scholarly journals How bilinguals perceive speech depends on which language they think they’re hearing.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalim Gonzales ◽  
Krista Byers-Heinlein ◽  
Andrew J. Lotto
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
The Other ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Language Selection ◽  
Communication Context ◽  
Bilingual Group ◽  
Communicative Exchange ◽  
Language Context

Bilinguals understand when the communication context calls for speaking a particular language and can switch from speaking one language to the other based on such conceptual knowledge. There is disagreement regarding whether conceptually-based language switching is also possible in the listening modality. For example, can bilingual listeners perceptually adjust to changes in pronunciation across languages based on their conceptual understanding of which language they’re currently hearing? We asked French- and Spanish-English bilinguals to identify nonsense monosyllables as beginning with /b/ or /p/, speech categories that French and Spanish speakers pronounce differently than English speakers. We conceptually cued each bilingual group to one of their two languages or the other by explicitly instructing them that the speech items were word onsets in that language, uttered by a native speaker thereof. Both groups adjusted their /b–p/ identification boundary in accordance with this conceptual cue to the language context. These results support a bilingual model permitting conceptually-based language selection on both the speaking and listening end of a communicative exchange.

scholarly journals “I’m Missing Something”: (Non) Nativeness in Prospective Teachers as Spanish and English Speakers

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Jairo Viafara
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Harmful Effect ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Method Approach

AbstractRooted in the need to confront the pervasive and harmful effect of the myth of the native speaker and affiliated language ideologies, this article shares the findings of a research study conducted in two public Colombian universities. The study examined participants’ self-perceived (non) nativeness as speakers of Spanish and English. Using surveys and interviews within a mixed-method approach, the study found that participants perceived themselves as over-empowered in their being native Spanish speakers. Conversely, as speakers of English, most prospective teachers feared the disadvantages of not achieving native-like abilities, but they were confident in their university programs and their previous experience as English learners to achieve their language learning education goals.         

English, Spanish, and Bilingual Speakers' Performance on a Nonsense Syllable Test (NST) Speech Sound Discrimination

1984 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey L. Danhauer ◽  
Sandra Crawford ◽  
Bradly J. Edgerton
Keyword(s):  
Nonsense Syllable ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Scoring Method ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Open Set ◽  
Bilingual Group ◽  
Sound Discrimination

This study investigated the ability of a 25-item open-set CVCV Nonsense Syllable Test (NST; Edgerton & Danhauer, 1979) to assess English, Spanish, and bilingual native speakers' speech sound discrimination skills (i.e., both the subjects and the NST were evaluated). The NST was presented at five sensation levels (SLs) between 25 and 65 dB to 29 normally hearing individuals from three native language backgrounds: monolingual English speakers, bilingual Spanish-English speakers having equal experience in each language, and Spanish speakers having little exposure to English. Articulation functions were plotted for each group and compared across SLs, groups, and scoring methods. Results indicated that the phoneme scoring method best described the responses, and all groups' scores improved with increases in SL until they reached a plateau at 45 dB SL. The bilingual group performed similarly to the English speakers; but, as expected, the Spanish group scored significantly poorer than the other two groups. Thus, while the NST may not be highly useful for Spanish speakers, it can help describe the speech sound discrimination abilities of bilingual (Spanish-English) speakers.

The processing of gender assignment in Spanish

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 523-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ainara Imaz Agirre
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
Assignment Accuracy ◽  
Bilingual Group ◽  
Accuracy Rates ◽  
Spanish Bilinguals

This paper reports on an experiment investigating the processing of accurate gender assignment in canonical and non-canonical inanimate nouns in Spanish by native speakers of Basque with nativelike proficiency in Spanish. 33 Basque/Spanish bilinguals and 32 native speakers of Spanish completed an online and an offline gender assignment task. Participants assigned gender to inanimate nouns with canonical (-o; -a) and non-canonical word endings (-e; consonants). The results revealed that the Basque/Spanish bilingual group obtained high accuracy scores in both tasks, similar to the Spanish native speaker group. Interestingly, unlike the Spanish group, the Basque speakers showed faster reaction times with feminine nouns than masculine ones. Canonicity seems to be a strong cue for both groups, since all participants were more accurate and faster with canonical word endings. Even though quantitatively Basque/Spanish bilinguals and Spanish monolinguals’ gender assignment accuracy rates do not differ, qualitatively, the Basque/Spanish bilinguals’ assignment patterns seem to differ somewhat from those of the native Spanish speakers.

scholarly journals Do Language Fluency and Other Socioeconomic Factors Influence the Use of PubMed and MedlinePlus?

