Index: French words | ScienceGate

Second language (L2) learners often show influence from their first language (L1) in all domains of language. This cross-linguistic influence could, in some cases, be mediated by semantics. The purpose of the present study was to test whether implicit English gender connotations affect L1 English speakers’ judgments of the L2 French gender of objects. We hypothesized that gender estimates derived from word embedding models that measure similarity of word contexts in English would affect accuracy and response time on grammatical gender (GG) decision in L2 French. L2 French learners were asked to identify the GG of French words estimated to be either congruent or incongruent with the implicit gender in English. The results showed that they were more accurate with words that were congruent with English gender connotations than words that were incongruent, suggesting that English gender connotations can influence grammatical judgments in French. Response times showed the same pattern. The results are consistent with semantics-mediated cross-linguistic influence.

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Cross-language semantic parafoveal preview benefits in bilinguals

10.31234/osf.io/jw9t7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Olessia Jouravlev ◽

Mark McPhedran ◽

Vegas Hodgins ◽

Debra Jared

Keyword(s):

Target Word ◽

Target Language ◽

Preview Benefit ◽

Activation Model ◽

The Gaze ◽

Total Fixation ◽

Interlingual Homographs ◽

French Words ◽

Boundary Paradigm ◽

Cross Language

The aim of this project was to identify factors contributing to cross-language semantic preview benefits. In Experiment 1, Russian-English bilinguals read English sentences with Russian words presented as parafoveal previews. The gaze-contingent boundary paradigm was used to present sentences. Critical previews were cognate translations of the target word (CTAPT - START), noncognate translations (CPOK - TERM), or interlingual homograph translations (MOPE - SEA). A semantic preview benefit (i.e., shorter fixation durations) was observed for cognate and interlingual homograph translations, but not for noncognate translations. In Experiment 2, English-French bilinguals read English sentences with French words used as parafoveal previews. Critical previews were interlingual homograph translations of the target word (PAIN - BREAD) or interlingual homograph translations with a diacritic added (PÁIN - BREAD). A robust semantic preview benefit was found only for interlingual homographs without diacritics, although both preview types produced a semantic preview benefit in the total fixation duration. Our findings suggest that semantically-related previews need to have substantial orthographic overlap with words in the target language to produce cross-language semantic preview benefits in early eye fixation measures. In terms of the Bilingual Interactive Activation + model, the preview word may need to activate the language node for the target language before its meaning is integrated with that of the target word.

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Automatic Segmentation of Speech into Syllabic and Phonemic Units: Application to French Words and Utterances

Auditory Analysis and Perception of Speech ◽

10.1016/b978-0-12-248550-3.50027-1 ◽

1975 ◽

pp. 359-382 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

J.-Y. Gresser ◽

G. Mercier

Keyword(s):

Automatic Segmentation ◽

French Words

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DECOMPOSING FRENCH WORDS

Eye Movements from Physiology to Cognition ◽

10.1016/b978-0-444-70113-8.50067-9 ◽

1987 ◽

pp. 459-466 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

V.M. Holmes ◽

J.K. O'Regan

Keyword(s):

French Words

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‘The patient, passionate little cahier’: French in Henry James’s Notebooks

Modernism and Non-Translation ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198821441.003.0002 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 19-33

Author(s):

Daniel Karlin

Keyword(s):

Henry James ◽

French Words

This chapter is based specifically on the surviving notebooks in which Henry James recorded ideas for stories, and gave vent to his feelings about his art. There are six of these notebooks, covering the years 1878 to 1911. Pages of the notebooks on which French does not occur are the exception. This chapter asks how we might ‘read’ the use of French in this specific textual environment. It answers that question by comparing the notebooks with examples of James’s use of French in published fiction and in letters. In the notebooks, there is no addressee, or rather the writer is his own recipient. The chapter looks especially at passages where James reflects on his own practice as a writer; it identifies a cluster of key French words, all of them associated by James with the work of imagination and the craft of fiction.

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