Unlearning the boundary-crossing constraint: processing instruction and the acquisition of motion event construal

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Laws ◽  
Anthony Attwood ◽  
Jeanine Treffers-Daller
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Crossing ◽  
Processing Instruction ◽  
Training Material ◽  
Motion Event ◽  
Crossing Structures ◽  
First Languages ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
Teaching Package ◽  
Experimental Treatments ◽  
Event Construal

Abstract This study explores the effects of instruction on the acquisition of motion event construal among learners of English as a second language. The challenge for learners with Verb-framed first languages is that they need to ‘unlearn’ the boundary-crossing constraint and conflate manner and motion in the main verb, as in she ran into the bank, however, there is little research on how this domain can be taught. We evaluate performance on story-telling productive tasks using three experimental treatments involving 1) an input-only approach based on the principles of Processing Instruction, 2) combined input and output training and 3) explicit information only about the target construction. The findings show that boundary-crossing constructions expressing manner can be taught and learning effects generalised to non-boundary-crossing structures not included in the training material. The effectiveness of input-only instruction persists over a two-week period, and compares positively with that of an input+output teaching package.

scholarly journals How (not) to cross a boundary: Crosslinguistic influence in simultaneous bilingual children's event construal

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Helen Engemann
Keyword(s):  
Production Process ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Boundary Crossing ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Motion Event ◽  
Co Activation ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence ◽  
Event Construal ◽  
Two Age Groups

Abstract Simultaneous bilingual children sometimes display crosslinguistic influence (CLI), widely attested in the domain of morphosyntax. It remains less clear whether CLI affects bilinguals’ event construal, what motivates its occurrence and directionality, and how developmentally persistent it is. The present study tested predictions generated by the structural overlap hypothesis and the co-activation account in the motion event domain. 96 English–French bilingual children of two age groups and 96 age-matched monolingual English and French controls were asked to describe animated videos displaying voluntary motion events. Semantic encoding in main verbs showed bidirectional CLI. Unidirectional CLI affected French path encoding in the verbal periphery and was predicted by the presence of boundary-crossing, despite the absence of structural overlap. Furthermore, CLI increased developmentally in the French data. It is argued that these findings reflect highly dynamic co-activation patterns sensitive to the requirements of the task and to language-specific challenges in the online production process.

Translating narrative style

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 517-547
Author(s):  
Teresa Molés-Cases ◽  
Paula Cifuentes-Férez
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Crossing ◽  
Narrative Texts ◽  
Narrative Style ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Motion Event ◽  
First Languages ◽  
Figure Type ◽  
The Way

Abstract Within the context of the Thinking-for-translating framework, this paper analyses the translation of boundary-crossing events including Manner from English into German (both satellite-framed languages) and Catalan and Spanish (both verb-framed languages) to investigate whether student translators transfer these specific types of motion event or otherwise omit (or modulate) some information. Three groups of student translators (having respectively German, Catalan and Spanish as their mother tongues) were asked to translate a series of excerpts from English narrative texts into their respective first languages. The resulting data suggest that the way student translators deal with the translation of these events is influenced by their mother tongues and the nature of the event itself (axis, suddenness, type of Figure, type of Path, type of Manner). It is also noted that German students’ translations are much more similar to the published versions than the Catalan and Spanish ones, and that Catalan and Spanish-speaking students tend to omit boundary-crossing.

scholarly journals Cognitive restructuring in the bilingual mind: motion event construal in early Cantonese–English bilinguals

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 527-554
Author(s):  
YI WANG ◽  
LI WEI
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Cognitive Restructuring ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Motion Event ◽  
Thinking For Speaking ◽  
Degree Of Convergence ◽  
Language Context ◽  
Event Construal

abstractLanguages differ typologically in motion event encoding (Talmy, 2000). Furthermore, the cross-linguistic variations in lexicalization modulate cognition in a dynamic and task-dependent manner (Slobin, 1996a). This study aims to investigate whether early Cantonese–English bilinguals behave differently from monolinguals in each language when lexicalizing and categorizing voluntary motion in different language contexts. Specifically, monolinguals were instructed and narrated in their native languages. We assigned bilinguals to a monolingual and a bilingual context by manipulating immediate language use in their oral descriptions. Results from monolinguals suggested an effect of language on event conceptualization. However, results from bilinguals showed that their performances patterned with English monolinguals in both event lexicalization and conceptualization regardless of the language context. These findings indicate that early exposure to a second language has motivated speakers to converge to a single lexicalization pattern compatible for both languages. And the degree of convergence is modulated by the amount of language contact with each language. The study demonstrates that participants draw on their linguistic knowledge during the non-verbal task and provides evidence for L2-biased cognitive restructuring within the framework of thinking-for-speaking.

