scholarly journals Construal of Manner in speech and gesture in Mandarin, English, and Japanese

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 605-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Brown ◽  
Jidong Chen
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Japanese Speakers ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Mandarin Speakers

AbstractTwo-way typological patterning between satellite- and verb-framed languages in construal of Manner of motion is well attested in speech (e.g. Slobin 2006) and gesture (e.g. McNeill 2001), but contradictory findings exist regarding a third category of equipollently-framed languages (Slobin 2004b). This study examined elicited descriptions of motion from 14 native speakers of Mandarin-Chinese (equipollently-framed), 13 native speakers of English (satellite-framed), and 16 native speakers of Japanese (verb-framed). Results showed that Mandarin and English speakers encoded Manner in speech significantly more than Japanese speakers, and rarely added Manner to gesture when it was absent from speech. However, Mandarin speakers differed from Japanese but also English speakers in gestural highlighting of Manner, where they frequently encoded Manner in speech but not in accompanying gestures, focusing instead on other aspects of the event, specifically Path. These results support a partial three-way typological distinction in construal of motion.

scholarly journals The use of discourse markers but and so by native English speakers and Chinese speakers of English

Pragmatics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Binmei Liu
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Oral Proficiency ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Oral Discourse ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

Abstract Previous studies have found that but and so occur frequently in native and non-native English speakers’ speech and that they are easy to acquire by non-native English speakers. The current study compared ideational and pragmatic functions of but and so by native and non-native speakers of English. Data for the study were gathered using individual sociolinguistic interviews with five native English speakers and ten L1 Chinese speakers. The results suggest that even though the Chinese speakers of English acquired the ideational functions of but and so as well as the native English speakers, they underused the pragmatic functions of them. The findings indicate that there is still a gap between native and non-native English speakers in communicative competence in the use of but and so. The present study also suggests that speakers’ L1 (Mandarin Chinese) and overall oral proficiency in oral discourse affect their use of but and so.

Classifiers augment and maintain shape-based categorization in Mandarin speakers

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria D. Sera ◽  
Kaitlin R. Johnson ◽  
Jenny Yichun Kuo
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Shape Bias ◽  
Solid Objects ◽  
Mandarin Speakers ◽  
Chinese Classifiers

AbstractPast evidence suggests that adult Mandarin speakers rely on shape more heavily than English speakers when categorizing solid objects (Kuo and Sera 2009). In this experiment, we began to examine that effect developmentally by investigating the acquisition of the three most common Mandarin Chinese classifiers for solid objects (i.e. ge, zhi and tiao) in relation to development in shape-based categorization by native speakers of Mandarin and English from 3 years of age to adulthood. We found that 3-year-old Mandarin speakers were above chance in their classifier knowledge, but this knowledge continued to develop through 7 years of age. We also found that Mandarin speakers relied more heavily on shape than English speakers, and that shape-based categorization among English speakers tended to decline with age on the trials in which shape choices matched the Mandarin classifiers. The findings suggest that classifiers initially augment Mandarin speakers' attention to the shape of solid objects, and then maintain this early stronger shape bias after they are fully learned. The work highlights how categorization and word learning are graded and intertwined.

scholarly journals A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Perceptions Regarding Human Trafficking

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 155
Author(s):  
Adam Tanielian ◽  
Sangthong Tanielian
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Cultural Comparison ◽  
Cultural Perceptions ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Awareness Campaigns ◽  
Cross Cultural Comparison ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This study surveyed 135 individuals, of which 68 were native speakers of English and 67 were native speakers of Thai. Respondents answered questions on issues related to human trafficking, its causes, and potential solutions. Statistical tests showed significant variance in opinions between language and other groups regarding factors associated with trafficking, and regarding the potential impacts of legalization of prostitution. Thai responses reflected collectivist cultural perceptions while English responses reflected more individualistic views. Males and English speakers were most likely to think legalized prostitution would lead to a reduction in human trafficking while females and Thais were most likely to believe legalized prostitution would increase trafficking. Responses to an open-ended question showed participants felt similarly about potential remedies for human trafficking, including information and awareness campaigns, interaction between civilians and police, increased penalties for offenders, and reduction in macro-environmental variables such as poverty.   

