scholarly journals Syntactic Networks of Interlanguage Across L2 Modalities and Proficiency Levels

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuxin Hao ◽  
Xuelin Wang ◽  
Meng Wu ◽  
Haitao Liu
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Small World ◽  
Scale Free ◽  
Ideal Object ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Network Parameters ◽  
Quantitative Studies ◽  
L2 Development ◽  
Learner Language

Over time, interlanguage studies have shifted from early qualitative to quantitative studies of specific linguistic structures. However, the focus of these studies is usually on one aspect of an interlanguage instead of the whole system. The ideal object of interlanguage research is a second language (L2) learner language system, for only in this way can the entire L2 learning process can be examined. As a self-organizing and self-regulated system, the panorama of interlanguage can be revealed objectively through a complex network approach. In this study, we construct eight interlanguage dependency syntactic networks of varying proficiency levels and modalities, and conduct a quantitative study of respective network parameters. We find that all syntactic networks of Chinese L2 learners (English native speakers) initially present scale-free and small-world properties. Additionally, there is no sudden syntactic emergence in interlanguage with different modalities. This suggests varying regularities in the development of a syntactic network between interlanguage and native language acquisition. Moreover, the first language plays an important role in L2 development. The network parameters (<k>), L, C, ND, and NC can differentiate interlanguage modalities, and five quantitative parameters, <k>, C, ND, γ′, and NC, can indicate L2 proficiency.

Effects of learner background on the development of writing skills in Japanese as a second language

2009 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 3.1-3.20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noriko Iwashita ◽  
Sachiyo Sekiguchi
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
First Year ◽  
Tertiary Institutions ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Study Experience ◽  
L2 Development

The paper presents preliminary findings of a project which investigated whether learner background, in terms of instruction mode (i.e., school or intensive first-year course at university) and first language (i.e., character based or non-character based), has an impact on the development of writing skills in Japanese as a second language (JSL). Many students in second-year Japanese at university are post-secondary (i.e., they completed Year 12 Japanese at school). They are in class with students who started Japanese at university (i.e., are post-beginners). The intensity of instruction that the two groups have received is very different. A large number of the students learning Japanese at tertiary institutions in Australia are also native speakers of character-based languages (e.g., Chinese). Although there is a substantial volume of studies comparing the effects of instruction mode on L2 development, little is known of how instruction mode and L1 background together may affect L2 development in adult L2 learning settings. The data for the present study include writing samples collected on two occasions from 34 students from a variety of backgrounds. The samples were analysed in terms of length, grammatical complexity and schematic structures, use of kanji (Chinese characters), and vocabulary. The results were compared in terms of study experience and first language. In general, the performance of post-beginner learners from character-based language backgrounds was higher on kanji use and a few other areas, but their superior performance was derived from the interaction of two background factors (L1 and study background). The results show complexity in how different backgrounds affect L2 writing task performance. The study has strong pedagogical implications for teaching a character-based language to students from diverse study backgrounds.

Plural-marking in L2 Korean: A feature-based approach

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sun Hee Hwang ◽  
Donna Lardiere
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Grammatical Function ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Feature Based ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Plural Marking

This study examined the second language (L2) acquisition of the Korean plural marker -tul by native speakers of English. Seventy-seven learners at four Korean proficiency levels along with 31 native Korean-speaking controls completed five tasks designed to probe for knowledge of particular features and restrictions associated with so-called intrinsic and extrinsic plural-marking in Korean. The results suggest that knowledge of both types of plural developed with increasing proficiency. However, the features associated with the intrinsic plural, which is more similar to the English plural in terms of grammatical function, were more easily acquired than those of the extrinsic (distributive) plural, which requires recruiting the features of a completely distinct morpholexical item from the first language (L1). We also found some developmental evidence for a feature hierarchy in quantified Korean noun phrases, in which the most deeply-embedded featural co-occurrence restriction on intrinsic plural-marking was the latest acquired.

A syntactic dependency network approach to the study of translational language

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Fan ◽  
Yue Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Complex Network ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Small World ◽  
Network Approach ◽  
Global Features ◽  
Scale Free ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Network Parameters ◽  
Dependency Network ◽  
Syntactic Dependency

Abstract Complex network approach provides language research with quantitative measures that can capture global features of language. Although translational language has been recognized as a ‘third code’ by some researchers, its independence still calls for further and quantitative validation in an overall manner. In this study, we intend to examine this independence and explore comprehensively its features. We investigated macroscopically translational language from English into Chinese and from Chinese into English by comparing with its source language and native language through syntactic dependency networks. The results show that: (1) translational language presents small-world and scale-free properties like most languages do; (2) however, it is independent of and different from both source language and native language in terms of its network parameters; (3) its network parameters show values eclectic between source language and native language, and this eclectic tendency may be regarded as a new candidate for universal features of translational language, which certainly needs further validation in other genres and language pairs. This study also corroborates that quantitative linguistic method of complex network approach can be well utilized in the study of translational language.

