Glottalization and linking in the L2 speech of Czech learners of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese

2021 ◽  
pp. 026765832110158
Author(s):  
Radek Skarnitzl ◽  
Petr Čermák ◽  
Pavel Šturm ◽  
Zora Obstová ◽  
Jan Hricsina
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression Model ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
The Other ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Short Text ◽  
Sound Pattern ◽  
Frequent Use

The use of linking or glottalization contributes to the characteristic sound pattern of a language, and the use of one in place of the other may affect a speaker’s comprehensibility and fluency in certain contexts. In this study, native speakers of Czech, a language that is associated with a frequent use of glottalization in vowel-initial word onsets, are examined in the second language (L2) context of three Romance languages that predominantly employ linking between words (Spanish, Italian and Portuguese). In total, 29 native speakers and 51 non-native learners were asked to read a short text in the respective language. The learners were divided into two groups based on their experience with the target language. A number of other factors were examined in a mixed-effects logistic regression model (segmental context, lexical stress, prosodic breaks, and the semantic status of the words). The main results show that, regardless of the target language, the more experienced (ME) learners displayed significantly lower rates of glottalization than the less experienced (LE) learners, but significantly higher rates than native speakers. The pedagogical implications of the results are discussed.

Testing the malleability of teachers’ judgments of second language speech

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kym Taylor Reid ◽  
Mary Grantham O’Brien ◽  
Pavel Trofimovich ◽  
Allison Bajt
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
The Other ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
Negative Bias ◽  
Social Bias ◽  
L2 Speaking

Abstract This study examined whether a negative social bias can influence how teachers evaluate second language (L2) speech. Twenty-eight teachers of L2 German from Western Canada – 14 native speakers (NSs) and 14 proficient non-native speakers (NNSs) – rated recordings of 24 adult L2 learners of German across five speech dimensions (accentedness, comprehensibility, vowel/consonant accuracy, intonation, flow) using 1,000-point scales. Immediately before rating, half of NS and NNS teachers heard critical comments about undergraduate German students’ language skills, while the other half heard no biasing comments. Under negative bias, while the NNS teachers provided favorable evaluations across all five measures, NS teachers followed suit for only intonation and flow, downgrading L2 speakers’ accentedness, comprehensibility, and vowel/consonant accuracy. Findings call into question the relative stability of L2 speech ratings and highlight the importance of social context and teacher status as native versus non-native speakers of the target language in assessments of L2 speaking performance.

Perspective discursive et influence translinguistique

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Benazzo ◽  
Cecilia Andorno ◽  
Grazia Interlandi ◽  
Cédric Patin
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Information Unit ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Discourse Organization ◽  
Grammatical Structures ◽  
Selection Of

This paper aims to study perspective-taking in L2 discourse at the level of utterance information structure. Many studies have shown how principles of discourse organization partly reflect lexico-grammatical structures available in a given language, and how difficult it is to reorganize L1 discursive habits when acquiring an L2 in adulthood. In this study we compare how L2 learners of Romance languages (French, Italian), with either a Romance or a Germanic language as an L1, organize the information structure of utterances relating contrasting events. Native speakers of Germanic and Romance languages show systematic differences in the selection of the information unit — referential entities or predicate polarity — on which the contrast is highlighted (Dimroth et al. 2010) ; moreover, they differ in the lexical, prosodic and morpho-syntactic means used to achieve this goal. Our data show that L2 learners can adopt the target language perspective in the selection of the information unit to contrast, when the input offers clear evidence for it. However, their choice of linguistic means reveals both the influence of the L1 and the role of more general acquisitional principles, which are still active at the advanced level.

scholarly journals Perceived similarity between written Estonian and Finnish: Strings of letters or morphological units?

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annekatrin Kaivapalu ◽  
Maisa Martin
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Levenshtein Distance ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Perceived Similarity ◽  
Quantitative Results ◽  
Objective Distance ◽  
Tools And Methods

The distance or similarity between two languages can be objective or actual, i.e. discoverable by the tools and methods of linguists, or perceived by users of the languages. In this article two methods, the Levenshtein Distance (LD), which purports to measure the objective distance, and the Index of Perceived Similarity (IPS), which quantifies language users’ perceptions, are compared. The data are the quantitative results of a test measuring conscious perceptions of similarity between Estonian and Finnish inflectional morphology by Finnish and Estonian native speakers (‘Finns’ and ‘Estonians’) with no knowledge of and exposure to the other (‘target’) language. The results show that Finns see more similarity between Finnish and Estonian than Estonians do. Also the correlations between LD and the perception results of the Finns are statistically significant while the correlations between the LD and the IPS scores of the Estonians are not. Comments by test participants provide insights into the nature of the perceptions of similarity.