How native and non-native English speakers adapt to humor in intercultural interaction

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy D Bell
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
The Other ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Intercultural Interaction ◽  
Second Language Speakers ◽  
Negative Message ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

AbstractHumor can often carry an implicit negative message and thus be potentially dangerous to use. In addition, it is culturally and linguistically complex and sophisticated. Because of these things, it poses a challenge for L2 (second language) speakers and we might expect to see attempts at humor failing and causing offense in intercultural interaction. This paper reports on a study that examined humor in interaction between native and non-native speakers of English and found that humor did not seem to be a cause of conflict because of adjustments speakers made to their speech and their situated interpretations of meaning. In general, taboo topics and potentially dangerous forms of humor were avoided and humor was carefully contextualized. Native speakers reported being careful about the vocabulary they used in creating humor and both sides appeared to approach humor in intercultural communication prepared to accommodate the other and with an attitude of leniency.

scholarly journals Age Estimation in Foreign-accented Speech by Native and Non-native Speakers

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-183
Author(s):  
Ksenia Gnevsheva ◽  
Daniel Bürkle
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Age Estimation ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
First Language ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Japanese Speakers ◽  
Language Familiarity ◽  
Accented English

Current research shows that listeners are generally accurate at estimating speakers’ age from their speech. This study investigates the effect of speaker first language and the role played by such speaker characteristics as fundamental frequency and speech rate. In this study English and Japanese first language speakers listened to English- and Japanese-accented English speech and estimated the speaker’s age. We find the highest correlation between real and estimated speaker age for English listeners listening to English speakers, followed by Japanese listeners listening to both English and Japanese speakers, with English listeners listening to Japanese speakers coming last. We find that Japanese speakers are estimated to be younger than the English speakers by English listeners, and that both groups of listeners estimate male speakers and speakers with a lower mean fundamental frequency to be older. These results suggest that listeners rely on sociolinguistic information in their speaker age estimations and language familiarity plays a role in their success.

Universal Grammar and the acquisition of French verb movement by native speakers of English

1993 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Hawkins ◽  
Richard Towell ◽  
Nives Bazergui
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Great Difficulty ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Syntactic Differences

White (1989) has shown that L1 English-speaking learners of L2 French appear to be more successful in acquiring the postverbal location of French manner and frequency adverbs than L1 French-speaking learners of L2 English are in acquiring the preverbal location of English manner and frequency adverbs. One implication of recent work by Pollock (1989) on the structure of English and French clauses is, however, that the task of acquiring the placement of manner and frequency adverbs should be the same for both sets of learners, because English provides learners with as much positive syntactic evidence for preverbal manner/frequency adverbs as French does for the postverbal location of such adverbs. The problem, then, is to explain why there should be this difference in success. On the basis of a detailed study of the developing intuitions of English-speaking adult learners of L2 French it is suggested in this article that the English-speakers' success is only apparent. Both groups of learners have great difficulty in resetting a parametrized property of the functional category Agr, but the English- speaking learners of French are able to make use of nonparametrized properties of Universal Grammar to handle surface syntactic differences between English and French, properties which are not so readily available to the French-speaking learners of English. It is suggested that this finding is in line with an emerging view about the role of parametrized functional categories in second language acquisition.

scholarly journals Supporting Non-Native English Speakers at the University

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-121
Author(s):  
Bethany Peters ◽  
Michael E. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Research University ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Public Research ◽  
Public Research University ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Faculty And Staff ◽  
The University

This study reports on a survey designed to understand the experiences of faculty and staff who work with non-native speakers of English (NNESs) at a U.S. public research university. Over 1,500 faculty and staff responded to the survey, and the findings highlight their perspectives on the benefits of having non-native English speakers on campus, as well as the challenges that they experience in teaching and advising this population of students. We conclude with a discussion about possible resources and strategies that may provide enhanced support for NNES and the faculty and staff who work with them.

scholarly journals Verbs of falling in English language: corpus data and typology

