Native and second-language processing of contrastive pitch accent: An ERP study

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleuna Lee ◽  
Michelle Perdomo ◽  
Edith Kaan
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Building Information

Prosody signals important aspects of meaning, and hence, is crucial for language comprehension and learning, yet remains under-investigated in second-language (L2) processing. The present electrophysiology study investigates the use of prosody to cue information structure, in particular, the use of contrastive pitch accent (L+H*) to define the set of elements that are contrasted. For instance, in We ate Angela’s cake, but saved BENjamin’s cake, the pitch accent on Benjamin’s is a cue that two cakes are contrasted; BENjamin’s ice cream is not plausible in this context. Native English speakers showed a large negativity on the target noun ( cake) when the preceding possessive was inappropriately accented. Event-related brain potential (ERP) results from Mandarin-Chinese L2 learners of English suggest they did not use contrastive pitch accent to cue the contrast set in the way native English speakers did, even though Mandarin is similar to English in the use of prosodic cues to express contrast. Our results are in line with previous studies suggesting that L2 speakers have difficulty integrating information across domains and building information structure, especially in demanding task situations like in the present study.

Individual differences in the second language processing of object–subject ambiguities

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
HOLGER HOPP
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Reading Speed ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Mixed Regression ◽  
Syntactic Ambiguities ◽  
Types Of Information

ABSTRACTThis study investigates whether and how individual differences modulate the adult second language (L2) processing of syntactic ambiguities. In a linear mixed regression analysis, we test how proficiency, working memory, reading speed, automaticity in lexical access, and grammatical integration ability affect the resolution of temporary object–subject ambiguities in L2 English. The results from 75 first language German advanced learners attest that individual differences in syntactic integration ability modulate the reliance on morphosyntactic and plausibility information. Similar to native speakers, L2 learners are found to adopt two different routes in L2 processing. The findings highlight the role of individual differences and qualify previous generalizations about the relative use of morphosyntactic and other types of information in L2 processing.

Second language processing: when are first and second languages processed similarly?

2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Sabourin ◽  
Laurie A. Stowe
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
First Language ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
L1 And L2

In this article we investigate the effects of first language (L1) on second language (L2) neural processing for two grammatical constructions (verbal domain dependency and grammatical gender), focusing on the event-related potential P600 effect, which has been found in both L1 and L2 processing. Native Dutch speakers showed a P600 effect for both constructions tested. However, in L2 Dutch (with German or a Romance language as L1) a P600 effect only occurred if L1 and L2 were similar. German speakers show a P600 effect to both constructions. Romance speakers only show a P600 effect within the verbal domain. We interpret these findings as showing that with similar rule-governed processing routines in L1 and L2 (verbal domain processing for both German and Romance speakers), similar neural processing is possible in L1 and L2. However, lexically-driven constructions that are not the same in L1 and L2 (grammatical gender for Romance speakers) do not result in similar neural processing in L1 and L2 as measured by the P600 effect.

Effects of reading speed on second-language sentence processing

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 799-830 ◽  
Author(s):  
EDITH KAAN ◽  
JOCELYN C. BALLANTYNE ◽  
FRANK WIJNEN
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Reading Speed ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
Language Conflict

ABSTRACTTo test the effects of reading speed on second-language (L2) sentence processing and the potential influence of conflicting native language word order, we compared advanced L2 learners of English with native English speakers on a self-paced reading task. L2 learners read faster overall than native English speakers. When differences in reading speed were controlled for, L2 learners were as sensitive to grammaticality manipulations as native English speakers. On-line reading times did not reflect any effect of cross-language conflict in the learners. Results from an end-of-sentence verification task showed a stronger bias toward a subject–object order in the cross-language conflict conditions in speed-matched L2 learners but not in L2 learners reading faster than native speakers. Results are compatible with hypothesized differences in resource allocation between L2 and native language processing.

Prosodic cues in second-language speech processing: A visual world eye-tracking study

2019 ◽  
pp. 026765831987919 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Perdomo ◽  
Edith Kaan
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Movement Behavior ◽  
Visual World ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Building Information ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

Listeners interpret cues in speech processing immediately rather than waiting until the end of a sentence. In particular, prosodic cues in auditory speech processing can aid listeners in building information structure and contrast sets. Native speakers even use this information in combination with syntactic and semantic information to build mental representations predictively. Research on second-language (L2) learners suggests that learners have difficulty integrating linguistic information across various domains, likely subject to L2 proficiency levels. The current study investigated eye-movement behavior of native speakers of English and Chinese learners of English in their use of contrastive intonational cues to restrict the set of upcoming referents in a visual world paradigm. Both native speakers and learners used contrastive pitch accent to restrict the set of referents. Whereas native speakers anticipated the upcoming set of referents, this was less clear in the L2 learners. This suggests that learners are able to integrate information across multiple domains to build information structure in the L2 but may not do so predictively. Prosodic processing was not affected by proficiency or working memory in the L2 speakers.