scholarly journals HOW ARE LANGUAGES LEARNED? THEORIES ON THE PROCESS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

2020 ◽  
pp. 7-13
Author(s):  
Paola BOCALE
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Negotiation Of Meaning ◽  
Word Repetition ◽  
Foreign Language Acquisition ◽  
Communication Goals ◽  
Teaching Learning

is work discusses theories on teaching, learning and acquiring foreign languages. The input hypothesis has drawn attention to its role and importance in language acquisition. On the other hand, however, empirical research has emphasized the role that output and interaction play in acquiring and improving language skills. In most communicative acts, there are factors that jeopardise the process of communication, such as lack of lexical knowledge and speech too fast for the listener to understand, causing different comprehension problems. These occur between native speakers and non-native speakers, inside and outside the classroom. Negotiation of meaning can be only defined within an interactive process as the mutual collaboration between speakers and listeners in order to clarify a language misunderstanding using different linguistic strategies such as, for example, word repetition, simplified structures and clarification questions. From one point of view, negotiation of meaning is a communicative exchange and a step towards achieving communication goals. Learners and tutors are involved in communication to solve a problem whose clarification allows conversation to be carried on. From the other point of view, negotiation of meaning is an effective way of expanding the knowledge of learners, because some of the explanations can be internalised and added to their target language repertoire. Learning can be effective only if interaction is included in the overall language aquisition process.

Experimental evidence for English syllabification and syllable structure

1981 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Fallows
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
The Other ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Sound Pattern ◽  
Child Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Universals

Most phonologists regard the syllable as a unit of language. In recent years, partly in reaction to Chomsky's and Halle's neglect of it in The sound pattern of English, much work has been done to incorporate the syllable into phonological theory (Anderson & Jones, 1974; Bailey, 1978; Hoard, 1971; Hooper, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978; Kahn, 1976; Pulgram, 1970; Rudes, 1977; Vennemann, 1972).Syllable theories have been based on evidence from phonetics, phonological processes, prosody, language change, child language acquisition, and language universals. The purpose of this experimental study is (a) to contribute empirical evidence about the nature of the syllable from native speakers' actual syllabifications of words and (b) to determine how this evidence reflects on the syllable theories already proposed.Syllable studies have focused on two major questions: (1) what is the structure of the syllable and (2) how are words divided into syllables (syllabified). These questions are obviously related, and the answers to each have implications for the other. This study was designed to elicit data directly addressing both questions.

Intrusões: Guimarães Rosa-Bogotá Notas para uma tradução de “Páramo”

1969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bairon Oswaldo Vélez
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
The Other ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Original Version ◽  
Translation Process ◽  
Spanish Translation ◽  
Translation Strategy ◽  
Mountain Sickness

This paper comments on the first Spanish translation of João Guimarães Rosa's short story "Páramo", which narrates the exile of a Brazilian lost with mountain sickness in a cold and hostile Bogotá. This translation is briefly explained in the following pages, giving special emphasis to some prominent features of the original version, in addition to the cultural context, critical and theoretical readings and the translation strategy evident in the translator‘s intervention. Finally, it is made clear how a certain perspective of the other – present in the original version as well – passes through the translation process and indicates the conditions of its presentation in the target language. The original article is in Portuguese.

The role of cross-linguistic stress pattern frequency and word similarity on the acquisition of English stress pattern by native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Post Silveira
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
American English ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Stress Pattern ◽  
Target Language ◽  
English As Second Language ◽  
Word Similarity ◽  
L1 Transfer

This is a preliminary study in which we investigate the acquisition of English as second language (L2[1]) word stress by native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese (BP, L1[2]). In this paper, we show results of a multiple choice forced choice perception test in which native speakers of American English and native speakers of Dutch judged the production of English words bearing pre-final stress that were both cognates and non-cognates with BP words. The tokens were produced by native speakers of American English and by Brazilians that speak English as a second language. The results have shown that American and Dutch listeners were consistent in their judgments on native and non-native stress productions and both speakers' groups produced variation in stress in relation to the canonical pattern. However, the variability found in American English points to the prosodic patterns of English and the variability found in Brazilian English points to the stress patterns of Portuguese. It occurs especially in words whose forms activate neighboring similar words in the L1. Transfer from the L1 appears both at segmental and prosodic levels in BP English. [1] L2 stands for second language, foreign language, target language. [2] L1 stands for first language, mother tongue, source language.

