NS and NNS processing of idioms and nonidiom formulaic sequences: What can reaction times and think-alouds tell us?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Hang Zheng ◽  
Melissa A. Bowles ◽  
Jerome L. Packard
Keyword(s):  
Processing Speed ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Formulaic Sequences ◽  
Psychological Reality ◽  
Think Alouds ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

Abstract Although researchers generally agree that native speakers (NSs) process formulaic sequences (FSs) holistically to some extent, findings about nonnative speakers (NNSs) are conflicting, potentially because not all FSs are psychologically equal or because in some studies NNSs may not have fully understood the FSs. We address these issues by investigating Chinese NSs and NNSs processing of idioms and matched nonidiom FSs in phrase acceptability judgment tasks with and without think-alouds (TAs). Reaction times show that NSs processed idioms faster than nonidioms regardless of length, but NNSs processed 3-character FSs faster than 4-character FSs regardless of type. TAs show NSs’ understanding of FSs has reached ceiling, but NNSs’ understanding was incomplete, with idioms being understood more poorly than nonidioms. Although we conclude that idioms and nonidioms have different mental statuses in NSs’ lexicons, it is inconclusive how they are represented by NNSs. TAs also show that NNSs employed various strategies to compensate for limited idiom knowledge, causing comparable processing speed for idioms and nonidioms. The findings highlight the importance of distinguishing subtypes of FSs and considering NNSs’ quality of understanding in discussions of the psychological reality of FSs.

scholarly journals The Processing of Formulaic Language

2012 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 45-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathy Conklin ◽  
Norbert Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Formulaic Language ◽  
Formulaic Sequences ◽  
Lexical Bundles ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Word Selection ◽  
The Brain

It is generally accepted that we store representations of individual words in our mental lexicon. There is growing agreement that the lexicon also contains formulaic language (How are you? kick the bucket). In fact, there are compelling reasons to think that the brain represents formulaic sequences in long-term memory, bypassing the need to compose them online through word selection and grammatical sequencing in capacity-limited working memory. The research surveyed in this chapter strongly supports the position that there is an advantage in the way that native speakers process formulaic language compared to nonformulaic language. This advantage extends to the access and use of different types of formulaic language, including idioms, binomials, collocations, and lexical bundles. However, the evidence is mixed for nonnative speakers. While very proficient nonnatives sometimes exhibit processing advantages similar to natives, less proficient learners often have been shown to process formulaic language in a word-by-word manner similar to nonformulaic language. Furthermore, if the formulaic language is idiomatic (where the meaning cannot be understood from the component words), the figurative meanings can be much more difficult to process for nonnatives than nonidiomatic, nonformulaic language.

WORD FREQUENCY, COLLOCATIONAL FREQUENCY, L1 CONGRUENCY, AND PROFICIENCY IN L2 COLLOCATIONAL PROCESSING

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent Wolter ◽  
Junko Yamashita
Keyword(s):  
Word Frequency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Formulaic Sequences ◽  
English Only ◽  
Mixed Effects Modeling ◽  
Word Level

AbstractThis study investigated the effects of word frequency, collocational frequency, L1 congruency, and L2 proficiency, on L2 collocational processing. Two groups of L1 Japanese speakers of English (intermediate and advanced) and one group of English native speakers (NSs) performed an online acceptability judgment task on four types of adjective-noun constructions: (1) congruent collocations, (2) English-only collocations, (3) Japanese-only collocations, and (4) baseline items. Response times were analyzed using mixed-effects modeling and correlations. In contrast to NSs, nonnative speakers (NNSs) processed congruent collocations significantly faster than English-only collocations. As for frequency, all three groups demonstrated sensitivity to both word-level and collocation-level frequency. However, the distributions differed across the three groups. We concluded that age/order of acquisition effects (Carroll & White, 1973) provided the best explanation for the congruency results. Regarding the frequency results, we concluded that the findings conflict with claims that NNSs may process formulaic sequences differently than NSs (e.g., Wray, 2002, 2008).