scholarly journals Cross-linguistic differences in prosodic cues to syntactic disambiguation in German and English

2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARY GRANTHAM O'BRIEN ◽  
CARRIE N. JACKSON ◽  
CHRISTINE E. GARDNER
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
First Language ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L2 Production ◽  
Learning English

ABSTRACTThis study examined whether late-learning English–German second language (L2) learners and late-learning German–English L2 learners use prosodic cues to disambiguate temporarily ambiguous first language and L2 sentences during speech production. Experiments 1a and 1b showed that English–German L2 learners and German–English L2 learners used a pitch rise and pitch accent to disambiguate PP-attachment sentences in German. However, the same participants, as well as monolingual English speakers, only used pitch accent to disambiguate similar English sentences. Taken together, these results indicate the L2 learners used prosody to disambiguate sentences in both of their languages and did not fully transfer cues to disambiguation from their first language to their L2. The results have implications for the acquisition of L2 prosody and the interaction between prosody and meaning in L2 production.

scholarly journals Becoming Native-Like for Good or Ill: Online and Offline Processing of Case Forms in L2 Russian

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Cherepovskaia ◽  
Elizaveta Reutova ◽  
Natalia Slioussar
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Strong Indication ◽  
Judgment Accuracy ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Offline Processing ◽  
Online Measures

One of the central questions in second language processing studies is whether native (L1) and second language (L2) readers process sentences relying on the same mechanisms or there are qualitative differences. As their proficiency grows, L2 readers become more efficient, but it is difficult to determine whether they develop native-like mechanisms or rely on different strategies. Our study contributes to this debate by focusing on constructions that were demonstrated to cause characteristic problems in L1 processing: a particular type of case errors in Russian was taken as an example. We investigated how beginner and intermediate learners of Russian process such errors, measuring reading times and grammaticality judgment accuracy. At the beginner level, we found non-native-like patterns both in online and in offline measures. But at the intermediate level, native-like problems emerged in offline measures. In our view, this is a strong indication that these readers are using the same underlying mechanisms as in L1 processing. In online measures, L2 readers at both levels were, in general, much slower than native participants and exhibited characteristic non-native-like patterns, which we explained by delayed morphosyntactic processing. We conclude that our results are compatible with approaches, assuming that the mechanisms for L1 and advanced L2 processing are the same, but L2 processing is more cognitively demanding and therefore slower.

Second language sentence processing in reading for comprehension and translation

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 518-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUNG HYUN LIM ◽  
KIEL CHRISTIANSON
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

A self-paced reading and translation task was used with learners of English as a second language (L2) to explore what sorts of information L2 learners use during online comprehension compared to native speakers, and how task (reading for comprehension vs. translation) and proficiency affect L2 comprehension. Thirty-six Korean native speakers of English and 32 native English speakers read plausible and implausible subject relative clauses and object relative clauses. Reading times, comprehension accuracy, and translations were analyzed. Results showed that L2 learners were able to use syntactic information similarly to native speakers during comprehension, and that online L2 processing and offline comprehension were modulated by reading goals and proficiency. Results are interpreted as showing that L2 processing is quantitatively rather than qualitatively different from first language processing, i.e. strategically “good enough”.

Prosodic Disambiguation in First and Second Language Production: English and Korean

2021 ◽  
pp. 002383092110420
Author(s):  
Hyunah Baek
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Production ◽  
First Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Phonological Categories ◽  
Production Experiment ◽  
Phonetic Cues

This study investigates the use of prosodic cues for syntactic ambiguity resolution by first language (L1) and second language (L2) speakers. In a production experiment, sentences with relative clause attachment ambiguity were elicited in three language conditions: native English speakers’ L1 productions as well as Korean-English bilingual speakers’ L1 Korean and L2 English productions. The results show that English uses both boundary marking (pause) and relative word prominence (elevated pitch and intensity) for disambiguation, while Korean mainly relies on boundary marking (pre-boundary lengthening and pause). The bilingual speakers have learned to use the English phonological categories such as pitch accents for disambiguation, but their use of phonetic cues to realize these categories still differed from that of native English speakers. In addition, they did not show a significant use of boundary cues. These results are discussed in relation to the typological differences between the prosody of English and of Korean.

Some effects of first language argument structure and morphosyntax on second language sentence processing

1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 406-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Juffs
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
First Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Second Language Speakers ◽  
Verb Argument Structure

This article explores some effects of first language verb-argument structure on second language processing of English as a second language. Speakers of Chinese, Japanese or Korean, three Romance languages and native English speakers provided word-by-word reading times and grammaticality judgement data in a self-paced reading task. Results suggest that reliable differences in parsing are not restricted to cases where verb-argument structure differs crosslinguistically.

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