scholarly journals Control Stimuli in Experimental Code-Switching Research

Languages ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Koronkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Judgment Task ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Complex Sentence ◽  
Present Perfect ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Auxiliary Verb ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

The current study investigates whether there is variation among different types of control stimuli in code-switching (CS) research, how such stimuli can be used to accommodate heterogeneity, and how they can also be used as a baseline comparison of acceptability. A group of native Spanish–English bilinguals (n = 20) completed a written acceptability judgment task with a 7-point Likert scale. Five different types of control stimuli were included, with three types considered to be completely acceptable (complex-sentence switches, direct-object switches, and subject–predicate switches) and two types considered to be completely unacceptable (pronoun switches and present–perfect switches). Additionally, a set of present–progressive switches were included as a comparison, as their acceptability status is still actively debated. The participants as a whole exhibited the expected grammatical distinctions among the control stimuli, but with a high degree of individual variability. Pronoun switches and auxiliary verb switches were rated significantly lower than the complex-sentence switches, direct-object switches, and subject–predicate switches. These results show that control stimuli can also establish a baseline comparison of acceptability, and recommendations for inclusion in experimental CS research are provided.

Code-switching at the auxiliary-VP boundary

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Giancaspro
Keyword(s):  
Research Program ◽  
Implicit Knowledge ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Syntactic Knowledge ◽  
Heritage Spanish Speakers ◽  
The Subject ◽  
L2 Spanish ◽  
Auxiliary Verb

While early code-switching research (i.e., Poplack, 1980) focused on the possibility of universal constraints on switching, MacSwan’s (2010, 2014) “Constraint-Free” research program centers on the notion that code-switching is only constrained by the interaction of a bilingual’s two grammars. In following with this proposal, the current study examines whether two types of Spanish-English bilinguals are equally sensitive to the (un)grammaticality of Spanish-English code-switching at the subject-predicate and auxiliary-verb phrase boundaries. Twenty-five heritage Spanish speakers and forty-four L2 Spanish learners completed an Audio Naturalness Judgment Task in which they judged grammatical and ungrammatical Spanish-English code-switching at these two syntactic junctions. Results indicate that the L2 Spanish speakers and the heritage bilinguals, regardless of their self-reported exposure to code-switching, correctly differentiated between grammatical and ungrammatical switches, suggesting that they have implicit knowledge of code-switching grammaticality which falls out from syntactic knowledge of the two languages.

scholarly journals The representation of gender in the mind of Spanish-English bilinguals: Insights from code-switched Adjectival Predicates

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Rachel Klassen ◽  
Juana M. Liceras
Keyword(s):  
Judgment Task ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Spanish Translation ◽  
Translation Equivalent ◽  
The Mind ◽  
L1 English ◽  
Processing Difficulty ◽  
Acceptability Judgment ◽  
The Way

This study examines bilinguals’ gender use strategies in code-switched agreement (i.e. the moon is bonita) and concord (i.e. la moon) structures. Thirty-five L1 Spanish-L2 English adult bilinguals and 43 L1 English-L2 Spanish adults with an intermediate (N=18) or advanced (N=25) level of proficiency in Spanish completed an acceptability judgment task in which they rated code-switched Adjectival Predicates and DPs. The results show that only the L1 Spanish-L2 English bilinguals prefer the Adj (in the case of agreement) or the D (in the case of concord) to be marked for the gender of the Spanish translation equivalent of the English N, but that all groups rate agreement structures higher than concord structures. Both of these findings corroborate previous work on intrasentential code-switching, however, this is the first study to offer an account for the contrast in processing difficulty between agreement and concord structures. We argue that this difference can be explained in terms of the way in which the features are valued in agreement and in concord. Under the double-feature valuation mechanism (Liceras et al., 2008) in agreement both features are valued in a single direction, while in concord the features are valued in two different directions. It is this unidirectionality of the feature valuation mechanism in agreement that makes code-switched agreement structures such as Adjectival Predicates easier to process.

scholarly journals Breaking Up Verb Clusters: Two-Verb Constructions in Moundridge Schweitzer German

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 563-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyoun-A Joo
Keyword(s):  
Judgment Task ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Essential Characteristic ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Verb Clusters ◽  
Linguistic Phenomenon ◽  
Acceptability Judgment ◽  
Verbal Complex

Verb clusters are a linguistic phenomenon where two or more verbs align in adjacent order. This paper discusses the structure of a certain type of verb cluster, namely modal infinitivo pro participio (IPP) structures, in main clauses of a moribund heritage variety of German, Moundridge Schweitzer German (MSG), spoken in Kansas. An acceptability judgment task was conducted with twelve participants to investigate two aspects of verb clusters in MSG. The first question concerned the integration of non-verbal elements, here the direct object (DO) and the negation particle (neg), in the verbal complex. The second question investigates whether MSG modal IPPs show variability in verb order, which is an essential characteristic of this type of verb cluster in other verb-cluster languages. The results show that modal IPP constructions in MSG have a fixed 2–3 verb order but allow object scrambling to some degree. Thus, while the ordering of verbs lacks syntactic variability, flexibility and variation are attested in the placement of the non-verbal constituents within the verbal complex. This is interpreted as the retention of an archaic dialectal trait.

scholarly journals Relativas cortadoras: mover e cortar? Ou cortar antes de mover?

