The acquisition of rhotics by child L2 and L3 learners

This study investigated how previous linguistic experience and universal strategies guide the acquisition of phonology in the classroom. More specifically, it focused on the possible advantages that bilingual children have over monolingual children. Thirty-four children completed a picture-naming task: 9 Spanish native speakers, 19 English native speakers acquiring Spanish as L2 and 6 Korean-English bilinguals acquiring Spanish as L3. Results indicated that in general the children rapidly acquired native-like pronunciation of the Spanish rhotics, but the Korean-English bilinguals outperformed the English-speaking children. We propose that although previous linguistic knowledge plays a role in L2 and L3 acquisition, children are able to overcome transfer errors because they are guided by universal developmental strategies from the initial stages of acquisition. We suggest that if L3 learners have an advantage over L2 learners, this may be due to their complex linguistic knowledge and higher metalinguistic competence.

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Conceptual alignment in a joint picture-naming task performed with a social robot

10.31234/osf.io/cjy24 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Giusy CIRILLO ◽

Elin Runnqvist ◽

Kristof Strijkers ◽

Noel Nguyen ◽

Cristina Baus

Keyword(s):

Logistic Regression ◽

Strong Evidence ◽

Picture Naming ◽

Regression Models ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Naming Task ◽

Social Robot ◽

Logistic Regression Models ◽

Semantic Categories ◽

Basic Level

Conversation entails a tight coordination between the interlocutors in terms of co-representation and linguistic alignment (e.g., word choices). In this study we investigated whether people conceptually align in a language task with a robot. 24 French native speakers alternated with an artificial partner in naming images of objects belonging to different semantic categories (e.g., mammals, clothes…). For five out of fifteen categories the robot produced the item’s category instead of the preferred basic-level name. Logistic regression models on participants' errors revealed that they adapted to the robot’s conceptual choices, and produced more category names over the course of the experiment. This pattern was most prominent for the semantic categories for which the robot had used a category name, and importantly, it applied to novel items. These results provide strong evidence for conceptual alignment affecting word choices, indicating that prototypical concepts can be overwritten in conversation to adapt to the interlocutor.

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What factors influence phonological production in French-speaking bilingual children, aged three to six years?

Journal of Child Language ◽

10.1017/s0305000919000874 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 47 (5) ◽

pp. 945-981 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Margaret KEHOE ◽

Chloé GIRARDIER

Keyword(s):

Picture Naming ◽

Age Groups ◽

Naming Task ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

Vocabulary Test ◽

Phonological Features ◽

First Languages ◽

French Speaking ◽

L2 Vocabulary ◽

Vocabulary Score

AbstractThis study examines the influence of bilingual status, language-internal (complexity of L1 phonology), language-external (dominance), and lexical (L2 vocabulary score) factors on phonological production in French-speaking monolingual (n = 37) and bilingual children (n = 64) aged three to six years. Children participated in an object and picture naming task which tested different phonological features. The bilinguals’ first languages were coded in terms of the complexity of these phonological features. In addition, the parents completed a questionnaire on their child's language dominance and the children were administered a vocabulary test in their L2. Results indicated that vocabulary was the principal predictor of phonological accuracy across both age groups. Apparent monolingual–bilingual differences and dominance effects could largely be explained by vocabulary scores: children who scored better on a vocabulary test obtained superior phonological accuracy. Language-internal effects were minimal and marginally influenced vowel accuracy only.

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Using whole-word production measures to determine the influence of phonotactic probability and neighborhood density on bilingual speech production

International Journal of Bilingualism ◽

10.1177/1367006911425815 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 369-387 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Skott E. Freedman ◽

Jessica A. Barlow

Keyword(s):

Speech Production ◽

Picture Naming ◽

Naming Task ◽

Word Production ◽

Neighborhood Density ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Phonotactic Probability ◽

Whole Word ◽

Phonological Complexity

Numerous lexical and sublexical factors have been reported to influence speech production in monolinguals (Storkel, 2001; Vitevitch, 2002); however, whole-word production analyses have rarely been used to measure such influences. The present study investigated the effects of phonotactic probability and neighborhood density on bilingual speech production using whole-word production measures (Ingram, 2002). Five typically developing English–Spanish bilingual children were administered a picture-naming task in English and Spanish in which stimuli varied in sublexical and lexical parameters. Their English and Spanish productions were compared with those of five age-matched monolingual English- and Spanish-speaking children, respectively. No differences were found between bilinguals and monolinguals in the respective languages; however, bilinguals evidenced greater phonological complexity in Spanish than English on words with low phonotactic probability and low neighborhood density. Whole-word approximation remained similar between languages. Findings are interpreted in the context of crosslinguistic influences of sublexical and lexical factors on speech production.

