Meaning predictability and compound interpretation: A psycholinguistic investigation

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina L. Gagné ◽  
Kristan A. Marchak ◽  
Thomas L. Spalding
Keyword(s):  
Judgment Task ◽  
Verification Task

The central aim of this paper is to investigate Štekauer's (2005 , 2006 ) notion of meaning predictability within a psycholinguistic framework. In particular, we examined whether novel compounds with low meaning predictability are more difficult to interpret than are compounds with higher meaning predictability. A second aim is to evaluate the influence of the components of meaning predictability (i.e., the goodness of a particular reading, as well as the prevalence of that reading) on comprehension. We report the results of two experiments conducted with novel compounds (e.g., wool basket and adolescent doctor). In Experiment 1, participants performed a sense/nonsense judgment task. In Experiment 2, participants performed a verification task in which they indicated whether a particular reading was appropriate. The results confirm that meaning predictability influences ease of interpretation, but also indicate that the role of the components of meaning predictability differs between the two tasks.

scholarly journals Intonational effects on English scopally-ambiguous sentences

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 13-36
Author(s):  
Mien-Jen Wu ◽  
Tania Ionin
Keyword(s):  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Universal Quantifier ◽  
Sentential Negation ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

This paper examines the effect of intonation contour on two types of scopally ambiguous constructions in English: configurations with a universal quantifier in subject position and sentential negation (e.g., Every horse didn’t jump) and configurations with quantifiers in both subject and object positions (e.g., A girl saw every boy). There is much prior literature on the relationship between the fall-rise intonation and availability of inverse scope with quantifier-negation configurations. The present study has two objectives: (1) to examine whether the role of intonation in facilitating inverse scope is restricted to this configuration, or whether it extends to double-quantifier configurations as well; and (2) to examine whether fall-rise intonation fully disambiguates the sentence, or only facilitates inverse scope. These questions were investigated experimentally, via an auditory acceptability judgment task, in which native English speakers rated the acceptability of auditorily presented sentences in contexts matching surface-scope vs. inverse-scope readings. The results provide evidence that fall-rise intonation facilitates the inverse-scope readings of English quantifier-negation configurations (supporting findings from prior literature), but not those of double-quantifier configurations.

scholarly journals The unexplored role of handshape similarity in processing numbers on the hands

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-171
Author(s):  
Ilaria Berteletti ◽  
SaraBeth J. Sullivan ◽  
Lucas Lancaster
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Numerical Information ◽  
Finger Counting ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Native Signers ◽  
The Relationship

With two simple experiments we investigate the overlooked influence of handshape similarity for processing numerical information conveyed on the hands. In most finger-counting sequences there is a tight relationship between the number of fingers raised and the numerical value represented. This creates a possible confound where numbers closer to each other are also represented by handshapes that are more similar. By using the American Sign Language (ASL) number signs we are able to dissociate between the two variables orthogonally. First, we test the effect of handshape similarity in a same/different judgment task in a group of hearing non-signers and then test the interference of handshape in a number judgment task in a group of native ASL signers. Our results show an effect of handshape similarity and its interaction with numerical value even in the group of native signers for whom these handshapes are linguistic symbols and not a learning tool for acquiring numerical concepts. Because prior studies have never considered handshape similarity, these results open new directions for understanding the relationship between finger-based counting, internal hand representations and numerical proficiency.

EXPRESS: Articulatory suppression delays processing of abstract words: the role of inner speech

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110536
Author(s):  
Chiara Fini ◽  
Gian Daniele Zannino ◽  
Matteo Orsoni ◽  
Giovanni Augusto Carlesimo ◽  
Mariagrazia Benassi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Articulatory Suppression ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Inner Speech ◽  
Dominant Hand ◽  
Conceptual Representation ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Single Object ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
Concrete Concepts

