scholarly journals Cross-linguistic differences in prosodic cues to syntactic disambiguation in German and English

2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARY GRANTHAM O'BRIEN ◽  
CARRIE N. JACKSON ◽  
CHRISTINE E. GARDNER
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
First Language ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L2 Production ◽  
Learning English

ABSTRACTThis study examined whether late-learning English–German second language (L2) learners and late-learning German–English L2 learners use prosodic cues to disambiguate temporarily ambiguous first language and L2 sentences during speech production. Experiments 1a and 1b showed that English–German L2 learners and German–English L2 learners used a pitch rise and pitch accent to disambiguate PP-attachment sentences in German. However, the same participants, as well as monolingual English speakers, only used pitch accent to disambiguate similar English sentences. Taken together, these results indicate the L2 learners used prosody to disambiguate sentences in both of their languages and did not fully transfer cues to disambiguation from their first language to their L2. The results have implications for the acquisition of L2 prosody and the interaction between prosody and meaning in L2 production.

scholarly journals PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSING OF STRESS BY NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS LEARNING SPANISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Ramsés Ortín ◽  
Miquel Simonet
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
First Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Recall Task ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L1 English ◽  
Processing Stress

Abstract One feature of Spanish that presents some difficulties to second language (L2) learners whose first language (L1) is English concerns lexical stress. This study explores one aspect of the obstacle these learners face, weak phonological processing routines concerning stress inherited from their native language. Participants were L1 English L2 learners of Spanish. The experiment was a sequence-recall task with auditory stimuli minimally contrasting in stress (target) or segmental composition (baseline). The results suggest that learners are more likely to accurately recall sequences with stimuli contrasting in segmental composition than stress, suggesting reduced phonological processing of stress relative to a processing baseline. Furthermore, an increase in proficiency—assessed by means of grammatical and lexical tests—was found to be modestly associated with an increase in the accuracy of processing stress. We conclude that the processing routines of native English speakers lead to an acquisitional obstacle when learning Spanish as a L2.

Native and second-language processing of contrastive pitch accent: An ERP study

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleuna Lee ◽  
Michelle Perdomo ◽  
Edith Kaan
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Building Information

Prosody signals important aspects of meaning, and hence, is crucial for language comprehension and learning, yet remains under-investigated in second-language (L2) processing. The present electrophysiology study investigates the use of prosody to cue information structure, in particular, the use of contrastive pitch accent (L+H*) to define the set of elements that are contrasted. For instance, in We ate Angela’s cake, but saved BENjamin’s cake, the pitch accent on Benjamin’s is a cue that two cakes are contrasted; BENjamin’s ice cream is not plausible in this context. Native English speakers showed a large negativity on the target noun ( cake) when the preceding possessive was inappropriately accented. Event-related brain potential (ERP) results from Mandarin-Chinese L2 learners of English suggest they did not use contrastive pitch accent to cue the contrast set in the way native English speakers did, even though Mandarin is similar to English in the use of prosodic cues to express contrast. Our results are in line with previous studies suggesting that L2 speakers have difficulty integrating information across domains and building information structure, especially in demanding task situations like in the present study.

Structural and conceptual equivalence in the acquisition and use of emotion words in a second language

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aneta Pavlenko
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Lexical Borrowing ◽  
Emotion Words ◽  
Russian Speakers ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Conceptual Equivalence ◽  
L1 And L2

The purpose of the study presented here is to examine the importance of structural and conceptual (non-)equivalence in the acquisition and use of emotion words in a second language (L2). The use of these words is examined in a corpus of 206 narratives collected with two stimuli from first language (L1) speakers of Russian and English, and L2 learners of Russian and English. The results of the quantitative and qualitative analyses of lexical choices made by the participants show that in the case of structural non-equivalence L2 learners can shift patterns of structural selection in the mental lexicon. Thus, L2 learners of English pattern with L1 English speakers in favoring adjectival constructions in the same context where L1 and L2 Russian speakers favor verbs. Conceptual non-equivalence, on the other hand, was shown to complicate acquisition of emotion words and lead to negative transfer, lexical borrowing, and avoidance. Implications are offered for models of the bilingual mental lexicon and for L2 instruction.

