The contribution of grammar and lexicon to language switching costs: Examining contact-induced languages and their implications for theories of language representation

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 992-1007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Deibel
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Switching Costs ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Comprehension Task ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Language Representation ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Mixed Languages

AbstractMany language pairs chosen in language switching studies differ randomly on multiple linguistic levels, thus obscuring the nature of switching costs. Contact-induced languages, i.e., creoles (e.g., Spanish-based Palenquero) and mixed languages (e.g., Media Lengua), having arisen in intense language contact scenarios, relate systematically to their source languages by displaying high proportions of cognates or shared grammar. This configuration can speak to the relative contribution of lexicon and grammar to switching costs. Results from a production and comprehension task show that switching costs are systematically tied to a language pair's grammatical distance. This suggests that switching costs may result from the re-generation of the morphosyntactic frame on switch trials. Emphasizing the value of testing psycholinguistic theories outside of the usual Western populations, the current study provides insight into the degree of shared mental representations between contact-induced languages and their source languages.

The influenced factors of bilinguals' language switching costs

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 1469
Author(s):  
Xin CHANG ◽  
He BAI ◽  
Pei WANG
Keyword(s):  
Switching Costs ◽  
Language Switching

Comprehension of competing argument marking systems in two Australian mixed languages

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 378-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
CARMEL O'SHANNESSY ◽  
FELICITY MEAKINS
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Comprehension Task ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence ◽  
Mixed Languages

Crosslinguistic influence has been seen in bilingual adult and child learners when compared to monolingual learners. For speakers of Light Warlpiri and Gurindji Kriol there is no monolingual group for comparison, yet crosslinguistic influence can be seen in how the speakers resolve competition between case-marking and word order systems in each language. Light Warlpiri and Gurindji Kriol are two new Australian mixed languages, spoken in similar, yet slightly different, sociolinguistic contexts, and with similar, yet slightly different, argument marking systems. The different sociolinguistic situations and systems of argument marking lead to a difference in how speakers of each language interpret simple transitive sentences in a comprehension task. Light Warlpiri speakers rely on ergative case-marking as an indicator of agents more often than Gurindji Kriol speakers do. Conversely, Gurindji Kriol speakers rely on word order more often than Light Warlpiri speakers do.

From Language Contact to Language Variation

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Massimo Cerruti
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Italian Region ◽  
The North ◽  
North Western ◽  
Insight Into

This paper falls within the line of research dealing with the role of intralinguistic variation in contact-induced language change. Two constructions are compared in terms of their respective degrees of grammaticalization: the progressive periphrasis ese lì c/a+Verb, which is widespread in some Northern Italo-Romance dialects, and the corresponding Italian construction essere lì che/a+Verb. The study focuses on the presence of such constructions in Turin, the capital of the north-western Italian region of Piedmont, in which the former periphrasis is less grammaticalized than the latter. It contends that the grammaticalization process of essere lì che/a+Verb was triggered by the contact between Piedmontese dialect and Italian, whereas the pace of grammaticalization of this periphrasis is affected by the contact between different varieties of Italian. The paper points out that the case study may provide insight into more general issues concerning not only the interplay of contact and variation in language change but also the role of sociolinguistic factors in shaping contact-induced grammaticalization phenomena.

scholarly journals Contact Languages of the Ancient Near East – Three more Case Studies (Ugaritic-Hurrian, Hurro-Akkadian and Canaano-Akkadian)

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Andrason ◽  
Juan-Pablo Vita
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Near East ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Theoretical Studies ◽  
Source Codes ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Dynamic Phenomena ◽  
Mixed Languages

This article describes and analyzes three situations of linguistic contact in the Ancient Near East, taking as its staring point three theoretical studies on contact languages which have been developed recently: the framework of mixed languages (Bakker and Matras, 2013; Meakins, 2013), the theory of written language contact (Johanson, 2013) and the approach to contact among genetically related languages (Epps, Huehnergard and Pat-El, 2013a). The authors argue that the contact systems selected for this article (Ugaritic-Hurrian, Hurro-Akkadian and Canaano-Akkadian), although distinct from the grammatical and sociolinguistic perspective, can all be viewed as expressions of the same dynamic phenomena, where each variety of mixing corresponds to a different stage of a universal continuum of languages in the situation of merger. Consequently, they can be located along the universal cline of mixing: Ugaritic-Hurrian matches the initial stage of intermingling, Hurro-Akkadian reflects gradually more intense blending, and Canaano-Akkadian corresponds to the phase of a profound fusion of the two source codes. By examining and comparing the three cases of mixing, the authors introduce new insights to the general discussion on mixed languages, written language contact and relevance of genetic relation in language intermingling, thus corroborating and/or refining certain hypotheses and propositions that have previously been formulated within the latest theoretical studies.

