed that the children mastered production of the ergative case marker at different ages, and used different psycholinguistic strategies to refer to the subject-agent. The majority of the bilingual children favoured topological strategy (i.e., marking of the subject-agent in the first position through subject-verb-object word order). However, the children with L1 Basque seemed to engage more in morphological strategy, through the use of the nominal ergative suffix. These data allowed us to discuss variations in the performance of bilingual children in light of the cue cost and cue validity concepts elaborated by the Competition Model applied to language production.

scholarly journals The Role of Case Marking and Word Order in Cross‐Linguistic Structural Priming in Late L2 Acquisition

2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (S2) ◽  
pp. 194-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merel Muylle ◽  
Sarah Bernolet ◽  
Robert J. Hartsuiker
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Structural Priming ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Case Marking
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