2013 ◽  
Vol 04 (02) ◽  
pp. 170-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Gavino ◽  
F. Callaghan ◽  
P. Fontelo ◽  
L. Sheets
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Factors ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Healthcare Personnel ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Language Fluency ◽  
Literacy Rate ◽  
English Fluency ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Health Information Resources

Summary Background: Increased usage of MedlinePlus by Spanish-speakers was observed after introduction of MedlinePlus in Spanish. This probably reflects increased usage of MEDLINE and PubMed by those with greater fluency in the language in which it is presented; but this has never been demonstrated in English speakers. Evidence that lack of English fluency deters international healthcare personnel from using PubMed could support the use of multi-language search tools like Babel-MeSH. Objectives: This study aims to measure the effects of language fluency and other socioeconomic factors on PubMed MEDLINE and MedlinePlus access by international users. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed server pageviews of PubMed and MedlinePlus from various periods of time, and analyzed them against country statistics on language fluency, GDP, literacy rate, Internet usage, medical schools, and physicians per capita, to determine whether they were associated. Results: We found fluency in English to be positively associated with pageviews of PubMed and MedlinePlus in countries with high literacy rates. Spanish was generally found to be positively associated with pageviews of MedlinePlus en Español. The other parameters also showed varying degrees of association with pageviews. Conclusions: After adjusting for the other factors investigated in this study, language fluency was a consistently significant predictor of the use of PubMed, MedlinePlus English and MedlinePlus en Español. This study may support the need for multi-language search tools and may increase access of health information resources from non-English speaking countries. Citation: Sheets L, Gavino A, Callaghan F, Fontelo P. Do language fluency and other socioeconomic factors influence the use of PubMed and MedlinePlus? Appl Clin Inf 2013; 4: 170–184http://dx.doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2013-01-RA-0006

scholarly journals An Experimental Verification of Some Cross-linguistic Sound Symbolisms

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. p1
Author(s):  
David Ellingson Eddington
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Verification ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
The Other ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Definition Of

A recent investigation of 6452 languages (Blasi et al., 2016) uncovered a number of cross-linguistic correspondences between speech sounds and meaning. For example, the phone [z] was associated with the meaning ‘star.’ In the present study, 16 of these sound symbolisms were tested by presenting English and Spanish speakers with pairs of nonce words along with a definition of the words. Their task was to choose the word that sounded best with the meaning given. One member of the pair of words contained phones found to be associated with the meaning of the word while the other did not. For instance, participants were asked to choose between [zolz] and [folf] as the word they felt was most likely to mean ‘star. ‘ Seven of the sound and meaning correspondences observed in the study by Blasi et al. (2016) were corroborated by both Spanish and English speakers. Three additional sound correspondences were only significant in one of the experimental languages.

Reading Russian–English homographs in sentence contexts: Evidence from ERPs

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
OLESSIA JOURAVLEV ◽  
DEBRA JARED
Keyword(s):  
English Translation ◽  
Control Word ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
The Other ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Similar Magnitude ◽  
N400 Component ◽  
Interlingual Homographs ◽  
Language Context

The current study investigated whether Russian–English bilinguals activate knowledge of Russian when reading English sentences. Russian and English share only a few letters, but there are some interlingual homographs (e.g., POT, which means “mouth” in Russian). Critical sentences were written such that the Russian meaning of the homographs fit the context. Sentences presented to participants contained either the English translation of the Russian meaning of a homograph, an interlingual homograph, or a control word (e.g., TO SEE TOM'S THROAT, THE DOCTOR ASKED TOM TO OPEN HIS MOUTH/POT/NET WIDELY). Bilinguals showed a reduction in the N400 component of the event-related potential (ERP) signal for interlingual homographs compared to control words, whereas the N400 of monolingual English speakers was of a similar magnitude in the two conditions. The finding provides evidence that bilinguals automatically activate representations in both of their languages when reading in one language, even when the combination of a language-specific script and the preceding language context indicates that the other language is not relevant.