2020 ◽  
pp. 151-175
Author(s):  
Ana Espírito Santo
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
European Portuguese ◽  
Null Element ◽  
Syntactic Derivation ◽  
Acceptability Judgment ◽  
Object Relative

With this article, we aim at providing an answer to two main theoretical questions: what is the syntactic derivation of European Portuguese P-chopping relative clauses? And what is the nature of the phonetically and semantically null element that integrates them? We also attempt to identify constants that allow us to predict other lexical contexts for the occurrence of P-chopping relative clauses other than the ones already described in the literature. We support our conclusions with the data collected in an acceptability judgment task that included 76 native speakers. Our proposal is a derivation for P-chopping relative clauses similar to the existing one for direct object relative clauses, assuming that the null element that integrates them has the properties of a variable.

Monolingual stimuli as a foundation for analyzing code-switching data

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane Ebert ◽  
Bryan Koronkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Acceptability Judgments ◽  
Acceptability Judgment ◽  
Do So

Abstract Among methodological concerns specific to code-switching (CS) research is the design of the target stimuli used in experiments with an acceptability judgment task. We argue here that research which makes use of CS data of this type must also incorporate monolingual stimuli into the experimental design, specifically monolingual stimuli judged by the same bilingual participants who judge the code-switched stimuli. We do so by reviewing two sets of experimental CS data we collected and exploring the role that monolingual stimuli can play in the analysis of that data. In each experiment, an analysis based solely on acceptability judgments of the CS stimuli leads to one interpretation, while incorporation of results from the monolingual stimuli leads to a distinct interpretation. We show that it is the interpretation integrating the monolingual acceptability judgments which is more valid, thereby arguing for the value of monolingual stimuli in design and analysis.

Probiotics for the Chemoprotective Role Against the Toxic Effect of Cancer Chemotherapy

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aafrin Waziri ◽  
Charu Bharti ◽  
Mohammed Aslam ◽  
Parween Jamil ◽  
Aamir Mirza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Clinical Management ◽  
Clinical Evidence ◽  
Unmet Need ◽  
Chemotherapeutic Agents ◽  
Antitumor Effects ◽  
Anti Cancer ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Growth Promoting ◽  
High Degree

Background: The processes of chemo- and radiation therapy-based clinical management of different types of cancers are associated with toxicity and side effects of chemotherapeutic agents. So, there is always an unmet need to explore agents to reduce such risk factors. Among these, natural products have generated much attention because of their potent antioxidant and antitumor effects. In the past, some breakthrough outcomes established that various bacteria in the human intestinal gut are bearing growth-promoting attributes and suppressing the conversion of pro-carcinogens into carcinogens. Hence, probiotics integrated approaches are nowadays being explored as rationalized therapeutics in the clinical management of cancer. Methods: Here, published literature was explored to review chemoprotective roles of probiotics against toxic and side effects of chemotherapeutics. Results: Apart from excellent anti-cancer abilities, probiotics are bearing and alleviate toxicity and side effects of chemotherapeutics, with a high degree of safety and efficiency. Conclusion: Preclinical and clinical evidence suggested that due to the chemoprotective roles of probiotics against side effects and toxicity of chemotherapeutics, their integration in chemotherapy would be a judicious approach.

Toxicity And Surface Modification Of Dendrimers: A Critical Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rohini Kharwade ◽  
Payal Badole ◽  
Nilesh Mahajan ◽  
Sachin More
Keyword(s):  
Surface Modification ◽  
Positive Charge ◽  
Haematological Toxicity ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Hemolytic Toxicity ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Core Functionality ◽  
Polymeric Structures

: As compared to other nano polymers, dendrimers have novel three dimensional, synthetic hyperbranched, nano-polymeric structures. The characteristic of these supramolecular dendritic structures has a high degree of significant surface as well as core functionality in the transportation of drugs for targeted therapy, specifically in host-guest response, gene transfer therapy and imaging of biological systems. However, there are conflicting shreds of evidence regarding biological safety and dendrimers toxicity due to their positive charge at the surface. It includes cytotoxicity, hemolytic toxicity, haematological toxicity, immunogenicity and in vivo toxicity. Therefore to resolve these problems surface modification of the dendrimer group is one of the methods. From that point, this review involves different strategies which reduce the toxicity and improve the biocompatibility of different types of dendrimers. From that viewpoint, we broaden the structural and safe characteristics of the dendrimers in the biomedical and pharmaceutical fields.

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 Predictors of proximity to others in colony housed shelter cats (Felis silvestris catus)

2016 ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malini Suchak ◽  
Michael Piombino ◽  
Kalina Bracco
Keyword(s):  
Past History ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Felis Silvestris Catus ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
The Past ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
History Of ◽  
Adult Cats ◽  
Stress Behaviors ◽  
High Degree

Colony housing of cats allows shelters to maximize the number of cats housed in limited space. Most research on colony-housed cats examines stress in relation to group size or enclosure size.  While this is important for evaluating welfare, it is equally important to understand how cats are interacting socially in these colonies. We observed 259 adult cats housed in groups of two to eight individuals. Scan samples were used to assess how frequently individual cats were in close proximity to other cats. These data were used to measure individual differences in sociability and patterns of proximity to certain partners. We used information about the past history of the cat, which was collected upon admission to the shelter to identify predictors of time spent in proximity. There was a high degree of inter-individual variability in sociability. Strays tended to spend less time in proximity to other cats, and this effect was most pronounced in females.However, none of the information collected upon admission predicted patterns of proximity to certain partners, or which cats spent time in association witheach other. Future studies should explore the implications of differences in sociability by associating observations of social behavior and stress behaviors.

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