Compared to concrete concepts, like “book”, abstract concepts expressed by words like “justice” are more detached from sensorial experiences, even though they are also grounded in sensorial modalities. Abstract concepts lack a single object as referent and are characterized by higher variability both within and across participants. According to the Word as Social Tool (WAT) proposal, owing to their complexity, abstract concepts need to be processed with the help of inner language. Inner language can namely help participants to re-explain to themselves the meaning of the word, to keep information active in working memory, and to prepare themselves to ask information from more competent people. While previous studies have demonstrated that the mouth is involved during abstract concepts’ processing, both the functional role and the mechanisms underlying this involvement still need to be clarified. We report an experiment in which participants were required to evaluate whether 78 words were abstract or concrete by pressing two different pedals. During the judgment task, they were submitted, in different blocks, to a baseline, an articulatory suppression, and a manipulation condition. In the last two conditions, they had to repeat a syllable continually and to manipulate a softball with their dominant hand. Results showed that articulatory suppression slowed down the processing of abstract more than that of concrete words. Overall results confirm the WAT proposal’s hypothesis that abstract concepts processing involves the mouth motor system and specifically inner speech. We discuss the implications for current theories of conceptual representation.

Source(s) of syntactic cross-linguistic influence (CLI): The case of L3 acquisition of English possessives by Mazandarani–Persian bilinguals

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nader Fallah ◽  
Ali Akbar Jabbari ◽  
Ali Mohammad Fazilatfar
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Third Language ◽  
The Third ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
L3 Acquisition

This study investigates the role of previously acquired linguistic systems, Mazandarani and Persian, in the acquisition of third language (L3) English at the initial stages. The data have been obtained from 31 students (age 13–14 years), testing the placement of attributive possessives in a grammaticality judgment task, an element rearrangement task and an elicited oral imitation task. The participants consist of three groups: The first two groups have Mazandarani as the first language (L1) and Persian as the second language (L2), but differ from each other with respect to the language of communication, Mazandarani and Persian, respectively. The third group has Persian as the L1 and Mazandarani as the L2, with Persian as the language of communication. English and Mazandarani pattern similarly in the target structures. That is to say, possessors precede possessed nouns and possessive adjectives come before nouns. In contrast, in Persian, possessives occur post-nominally. The results of this study reveal that none of the proposals tested (e.g. the L1 Factor, Hermas, 2010, 2014a, 2014b; the L2 Status Factor, Bardel and Falk, 2007; Falk and Bardel, 2011; the Cumulative Enhancement Model (CEM), Flynn et al., 2004; the Typological Proximity Model (TPM), Rothman, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015) could account for the results obtained. This study provides support that at the initial stages of L3 acquisition, syntactic transfer originates from the language of communication, irrespective of order of acquisition.

Order and Magnitude Share a Common Representation in Parietal Cortex

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 2114-2120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Franklin ◽  
John Jonides
Keyword(s):  
Distance Effect ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Mental Number Line ◽  
Numerical Magnitude ◽  
Intraparietal Sulcus ◽  
Ordinal Information ◽  
Common Representation ◽  
Distance Effects

The role of the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) in the representation of numerical magnitude is well established. Recently, there has also been speculation that the IPS is involved in the representation of ordinal information as well. These claims, however, overlook the fact that all neuroimaging paradigms in which participants make judgments about either magnitude and/or order result in a behavioral distance effect (i.e., the comparison is easier when the stimuli span a greater distance). This leaves open two possibilities: It may be that activation of the IPS is due to the mechanism that yields distance effects, or it may be that the IPS is involved in the representation of information about both magnitude and order. The current study used fMRI to compare a magnitude task in which participants show distance effects to an order-judgment task that yields reverse-distance effects. The results reveal activation of the IPS for both the magnitude and order tasks that is based on participants' strategies as opposed to the actual distance between the numbers. This leads to the conclusion that the IPS represents a mental number line, and that accessing this line can lead to distance effects when participants compare magnitudes and to reverse-distance effects when participants check for order.