ON THE ROLE OF LINGUISTIC CONTEXTUAL FACTORS FOR MORPHOSYNTACTIC STABILIZATION IN HIGH-LEVEL L2 FRENCH

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inge Bartning ◽  
Fanny Forsberg Lundell ◽  
Victorine Hancock
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Processing Load ◽  
Formulaic Sequences ◽  
Promising Area ◽  
The Mean ◽  
High Level ◽  
Additional Explanation

The purpose of this article is to offer contextual linguistic explanations for morphosyntactic deviances (MSDs) in high-level second language (L2) French (30 nonnative speakers vs. 10 native speakers). It is hypothesized that the distribution of formulaic sequences (FSs) and the complexity of information structure will influence the occurrence of MSDs. The study reports that MSDs rarely occur within FSs, and if they do, they occur within sequences containing open slots for creative rule application. The rhematic part of the utterance attracts more MSDs due to the fact that this part is more syntactically complex than the preamble (the thematic part). An additional explanation is the mean length of the rhematic part, which is longer than the preamble and implies a higher processing load. A final explanation of MSD occurrence in the rheme is linked to the distribution of FSs in the information structure. The results are discussed in relation to the ongoing debate on the constructs of complexity, accuracy, and fluency—a promising area of study.

scholarly journals German in childhood and Latin in adolescence: On the bidialectal nature of lexical access in English

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arturo E. Hernandez ◽  
Juliana Ronderos ◽  
Jean Philippe Bodet ◽  
Hannah Claussenius-Kalman ◽  
My V. H. Nguyen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Diverse Backgrounds

AbstractThe nature of word etymology, long a topic of interest in linguistics, has been considered to a much lesser extent in the word recognition literature. The present study created a database of overlapping words from the English Lexicon Project (ELP) and a database with the age of acquisition (AoA) norms which were categorized as either Germanic or Latin-based. Results revealed that Germanic words were learned earlier than Latin-based words. Germanic words also showed slower reaction times and higher accuracy relative to Latin-based words even when controlling for AoA, word frequency, and length. Additionally, analyses were conducted using a publicly available database that used the English Crowdsourcing Project (ECP) data with native and second language (L2) English speakers. The results with native speakers were similar to those collected with the ELP. However, nonnative speakers showed better accuracy and faster reaction times for Latin-based words compared to Germanic words. The findings support a bidialectal view of English in that Germanic words serve as the base of lexical processing during childhood, whereas Latin-based words fill in the lexical space across adolescence and into early adulthood. Furthermore, L2 speakers appear to acquire English via more advanced Latin-based vocabulary relative to native speakers. These results carry implications for theories of word recognition and the processing of lexical items in populations that come from linguistically diverse backgrounds.

scholarly journals The effect of givenness and referring expression on dative alternation in Norwegian: A reaction time study

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Marta Velnić ◽  
Merete Anderssen
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Time Study ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Contextual Dependency ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

Abstract This study investigates how givenness and pronominality affect the dative alternation in Norwegian. Previous studies have found givenness to influence the Double Object Dative (DOD) but not the Prepositional Dative (PD). Thirty-one Norwegian native speakers completed a speeded acceptability judgment task, in which given objects were expressed by definite DPs or pronouns, and either preceded or followed the new referent. DODs were found to be highly sensitive to givenness. Surprisingly, PDs also showed contextual dependency. Referring expressions affected the two structures differently: reaction times were faster with pronouns in DODs and slower in PDs. This suggests that the alternates have different processing biases, with the former preferring pronouns and the latter DPs. The results are further considered in relation to the notion of harmonic alignment, as PDs, in which the typically animate recipient is always the second object, and will thus consistently represent a suboptimal and non-harmonious order when givenness is adhered to.

scholarly journals Isomorphism and language-specific devices in comprehension of Korean suffixal passive construction by Mandarin-speaking learners of Korean

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gyu-Ho Shin ◽  
Sun Hee Park
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
The Other ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
Passive Construction ◽  
Case Marking

Abstract Across languages, a passive construction is known to manifest a misalignment between the typical order of event composition (agent-before-theme) and the actual order of arguments in the constructions (theme-before-agent), dubbed non-isomorphic mapping. This study investigates comprehension of a suffixal passive construction in Korean by Mandarin-speaking learners of Korean, focusing on isomorphism and language-specific devices in the passive. We measured learners’ judgment of the acceptability of canonical and scrambled suffixal passives as well as their reaction times (relative to a canonical active transitive). Our analysis generated three major findings. First, learners uniformly preferred the canonical passive to the scrambled passive. Second, as proficiency increased, the judgment gap between the canonical active transitive and the canonical suffixal passive narrowed, but the gap between the canonical active transitive and the scrambled suffixal passive did not. Third, learners (and even native speakers) spent more time in judging the acceptability of the canonical suffixal passive than they did in the other two construction types. Implications of these findings are discussed with respect to the mapping nature involving a passive voice, indicated by language-specific devices (i.e., case-marking and verbal morphology dedicated to Korean passives), in L2 acquisition.

scholarly journals Regular and Novel Metonymy: Can You Curl up with a Good Agatha Christie in Your Second Language?

