The declarative/procedural model and the shallow structure hypothesis

2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (01) ◽  
pp. 97-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael T. Ullman
Keyword(s):  
Shallow Structure Hypothesis ◽  
Shallow Structure

SOME NOTES ON THE SHALLOW STRUCTURE HYPOTHESIS

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 693-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harald Clahsen ◽  
Claudia Felser
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Critical Commentary ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Performance Patterns ◽  
Shallow Structure Hypothesis ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Shallow Structure

AbstractSince the Shallow Structure Hypothesis (SSH) was first put forward in 2006, it has inspired a growing body of research on grammatical processing in nonnative (L2) speakers. More than 10 years later, we think it is time for the SSH to be reconsidered in the light of new empirical findings and current theoretical assumptions about human language processing. The purpose of our critical commentary is twofold: to clarify some issues regarding the SSH and to sketch possible ways in which this hypothesis might be refined and improved to better account for L1 and L2 speakers’ performance patterns.

Non-native Readers Are More Sensitive to Changes in Surface Linguistic Information than Native Readers*

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Denisa Bordag ◽  
Andreas Opitz ◽  
Max Polter ◽  
Michael Meng
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Adult Readers ◽  
Linguistic Information ◽  
Trace Theory ◽  
Fuzzy Trace Theory ◽  
L1 Data ◽  
Shallow Structure Hypothesis ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Shallow Structure

Abstract In the present study we challenge the generally accepted view based primarily on L1 data that surface linguistic information decays rapidly during reading and that only propositional information is retained in memory. In two eye-tracking experiments, we show that both L1 and L2 adult readers retain verbatim information of a text. In particular, the reading behaviour of L2 German learners revealed that they were sensitive to both lexical (synonyms) and syntactic (active/passive alternation) substitutions during a second reading of the texts, while L1 exhibited only reduced sensitivity to the lexical substitutions. The results deliver an important piece of evidence that complies with several current processing (e.g., Shallow Structure Hypothesis), acquisition (Declarative/Procedural Model) and cognitive (e.g., Fuzzy Trace Theory) approaches and adds a new dimension to their empirical and theoretical basis.

On the role of discourse-level information in second-language sentence processing

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 698-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELSI KAISER
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Retrieval Processes ◽  
Shallow Structure Hypothesis ◽  
Level Information ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Shallow Structure

Based on a detailed review of existing studies of high-proficiency second-language (L2) learners who acquired the L2 in adolescence/adulthood, Cunnings (Cunnings, 2016) argues that Sorace's (2011) Interface Hypothesis (IH) and Clahsen and Felser's (2006) Shallow Structure Hypothesis (SSH) do not explain the existing data as well as his memory-based approach which posits that memory-retrieval processes in the L1 and L2 do not pattern alike. Cunnings proposes that L1 and L2 processing differ in terms of comprehenders’ ability to retrieve from memory information constructed during sentence processing. He concludes that L2 processing is more susceptible to interference effects during retrieval, and, most relevantly for this commentary, that discourse-based cues to memory retrieval are more heavily weighted in L2 than L1 processing.

The shallow structure hypothesis of second language sentence processing: What is restricted and why?

2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-52
Author(s):  
Margaret Gillon Dowens ◽  
Manuel Carreiras
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Direct Form ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Shallow Structure Hypothesis ◽  
On Line ◽  
Shallow Structure

Clahsen and Felser (CF) analyze the performance of monolingual children and adult second language (L2) learners in off-line and on-line tasks and compare their performance with that of adult monolinguals. They conclude that child first language (L1) processing is basically the same as adult L1 processing (the contiguity assumption), with differences in performance being due to cognitive developmental limitations. They argue that differences in L2 performance, however, are more qualitative and not explained by shortage of working memory (WM) resources, differences in processing speed, transfer of L1 processing routines, or incomplete acquisition of the target grammar. They propose a shallow structure hypothesis (SSH) to explain the differences reported in sentence processing. According to this, the syntactic representations computed by L2 learners during comprehension are shallower and less detailed than those computed by native speakers and involve more direct form-function mappings.

scholarly journals Do late bilinguals access pure morphology during word recognition? A masked-priming study on Hebrew as a second language

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 945-951 ◽  
Author(s):  
YAEL FARHY ◽  
JOÃO VERÍSSIMO ◽  
HARALD CLAHSEN
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Morphological Processing ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Root Extraction ◽  
Shallow Structure Hypothesis ◽  
Shallow Structure ◽  
Language Type ◽  
Late Bilinguals

This study extends research on morphological processing in late bilinguals to a rarely examined language type, Semitic, by reporting results from a masked-priming experiment with 58 non-native, advanced, second-language (L2) speakers of Hebrew in comparison with native (L1) speakers. We took advantage of a case of ‘pure morphology’ in Hebrew, the so-called binyanim, which represent (essentially arbitrary) morphological classes for verbs. Our results revealed a non-native priming pattern for the L2 group, with root-priming effects restricted to non-finite prime words irrespective of binyanim type. We conclude that root extraction in L2 Hebrew word recognition is less sensitive to both morphological and morphosyntactic cues than in the L1, in line with the Shallow-Structure Hypothesis of L2 processing.

