Syllable weight in monolingual and heritage Spanish

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-427
Author(s):  
Michael Shelton ◽  
Hannah Grant
Keyword(s):  
Reading Proficiency ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
General Effect ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Stress Assignment ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Quantity Sensitivity ◽  
Analysis Of Error

AbstractThis study presents two experiments employing a naming task that test the modulation of stress assignment by syllable structure in Spanish. The first replicates the findings of a previous study in which words containing arguably heavy penultimate diphthongs provoke higher error rates than putatively light monophthong controls when marked for antepenultimate stress. This result is interpreted as support for quantity sensitivity in the language. This experiment also replicates a subtler finding of differential patterning between rising and falling diphthong in their interaction with Spanish stress, suggesting gradient sensitivity to patterns in the lexicon. The second experiment presents the results of an identical task with Spanish-English heritage speakers in which the general effect of syllable weight is replicated, while the effect of diphthong type does not emerge. An analysis of error types suggests that varying levels of reading proficiency among heritage speakers may have led to the lack of the latter result, while still revealing sensitivity to frequencies in the lexicon. The combined results are offered as further evidence of quantity sensitivity among both monolingual and bilingual speakers of Spanish and provide further data in the understudied subfield of heritage phonotactics.

Production of Cantonese classifiers in young heritage speakers and majority language speakers

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1531-1548
Author(s):  
Rachel TY Kan
Keyword(s):  
Large Range ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Grammatical Function ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Similarities And Differences

Aims and Objectives: This study investigated the production of classifiers in two groups of bilingual speakers: young heritage speakers of Cantonese in the USA and peers in Hong Kong, where Cantonese is the majority language. The role of language background factors in the heritage speakers’ performance was also examined. Methodology: The participants included 72 heritage speakers (3;10–11;3) and 61 majority language speakers (5;3–12;4). A picture-naming task was used to elicit the production of noun phrases containing six different target classifiers. A language background questionnaire was administered. Data and Analysis: The participants’ production was scored in terms of whether a classifier was produced in each obligatory context, and whether an appropriate form of classifier was used. The scores were analysed using multiple regression. Findings: Both groups were able to produce a classifier where required, but the heritage speakers were less accurate in selecting the appropriate classifier. There was a large range of abilities among the heritage speakers, and those with more Cantonese experience and a later age of arrival obtained higher scores. Originality: This study found both similarities and differences between heritage speakers and majority language speakers, and identified a potential trend of development in heritage speakers after age 10. Significance/Implications: This study showed that the classifier is acquired in heritage speakers, but its functional scope was narrowed to cover only grammatical function.

Sequential bilingual heritage children's L1 attrition in lexical retrieval: Age of acquisition versus language experience

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Kitaek Kim ◽  
Hyunwoo Kim
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Language Attrition ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Length Of Residence ◽  
Heritage Speakers

Abstract This study investigated the unresolved issue of potential sources of heritage language attrition. To test contributing effects of three learner variables – age of second language acquisition, length of residence, and language input – on heritage children's lexical retrieval accuracy and speed, we conducted a real-time word naming task with 68 children (age 11–14 years) living in South Korea who spoke either Chinese or Russian as a heritage language. Results of regression analyses showed that the participants were less accurate and slower in naming target words in their heritage language as their length of residence in Korea and the amount of Korean input increased. The age of Korean acquisition did not significantly influence their performance. These findings support the claim that heritage speakers’ language experience is a more reliable predictor of first language attrition than age of acquisition. We discuss these findings in light of different approaches to explaining language attrition.

scholarly journals TERMINOLOGY CHOICE IN GENERATIVE ACQUISITION RESEARCH

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Domínguez ◽  
Glyn Hicks ◽  
Roumyana Slabakova
Keyword(s):  
General Public ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Scientific Validity ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Incomplete Acquisition

AbstractPascual y Cabo and Rothman (2012) and Kupisch and Rothman (2018) argue against the use of termincompleteto characterize the grammars of heritage speakers, claiming that it reflects a negative evaluation of the linguistic knowledge of these bilingual speakers. We examine the reasons for and against the use of “incomplete” across acquisition contexts and argue that its use is legitimate on both theoretical and empirical grounds. Our goal is to present arguments for using the term, not to evaluate the scientific validity of incomplete acquisition over other possible accounts. Although our conclusion is that the term should not be abandoned, we advocate a position whereby researchers consider the possible negative impact of the terminology they use and how they use it. This position aims to resolve the tension between the need to prioritize scientific effectiveness and the need to avoid terminology that can be negatively misconstrued by the general public.

Predictors of lexical retrieval in Hindi–English bilingual speakers

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-273
Author(s):  
Keerthi Ramanujan ◽  
Brendan S. Weekes
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Access ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Linear Mixed Effects ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
First Time

AbstractWhen bilinguals name pictures while in ‘monolingual mode’, we expect that under conditions of language-constraint and no cognate facilitation, factors influencing lexical retrieval in monolinguals ought to exert similar effects on bilinguals. To this end, we carried out a L1-only naming task on early Hindi–English bilinguals. Results of linear mixed effects analysis reveal AoA, Familiarity, Image Agreement and Codability (availability of alternate names) to be the most significant predictors of lexical retrieval speed for early bilinguals, confirming our expectations. However, we report, for the first time, a by-subject variation in Codability for bilinguals. Implications of the results are discussed in the context of current theories of bilingual lexical access and competition. In preparation for this study, Hindi norms from bilinguals for items in the Snodgrass and Vanderwart set have been established, which will be of use for stimuli selection in experimental studies involving bilinguals.