2020 ◽  
Vol XVI (1) ◽  
pp. 115-151
Author(s):  
O. Vinogradova ◽  
◽  
A. Viklova ◽  
K. Pospelova ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Written Production ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Language Corpus

The paper presents the results of the studies carried over the group of English verbs with the meaning of falling. The research goals included classification of the lexical meanings, both direct and metaphorical, rendered by those verbs, on the basis of the analysis of the components of the situations put together in the special questionnaire. This was carried out together with native speakers of English, after which the collected set of examples was verified and expanded with searches in the big corpora of English speakers’ oral and written production available at the SketchEngine platform. Besides being a great source of extracting lexical meanings, Sketch Engine also provided the data and the statistics for the analysis of collocational behaviour of the verbs in question used with different subjects of falling. The scope of application of the umbrella verb fall and the distribution between it and its two rivals — drop and fall down — was in focus of the three corresponding sections in the paper, while the range of peripheral verbs of falling with all the comparative analysis of their lexical features formed one more section. Separately from the verbs conveying the direct meanings of falling, metaphoric shifts in the meanings of these verbs made up the content of section 6. Based on the findings presented in the previous sections, the conclusions regarding the concept of falling in English are discussed in the last part of the paper. The research confirmed that the verb fall is by far the most widely used in various contexts of falling. Whether used alone or combined with adverbial or prepositional particles, it covers the overwhelming majority of meanings of falling, both literal and metaphorical. Although drop proved to be the most frequent synonym of fall, there is a distribution of meanings between the two related to the nature of the subject and the intentionality of the action. As shown in the paper, the choice between fall and fall down appears to be determined by the trajectory of the fall and whether the typical position of the subject is vertical or not. Likewise, the distribution between fall off and fall down is conditioned by the trajectory, with the surface mentioned with the latter. Among the various peripheral verbs of falling, come and go — the most general verbs of movement — are also used in combination with down in specific cases of falling.

The effects of Hong Kong L2 English speakers’ phonological features on listeners’ cognitive and affective perceptions

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-115
Author(s):  
Hsueh Chu Chen ◽  
Qian Wang
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Phonological Features ◽  
Speech Data ◽  
Affective Perception ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Conversational Interviews

Abstract This study explores the most perceivable phonological features of Hong Kong (HK) L2 English speakers and how they affect the perception of HK L2 English speech from the perspective of both native and non-native English listeners. Conversational interviews were conducted to collect speech data from 20 HK speakers of English and 10 native speakers of English in the United Kingdom. Phonological features of 20 HK speakers of English were analyzed at both segmental and suprasegmental levels. Forty listeners with different language backgrounds were recruited to listen and rate the speech samples of the 20 HK speakers of English in terms of the cognitive perception of foreign accentedness and comprehensibility and affective perception of likability and acceptability. This study identifies the phonological variables that contribute significantly to listeners’ perception of accentedness, comprehensibility, likability, acceptability, and overall impression of HK speakers’ English speech.

Imitation of Suprasegmental Patterns by Non-Native Speakers of English

1993 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Jeanne Haak ◽  
Rieko Marie Darling
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Application ◽  
Limited English Proficiency ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Objective Measures ◽  
Short Sentence ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Potential Measure

Speakers with limited English proficiency (LEP) usually produce a combination of articulation errors and differences in the prosodic patterns of English. There are abundant measures of articulation, but few objective measures of prosodic performance. The Tennessee Test of Rhythm and Intonation Patterns (TRIP) was selected as a potential measure for distinguishing the prosodic patterns of native and non-native English. First, the TRIP was given to 12 native speakers of Asiatic languages and 12 native speakers of English. The performances of the two groups did not differ significantly, suggesting that the TRIP was not a definitive measure of prosodic differences in English. Second, a group of listeners was asked to identify native versus non-native English speakers based only on selected stimuli from the TRIP and a short sentence of comparable length. The listeners were significantly better able to identify native and non-native speakers when listening to the sentence than when listening to the TRIP items. Clinical application of this information in working with LEP clients is discussed.

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