scholarly journals Interpreting experience enhances the use of lexical stress and syllabic structure to predict L2 word endings

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Cristina Lozano-Argüelles ◽  
Nuria Sagarra
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Extensive Experience ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Initial Syllable ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Syllabic Structure ◽  
As Stress

Abstract Prediction underlies many life’s situations including language. Monolinguals and advanced L2 learners use prosodic cues such as stress and tone in a word’s first syllable to predict the word’s suffix. To determine whether the same findings extend to words with non-morphological endings, we investigate whether Spanish monolinguals and advanced learners of Spanish with and without interpreting experience use stress (stressed, unstressed) and syllabic structure (CV, CVC) in a word’s initial syllable to predict its ending. This is crucial to understand whether associations underlying prediction are morphophonolexical associations or purely phonolexical. Interpreters were included due to their extensive experience predicting incoming speech. Participants completed an eye-tracking study where they listened to a sentence while seeing two words and selected the word they heard. Results revealed that monolinguals and interpreters predicted word endings under all conditions, but non-interpreters only predicted in the CVC oxytone condition. These findings are relevant for (1) prediction accounts, showing that phonolexical associations trigger prediction; (2) phonological models, revealing that stress and syllable information in the initial syllable are key for accessing and predicting meaning; and (3) L2 processing models, indicating that L2 learners with interpreting experience use suprasegmental information to access and predict lexical items similar to monolinguals.

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.

Slowly but surely: Interpreting facilitates L2 morphological anticipation based on suprasegmental and segmental information

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 752-762
Author(s):  
Cristina Lozano-Argüelles ◽  
Nuria Sagarra ◽  
Joseph V. Casillas
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
Tracking Data ◽  
Linguistic Variables ◽  
Word Prediction ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Syllabic Structure

AbstractNative speakers use suprasegmental information to predict words, but less is known about segmental information. Moreover, anticipatory studies with non-native speakers are scarce and mix proficiency with anticipatory experience. To address these limitations, we investigated whether Spanish monolinguals and advanced English learners of Spanish use suprasegmentals (stress: oxytone, paroxytone) and segmentals (syllabic structure: CVC, CV) to predict word suffixes, and whether increased anticipatory experience acquired via interpreting will facilitate anticipation in non-interpreting L2 situations. Eye-tracking data revealed that: (1) the three groups made use of the linguistic variables, and L2 groups did not anticipate in CV paroxytones; (2) everybody anticipated better with the less frequent conditions (oxytones, CVC) having fewer lexical competitors; (3) monolinguals anticipated earlier than L2 learners; and (4) interpreters anticipated at a faster rate in some conditions. These findings indicate that less frequent suprasegmental and segmental information and anticipatory experience facilitate native and non-native spoken word prediction.

Verb bias and semantic persistence effects in L2 ambiguity resolution

2021 ◽  
pp. 026765832199790
Author(s):  
Duygu Fatma Şafak ◽  
Holger Hopp
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
First Language ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Verb Bias ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
On Line

To pinpoint difficulties in the second language (L2) processing of temporarily ambiguous sentences, this study investigates first language (L1) effects and effects of verb bias, i.e. frequency information about preferential verb complements, on semantic persistence effects in L2 sentence comprehension. We tested 32 L1 German and 32 L1 Turkish intermediate-to-advanced learners of L2 English as well as 17 English natives in eye-tracking during reading and off-line comprehension. In off-line comprehension, neither natives nor L2 learners show verb bias effects, suggesting that semantic persistence of initial misinterpretations arises independently of lexical preferences. In contrast, reading times show that all groups are immediately sensitive to verb bias on-line, with L1 differences in how strongly verb bias affects garden-pathing. Unlike natives, however, L2 learners do not use verb bias to overcome semantic persistence to complete reanalysis in later segments of the sentence. We argue that, in spite of their initial sensitivity to verb bias in modulating garden paths, L2 readers suffer from processing limitations that constrain their ability to retrieve and integrate multiple sources of information for reanalysis. Our study confirms that reanalysis constitutes a key area of native versus non-native differences in L2 sentence processing.

scholarly journals The processing of English which-questions in adult L2 learners: Effects of L1 transfer and proficiency

2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Hopp
Keyword(s):  
Target Object ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Number Marking ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L2 Development ◽  
On Line ◽  
Accuracy Data ◽  
Comprehension Accuracy