Effects of learner background on the development of writing skills in Japanese as a second language

2009 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 3.1-3.20
Author(s):  
Noriko Iwashita ◽  
Sachiyo Sekiguchi
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
First Year ◽  
Tertiary Institutions ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Study Experience ◽  
L2 Development

The paper presents preliminary findings of a project which investigated whether learner background, in terms of instruction mode (i.e., school or intensive first-year course at university) and first language (i.e., character based or non-character based), has an impact on the development of writing skills in Japanese as a second language (JSL). Many students in second-year Japanese at university are post-secondary (i.e., they completed Year 12 Japanese at school). They are in class with students who started Japanese at university (i.e., are post-beginners). The intensity of instruction that the two groups have received is very different. A large number of the students learning Japanese at tertiary institutions in Australia are also native speakers of character-based languages (e.g., Chinese). Although there is a substantial volume of studies comparing the effects of instruction mode on L2 development, little is known of how instruction mode and L1 background together may affect L2 development in adult L2 learning settings. The data for the present study include writing samples collected on two occasions from 34 students from a variety of backgrounds. The samples were analysed in terms of length, grammatical complexity and schematic structures, use of kanji (Chinese characters), and vocabulary. The results were compared in terms of study experience and first language. In general, the performance of post-beginner learners from character-based language backgrounds was higher on kanji use and a few other areas, but their superior performance was derived from the interaction of two background factors (L1 and study background). The results show complexity in how different backgrounds affect L2 writing task performance. The study has strong pedagogical implications for teaching a character-based language to students from diverse study backgrounds.

PROPERTIES OF AUTOSEMANTIC WORD NETWORKS IN UKRAINIAN TEXTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (06) ◽  
pp. 1950016
Author(s):  
SOLOMIJA BUK ◽  
YURI KRYNYTSKYI ◽  
ANDRIJ ROVENCHAK
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Degree Distribution ◽  
Small World ◽  
Parts Of Speech ◽  
Scale Free ◽  
Network Parameters ◽  
Network Diameter

We present results of network analysis of Ukrainian texts. Autosemantic (meaningful) words are considered as network vertices connected with links when belonging to one sentence. Subnetworks corresponding to specific parts of speech (verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc.) are also built. The obtained networks are small-world and scale-free. To make comparisons, random texts with parameters corresponding to real texts are generated using several approaches. Various parameters of networks are calculated, including transitivity, betweenness, degree centralization, mean distance, network diameter, exponents of degree distribution, etc. Comparison of network parameters of real and generated texts shows that borders between them are quite fuzzy.

Salvaging the Mother Tongue in Exile

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 187-204
Author(s):  
Tomás Espino Barrera
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
First Language ◽  
Language Attrition ◽  
The Past ◽  
Progressive Loss ◽  
First Language Attrition ◽  
Lost In Translation ◽  
Deliberate Effort ◽  
Deep Sense

The dramatic increase in the number of exiles and refugees in the past 100 years has generated a substantial amount of literature written in a second language as well as a heightened sensibility towards the progressive loss of fluency in the mother tongue. Confronted by what modern linguistics has termed ‘first-language attrition’, the writings of numerous exilic translingual authors exhibit a deep sense of trauma which is often expressed through metaphors of illness and death. At the same time, most of these writers make a deliberate effort to preserve what is left from the mother tongue by attempting to increase their exposure to poems, dictionaries or native speakers of the ‘dying’ language. The present paper examines a range of attitudes towards translingualism and first language attrition through the testimonies of several exilic authors and thinkers from different countries (Vladimir Nabokov's Speak, Memory, Hannah Arendt's interviews, Jorge Semprún's Quel beau dimanche! and Autobiografía de Federico Sánchez, and Eva Hoffman's Lost in Translation, among others). Special attention will be paid to the historical frameworks that encourage most of their salvaging operations by infusing the mother tongue with categories of affect and kinship.