scholarly journals What makes a human? Conscious human beings are hyperobjects that interact via physical and mental representations in an ecosystem based on fundamental story-flow interactions.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Lerchner
Keyword(s):  
Particle Physics ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Nervous System Activity ◽  
Flow Interactions ◽  
Fundamental Forces ◽  
Temporal Interactions ◽  
Individual Human

What is a human being? Some might answer this question by referring to a biological body, growing from genetic information passed on through generations. Others refer to a mind, developed from infancy to adulthood, expressing itself self-aware and intelligently. Few will argue that a human being could exist without one or the other, but many disagree on their relative contribution. Does the conscious mind emerge solely from a single physical body? Is the developing body shaped purely by biological predetermination? I propose that the formation of individual human beings is subject to an environment that envelops both, the physical and mental realms. This environment is here referred to as story-verse of humanity. It is an ecosystem that emerged from biological activity but grew and evolved into an interactive space that includes temporal interactions, such as created by nervous system activity. The emerging story-verse gives rise to persistent hyperobjects, including individual human beings, whose stories perpetuate themselves via physical and mental representations. The story-verse is a real physics realm that includes the four fundamental interactions described by particle physics, but additionally requires higher-order fundamental forces that facilitate interactions between the physical and mental realm.

Thermodynamic aspects of some radioassays.

1976 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
P M Keane ◽  
W H Walker ◽  
J Gauldie ◽  
G E Abraham
Keyword(s):  
Incubation Temperature ◽  
Equilibrium Constants ◽  
Thermodynamic Characteristics ◽  
Enthalpy Change ◽  
Theoretical Level ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Free Binding Energy ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
And Control ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract In a number of radioimmunoassays and radiotransin assays, effective equilibrium constants have been measured at different temperatures in order to define the relative contribution of changes of entropy and enthalpy to the change in free binding energy. In systems with a large enthalpy component, the lowest possible incubation temperature maximizes sensitivity, and control of temperature throughout the assay is important. Conversely, when enthalpy change is small, a high temperature allows rapid attainment of equilibrium without loss of sensitivity. At a theoretical level, the thermodynamic characteristics of binding may allow some insight into the nature of the binding process.

Language switching and language representation in Spanish-English bilinguals: An fMRI study

NeuroImage ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. S340
Author(s):  
Arturo Hernandez ◽  
Mirella Dapretto ◽  
Susan Bookheimer
Keyword(s):  
Language Switching ◽  
Language Representation ◽  
Fmri Study

scholarly journals Good Language-Switchers are Good Task-Switchers: Evidence from Spanish–English and Mandarin–English Bilinguals

2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 682-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anat Prior ◽  
Tamar H. Gollan
Keyword(s):  
Parent Education ◽  
Task Switching ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Switching Costs ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Education Level ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Dominant Language

AbstractBilingual advantages in executive control tasks are well documented, but it is not yet clear what degree or type of bilingualism leads to these advantages. To investigate this issue, we compared the performance of two bilingual groups and monolingual speakers in task-switching and language-switching paradigms. Spanish–English bilinguals, who reported switching between languages frequently in daily life, exhibited smaller task-switching costs than monolinguals after controlling for between-group differences in speed and parent education level. By contrast, Mandarin–English bilinguals, who reported switching languages less frequently than Spanish–English bilinguals, did not exhibit a task-switching advantage relative to monolinguals. Comparing the two bilingual groups in language-switching, Spanish–English bilinguals exhibited smaller costs than Mandarin–English bilinguals, even after matching for fluency in the non-dominant language. These results demonstrate an explicit link between language-switching and bilingual advantages in task-switching, while also illustrating some limitations on bilingual advantages. (JINS, 2011, 17, 682–691)

Examining language switching in bilinguals: The role of preparation time

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 415-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHELA MOSCA ◽  
HARALD CLAHSEN
Keyword(s):  
Switching Costs ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Preparation Time ◽  
Language Control ◽  
Mixing Costs

Much research on language control in bilinguals has relied on the interpretation of the costs of switching between two languages. Of the two types of costs that are linked to language control, switching costs are assumed to be transient in nature and modulated by trial-specific manipulations (e.g., by preparation time), while mixing costs are supposed to be more stable and less affected by trial-specific manipulations. The present study investigated the effect of preparation time on switching and mixing costs, revealing that both types of costs can be influenced by trial-specific manipulations.

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