AbstractIn a visual-world eye-tracking study, we investigate the on-line comprehension of subject and object which-questions in 60 German-English adult second-language (L2) learners at various stages of proficiency. In particular, we examine whether adult L2 learners follow the same acquisitional trajectories as children or whether L1 transfer dictates a different development. Previous research on monolingual English children shows that child learners initially commit to a strong subject preference and use inflectional cues, i.e. number marking, to overcome structural biases (e.g. Contemori and Marinis 2014b). The adult data on comprehension accuracy show strong effects of proficiency. Intermediate-proficiency L2 learners have an overwhelming structural preference for subject questions, and they are not sensitive to inflectional cues that disambiguate towards object readings. High-intermediate learners come to exploit inflectional cues for revising an initial subject-preference to the target object reading. Finally, advanced learners display native-like comprehension patterns. In contrast to the off-line accuracy data, the analysis of the eye movements shows that all groups of L2 adults make incremental use of inflectional cues in on-line comprehension.These findings indicate that inflectional cues are integrated in the course of L2 development in similar ways as in monolingual development. We discuss the results in the context of current approaches to L2 processing and child-adult differences in language development.

EVEN IN THE BEST-CASE SCENARIO L2 LEARNERS HAVE PERSISTENT DIFFICULTY PERCEIVING AND UTILIZING TONES IN MANDARIN

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Eric Pelzl ◽  
Ellen F. Lau ◽  
Taomei Guo ◽  
Robert DeKeyser
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Case Scenario ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Lexical Representations ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Disyllabic Word

Abstract Lexical tones are widely believed to be a formidable learning challenge for adult speakers of nontonal languages. While difficulties—as well as rapid improvements—are well documented for beginning second language (L2) learners, research with more advanced learners is needed to understand how tone perception difficulties impact word recognition once learners have a substantial vocabulary. The present study narrows in on difficulties suggested in previous work, which found a dissociation in advanced L2 learners between highly accurate tone identification and largely inaccurate lexical decision for tone words. We investigate a “best-case scenario” for advanced L2 tone word processing by testing performance in nearly ideal listening conditions—with words spoken clearly and in isolation. Under such conditions, do learners still have difficulty in lexical decision for tone words? If so, is it driven by the quality of lexical representations or by L2 processing routines? Advanced L2 and native Chinese listeners made lexical decisions while an electroencephalogram was recorded. Nonwords had a first syllable with either a vowel or tone that differed from that of a common disyllabic word. As a group, L2 learners performed less accurately when tones were manipulated than when vowels were manipulated. Subsequent analyses showed that this was the case even in the subset of items for which learners showed correct and confident tone identification in an offline written vocabulary test. Event-related potential results indicated N400 effects for both nonword conditions in L1, but only vowel N400 effects in L2, with tone responses intermediate between those of real words and vowel nonwords. These results are evidence of the persistent difficulty most L2 learners have in using tones for online word recognition, and indicate it is driven by a confluence of factors related to both L2 lexical representations and processing routines. We suggest that this tone nonword difficulty has real-world implications for learners: It may result in many toneless word representations in their mental lexicons, and is likely to affect the efficiency with which they can learn new tone words.

scholarly journals ONLINE PRONOUN RESOLUTION IN L2 DISCOURSE: L1 Influence and General Learner Effects

2008 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Roberts ◽  
Marianne Gullberg ◽  
Peter Indefrey
Keyword(s):  
First Language ◽  
Pronoun Resolution ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Online Processing ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Overt Pronouns ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
Final Interpretation ◽  
Subject Pronoun

This study investigates whether advanced second language (L2) learners of a nonnull subject language (Dutch) are influenced by their null subject first language (L1) (Turkish) in their offline and online resolution of subject pronouns in L2 discourse. To tease apart potential L1 effects from possible general L2 processing effects, we also tested a group of German L2 learners of Dutch who were predicted to perform like the native Dutch speakers. The two L2 groups differed in their offline interpretations of subject pronouns. The Turkish L2 learners exhibited a L1 influence, because approximately half the time they interpreted Dutch subject pronouns as they would overt pronouns in Turkish, whereas the German L2 learners performed like the Dutch controls, interpreting pronouns as coreferential with the current discourse topic. This L1 effect was not in evidence in eye-tracking data, however. Instead, the L2 learners patterned together, showing an online processing disadvantage when two potential antecedents for the pronoun were grammatically available in the discourse. This processing disadvantage was in evidence irrespective of the properties of the learners' L1 or their final interpretation of the pronoun. Therefore, the results of this study indicate both an effect of the L1 on the L2 in offline resolution and a general L2 processing effect in online subject pronoun resolution.