scholarly journals Limitations on the role of frequency in L2 acquisition

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
CHRISTIANE VON STUTTERHEIM ◽  
MONIQUE LAMBERT ◽  
JOHANNES GERWIEN
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Target Language ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Motion Event ◽  
Core Components ◽  
Target Languages ◽  
L1 Acquisition ◽  
Event Construal

abstract In the context of theories of statistical learning, frequency of encounter is viewed as a major driving force in L2 acquisition. The present paper challenges this position with respect to core components at the level of language competence which relate to language-specific patterns in cognitive construal. Empirical evidence from very advanced L2 speakers (L1 French, L2 English and L2 German) shows that forms and constructions which are highly frequent in the target languages in the expression of motion events are not used in a target-like form by L2 speakers. The study shows how the basis for language use which is not target-like lies at the level of event construal: conceptual frames, which are language-specific and are deeply anchored in the course of L1 acquisition, drive allocation of attention and the extraction of forms in L2 acquisition. Findings in the domain of spatial cognition show that motion event frames based on the L1 take precedence over frequency of occurrence of forms in the target language as a factor in L2 use.

scholarly journals ¿Salir o salir corriendo? Una aproximación a la construcción verbo + gerundio de modo en textos originales y textos traducidos al español

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-60
Author(s):  
Petr Šlechta
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Secondary Component ◽  
Cognitive Semantics ◽  
Boundary Crossing ◽  
Motion Path ◽  
Motion Event ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Verbs Of Motion ◽  
National Corpus

Salir or salir corriendo? An Approach to the Construction of verb + gerund of manner in Original Texts and Texts Translated into Spanish. This article deals with the gerund of manner in combination with verbs of motion. The starting point of this study is the theoretical framework proposed by cognitive semantics which maintains that a motion event can be divided into several components: MOTION, PATH, FIGURE and GROUND. With respect to the predominant lexicalization patterns, two types of languages are distinguished: satellite -framed languages (which encode the PATH by means of a “satellite”) and verb -framed languages (which express the PATH using the verb stem). In addition, it has been observed that speakers of the second group pay less attention to the expression of MANNER, a secondary component, and that there are significant restrictions affecting this component in “boundary -crossing” events. To explore the use of the gerund in combination with verbs of motion, the InterCorp and Araneum Hispanicum Maius corpora, hosted by the Institute of the Czech National Corpus, were used. The results indicate that the gerund of manner is most often used in combination with salir, ir, venir, and llegar, and the most common forms are cor‑ riendo, caminando, andando, and volando. They also show that the combinations with corriendo and volando are more frequent in the subcorpus of texts translated into Spanish than in the subcorpus of original texts. The author concludes that the dynamics of the event is important and that is why the MANNER information is kept in the translations.

Children’s thinking-for-speaking

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aslı Aktan-Erciyes ◽  
Tilbe Goksun ◽  
Ali İzzet Tekcan ◽  
Ayhan Aksu-Koç
Keyword(s):  
Early Exposure ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
Motion Event ◽  
Dominant Society ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
Thinking For Speaking ◽  
Children’S Thinking

Abstract This study investigates how children lexicalize motion events in their first and second languages, L1-Turkish and L2-English. English is a satellite-framed language that conflates motion with manner expressed in the main verb and path in a non-verbal element, whereas Turkish is a verb-framed language that conflates motion with path in the main verb and expresses manner in a subordinated verb. We asked three questions: (1) Does early L2 acquisition in an L1 dominant society affect motion event lexicalization in L1? (2) Is the effect of L2 on L1 subject to change due to decline in L2 exposure? (3) Do L1 vs. L2 lexicalizations differ within the bilingual mind? One hundred and twelve 5- and 7-year-old monolingual and bilingual children watched and described video-clips depicting motion events. For L1 descriptions, 5-year-old bilinguals used more manner structures than monolinguals. No difference was found for 7-year-olds. For L2 descriptions, 7-year-old bilinguals used more manner-only constructions compared to their L1 descriptions. For 5-year-old bilinguals no difference was found. Findings suggest that early exposure to a second language had an impact on how motion events are packaged, while decline in L2 exposure dampened the effects of L2.

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