Production of Subject-Verb Agreement in Spanish as a Second Language

2003 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Nicol ◽  
Delia Greth
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Error Patterns ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Semantic Variables ◽  
Advanced Proficiency

Abstract. In this paper, we report the results of a study of English speakers who have learned Spanish as a second language. All were late learners who have achieved near- advanced proficiency in Spanish. The focus of the research is on the production of subject-verb agreement errors and the factors that influence the incidence of such errors. There is some evidence that English and Spanish subject-verb agreement differ in susceptibility to interference from different types of variables; specifically, it has been reported that Spanish speakers show a greater influence of semantic factors in their implementation of subject-verb agreement ( Vigliocco, Butterworth, & Garrett, 1996 ). In our study, all participants were tested in English (L1) and Spanish (L2). Results indicate nearly identical error patterns: these speakers show no greater influence of semantic variables in the computation of agreement when they are speaking Spanish than when they are speaking English.

Reaching Spanish-Speakers in Self-Administered Surveys

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
J Michael Brick ◽  
Andrew Caporaso ◽  
Douglas Williams ◽  
David Cantor
Keyword(s):  
Single Phase ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Internet ◽  
English Only ◽  
Eligible Population ◽  
The Us ◽  
Survey Estimates

Decisions on public policy can be affected if important segments of the population are systematically excluded from the data used to drive the decisions. In the US, Spanishspeakers make up an important subgroup that surveys conducted in English-only underrepresent. This subgroup differs in a variety of characteristics and they are less likely to respond to surveys in English-only. These factors lead to nonresponse biases that are problematic for survey estimates. For surveys conducted by mail, one solution is to include both English and Spanish materials in the survey package. For addresses in the US where Spanish-speakers are likely to be living, this approach is effective, but it still may omit some non-English-speakers. Traditionally, including both English and Spanish materials for addresses not identified as likely to have Spanish-speakers was considered problematic due to concerns of a backlash effect. The backlash effect is that predominantly English-speakers might respond at a lower rate because of the inclusion of Spanish materials. Prior research found no evidence of a backlash, but used a twophase approach with a short screener questionnaire to identify the eligible population for an education survey. In this paper, we report on experiments in two surveys that extend the previous research to criminal victimization and health communication single-phase surveys. These experiments test the effect of the inclusion of Spanish language materials for addresses not identified as likely to have Spanish-speakers. Our findings confirm most results of the previous research; however we find no substantial increase in Spanish-only participation when the materials are offered in both languages for addresses that are not likely to have Spanish-speakers. We offer some thoughts on these results and directions for future research, especially with respect to collecting data by the Internet.

scholarly journals An Innovative Mental Health Model for Treating Culturally Diverse Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 93-93
Author(s):  
Tobi Abramson ◽  
Jacquelin Berman ◽  
Madison Gates
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Older Adult ◽  
Culturally Diverse ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Chinese Speakers

Abstract The mental health needs of older adults are largely unmet, a finding even more prevalent within culturally diverse older adult populations. Added to this is the high rate of social isolation. Research has indicated increased connection to mental health services when services are embedded within physical health care settings. For those attending community centers, 85% indicate that they are socially isolated, 68% indicate they are lonely, and 53% have a mental health need (compared to 20% nationally). The need for innovative programming is evident. When examining the needs of diverse older adults, it is increasingly important that new and innovative approaches address social isolation, loneliness, and mental health problems experienced by this cohort. Utilizing this knowledge an innovative model of embedding and integrating mental health services, provided by bilingual and bicultural clinicians, into congregate sites (older adult centers) was implemented. Those that participated were mainly female (72.1%), 68.5% English-speaking, 14.5% Spanish-speaking, 13.6% Chinese-speaking and 3.4% other. Spanish-speakers had more depression than English-speakers and both had more depression than Chinese-speakers. English and Spanish-speakers reported more social isolation and Chinese-speakers compared were more likely to participate in engagement. Chinese-speakers were less likely to be in clinical services with a positive screen compared to English-speakers. Overall, 75% engaged in treatment; 37.3% and 41% showed a 3-month improvement of depression and anxiety, respectively. This presentation focuses on the innovative components of this model, how to engage diverse older adults to utilize treatment, steps needed for replication, and policy implications around integrated mental health treatment.

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