scholarly journals Divergence point analyses of visual world data: applications to bilingual research

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Kate Stone ◽  
Sol Lago ◽  
Daniel J. Schad
Keyword(s):  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Multiple Comparisons ◽  
Individual Factors ◽  
Visual World ◽  
World Data ◽  
Divergence Point ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Divergence Points

Abstract Much work has shown that differences in the timecourse of language processing are central to comparing native (L1) and non-native (L2) speakers. However, estimating the onset of experimental effects in timecourse data presents several statistical problems including multiple comparisons and autocorrelation. We compare several approaches to tackling these problems and illustrate them using an L1-L2 visual world eye-tracking dataset. We then present a bootstrapping procedure that allows not only estimation of an effect onset, but also of a temporal confidence interval around this divergence point. We describe how divergence points can be used to demonstrate timecourse differences between speaker groups or between experimental manipulations, two important issues in evaluating L2 processing accounts. We discuss possible extensions of the bootstrapping procedure, including determining divergence points for individual speakers and correlating them with individual factors like L2 exposure and proficiency. Data and an analysis tutorial are available at https://osf.io/exbmk/.

scholarly journals The Emergence of Second Language Categorisation of the English Article Construction

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Helen Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Functional Categories ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Form Function ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Increased Sensitivity ◽  
English Articles

This study examines the emergent cognitive categorisation of the English article construction among second language (L2) learners. One hundred and fourteen Mandarin-L1 learners of English, divided into two L2 proficiency levels (low-to-intermediate and advanced), were measured by a computer-based cloze test for the accuracy and response time of appropriate use of English articles in sentential contexts. Results showed that when learners acquired the polysemous English article construction they demonstrated stronger competence in differentiating individual form-function mappings in the article construction. L2 learners’ patterns of article construction usage were shaped by semantic functions. Learners performed better on the definiteness category than on the non-definiteness categories, suggesting that learners were sensitive to the prototypicality of nominal grounding. Advanced learners demonstrated an increased sensitivity to semantic idiosyncrasy, but they lacked contextualised constructional knowledge. Competition among the functional categories and restructuring of functional categories are important ways of regularization that learners go through to acquire semantically complex systems such as articles.

ABSOLUTE FREQUENCY EFFECTS IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEXICAL ACQUISITION

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (04) ◽  
pp. 721-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott A. Crossley ◽  
Stephen Skalicky ◽  
Kristopher Kyle ◽  
Katia Monteiro
Keyword(s):  
First Language ◽  
English Speaker ◽  
Absolute Frequency ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L2 Production ◽  
Main Effects

AbstractA number of longitudinal studies of L2 production have reported frequency effects wherein learners' produce more frequent words as a function of time. The current study investigated the spoken output of English L2 learners over a four-month period of time using both native and non-native English speaker frequency norms for both word types and word tokens. The study also controlled for individual differences such as first language distance, English proficiency, gender, and age. Results demonstrated that lower level L2 learners produced more infrequent tokens at the beginning of the study and that high intermediate learners, when compared to advanced learners, produced more infrequent tokens at the beginning of the study and more frequent tokens toward the end of the study. Main effects were also reported for proficiency level, age, and language distance. These results provide further evidence that L2 production may not follow expected frequency trends (i.e., that more infrequent tokens are produced as a function of time).

L1–L2 asymmetry in animacy effects in the processing of Japanese relative clause

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanako Mitsugi ◽  
Yasuhiro Shirai
Keyword(s):  
Constraint Satisfaction ◽  
Semantic Information ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
First Languages ◽  
The Subject ◽  
English Group ◽  
Processing Difficulty

AbstractUsing self-paced reading, this study investigated the role of head animacy in the processing of Japanese relative clauses (RCs). Second language (L2) learners whose first languages (L1) are English and Korean, and Japanese native speakers participated. The results showed that for native speakers, inanimate heads diminished the processing difficulty associated with object RCs. However, head animacy did not have an effect on L2 processing. The Korean group showed the subject-object asymmetry but no effect of head animacy. The English group did not demonstrate the effect of RC type or head animacy. The overall pattern of these results suggests that L2 learners of Japanese are not guided by syntactic and lexical-semantic information in the same way as Japanese native speakers. These findings are interpreted within the constraint-satisfaction models (MacDonald et al., 1994) and are further discussed in the light of the research concerning the transfer of L1 processing routines.

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