scholarly journals Accessibility and Historical Change: An Emergent Cluster Led Uncles and Aunts to Become Aunts and Uncles

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele E. Goldberg ◽  
Crystal Lee
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Diachronic Change ◽  
Cognitive Accessibility ◽  
Relative Accessibility

There are times when a curiously odd relic of language presents us with a thread, which when pulled, reveals deep and general facts about human language. This paper unspools such a case. Prior to 1930, English speakers uniformly preferred male-before-female word order in conjoined nouns such as uncles and aunts; nephews and nieces; men and women. Since then, at least a half dozen items have systematically reversed their preferred order (e.g., aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews) while others have not (men and women). We review evidence that the unusual reversals began with mother and dad(dy) and spread to semantically and morphologically related binomials over a period of decades. The present work proposes that three aspects of cognitive accessibility combine to quantify the probability of A&B order: (1) the relative accessibility of the A&B terms individually, (2) competition from B&A order, and critically, (3) cluster strength (i.e., similarity to related A'&B' cases). The emergent cluster of female-first binomials highlights the influence of semantic neighborhoods in memory retrieval. We suggest that cognitive accessibility can be used to predict the word order of both familiar and novel binomials generally, as well as the diachronic change focused on here.

Cognitive accessibility predicts word order of couples’ names in English and Japanese

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-249
Author(s):  
Karina Tachihara ◽  
Adele E. Goldberg
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
General Property ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
The Other ◽  
Current Work ◽  
Personal Histories ◽  
Cognitive Accessibility

AbstractWe investigate the order in which speakers produce the proper names of couples they know personally in English and Japanese, two languages with markedly different constituent word orders. Results demonstrate that speakers of both languages tend to produce the name of the person they feel closer to before the name of the other member of the couple (N = 180). In this way, speakers’ unique personal histories give rise to a remarkably systematic linguistic generalization in both English and Japanese. Insofar as closeness serves as an index of cognitive accessibility, the current work demonstrates that systematicity emerges from a domain-general property of memory.

L1 word order and sensitivity to verb bias in L2 processing

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 761-775 ◽  
Author(s):  
EUN-KYUNG LEE ◽  
DORA HSIN-YI LU ◽  
SUSAN M. GARNSEY
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Verb Bias ◽  
On Line ◽  
Korean Learners

Using a self-paced reading task, this study examines whether second language (L2) learners are flexible enough to learn L2 parsing strategies that are not useful in their first language (L1). Native Korean-speaking learners of English were compared with native English speakers on resolving a temporary ambiguity about the relationship between a verb and the noun following it (e.g.,The student read [that] the article. . .). Consistent with previous studies, native English reading times showed the usual interaction between the optional complementizerthatand the particular verb's bias about the structures that can follow it. Lower proficiency L1-Korean learners of L2-English did not show a similar interaction, but higher proficiency learners did. Thus, despite native language word order differences (English: SVO; Korean: SOV) that determine the availability of verbs early enough in sentences to generate predictions about upcoming sentence structure, higher proficiency L1-Korean learners were able to learn to optimally combine verb bias and complementizer cues on-line during sentence comprehension just as native English speakers did, while lower proficiency learners had not yet learned to do so. Optimal interactive cue combination during L2 sentence comprehension can probably be achieved only after sufficient experience with the target language.

scholarly journals Posterior superior temporal sulcus supports sequence-based language processing: Evidence from low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Kyriaki ◽  
Gabrielle Todd ◽  
Matthias Schlesewsky ◽  
Joseph Devlin ◽  
Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky
Keyword(s):  
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Superior Temporal Sulcus ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus

Understanding the sequence (i.e. word order) of linguistic input plays an important role in sentence comprehension, particularly in languages such as English (Bornkessel-Schlesewsky et al., 2015). Neuroimaging and clinical research shows that left posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) contributes towards sequence processing in both linguistic and non-linguistic contexts (Bornkessel et al., 2005; Wilson et al., 2010). To test the causal contribution of left pSTS for sequence-dependent sentence processing, we applied image-guided low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (1 Hz for 15 minutes at 90% resting motor threshold) to this region in 23 healthy native English speakers. Participants undertook an auditory sentence processing task and were asked to identify the sentential actor or undergoer. Sentences were either semantically plausible or were rendered implausible by an animacy violation (e.g. “The student will write the answer” versus “The answer will write the student”). After sham-rTMS (control condition), participants predominantly selected the first noun as the actor and second noun as the undergoer, relying strongly on sequence cues (word order) for interpretation as expected in English speakers. By contrast, after real-rTMS, participants were more likely to use animacy as a cue to interpretation, with higher selections of the animate noun as the actor and inanimate noun as the undergoer regardless of word order. This effect also interacted with question focus and response time. These results indicate that sequence-based language processing is reduced after low-frequency rTMS to pSTS, suggesting a role for pSTS in processing sequential aspects of language such as word order.

scholarly journals Thematic role assignment in non-default verb classes: A cross-linguistic comparison of English and German