The cognitive saliency of word associations of verbs of speech in English as a Lingua Franca interactions

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 417-443
Author(s):  
Yang Pang
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Word Associations ◽  
Similar Word ◽  
Speech Communities

AbstractBuilding on the theoretical insights into the socio-cognitive approach to the study of interactions in which English is used as a lingua franca (ELF)), this paper reports on the idiosyncratic phenomenon that ELF speakers do not adhere to the norms of native speakers, but instead create their own particular word associations during the course of the interaction. Taking the verbs of speech talk, say, speak, and tell as examples, this study compares word associations from three corpora of native and non-native speakers. The findings of this study reveal that similar word associative patterns are produced and shared by ELF speech communities from different sociocultural backgrounds, and these differ substantially from those used by native English speakers. Idiom-like constructions such as say like, how to say, and speakin are developed and utilized by Asian and European ELF speakers. Based on these findings, this paper concludes that ELF speakers use the prefabricated expressions in the target language system only as references, and try to develop their own word associative patterns in ELF interactions. Moreover, the analysis of the non-literalness/metaphorical word associations of the verbs of speech in the Asian ELF corpus suggests that ELF speakers dynamically co-construct their shared common ground to derive non-literal/metaphorical meaning in actual situational context.

scholarly journals 22. Patient Satisfaction Remains Unchanged Following Implementation of an Antibiotic Stewardship Intervention in Primary Care

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S11-S12
Author(s):  
Zachary Hostetler ◽  
Keith W Hamilton ◽  
Leigh Cressman ◽  
McWelling H Todman ◽  
Ebbing Lautenbach ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Patient Satisfaction ◽  
Odds Ratio ◽  
Logistic Regression Model ◽  
Adjusted Odds Ratio ◽  
Primary Care Providers ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Antibiotic Prescribing ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Targeted Intervention

Abstract Background Inappropriate prescription of antibiotics for respiratory tract infections (RTIs) in ambulatory care settings is common, increasing the risk of adverse health outcomes. Behavioral and educational interventions targeting primary care providers (PCPs) have shown promise in reducing inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for RTIs. While one perceived barrier to such interventions is the concern that these adversely impact patient satisfaction, few data exist in this area. Here, we examine whether a recent PCP-targeted intervention that significantly reduced antibiotic prescribing for RTIs was associated with a change in patient satisfaction. Methods The PCP-targeted intervention involved monthly education sessions and peer benchmarking reports delivered to 31 clinics within an academic health system, and was previously shown to reduce antibiotic prescribing. Here, we performed a retrospective, secondary analysis of Press Ganey (PG) surveys associated with the outpatient encounters in the pre- and post-intervention periods. We evaluated the impact on patient perceptions of PCPs based on provider exposure to the intervention using a mixed effects logistic regression model. Results There were 17,416 out of 197,744 encounters (8.8%) with associated PG surveys for the study time period (July 2016 to September 2018). In the multivariate model, patient satisfaction with PCPs was most strongly associated with patient-level characteristics (age, race, health status, education status) and survey-level characteristics (survey response time, patient’s usual provider) (Figure 1). Satisfaction with PCPs did not change following delivery of the provider-based intervention even after adjusting for patient- and survey-level characteristics [adjusted odds ratio (95% CI): 1.005 (0.928, 1.087)]. However, a small increase in satisfaction associated with receiving antibiotics during the entire study period was seen [adjusted odds ratio (95% CI): 1.146 (1.06, 1.244)]. Figure 1: Association of a provider-targeted intervention as well as patient, provider, and practice characteristics with patient satisfaction in a multivariable mixed effects logistic regression model Conclusion Patient perceptions of PCPs remain unchanged following the delivery of a behavioral and educational intervention to primary care providers that resulted in observable decreases in antibiotic prescribing practices for RTIs. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures

scholarly journals Isomorphism and language-specific devices in comprehension of Korean suffixal passive construction by Mandarin-speaking learners of Korean

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gyu-Ho Shin ◽  
Sun Hee Park
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
The Other ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
Passive Construction ◽  
Case Marking

Abstract Across languages, a passive construction is known to manifest a misalignment between the typical order of event composition (agent-before-theme) and the actual order of arguments in the constructions (theme-before-agent), dubbed non-isomorphic mapping. This study investigates comprehension of a suffixal passive construction in Korean by Mandarin-speaking learners of Korean, focusing on isomorphism and language-specific devices in the passive. We measured learners’ judgment of the acceptability of canonical and scrambled suffixal passives as well as their reaction times (relative to a canonical active transitive). Our analysis generated three major findings. First, learners uniformly preferred the canonical passive to the scrambled passive. Second, as proficiency increased, the judgment gap between the canonical active transitive and the canonical suffixal passive narrowed, but the gap between the canonical active transitive and the scrambled suffixal passive did not. Third, learners (and even native speakers) spent more time in judging the acceptability of the canonical suffixal passive than they did in the other two construction types. Implications of these findings are discussed with respect to the mapping nature involving a passive voice, indicated by language-specific devices (i.e., case-marking and verbal morphology dedicated to Korean passives), in L2 acquisition.

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