scholarly journals Near-Native Sociolinguistic Competence in French: Evidence from Variable Future-Time Expression

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aarnes Gudmestad ◽  
Amanda Edmonds ◽  
Bryan Donaldson ◽  
Katie Carmichael
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Future Time ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Sociolinguistic Competence ◽  
Linguistic Constraints

This study aims to advance the understanding of sociolinguistic competence among near-native speakers and to further knowledge about the acquisition of variable structures. We conduct a quantitative analysis of variable future-time expression in informal conversations between near-native and native speakers of French. In addition to examining linguistic constraints that have been investigated in previous research, we build on prior work by introducing a new factor that enables us to consider the role that formality of the variants plays in the use of variable future-time expression. We conclude by comparing these new findings to those for the same dataset and other variable structures (namely, negation and interrogatives, Donaldson, 2016, 2017) and by advocating for more research that consists of multiple, complementary analyses of the same dataset.

scholarly journals On the role of the present indicative in variable future-time reference in Hexagonal French

2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aarnes Gudmestad ◽  
Amanda Edmonds ◽  
Bryan Donaldson ◽  
Katie Carmichael
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Temporal Distance ◽  
Shared Knowledge ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Temporal Expression ◽  
Future Time ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
Verb Forms

AbstractThis article investigates variable future-time expression among native speakers of Hexagonal French who participated in informal conversations. The quantitative analysis is the first to examine the inflectional future, periphrastic future, and present indicative as separate forms within a single statistical model of French oral production. Results indicate that temporal distance and presence/absence of a temporal expression predict use of these verb forms. The second phase of the analysis focused on the use of the present indicative in future-time contexts. The examination of each instance of the present indicative shows that an immediate lexical temporal indicator is not necessary for this form to convey futurity and that future-time reference is often established at the discourse level and occasionally through apparent shared knowledge between the interlocutors. This investigation suggests the value of including the present indicative in the analysis of future-time reference in Hexagonal French in order to fully capture variation.

scholarly journals Authentic Discourse and Model Exemplars in Japanese Language Textbooks: A Case Study of Apologies and Requests

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Nobuko Kato
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Politeness Theory ◽  
Discourse Model ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
Natural Discourse ◽  
Discourse Strategies ◽  
Language Textbooks

<p>In recent years, the communicative approach has prevailed in second language teaching, such that model dialogues are presented in textbooks for language learners. However, there has been little research on the extent to which such exemplars reflect authentic discourse in Japanese. This thesis, therefore, explores the speech acts of Japanese language native speakers (NSs), non-native speakers who are learning Japanese (NNSs), and discourse model examples presented in Japanese language textbooks (TXs) in order to investigate their similarities and differences, and thereby enhance the contents of textbooks. In particular, this thesis focuses on the discourse structure and expressions. The study takes a quantitative approach to the data analysis, using two different scenarios in settings of apology and requests. NSs pairs and NNSs pairs were requested to perform role-plays of two different scenarios in Japanese. The conversational data of the role-plays were transcribed, and the model exemplars of apology and request presented in the selected Japanese language textbooks were also analysed. The analysis employs the framework of cross-cultural speech act realisation patterns (CCSARP) of Blum-Kulka et al. (1989) to categorise utterances based on the intentions of the speakers into two parts, namely: Head Acts (HAs) and Supportive Moves (SMs). Once the data were classified by the CCSARP, individual HAs and SMs were sorted according to Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1987), which divides politeness strategies into four types: bald on record, positive politeness, negative politeness, and off record. By adopting both CCSARP and politeness theory, the characteristics of the discourse strategies and expressions of the three groups analysed in this thesis can be grasped. The analysis produces several new findings by identifying various ways in which the model dialogues in Japanese language textbooks fail to reflect the natural discourse of Japanese native speakers. The thesis presents suggestions for improvement for the benefit of textbook authors in future.</p>

Vowel system or vowel systems?

