scholarly journals CONCEPTUALLY CUED PERCEPTUAL CATEGORIZATION IN ADULT L2 LEARNERS

Author(s):  
Cristina Lozano-Argüelles ◽  
Laura Fernández Arroyo ◽  
Nicole Rodríguez ◽  
Ezequiel M. Durand López ◽  
Juan J. Garrido Pozú ◽  
...  

Abstract Previous studies attest that early bilinguals can modify their perceptual identification according to the fine-grained phonetic detail of the language they believe they are hearing. Following Gonzales et al. (2019), we replicate the double phonemic boundary effect in late learners (LBs) using conceptual-based cueing. We administered a forced choice identification task to 169 native English adult learners of Spanish in two sessions. In both sessions, participants identified the same /b/-/p/ voicing continuum, but language context was cued conceptually using the instructions. The data were analyzed using Bayesian multilevel regression. Learners categorized the continuum in a similar manner when they believed they were hearing English. However, when they believed they were hearing Spanish, “voiceless” responses increased as a function of L2 proficiency. This research demonstrates the double phonemic boundary effect can be conceptually cued in LBs and supports accounts positing selective activation of independent perception grammars in L2 learning.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Lozano Argüelles ◽  
Laura Fernandez Arroyo ◽  
Nicole Rodriguez ◽  
Ezequiel Martin Durand López ◽  
Juan Jose Garrido Pozu ◽  
...  

Previous studies attest that early bilinguals can modify their perceptual identification according to the fine-grained phonetic detail of the language they believe they are hearing. Following Gonzales, Byers-Heinlein, and Lotto (2019), we replicate the double phonemic boundary effect in late learners (LBs) using conceptual-based cueing. We administered a forced choice identification task to 169 native English adult learners of Spanish in two sessions. In both sessions participants identified the same /b/-/p/ voicing continuum, but language context was cued conceptually via the instructions. The data were analyzed using Bayesian multilevel regression. Learners categorized the continuum in a similar manner when they believed they were hearing English. However, when they believed they were hearing Spanish, ‘voiceless’ responses increased as a function of L2 proficiency. This research demonstrates the double phonemic boundary effect can be conceptually cued in LBs and supports accounts positing selective activation of independent perception grammars in L2 learning.


Author(s):  
Demian Scherer ◽  
Dirk Wentura

Abstract. Recent theories assume a mutual facilitation in case of semantic overlap for concepts being activated simultaneously. We provide evidence for this claim using a semantic priming paradigm. To test for mutual facilitation of related concepts, a perceptual identification task was employed, presenting prime-target pairs briefly and masked, with an SOA of 0 ms (i.e., prime and target were presented concurrently, one above the other). Participants were instructed to identify the target. In Experiment 1, a cue defining the target was presented at stimulus onset, whereas in Experiment 2 the cue was not presented before the offset of stimuli. Accordingly, in Experiment 2, a post-cue task was merged with the perceptual identification task. We obtained significant semantic priming effects in both experiments. This result is compatible with the view that two concepts can both be activated in parallel and can mutually facilitate each other if they are related.


1991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeroen G. W. Raaijmakers ◽  
Rene Zeelenberg ◽  
Chris Schrijnemakers

Cognition ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 104168
Author(s):  
Audrey Mazancieux ◽  
Tifany Pandiani ◽  
Chris J.A. Moulin

1985 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 15-25
Author(s):  
Andy Bentlage

Naming and describing are important aspects of referential communication (RC). In an investigation of RC in a second language (L2), 36 secondary school students, divided into three groups of 12 with different proficiency levels, had to work in pairs on a description/identification task involving twelve nonrepresentative shapes. One task session consisted of six trials which were performed in English. The results of three different data analyses (numbers of words, naming and describing, and referential strategies) showed that RC in L2 differs from RC in L1 in three aspects: nonnative speakers (NNS) need longer references for the shapes; NNS' final references are structurally more complex; NNS with a lower L2 proficiency use their L1 more often than NNS with a higher L2 proficiency.