scholarly journals THE SPECIFICITY OF EVENT EXPRESSION IN FIRST LANGUAGE INFLUENCES EXPRESSION OF OBJECT PLACEMENT EVENTS IN SECOND LANGUAGE

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Wojciech Lewandowski ◽  
Şeyda Özçalışkan
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Specific System ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Event Description ◽  
L2 Production ◽  
Description Task

Abstract Speakers show cross-linguistic differences in expressing placement events involving support (cup on table) and containment (apple in bowl) in first language (L1) contexts. They rely on either more-general (e.g., Spanish for support, Polish for containment) or more-specific (e.g., German, Polish for support; Spanish, German for containment) descriptions. Relatively less is known about the expression of placement events in second language (L2) production contexts. In this study, we examined object-placement event descriptions produced by two groups of L1 Polish speakers—with either German or Spanish as their L2—in comparison to monolingual speakers of German, Spanish, and Polish, using an animated event description task. Bilingual speakers showed greater effect of L1 patterns in moving from a more-general to a more-specific system and L2 patterns in moving from a more-specific to a more-general or between two more-specific systems, suggesting that the specificity of event expression in L1 influences patterns of placement expression in L2.

Prosodic Disambiguation in First and Second Language Production: English and Korean

2021 ◽  
pp. 002383092110420
Author(s):  
Hyunah Baek
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Production ◽  
First Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Phonological Categories ◽  
Production Experiment ◽  
Phonetic Cues

This study investigates the use of prosodic cues for syntactic ambiguity resolution by first language (L1) and second language (L2) speakers. In a production experiment, sentences with relative clause attachment ambiguity were elicited in three language conditions: native English speakers’ L1 productions as well as Korean-English bilingual speakers’ L1 Korean and L2 English productions. The results show that English uses both boundary marking (pause) and relative word prominence (elevated pitch and intensity) for disambiguation, while Korean mainly relies on boundary marking (pre-boundary lengthening and pause). The bilingual speakers have learned to use the English phonological categories such as pitch accents for disambiguation, but their use of phonetic cues to realize these categories still differed from that of native English speakers. In addition, they did not show a significant use of boundary cues. These results are discussed in relation to the typological differences between the prosody of English and of Korean.

The computation and suspension of presuppositions by L1-Mandarin Chinese L2-English speakers

2021 ◽  
pp. 026765832199387
Author(s):  
Shuo Feng
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
First Language ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Similar Response ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Precise Understanding ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
External Interface ◽  
Discourse Interface

The Interface Hypothesis proposes that second language (L2) learners, even at highly proficient levels, often fail to integrate information at the external interfaces where grammar interacts with other cognitive systems. While much early L2 work has focused on the syntax–discourse interface or scalar implicatures at the semantics–pragmatics interface, the present article adds to this line of research by exploring another understudied phenomenon at the semantics–pragmatics interface, namely, presuppositions. Furthermore, this study explores both inference computation and suspension via a covered-box picture-selection task. Specifically, this study investigates the interpretation of a presupposition trigger stop and stop under negation. The results from 38 native English speakers and 41 first language (L1) Mandarin Chinese learners of English indicated similar response patterns between native and L2 groups in computing presuppositions but not in suspending presuppositions. That is, L2 learners were less likely to suspend presuppositions than native speakers. This study contributes to a more precise understanding of L2 acquisition at the external interface level, as well as computation and suspension of pragmatic inferences.

scholarly journals English Speakers’ Implicit Gender Concepts Influence Their Processing of French Grammatical Gender: Evidence for Semantically Mediated Cross-Linguistic Influence

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Nicoladis ◽  
Chris Westbury ◽  
Cassandra Foursha-Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Response Time ◽  
Response Times ◽  
First Language ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Word Embedding ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
French Words ◽  
L1 English ◽  
French Gender