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-292
Author(s):  
Wilkinson Daniel Wong Gonzales ◽  
Rebecca Lurie Starr
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Language Ecology ◽  
Younger Women ◽  
Mixed Language ◽  
Contact Language ◽  
Vowel Systems ◽  
Mixed Code ◽  
Mixed Languages

Abstract The Manila variety of Philippine Hybrid Hokkien (PHH-M) or Lánnang-uè is a contact language used by the metropolitan Manila Chinese Filipinos; it is primarily comprised of Hokkien, Tagalog/Filipino, and English elements. Approaching PHH-M as a mixed language, we investigate linguistically and socially conditioned variation in the monophthongs of PHH-M, focusing on the extent to which the vowel systems of the three source languages have converged. This analysis draws on data gathered from 34 native speakers; Pillai scores are calculated to assess the degree of merger. Contrary to certain predictions of prior work on mixed languages, PHH-M is found to have a unified, eight-vowel inventory distinct from any of its sources. Older women use more stable vowels across source languages, suggesting that they have led in the development of PHH-M as a mixed code; however, signs of change among younger women suggest either the endangerment of the code or its evolution in response to the community’s shifting identity. We contextualize our conclusions in relation to the sociohistory and language ecology of metropolitan Manila’s Chinese Filipino community.

Analysis of Experimental Data From Ship Trajectories of Turning Circles in a Regular Seaway

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph T. Klamo ◽  
Ray-Qing Lin
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Ship Maneuvering ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Self Consistent ◽  
Calm Water ◽  
Experimental Laboratory ◽  
Ship Tracks ◽  
Good Agreement

The accurate prediction of the track of a ship maneuvering in a seaway is one of the most important tasks in seakeeping. Most ship maneuvering studies, both experimental and numerical, focus on maneuvering in calm water. Recently, Lin and Klamo (2010) used the Digital Self-consistent Ship Experimental Laboratory (DiSSEL) to study the ship track of a turning circle maneuver in a wave field. In that study, it was shown that their simulated ship trajectories had good agreement with experimentally measured tracks. This agreement motivated the following quantitative analysis of the experimental data to characterize the effects that wave impacts have on turning circle ship tracks. Our method involves describing the ship trajectories as sinusoids with time-varying means. We also estimate the uncertainty in the results from our analysis of the experimental measurements. The quantitative analysis shows overall agreement with Lin and Klamo (2010). New findings are also discussed such as changes in the distance and time to complete the maneuver as well as the speed and preferred directions of a drifting turning circle.

Global Englishes and the sociolinguistics of spelling

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Hinrichs ◽  
Jessica White-Sustaíta
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Community Level ◽  
Second Step ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
Local Standard ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Spelling Variation ◽  
Linguistic Constraints ◽  
Symbolic Distance ◽  
Jamaican Creole

This paper contributes to a small, but quickly growing body of literature that looks at orthographic variation as a semiotic resource with which social stances and relations are expressed and created. First, we analyze a corpus of blog and email writing from Jamaica and its diaspora — two settings in which both Jamaican Creole (JC) and a local standard of English are in use. Here, spelling is studied quantitatively as an expression of community-level attitudes toward JC in different settings. In a second step we draw on findings from a survey on attitudes toward language varieties and spelling variation among writers of Creole and English, contextualizing the quantitative analysis. Our findings indicate that diasporic writers make use of nonstandard spellings in a way that marks those lexical items as non-English (thus: as Creole) that are part of the historically shared lexicon of JC and English but whose meanings and functions have come to differ in the two varieties. By contrast, writers living in Jamaica prefer using spelling choices to mark codeswitches between English and Creole, and thus to construct symbolic distance between the codes. A comparison between genders shows women to make a more systematic use of nonstandard spellings according to linguistic constraints than men do.

Awareness of linguistic constraints on variable ne omission

1998 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aidan Coveney
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Quantitative Studies ◽  
Linguistic Constraints

AbstractMany quantitative studies have shown that sociolinguistic variables, such as the variable omission of ne, are subject to several linguistic constraints, yet linguists have disagreed as to whether speakers themselves are aware of these constraints. This article reports on an Intuitions Elicitation Test designed to explore whether such awareness does exist, both for native-speakers and non-native advanced learners of French. It is suggested tentatively that the results of the test do indeed indicate some awareness of some linguistic constraints on the ne variable, and that some advanced non-native learners have a particular sensitivity to these constraints.