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How L2 learners of French and English express modality using verbal means: A crosslinguistic and developmental study

IRAL - International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching ◽

10.1515/iral-2017-0108 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 55 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Pascale Leclercq ◽

Amanda Edmonds

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Short Film ◽

Developmental Study ◽

Second Language Proficiency ◽

L2 Learners ◽

French And English ◽

French Speaking ◽

English Speaking

AbstractThis study describes and analyzes how native and non-native speakers express modality using verbal means during oral retellings. Participants included native speakers of French and English, as well as English-speaking learners of French and French-speaking learners of English at three levels of language proficiency. All participants performed the same short film retelling, which was then transcribed and analyzed in terms of modalization. Results show that all groups use verbal modal means, although rates, meanings and types of modal forms used vary across the two languages, and especially as a function of second language proficiency.

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Difficulties using standardized tests to identify the receptive expressive gap in bilingual children's vocabularies

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728917000074 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 328-339 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

TODD A. GIBSON ◽

LINDA JARMULOWICZ ◽

D. KIMBROUGH OLLER

Keyword(s):

Standardized Tests ◽

Picture Naming ◽

English Language ◽

Spanish Language ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

Old Spanish ◽

English Bilingual ◽

Language Tests ◽

The Us ◽

English Speaking

Receptive standardized vocabulary scores have been found to be much higher than expressive standardized vocabulary scores in children with Spanish as L1, learning L2 (English) in school (Gibson et al., 2012). Here we present evidence suggesting the receptive-expressive gap may be harder to evaluate than previously thought. We compared the performance of 116 six-year-old Spanish–English bilingual children in the US to 30 monolingual Spanish-speaking peers in Mexico across two Spanish-language standardized picture naming tests and one standardized picture pointing test. The performance of 134 monolingual English-speaking peers was compared using similar English-language tests. Results revealed the presence and magnitude of a receptive-expressive gap was largely dependent on the tests used. These discrepant results likely exist because widely-used standardized tests do not offer comparable normed scores. We review possible test norming practices that may have contributed to these results and suggest guidelines to determine a meaningful receptive-expressive gap for bilingual children.

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Evidence of phonological transfer in bilingual preschoolers who speak Arabic and French

International Journal of Bilingualism ◽

10.1177/13670069211034232 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 136700692110342

Author(s):

Rabia Sabah Meziane ◽

Andrea AN MacLeod

Keyword(s):

Analysis Of Variance ◽

Repeated Measures ◽

Picture Naming ◽

Naming Task ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

Positive Interactions ◽

Clinical Implications ◽

Phonological Development ◽

Repeated Measures Analysis ◽

Two Systems

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to document evidence of phonological transfer in bilingual preschoolers. Specifically, we focus on the phonological development of bilingual children acquiring French and Arabic. Method: Nine children who spoke Arabic and French, aged three years old, participated in a picture-naming task in both languages. Three types of measurement were used to examine the interaction between the two systems: consonants accuracy; inventory of acquired consonants; and types of errors. Data and analysis: The accuracy of shared and unshared consonants between Arabic and French were compared with a repeated measures analysis of variance, and error patterns were analyzed. Conclusions: Two main results suggest that these bilingual children have two phonological systems that interacted. First, the children had an inventory of acquired consonants that differed according to language. Second, they produced shared consonants more accurately than unshared consonants, indicating positive interactions and low accuracy for unshared consonants, indicating negative interactions. Originality: This study contributes much-needed research relating to the development of bilingual children, particularly children who are acquiring Arabic and French. Implications: These findings enrich the understanding of bilingual phonological development and contribute to understanding how two phonological systems interact. This study also has clinical implications for evaluation and intervention with bilingual children.