THE ROLE OF SEMANTIC TRANSFER IN CLITIC DROP AMONG SIMULTANEOUS AND SEQUENTIAL CHINESE-SPANISH BILINGUALS

2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Cuza ◽  
Ana Teresa Pérez-Leroux ◽  
Liliana Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
First Language ◽  
Null Distribution ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Transfer Effects ◽  
Value Judgment ◽  
Null Objects ◽  
Null Argument ◽  
Semantic Transfer ◽  
Spanish Bilinguals

This study examines the acquisition of the featural constraints on clitic and null distribution in Spanish among simultaneous and sequential Chinese-Spanish bilinguals from Peru. A truth value judgment task targeted the referential meaning of null objects in a negation context. Objects were elicited via two clitic elicitation tasks that targeted anaphoric contexts and left-dislocated topics. An acceptability task tested sensitivity to left-dislocated object drop. Although simultaneous bilinguals were mostly undistinguishable from monolinguals, the late learners differed from both of these groups across tasks. Age of arrival led to different outcomes, with late learners showing more deficits than the child learners. Late learners avoided using clitics and relied on lexical and null objects. Residual transfer effects were observed among the child learners in the form of insensitivity to the features that serve as the basis for null argument identification and clitic deficits in production. It is also argued that transfer persists despite early and intense exposure to the second language in a natural environment because of the existence of an unmarked argument identification option in the first language.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF PSYCHOSOCIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL VARIABLES TO HERITAGE LANGUAGE LEARNERS’ LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE OF SPANISH

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (04) ◽  
pp. 695-719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julio Torres ◽  
Ricardo Estremera ◽  
Sherez Mohamed
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Heritage Language Learners ◽  
Elicited Imitation ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Specific Contribution

AbstractIndividual differences (IDs) largely contribute to success in adult second language attainment (e.g., Dörnyei, 2006). Heritage language (HL) studies have also explored the role of IDs, namely psychosocial variables, and biographical factors with an adult HL learner population. However, the specific contribution of these variables to HL learners' performance on linguistic tests that differ in degree of explicitness and modality remains unknown. Therefore, the current study tested 103 adult HL learners of Spanish who completed a spoken elicited imitation task (EIT) and a written untimed grammaticality judgment task (UGJT) that elicited their knowledge of vulnerable morphosyntactic structures in HL bilingual acquisition. To investigate the contribution of individual learner factors on their performance, participants completed a few questionnaires. Mixed-effects regression models revealed that sequential bilingual status, willingness to communicate, generation and motivation contributed significantly, but yet differentially to participants' performance on grammatical and ungrammatical items of the EIT and UGJT.

The role of intonation cues in aphasic patients' performance of the grammaticality judgment task

1988 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Sloan Berndt ◽  
Aita Salasoo ◽  
Charlotte C. Mitchum ◽  
Sheila E. Blumstein
Keyword(s):  
Judgment Task ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment

ROLE OF MENTAL IMAGERY IN A PROPERTY VERIFICATION TASK: FMRI EVIDENCE FOR PERCEPTUAL REPRESENTATIONS OF CONCEPTUAL KNOWLEDGE

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (3-6) ◽  
pp. 525-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene P. Kan ◽  
Lawrence W. Barsalou ◽  
Karen Olseth Solomon ◽  
Jeris K. Minor ◽  
Sharon L. Thompson-Schill
Keyword(s):  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Verification Task ◽  
Perceptual Representations ◽  
Property Verification

On the role of experience and age-related effects: Evidence from the Spanish CP

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Cuza ◽  
Joshua Frank
Keyword(s):  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Sentence Completion ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Age Related ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Preference Task ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers

The present study examines and compares the extent to which advanced L2 learners of Spanish and Spanish heritage speakers acquire the syntactic and semantic properties that regulate the grammatical representation of double complementizer questions in Spanish, a CP-related structure not present in English. Results from an aural sentence completion task, an acceptability judgment task, and a preference task indicate significant differences between the two experimental groups and the monolingual controls. However, the heritage speakers outperformed the L2 learners in their target use and interpretation, which suggests a linguistic benefit for earlier exposure and use of Spanish during childhood. We propose that the differences observed among the L2 learners and the heritage speakers can be accounted for in terms of cross-linguistic influence from the dominant language as well as language experience and age of onset of bilingualism as an interrelated dimension in L2 and heritage language development.

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