scholarly journals THE IMPACT OF ORTHOGRAPHY ON LEXICAL ACCESS

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Andreas Opitz ◽  
Denisa Bordag
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Specific Property ◽  
Initial Letter ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Word Class ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Visual Priming ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Parent Node

Abstract Previous research has shown that orthographic marking may have a function beyond identifying orthographic word forms. In two visual priming experiments with native speakers and advanced learners of German (Czech natives) we tested the hypothesis that orthography can convey word-class cues comparable to morphological marking. We examined the effect of initial letter capitalization of nouns (a specific property of German orthography) on the processing of five homonymous and grammatically ambiguous forms. Both populations showed the same pattern of results: deverbal nouns (conversions) patterned together with countable nouns while in a previous study (with eliminated orthographic word-class cues) they patterned together with infinitives. Together, findings suggest that orthographic cues can trigger word-class-specific lexical retrieval/access. They also suggest a lexical entry structure in which conversion nouns, infinitives, and inflected verbal forms share a category-neutral parent node and that specified subnodes are accessed only when specifying cues are available and/or necessary for processing.

Examining the impact of task demands on morphological variability in native and non-native Spanish*

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz López Prego ◽  
Alison Gabriele
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Morphological Variability ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Number Agreement ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Perfect Performance ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Impact

The study tests representational and computational accounts of morphological variability in English-speaking learners of Spanish by examining performance on gender and number agreement under different task demands. Second language (L2) learners took either a Speeded grammaticality judgment task (GJT) or an Untimed GJT. The tasks targeted agreement violations of two types: errors in the use of ‘default’ morphology and errors involving ‘feature clashes’ (McCarthy, 2008). In addition, three groups of native speakers took the Speeded GJT at three different presentation rates to examine whether native speakers under a processing burden perform similarly to learners. Natives in the fastest speed performed better with feature clash errors for both gender and number. Learners showed the same pattern for number, but performed better with default errors in gender, suggesting different effects of processing demands for properties unique to the L2. On the Untimed GJT, a subset of advanced learners showed perfect performance with both gender and number.

Advanced learners of Spanish abroad

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-275
Author(s):  
María Victoria Soulé ◽  
Carmen Pérez-Vidal
Keyword(s):  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Knowledge Questionnaire ◽  
Formal Instruction ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract This study examines the progress made by a group of ERASMUS students in their use of the Spanish Preterite and Imperfect during a stay abroad. Advanced learners of Spanish (N = 12) and native speakers (N = 12) completed an impersonal narrative-based forced-choice test (INT) and an explicit knowledge questionnaire (EKQ). Results from the INT partially confirm the findings of previous studies which indicate that the expression of grounding distinguishes learners from native speakers. Our data show that only the foreground clearly distinguishes between the two groups, not the background. Responses to the EKQ reveal that learners use a variety of mechanisms for their selection of past tense morphology: formal instruction, translation into their L1, knowledge of other L2s and conversation with native speakers. This article suggests further research be undertaken to examine the impact of the learning context on students’ use of past tense morphology.

scholarly journals Future or Movement? The L2 Acquisition of Aller + V Forms

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Pascale Leclercq
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Oral Narrative ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Developmental Patterns ◽  
Patterns Of Use ◽  
Modal Values ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Narrative Function ◽  
Semantic Values

This study aims to advance the understanding of the impact of the discursive context in the form-function mappings of aller + V forms by native speakers (NSs) and learners of French (NNSs), and to further knowledge about the developmental patterns of use of such forms at three proficiency levels (lower intermediate, upper intermediate, and advanced). While aller + V is often referred to as a periphrastic future form, i.e., a way to express temporal reference, it also takes a range of diverse semantic values (including spatial, aspectual, and modal values), and discursive functions. We therefore set out to examine data from a cross-sectional oral narrative and a longitudinal semi-guided interview task to find out to what extent aller + V forms are used by NSs and NNSs in a study abroad context. Our main results show that at lower intermediate level, spatial values dominate, while temporal and modal values emerge at upper intermediate and advanced levels. As regards the discursive functions of aller + V, learners make context appropriate choices (among others, narrative function in oral narratives, and stance-marking in interviews), but even at advanced level, their range of semantic values and discursive functions is more restricted than native speakers’.