Second language (L2) learners often show influence from their first language (L1) in all domains of language. This cross-linguistic influence could, in some cases, be mediated by semantics. The purpose of the present study was to test whether implicit English gender connotations affect L1 English speakers’ judgments of the L2 French gender of objects. We hypothesized that gender estimates derived from word embedding models that measure similarity of word contexts in English would affect accuracy and response time on grammatical gender (GG) decision in L2 French. L2 French learners were asked to identify the GG of French words estimated to be either congruent or incongruent with the implicit gender in English. The results showed that they were more accurate with words that were congruent with English gender connotations than words that were incongruent, suggesting that English gender connotations can influence grammatical judgments in French. Response times showed the same pattern. The results are consistent with semantics-mediated cross-linguistic influence.

scholarly journals SPOKEN AND WRITTEN REPRESENTATION OF NUMBER IN L2 CATALAN INDEFINITE DETERMINER PHRASES

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 321-350
Author(s):  
Liliana Tolchinski ◽  
Naymé Salas ◽  
Joan Perera
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Literacy Instruction ◽  
First Language ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Similar Time ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Indefinite Article ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
The Relationship

The study explores the relationship that second language (L2) learners of Catalan establish between the spoken and the written representation of number inflection within an indefinite-article Determiner Phrase (DP); and it also addresses first language (L1) influence in this processo Five- to eight-year-olds, speakers of varieties of Chinese and Moroccan Arabic, with differing degrees of literacy instruction in their home countries —but similar time of residence in Catalonia— participated in the study. The children carried out individual semi-structured tasks designed to evaluate comprehension and production of changes in number inflections (un cotxe ‘a car’; uns cotxes ‘a-pl cars ’). Results showed that, irrespective of children’s language background, comprehension preceded production of singular and plural indefinite-article DPs; spoken representation was easier than written representation of number changes; and production of plural indefinite-article DPs was more difficult than its singular counterpart. Despite typological differences between the languages compared, both groups of L2 learners, even the Catalan control group, underwent similar processes.

Interplay between perceived cross-linguistic similarity and L2 production

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgios Georgiou
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Production Test ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Egyptian Arabic ◽  
Speech Learning Model ◽  
L2 Production ◽  
Partial Overlap ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Speech Learning

Abstract The present study aims to investigate the relationship between perceived cross-linguistic similarity and second language (L2) production. To this purpose, Egyptian Arabic learners of Greek in Cyprus who took part in a previous cross-linguistic perceptual study, completed a production test with respect to the Cypriot Greek vowels. The findings showed that perceived cross-linguistic similarity was linked with L2 production since along with the consideration of first language (L1)-L2 acoustic differences, it predicted most of the L2 vowel productions. Also, many L2 vowels were considerably longer than the corresponding L1 vowels. This can be interpreted as an L1 transfer since Egyptian Arabic vowels are longer in duration than the Cypriot Greek vowels. An interesting finding was that the production of the L2 vowels had only partial overlap with the productions of the L1 vowels, a finding that provides support for the hypotheses of the Speech Learning Model.

Cue coalitions and additivity in predictive processing: The interaction between case and prosody in L2 German

2020 ◽  
pp. 026765832096315
Author(s):  
Nick Henry ◽  
Carrie N Jackson ◽  
Holger Hopp
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Semantic Information ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Use Case ◽  
Thematic Roles ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Linguistic Cues ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Verbal Arguments

This article explores how multiple linguistic cues interact in predictive processing among second language (L2) learners. In a visual-world eye-tracking experiment, we investigated whether learners of German use case and prosody cues together to assign thematic roles and predict post-verbal arguments. During the experiment, participants listened to subject-first and object-first sentences that contained (1) case cues only, or (2) both case and prosody. The results showed that the learners successfully predicted post-verbal arguments on the basis of lexical-semantic information but were less successful in using case cues. However, prediction success increased when both case and prosody were present, suggesting that predictive processing is supported by prosodic cues. Additionally, results show that higher proficiency was associated with faster processing and a greater ability to generate predictions. We conclude that the presence of cue coalitions allows L2 learners to process information more efficiently, and that the L2 processor can exploit the additive use of cues for prediction.

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