scholarly journals Between syntax and discourse

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 396-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oksana Laleko ◽  
Maria Polinsky
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Structure Level ◽  
Different Types ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
The Status ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract This article examines the knowledge of topic and subject particles in heritage speakers and L2 learners of Japanese and Korean. We assume that topic marking is mediated at the syntax-information structure interface, while subject marking pertains to narrow syntax. In comparing phenomena mediated at different levels of linguistic organization, we provide evidence for the hypothesis that information structure-level phenomena present greater challenges for bilingual speakers than those mediated within syntax. While these results may be interpreted as evidence of generalized interface-related deficits, we show that such a global explanation is not supported. Instead, a more nuanced account is developed, based on the recognition of different types of topic (anaphoric, generic, and contrastive) and different types of subject (descriptive and exhaustive). Under the proposed account, non-native speakers’ deficits follow from three unrelated effects: the status of topic as an interface category, structural complexity, and the memory demands necessary for its interpretation in context.

Online processing of subject pronouns in monolingual and heritage bilingual speakers of Mexican Spanish

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
GREGORY D. KEATING ◽  
JILL JEGERSKI ◽  
BILL VANPATTEN
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Mexican Spanish ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Online Processing ◽  
Overt Pronouns ◽  
English Dominant ◽  
Reading Study ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers

In this self-paced reading study, we first tested the cross-linguistic validity of the position of antecedent strategy proposed for anaphora resolution in Italian (Carminati, 2002) in a Latin American variety of Spanish. We then examined the application of this strategy by Spanish heritage speakers of the same dialect who were largely English dominant. Forty-five monolingual speakers of Mexican Spanish and 28 Spanish heritage speakers of Mexican descent read sentences in which null and overt subject pronouns were biased for and against expected antecedent biases. Our results suggest that Mexican monolinguals display distinct antecedent biases for null and overt pronouns. Furthermore, the Spanish heritage speakers, though not monolingual-like, did not violate discourse constraints on the resolution of overt pronouns, contra the findings of offline research (see Keating, VanPatten & Jegerski, 2011). We discuss the findings in terms of a processing-based account.

Serialism and locality in constraint-based metrical parsing

Phonology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Pruitt
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Standard Theory ◽  
Metrical Structure ◽  
Local Interactions ◽  
Local Systems ◽  
Stress Assignment ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
Harmonic Serialism ◽  
Non Local ◽  
Constraint Ranking

This paper proposes a model of stress assignment in which metrical structure is built serially, one foot at a time, in a series of Optimality Theory (OT)-style evaluations. Iterative foot optimisation is made possible in the framework of Harmonic Serialism, which defines the path from an input to an output with a series of gradual changes in which each form improves harmony relative to a constraint ranking. Iterative foot optimisation makes the strong prediction that decisions about metrical structure are made locally, matching attested typology, while the standard theory of stress in parallel OT predicts in addition to local systems unattested stress systems with non-local interactions. The predictions of iterative foot optimisation and parallel OT are compared, focusing on the interactions of metrical parsing with syllable weight, vowel shortening and constraints on the edges of prosodic domains.

scholarly journals Arguments for a Privative L Tone in Northern Tepehuan

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Ivanhoe Gil Burgoin
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tonal Language ◽  
Stress Assignment ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
System L ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Low Constraint ◽  
Heavy Syllable ◽  
Tonal System

This paper proposes that Northern Tepehuan is a tonal language with just one lexical tone 'low tone' and is therefore a privative tonal system. L tone is sufficient to explain the pitch contrasts in the language and also necessary to explain the "inconsistencies" of stress assignment. Stress is normally predictable from the size of the word, from syllable-weight, and is cued by a H* intonational tone. Nonetheless, in words that do not obey the Stress-to-Weight constraint, it could be argued that stress is displaced from the heavy syllable by virtue of a high-ranked *Align(Head/Low) constraint that prohibits the placement of stress on a syllable with a lexical L. The L tone also explains why the H* intonational tone can be displaced from stressed syllables.

scholarly journals Transient perturbation of the left temporal cortex evokes plasticity-related reconfiguration of the lexical network

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Klaus ◽  
Dennis J.L.G. Schutter ◽  
Vitória Piai
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Control Mechanisms

Language impairment is common after left-hemisphere damage. However, the involvement of perilesional and homologous contralateral regions in compensating for left-sided lesions remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to examine acute organizational changes in brain activity related to conceptual and lexical retrieval in unimpaired language production following transient disruption of the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG). In a randomized singleblind within-subject experiment, we recorded the electroencephalogram from sixteen healthy participants during a context-driven picture-naming task. Prior to the task, the left MTG was perturbed with real neuronavigated continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) or sham stimulation. During the task, participants read lead-in sentences that created a constraining (e.g. “The farmer milks the”) or non-constraining context (e.g. “The farmer buys the”). The last word was shown as a picture that participants had to name (e.g. “cow”). Replicating behavioral studies, participants were overall faster in naming pictures following a constraining relative to a non-constraining context, but this effect did not differ between real and sham cTBS. Real cTBS, however, increased overall error rates compared to sham cTBS. In line with previous studies, we observed a decrease in alpha-beta (8-24 Hz) oscillatory power for constraining relative to non-constraining contexts over left temporal-parietal cortex after participants received sham cTBS. However, following real cTBS, this decrease extended towards left prefrontal regions associated with both domain-general and domain-specific control mechanisms. Our findings provide evidence that immediately after the disruption of the left MTG, the lexical-semantic network is able to quickly reconfigure, also recruiting domain-general regions.

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