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Abstraction of phonological representations in adult nonnative speakers

Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America ◽

10.3765/plsa.v1i0.3725 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 24 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Alia Lancaster ◽

Kira Gor

Keyword(s):

Native Speakers ◽

Native Language ◽

Nonnative Speakers ◽

Phonological Acquisition ◽

Phonological Representations ◽

L2 Learners ◽

Perception Model ◽

English Speaking ◽

Phonetic Cues ◽

L2 Perception

Perception of nonnative contrasts by adult second language (L2) learners is affected by native language phonology. The current study contrasted predictions from two models of L2 phonological acquisition that focus on different representational levels as the origin of native language transfer: the abstract categorization level from the Perceptual Assimilation Model for L2 learners (PAM-L2; Best & Tyler, 2007) and the phonetic level from the Automatic Selective Perception model (ASP; Strange, 2011). The target phonemes were pairs of Arabic consonants that were equally similar on the abstract categorization level but unequally similar on the phonetic level—voiced and voiceless pharyngeal fricatives /ʕ/, /ħ/ and uvular fricatives /χ/, /ʁ/. Twenty intermediate-level English-speaking Arabic L2 learners and 10 Arabic native speakers (NS) completed auditory identification and discrimination tasks. We first conducted a discriminant analysis (DA) to quantify ASP predictions based on phonetic variables. L2 learners were generally more accurate when perceiving the pharyngeal consonants compared to the uvulars and when perceiving the voiced phonemes compared to the voiceless. These findings, and L2 learners’ perceptual variation across contexts, predicted by the DA, suggest that L2 speakers were able to track phonetic cues during L2 perception and thus favor the ASP. These results support the interpretation that L2 learners attend to the phonetic detail in nonnative segments; however, they do not build nativelike phonological representations for the segments with weaker phonetic cues. This ability to process low-level phonetic cues opens the possibility for learners to create more robust phonological representations.

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Tweede-Taalverwerving en Universele Grammatica

Toegepaste Taalwetenschap in Artikelen ◽

10.1075/ttwia.30.04jor ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 30 ◽

pp. 31-47 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Peter Jordens

Keyword(s):

Language Acquisition ◽

Adult Learners ◽

Language Development ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Universal Grammar ◽

Linguistic Knowledge ◽

Logical Problem ◽

L2 Learners ◽

Rule System ◽

Learning Principles

Among researchers in SLA there is currently a debate on wheter or not L2 learners may have access to Universal Grammar. Clahsen & Muysken (1986), for example, claim that this should not be the case. This is because the interlanguage system of L2 learners should contain rules which do not belong to "a possible rule system". Felix (1987), Flynn (1984, 1985) and White (1987), however, claim that the interlanguage system of L2 learners consists of "instantiations of possible rules". Furthermore, L2 learners should possess linguistic knowledge that cannot be related to general learning principles, nor to linguistic knowledge of L1. In the present article evidence from a study by White (1987) with respect to the so-called "logical problem of language acquisition" and from studies by Flynn (1984, 1985) regarding the so-called "logical problem of language development" is examined critically. With regard to the acquisition of the thai-trace effect in L2 English by native speakers of Dutch it can be shown that it is not necessary to assume that L2 learners should have access to Universal Grammar. Similarly, it can be shown that evidence that is interpreted in favour of the resetting of the head-parameters in the L2 English of native speakers of Japanese and Chinese can also be explained alternatively. Methodologically it appears to be problematical to find empirical evidence for the use of Universal Grammar by adult learners of a second language.

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Access to UG and language transfer: a study of L2 learners' interpretation of reconstruction in Chinese

Second language Research ◽

10.1191/026765899672835412 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 41-72 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

H. G. Ying

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Universal Grammar ◽

Language Transfer ◽

Control Group ◽

Parameter Setting ◽

L2 Learners ◽

English Speaking

Twenty-seven English-speaking learners of Chinese (the experimental groups) and 20 native speakers of Chinese (the control group) participated in a study that investigated second language learners' knowledge of reconstruction (NP and predicate fronted sentences with ziji ‘self’) in Chinese. Results of a sentence interpretation task indicate that English-speaking learners of Chinese had knowledge of ambiguity of antecedence of ziji inside a moved predicate, and lack of ambiguity of antecedence of ziji inside a moved NP, although such information is not directly available in English. While the experiment produced evidence that they appeared to have access to Universal Grammar, English-speaking learners of Chinese bound ziji in non-movement sentences to an embedded subject, indicating that they mapped the narrower setting of reflexives in English onto a wider parameter setting of ziji in Chinese.

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