Top Museums on Instagram

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasiliki G. Vrana ◽  
Dimitrios A. Kydros ◽  
Evangelos C. Kehris ◽  
Anastasios-Ioannis T. Theocharidis ◽  
George I. Kavavasilis
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Small World ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
The Other ◽  
Small World Network ◽  
Scale Free ◽  
Centrality Metrics ◽  
Photo Sharing ◽  
Visualization Algorithms

Pictures speak louder than words. In this fast-moving world where people hardly have time to read anything, photo-sharing sites become more and more popular. Instagram is being used by millions of people and has created a “sharing ecosystem” that also encourages curation, expression, and produces feedback. Museums are moving quickly to integrate Instagram into their marketing strategies, provide information, engage with audience and connect to other museums Instagram accounts. Taking into consideration that people may not see museum accounts in the same way that the other museum accounts do, the article first describes accounts' performance of the top, most visited museums worldwide and next investigates their interconnection. The analysis uses techniques from social network analysis, including visualization algorithms and calculations of well-established metrics. The research reveals the most important modes of the network by calculating the appropriate centrality metrics and shows that the network formed by the museum Instagram accounts is a scale–free small world network.

Case morphology and word order in second language Turkish: Evidence from Greek learners

2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Despina Papadopoulou ◽  
Spyridoula Varlokosta ◽  
Vassilios Spyropoulos ◽  
Hasan Kaili ◽  
Sophia Prokou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Case Morphology ◽  
L2 Development ◽  
Order Constraints ◽  
On Line

The optional use of morphology attested in second language learners has been attributed either to a representational deficit or to a ‘surface’ problem with respect to the realization of inflectional affixes. In this article we contribute to this issue by providing empirical data from the early interlanguage of Greek learners of Turkish. Three experiments have been conducted, a cloze task, a sentence picture matching task and an on-line grammaticality judgement task, in order to investigate case morphology and its interaction with word order constraints. The findings of all three experiments point towards a variable use of case morphology, which is also observed in previous studies of Turkish as a second language (L2). Moreover, they show clearly that the learners face difficulties with non-canonical word orders as well as with the interaction of word order constraints and Case. On the other hand, the learners performed well on verbal inflections. On the basis of these findings, we argue that the developmental patterns in the early stages of L2 acquisition cannot be attributed to a global lack of functional categories but rather to more localized difficulties, which seem to be related to (a) whether the features in the L2 are grammaticalized in the first language and (b) the way these features are encoded in the morphosyntax of the first language. Moreover, we claim that processing factors and the specific properties of the morphological paradigms affect L2 development.

STABILITY OF TWO TYPICAL COMPLEX DYNAMICAL NETWORKS

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (05) ◽  
pp. 553-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
WU-JIE YUAN ◽  
XIAO-SHU LUO ◽  
PIN-QUN JIANG ◽  
BING-HONG WANG ◽  
JIN-QING FANG
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
Dissipative System ◽  
Small World ◽  
Complex Dynamical Networks ◽  
Dynamical Networks ◽  
Scale Free ◽  
Scale Free Networks ◽  
General Complex ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Theoretical Results

When being constructed, complex dynamical networks can lose stability in the sense of Lyapunov (i. s. L.) due to positive feedback. Thus, there is much important worthiness in the theory and applications of complex dynamical networks to study the stability. In this paper, according to dissipative system criteria, we give the stability condition in general complex dynamical networks, especially, in NW small-world and BA scale-free networks. The results of theoretical analysis and numerical simulation show that the stability i. s. L. depends on the maximal connectivity of the network. Finally, we show a numerical example to verify our theoretical results.

The processing of case in near-native Spanish

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Jegerski
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Case Marker ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
Case Markers ◽  
Ditransitive Constructions

This article reports a study that sought to determine whether non-native sentence comprehension can show sensitivity to two different types of Spanish case marking. Sensitivity to case violations was generally more robust with indirect objects in ditransitive constructions than with differential object marking of animate direct objects, even among native speakers of Spanish, which probably reflects linguistic differences in the two types of case. In addition, the overall outcome of two experiments shows that second language (L2) processing can integrate case information, but that, unlike with native processing, attention to a case marker may depend on the presence of a preverbal clitic as an additional cue to the types of postverbal arguments that might occur in a stimulus. Specifically, L2 readers showed no sensitivity to differential object marking with a in the absence of clitics in the first experiment, with stimuli such as Verónica visita al/el presidente todos los meses ‘Veronica visits the[ACC/NOM]president every month’, but the L2 readers in the second experiment showed native-like sensitivity to the same marker when the object it marked was doubled by the clitic lo, as in Verónica lo visita al/el presidente todos los meses. With indirect objects, on the other hand, sensitivity to case markers was native-like in both experiments, although indirect objects were also always doubled by the preverbal clitic le. The apparent first language / second language contrast suggests differences in processing strategy, whereby non-native processing of morphosyntax may rely more on the predictability of forms than does native processing.

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