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roumyana Slabakova ◽  
Jennifer Cabrelli Amaro ◽  
Sang Kyun Kang
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Second Language ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Stages Of Development ◽  
Psychological Reality ◽  
Experimental Support ◽  
Agatha Christie

Abstract This article presents results of two off-line comprehension tasks investigating the acceptability of unconventional and conventional metonymy by native speakers of Korean and Spanish who speak English as a second language. We are interested in discovering whether learners differentiate between conventional and unconventional metonymy, and whether the acceptability of metonymic expressions in the native language has an effect on learners’ judgments in the second language. The findings of this study constitute further experimental support for the psychological reality of the distinction between conventional and unconventional metonymy, but only in English. Learners of English at intermediate levels of proficiency exhibit transfer from the native language in comprehending metonymic shifts of meanings. Restructuring of the grammar is evident in later stages of development. Finally, complete success in acquiring L2 metonymic patterns is attested in our experimental study. Implications for L2A theories and teaching practices are discussed.

scholarly journals Real-Time Primitives for CoAP: Extending the Use of IoT for Time Constraint Applications for Social Good

Proceedings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (19) ◽  
pp. 1257
Author(s):  
Gabriel Eggly ◽  
Mariano Finochietto ◽  
Emmanouil Dimogerontakis ◽  
Rodrigo Santos ◽  
Javier Orozco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Internet Of Things ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Wireless Sensors ◽  
Communication Protocols ◽  
Social Good ◽  
Vulnerable Communities ◽  
The Social

Internet of Things (IoT) have become a hot topic since the official introduction of IPv6. Research on Wireless Sensors Networks (WSN) move towards IoT as the communication platform and support provided by the TCP/UDP/IP stack provides a wide variety of services. The communication protocols need to be designed in such a way that even simple microcontrollers with small amount of memory and processing speed can be interconnected in a network. For this different protocols have been proposed. The most extended ones, MQTT and CoAP, represent two different paradigms. In this paper, we present a CoAP extension to support soft real-time communications among sensors, actuators and users. The extension facilitates the instrumentation of applications oriented to improve the quality of life of vulnerable communities contributing to the social good.

scholarly journals The Role of Native Language and the Fundamental Design of the Auditory System in Detecting Rhythm Changes

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 835-852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikhail Ordin ◽  
Leona Polyanskaya ◽  
David Maximiliano Gómez ◽  
Arthur G. Samuel
Keyword(s):  
Auditory System ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Rhythmic Pattern ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Regular Rhythm ◽  
Fundamental Design

Purpose We investigated whether rhythm discrimination is mainly driven by the native language of the listener or by the fundamental design of the human auditory system and universal cognitive mechanisms shared by all people irrespective of rhythmic patterns in their native language. Method In multiple experiments, we asked participants to listen to 2 continuous acoustic sequences and to determine whether their rhythms were the same or different (AX discrimination). Participants were native speakers of 4 languages with different rhythmic properties (Spanish, French, English, and German) to understand whether the predominant rhythmic patterns of a native language affect sensitivity, bias, and reaction time in detecting rhythmic changes in linguistic (Experiment 2) and in nonlinguistic (Experiments 1 and 2) acoustic sequences. We examined sensitivity and bias measures, as well as reaction times. We also computed Bayes factors in order to assess the effect of native language. Results All listeners performed better (i.e., responded faster and manifested higher sensitivity and accuracy) when detecting the presence or absence of a rhythm change when the 1st stimulus in an AX test pair exhibited regular rhythm (i.e., a syllable-timed rhythmic pattern) than when the 1st stimulus exhibited irregular rhythm (i.e., stress-timed rhythmic pattern). This result pattern was observed both on linguistic and nonlinguistic stimuli and was not modulated by the native language of the participant. Conclusion We conclude that rhythm change detection is a fundamental function of a processing system that relies on general auditory mechanisms and is not modulated by linguistic experience.

scholarly journals Scalable PP-1 block cipher

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 401-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Bucholc ◽  
Krzysztof Chmiel ◽  
Anna Grocholewska-Czuryło ◽  
Ewa Idzikowska ◽  
Izabela Janicka-Lipska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Error Detection ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Block Cipher ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Concurrent Error Detection ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Speed Test ◽  
Fast Arithmetic ◽  
Key Scheduling

Scalable PP-1 block cipherA totally involutional, highly scalable PP-1 cipher is proposed, evaluated and discussed. Having very low memory requirements and using only simple and fast arithmetic operations, the cipher is aimed at platforms with limited resources, e.g., smartcards. At the core of the cipher's processing is a carefully designed S-box. The paper discusses in detail all aspects of PP-1 cipher design including S-box construction, permutation and round key scheduling. The quality of the PP-1 cipher is also evaluated with respect to linear cryptanalysis and other attacks. PP-1's concurrent error detection is also discussed. Some processing speed test results are given and compared with those of other ciphers.

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