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Kyriaki ◽  
Matthias Schlesewsky ◽  
Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Question Type ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Thematic Role ◽  
Model Framework ◽  
Role Assignment ◽  
Verb Classes ◽  
Task Focus

The influence of sentential cues (such as animacy and word order) on thematic role interpretation differs as a function of language (MacWhinney et al. 1984). However, existing cross-linguistic research has typically focused on transitive sentences involving agents, and interpretation of non-default verb classes is less well understood. Here, we compared the way in which English and German native speakers – languages known to differ in the cue prominence of animacy and word order – assign thematic roles. We compared their interpretation of sentences containing either default (agent-subject) or non-default (experiencer-subject) verb classes. Animacy of the two noun phrases in a sentence was either animate-inanimate and plausible (e.g. “The men will devour the meals...”) or inanimate-animate and implausible in English (e.g. “The meals will devour the men…”). We examined role assignment by probing for either the actor or undergoer of the sentence. Mixed effects modelling revealed that role assignment was significantly influenced by noun animacy, verb class, question type, and language. Results are interpreted within the Competition Model framework (Bates et al. 1982; MacWhinney et al. 1984), and show that English speakers predominantly relied on word order for thematic role assignment. German speakers relied on word order to a comparatively lesser degree, with animacy a prominent cue. Non-default verbs (experiencer-subject) promoted a non-default comprehension strategy regarding the prominence of sentential cues, particularly in German. Intriguingly, responses were modulated by the probe task, with undergoer probes promoting object-initial interpretations, particularly for German speakers. This suggests that task focus may retroactively influence sentence interpretation.

scholarly journals Resilient grammars: On VO/OV in Germanic linguistic islands in Northern Italy

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-355
Author(s):  
Cecilia Poletto ◽  
Günther Grewendorf
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Specific Property ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Common Path ◽  
Diachronic Change ◽  
Basic Word ◽  
Linguistic Islands

In this work we consider some residual cases of OV order in Cimbrian and show that this is due to the interaction between verb movement, a language specific property, and the syntax of bare quantifiers. This has consequences on a general theory on the change of the basic word order, since it shows that the passage from OV to VO can involve different structures in different languages depending on other properties, hence it is not possible to trace a common path in the diachronic change for all languages that have undergone this mutation.

Morphological Theory and Diachronic Change

2018 ◽  
pp. 475-492
Author(s):  
Matthias Hüning
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Diachronic Change ◽  
Morphological Theory

Variation and change are essential for any human language, but at the same time they form a challenge for theoretical models of grammar. This chapter discusses some notions and phenomena encountered in word-formation change that should be relevant to any morphological theory. It focuses on the notion of reanalysis and on phenomena related to this notion. In its second half, the chapter focuses on the notion of productivity and on the view that every change in word-formation has to be seen as a change in productivity. It is claimed that theoretical models will need to become more attentive to usage-based perspectives in order to integrate the dynamics of language and language change. The examples used for illustration purposes in this chapter are taken from Dutch, German, and English.

The syntax–discourse interface in near-native L2 acquisition: Off-line and on-line performance

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
HOLGER HOPP
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
On Line ◽  
Discourse Interface ◽  
Ultimate Attainment ◽  
L1 English

This study investigates ultimate attainment at the syntax–discourse interface in adult second-language (L2) acquisition. In total, 91 L1 (first-language) English, L1 Dutch and L1 Russian advanced-to-near-native speakers of German and 63 native controls are tested on an acceptability judgement task and an on-line self-paced reading task. These centre on discourse-related word order optionality in German. Results indicate that convergence at the syntax–discourse interface is in principle possible in adult L2 acquisition, both in off-line knowledge and on-line processing, even for L1 English speakers, whose L1 does not correspond to L2 German in discourse-to-syntax mappings. At the same time, non-convergence of the L1 Dutch groups and differences in the L2 groups' performance between tasks suggest that asymmetries in L1–L2 discourse configurations and computational difficulties in mapping discourse onto syntax constrain L2 performance.

Female and male usage of pragmatic expressions in same-sex and mixed-sex interaction

1992 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Britt Erman
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Repair Work ◽  
British English ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Gender Specific Differences ◽  
Gender Specific

ABSTRACTThe present study focuses on the use of the three pragmatic expressions (you know, you see, and I mean) by female and male British English speakers. The aim of the study is two-fold: first, to establish actual differences in usage between men and women over a number of functions of the three pragmatic expressions; second, to find out whether such differences could be correlated to same-sex as opposed to mixed-sex interaction. The results of my investigation show that there are gender-specific differences in the use of pragmatic expressions. Some of the more salient differences were that the women tended to use pragmatic expressions between complete propositions to connect consecutive arguments, whereas the men preferred to use them either as attention-drawing devices or to signal repair work. The two groups also showed differences from the point of view of absolute frequencies, so that, generally speaking, the men used the expressions about 25% more often than the women and in some contexts up to twice as much. The results also point to the use of pragmatic expressions being largely dependent on whether the conversation takes place in a same-sex or in a mixed-sex environment, so that they tend to be used more sparingly in mixed-sex as compared to same-sex interaction.

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