English language schooling, linguistic realities, and the native speaker of English in Hong Kong

Multilingua ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jette G. Hansen Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Government School ◽  
The Impact ◽  
At Home

AbstractThe study employs a case study approach to examine the impact of educational backgrounds on nine Hong Kong tertiary students’ English and Cantonese language practices and identifications as native speakers of English and Cantonese. The study employed both survey and interview data to probe the participants’ English and Cantonese language use at home, school, and with peers/friends. Leung, Harris, and Rampton’s (1997, The idealized native speaker, reified ethnicities, and classroom realities.TESOL Quarterly 31(3). 543–560) framework of language affiliation, language expertise, and inheritance was used to examine the construction of a native language identity in a multilingual setting. The study found that educational background – and particularly international school experience in contrast to local government school education – had an impact on the participants’ English language usage at home and with peers, and also affected their language expertise in Cantonese. English language use at school also impacted their identifications as native speakers of both Cantonese and English, with Cantonese being viewed largely as native language based on inheritance while English was being defined as native based on their language expertise, affiliation and use, particularly in contrast to their expertise in, affiliation with, and use of Cantonese.

scholarly journals A Corpus-Based Study on the Use of the Logical Connector ‘Thus’ in the Academic Writing of Turkish EFL Learners

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 64
Author(s):  
Serpil Ucar ◽  
Ceyhun Yukselir
Keyword(s):  
Likelihood Ratio ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
American English ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Log Likelihood ◽  
Log Likelihood Ratio ◽  
Effect Relation ◽  
Academic Genre

This research was conducted to investigate how frequently Turkish advanced learners of English use the logical connector ‘thus’ in their academic prose and to investigate whether it was overused, underused or misused semantically in comparison to English native speakers. The data were collected from three corpora; Corpus of Contemporary American English and 20 scientific articles of native speakers as control corpora, and 20 scientific articles of Turkish advanced EFL learners. The raw frequencies, frequencies per million words, frequencies per text and log-likelihood ratio were measured so as to compare varieties across the three corpora. The findings revealed that Turkish learners of English showed underuse in the use of the connector ‘thus’ in their academic prose compared to native speakers. Additionally, they did not demonstrate misuse in the use of the connector ‘thus’. Nevertheless, non-native learners of English tended to use this connector in a resultative role (cause-effect relation) more frequently whereas native speakers used it in appositional and summative roles more as well as its resultative role. Furthermore, the most frequent occurrences of ‘thus’ have been in academic genre.

The acceptance of spelling variants as symbols of Croatian spelling changes (1994–2013)

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-148
Author(s):  
Tomislav Stojanov
Keyword(s):  
Questionnaire Survey ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Year ◽  
Educational Setting ◽  
The Public ◽  
Study Programme ◽  
Spelling Variant ◽  
The Media ◽  
Technical Study ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This paper discusses the impact of several spelling changes in Croatian on the level of the literacy of native speakers. Since 1986, there have been five official recommendations for usage that pertain to five different orthographic manuals. This research focuses on three spelling points with considerable identity-related repercussions among the public and the media, which are sometimes named the spelling symbols of Croatian. A questionnaire-survey comprised of 36 tests was completed among 1063 students on a technical study programme each year for eight consecutive academic years. Eight generations of first-year undergraduates, who do not study language in an educational setting, have accepted the new spellings, contingent on a frequency principle. The more frequent a spelling variant occurs, the less the chance that the new spelling variant is accepted, and vice versa. Given the lack of established and enduring spelling norms, combined with ideological oppositions between the old and new spelling forms, students have been guided mainly by their capacity to write the most common form.

scholarly journals A Pronunciation Prior Assisted Vowel Reduction Detection Framework with Multi-Stream Attention Method

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 8321
Author(s):  
Zongming Liu ◽  
Zhihua Huang ◽  
Li Wang ◽  
Pengyuan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Recognition Rate ◽  
Auxiliary Information ◽  
Vowel Reduction ◽  
Phoneme Recognition ◽  
End To End ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Auxiliary Input