2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niclas Abrahamsson

Research has consistently shown there is a negative correlation between age of onset (AO) of acquisition and ultimate attainment (UA) of either pronunciation or grammar in a second language (L2). A few studies have indeed reported nativelike behavior in some postpuberty learners with respect to either phonetics/phonology or morphosyntax, a result that has sometimes been taken as evidence against the critical period hypothesis (CPH). However, in the few studies that have employed a wide range of linguistic tests and tasks, adult learners have not exhibited nativelike L2 proficiency across the board of measures, which, according to some, suggests that the hypothesis still holds. The present study investigated the relationship between AO and UA and the incidence of nativelikeness when measures of phonetic and grammatical intuition are combined. An additional aim was to investigate whether children and adults develop the L2 through fundamentally different brain mechanisms—namely, whether children acquire the language (more) implicitly as an interdependent whole, whereas adults learn it (more) explicitly as independent parts of a whole.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Therese Frederiksen

Previous work on placement expressions (e.g., “she put the cup on the table”) has demonstrated cross-linguistic differences in the specificity of placement expressions in the native language (L1), with some languages preferring more general, widely applicable expressions and others preferring more specific expressions based on more fine-grained distinctions. Research on second language (L2) acquisition of an additional spoken language has shown that learning the appropriate L2 placement distinctions poses a challenge for adult learners whose L2 semantic representations can be non-target like and have fuzzy boundaries. Unknown is whether similar effects apply to learners acquiring a L2 in a different sensory-motor modality, e.g., hearing learners of a sign language. Placement verbs in signed languages tend to be highly iconic and to exhibit transparent semantic boundaries. This may facilitate acquisition of signed placement verbs. In addition, little is known about how exposure to different semantic boundaries in placement events in a typologically different language affects lexical semantic meaning in the L1. In this study, we examined placement event descriptions (in American Sign Language (ASL) and English) in hearing L2 learners of ASL who were native speakers of English. L2 signers' ASL placement descriptions looked similar to those of two Deaf, native ASL signer controls, suggesting that the iconicity and transparency of placement distinctions in the visual modality may facilitate L2 acquisition. Nevertheless, L2 signers used a wider range of handshapes in ASL and used them less appropriately, indicating that fuzzy semantic boundaries occur in cross-modal L2 acquisition as well. In addition, while the L2 signers' English verbal expressions were not different from those of a non-signing control group, placement distinctions expressed in co-speech gesture were marginally more ASL-like for L2 signers, suggesting that exposure to different semantic boundaries can cause changes to how placement is conceptualized in the L1 as well.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaylyn Kress ◽  
Josh Neudorf ◽  
Chelsea Ekstrand ◽  
Ron Borowsky

In the two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) task, the target stimulus is presented very briefly, and the participants must choose between two options as to which was the presented target. Some past research (Grossi et al., 2009; Haro et al., 2019) has assumed that the 2AFC word identification task isolates orthographic effects, despite orthographic, semantic, and phonological differences between the alternative options. If so, performance should not differ between word target/nonword foil pairs and British/American word pairs, the latter of which only differ orthographically. In Experiment 1, accuracy and sensitivity were higher during word/nonword trials than British/American trials when participants stated their response was not a guess, demonstrating that phonological/semantic processing contributes to 2AFC performance. In Experiment 2, target visibility was manipulated by increasing the contrast between target and mask for half the trials. Experiment 2 showed that target visibility did not interact with pair type on reaction time, which suggests phonological/semantic processing did not result in feedback to orthographic encoding in this task. This study demonstrates the influence of phonological/semantic processing on word perceptual identification, and shows that 2AFC word identification does not isolate orthographic effects when word/nonword pairs are used, but using British/American word pairs provides a method for doing so. Implications for models and future research are discussed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren B. Schmidt

Previous work has found that speakers who move to a new dialect region may come to adopt features of the second dialect. This study investigates whether other types of dialect exposure – those present without ever leaving one’s home dialectal region – similarly result in differences in language use. An identification task and a dialect contact questionnaire were administered to two Spanish-speaking dialect groups in Latin America to determine the effect of different types of dialect contact on the perceptual categorization of the regionally and socially variable feature of syllable-final /s/-aspiration (e.g., <em>fresco</em> [fɾeh.ko], ‘fresh’). Short-term travel and exposure to Media from /s/-weakening regions were not found to play a role in identification of aspirated-/s/. However, the regional background of reported social contacts (i.e., the social network) was a significant factor in how the regional variant was identified. Findings highlight the importance of live social interaction in language contact and change.


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