Acquisition of L2 Japanese WH questions: Evidence of phonological contiguity and non-shallow structures

2020 ◽  
pp. 026765831989778
Author(s):  
John Archibald ◽  
Nicole Croteau
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Sentence Production ◽  
Shallow Structure Hypothesis ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Prosodic Boundaries ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
Universal Properties ◽  
Match Theory ◽  
Shallow Structure

In this article we look at some of the structural properties of second language (L2) Japanese WH questions. In Japanese the WH words are licensed to remain in situ by the prosodic contiguity properties of the phrases which have no prosodic boundaries between the WH word and the question particle. In a rehearsed-reading, sentence production task, we look to see whether non-native speakers of Japanese who are learning the L2 in university classes in North America are able to acquire grammars which are constrained by such universal properties as Match Theory and Contiguity Theory. While linear mixed effects analyses of the pitch contours reveal that the L2ers have not acquired the phonetic implementation distinction of the documented pitch boost on WH words compared to non-WH DPs, our data show that the participants have acquired the pitch compression patterns indicative of having no prosodic phrases intervening between the WH word and the question particle. This property of Japanese WH questions is not taught in their classes, and, thus we argue, that the data are supportive of the position that interlanguage grammars are constrained by universal grammatical properties such as the prosodic contiguity of WH-phrase licensing. We also present these results as being counter to the Shallow Structure Hypothesis.

L2 Proficiency matters in comparative L1/L2 processing research

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 700-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
GREGORY D. KEATING
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Pragmatic Information ◽  
Feature Processing ◽  
Shallow Structure Hypothesis ◽  
Hierarchical Representations ◽  
Shallow Structure ◽  
Morphosyntactic Feature

Grammatical processing in a second language (L2) that is learned in adulthood has been shown to differ from processing in a first/native language (L1). Clahsen and Felser's (2006) landmark article provided the first comprehensive account of these differences. According to their shallow structure hypothesis (SSH), L2 learners, unlike L1 speakers, do not compute abstract, hierarchical representations during online sentence comprehension; instead, they rely on lexical, semantic, and pragmatic information to build ‘good enough’ representations. However, native-like processing is attainable – with sufficient L2 proficiency – for word-level processing and morphosyntactic feature processing between locally related words. Clahsen and Felser's article spurred a prolific volume of research over the last decade. Some findings support the SSH, whereas others favor the competing claim that L1/L2 differences result from capacity-based limitations.

scholarly journals THE FINE-TUNING OF LINGUISTIC EXPECTATIONS OVER THE COURSE OF L2 LEARNING

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 493-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Leal ◽  
Roumyana Slabakova ◽  
Thomas A. Farmer
Keyword(s):  
Native Speaker ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
Expectations Hypothesis ◽  
L2 Learning ◽  
Shallow Structure Hypothesis ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Shallow Structure

This study investigates the degree to which native-English-speaking learners of Spanish can generate expectations for information likely to occur in upcoming portions of an unfolding linguistic signal. We examine Spanish clitic left dislocation, a long-distance dependency between a topicalized object and an agreeing clitic, whose felicity depends on the discourse. Using a self-paced reading task, we tested the predictions of the shallow structure hypothesis (Clahsen & Felser, 2006a, 2006b) and the reduced ability to generate expectations hypothesis (Grüter, Rohde, & Schafer, 2014). Learners successfully demonstrated sensitivity to the violation of expectations set up by the syntactic and discourse context. In addition, the behavior of the second language (L2) learners was dependent on proficiency: the higher their proficiency, the more their behavior mirrored native-speaker processing. These results support a view of SLA in which knowledge of L2 discourse-grammatical relationships is acquired slowly over the course of L2 learning.

scholarly journals Attachment Preferences of L2 Learners in a Production Task

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Hadi Maghsoud
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Determiner Phrase ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Shallow Structure Hypothesis ◽  
Shallow Structure

This study investigated whether L2 learners of English process sentences semantically or syntactically when they areengaged in production rather than comprehension. Thirty-four Persian speaking second language learners of Englishacross two proficiency levels participated in a production task which involved completing sentences such as Andyshot the man with… with a determiner phrase (DP) of their own choice. In majority of cases, the participants acrossboth proficiency levels supplied DPs that were semantically related to the verb (i.e., semantic-based processing). Thefindings are argued to support the constraint-based theories and shallow structure hypothesis.

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