Vowel reduction is a common pronunciation phenomenon in stress-timed languages like English. Native speakers tend to weaken unstressed vowels into a schwa-like sound. It is an essential factor that makes the accent of language learners sound unnatural. To improve vowel reduction detection in a phoneme recognition framework, we propose an end-to-end vowel reduction detection method that introduces pronunciation prior knowledge as auxiliary information. In particular, we have designed two methods for automatically generating pronunciation prior sequences from reference texts and have implemented a main and auxiliary encoder structure that uses hierarchical attention mechanisms to utilize the pronunciation prior information and acoustic information dynamically. In addition, we also propose a method to realize the feature enhancement after encoding by using the attention mechanism between different streams to obtain expanded multi-streams. Compared with the HMM-DNN hybrid method and the general end-to-end method, the average F1 score of our approach for the two types of vowel reduction detection increased by 8.8% and 6.9%, respectively. The overall phoneme recognition rate increased by 5.8% and 5.0%, respectively. The experimental part further analyzes why the pronunciation prior knowledge auxiliary input is effective and the impact of different pronunciation prior knowledge types on performance.

scholarly journals Do All Eagles Fly High? The Generic Overgeneralization Effect: The Impact of Fillers in Truth Value Judgment Tasks

2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edyta Wajda ◽  
Daniel Karczewski
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Neutral Condition ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Value Judgment ◽  
Negative Condition ◽  
Truth Value ◽  
Acceptance Rates ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe generic overgeneralization effect is an attested tendency to accept false universal generalizations such as “all eagles fly” or “all snakes lay eggs” as true. In this paper, we discuss the generic overgeneralization effect demonstrated by Polish adult speakers. We asked 313 native speakers of Polish to evaluate universal quantified generalizations such as “all eagles fly” or “all snakes lay eggs” as true or false. The control group of 107 respondents provided data on the acceptance rates of the corresponding generic generalizations such as “eagles fly” or “snakes lay eggs”. By determining the impact of test fillers on the participants’ acceptance rates, the study aimed to identify the scope of the generic overgeneralization effect. We manipulated four conditions: the universal negative, positive, neutral, and generic control conditions. The results showed significant differences between the first two conditions, but neither the negative nor the positive condition differed from the neutral one. The overall acceptance rates of universal statements were 63% for the negative condition, 49% for the positive condition, 55% for the neutral condition, and 90% for the control group. Overall, the participants accepted universal quantified statements at high rates even when they were prompted to reject them. The results may be interpreted as another piece of evidence in support of the generic overgeneralization effect.

scholarly journals Effects of L1 Transfer Are Profound, Yet Native-Like Processing Strategy Is Attainable: Evidence From Advanced Learners’ Production of Complex L2 Chinese Structures

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fuyun Wu ◽  
Jun Lyu ◽  
Yanan Sheng
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
Asymmetric Pattern ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
L2 Chinese ◽  
Ultimate Attainment ◽  
English Group

English as a verb-medial language has a short-before-long preference, whereas Korean and Japanese as verb-final languages show a long-before-short preference. In second language (L2) research, little is known regarding how L1 processing strategies affect the ultimate attainment of target structures. Existing work has shown that native speakers of Chinese strongly prefer to utter demonstrative-classifier (DCL) phrases first in subject-extracted relatives (DCL-SR-N) and DCLs second in object-extracted relatives (OR-DCL-N). But it remains unknown whether L2 learners with typologically different language backgrounds are able to acquire native-like strategies, and how they deviate from native speakers or even among themselves. Using a phrase-assembly task, we investigated advanced L2-Chinese learners whose L1s were English, Korean, and Japanese, because English lacks individual classifiers and has postnominal relative clause (RC), whereas Korean and Japanese have individual classifiers and prenominal RCs. Results showed that the English and Korean groups deviated from the native controls’ asymmetric pattern, but the Japanese group approximated native-like performance. Furthermore, compared to the English group, the Korean and Japanese groups favored the DCL-second configuration in SRs and ORs. No differences were found between the Korean and Japanese groups. Overall, our findings suggest that L1 processing strategies play an overarching role in L2 acquisition of asymmetric positioning of DCLs in Chinese RCs.

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