Assessing the Use of Multiple Forms in Variable Contexts: The Relationship between Linguistic Factors and Future-Time Reference in Spanish

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aarnes Gudmestad ◽  
Kimberly L. Geeslin
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Variable Structure ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Temporal Distance ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Future Time ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe current study represents a detailed examination of the linguistic variables that are significantly related to verb-form use in contexts of future-time reference for advanced learners and native speakers of Spanish. The results show that the factors lexical temporal indicator, clause type and temporal distance are related to the verb forms that both groups use to express the function of futurity and that (un)certainty and grammatical person and number are only important for native speakers, thus demonstrating that the learners have not yet reached native-like use of this variable structure. In addition to providing more information on the variable use of futuretime reference for native and non-native speakers, the investigation makes methodological advancements in the study of morphosyntactic variation by defining a token by the function it performs in communication and by examining the full range of verb forms speakers use to fulfill this function.

AN EXPLORATION OF THE RANGE AND FREQUENCY OF OCCURRENCE OF FORMS IN POTENTIALLY VARIABLE STRUCTURES IN SECOND-LANGUAGE SPANISH

2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly L. Geeslin ◽  
Aarnes Gudmestad
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Future Time ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Grammatical Structures

This article adds to the growing body of research focused on second-language (L2) variation and constitutes the first large-scale study of the production of potentially variable grammatical structures in Spanish by English-speaking learners. The overarching goal of the project is to assess the range of forms used and the degree to which native and L2 speakers of Spanish differ in several independently defined syntactic or discourse-based contexts. The contexts examined in the current study have been the object of sociolinguistic research in monolingual environments and include the following: copula contrast, mood distinction, past-time reference, future-time reference, and subject expression. Interview data from 16 English-speaking learners and 16 native speakers of Spanish from a variety of countries, all of whom are part of a single speech community in the United States, are examined. The analysis focuses on the range of forms used in each of the contexts investigated and the frequency with which these forms appear. A possible relation of individual characteristics, such as country of origin, years of language study, and time spent abroad, to this frequency of use is also considered.

scholarly journals The foreign-language discount effect: Using English increases intertemporal discount rates through more distant future perception

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuepei Xu ◽  
Zhu-Yuan Liang
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Rational Decision ◽  
Future Time ◽  
Distant Future ◽  
Rational Decision Making ◽  
Intertemporal Preferences ◽  
Intertemporal Decisions ◽  
Effect Experiment

Although the foreign language effect (FLE) has been associated with more rational decision-making, we do not know whether it can exert this effect on intertemporal decisions. Native speakers of languages with a high future-time reference (FTR) have been found to produce higher rates of discounting, but we do not yet know whether intertemporal preferences can also be modulated when high FTR language is used by a foreign speaker. Across two experiments (N=486), we found that switching from a low-FTR native language (Chinese) to a high-FTR foreign language (English) was consistently linked with higher rates of discounting, what we call the foreign-language discount effect. These results, which run counter to the mechanism proposed by FLE (Experiment 1), show that a more distant future perception is the chief factor underlying the observed effect (Experiment 2). Our findings call for caution in the use of the FLE as a beneficial debiasing effect.

scholarly journals EEG Correlates of Long-Distance Dependency Formation in Mandarin Wh-Questions

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-Wen Lo ◽  
Jonathan R. Brennan
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Anterior Negativity ◽  
With Memory

Event-related potential components are sensitive to the processes underlying how questions are understood. We use so-called “covert” wh-questions in Mandarin to probe how such components generalize across different kinds of constructions. This study shows that covert Mandarin wh-questions do not elicit anterior negativities associated with memory maintenance, even when such a dependency is unambiguously cued. N = 37 native speakers of Mandarin Chinese read Chinese questions and declarative sentences word-by-word during EEG recording. In contrast to prior studies, no sustained anterior negativity (SAN) was observed between the cue word, such as the question-embedding verb “wonder,” and the in-situ wh-filler. SANs have been linked with working memory maintenance, suggesting that grammatical features may not impose the same maintenance demands as the content words used in prior work.

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