scholarly journals Tone Sandhi Domain is not a Foot in Standard Mandarin: Evidence from the Perceptual Side

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naiyan Du
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Stress Pattern ◽  
Tone Sandhi ◽  
Syntactic Structures

There is a long debate on whether or not the tone sandhi domain in Standard Mandarin should be treated as a metrical foot. According to the hypothesis that the tone sandhi domain is the metrical foot (Duanmu, 2007), a tone sandhi pattern can be used to infer the position of stress. However, this study shows that, despite changing the domain over which tone sandhi occurs, stress pattern remains unchanged perceptually for native speakers of Standard Mandarin. This finding conforms to the results of previous production experiments that show that the stress position remains consistent for utterances with different morpho-syntactic structures (Jia, 2011; Lai et al., 2010). Therefore, the tone sandhi domain is non-isomorphic with the stress domain in Standard Mandarin.

The role of cross-linguistic stress pattern frequency and word similarity on the acquisition of English stress pattern by native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Post Silveira
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
American English ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Stress Pattern ◽  
Target Language ◽  
English As Second Language ◽  
Word Similarity ◽  
L1 Transfer

This is a preliminary study in which we investigate the acquisition of English as second language (L2[1]) word stress by native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese (BP, L1[2]). In this paper, we show results of a multiple choice forced choice perception test in which native speakers of American English and native speakers of Dutch judged the production of English words bearing pre-final stress that were both cognates and non-cognates with BP words. The tokens were produced by native speakers of American English and by Brazilians that speak English as a second language. The results have shown that American and Dutch listeners were consistent in their judgments on native and non-native stress productions and both speakers' groups produced variation in stress in relation to the canonical pattern. However, the variability found in American English points to the prosodic patterns of English and the variability found in Brazilian English points to the stress patterns of Portuguese. It occurs especially in words whose forms activate neighboring similar words in the L1. Transfer from the L1 appears both at segmental and prosodic levels in BP English. [1] L2 stands for second language, foreign language, target language. [2] L1 stands for first language, mother tongue, source language.

Mechanisms of Tone Sandhi Rule Application by Non-Native Speakers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Si Chen ◽  
Yunjuan He ◽  
Chun Wah Yuen ◽  
Bei Li ◽  
Yike Yang
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Tone Sandhi ◽  
Rule Application

scholarly journals Syntactic Complexity in EFL and Native Learners' Undergraduate Thesis Abstracts

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Murniati Murniati
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
Academic Texts ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Undergraduate Thesis

<p>This research aims to find syntactic complexity of the abstracts in the undergraduate thesis written down by university learners in Indonesia and the ones written down by native speakers of English. The characteristics of syntactic complexity produced by Indonesian learners and the learners who are the native speakers should also be analyzed. It is possible to extend the type of syntactic complexity found in academic texts. In the end, those extensions should be characterized the English language used by Indonesian learners. The data is gained through downloading the abstracts of the undergraduate thesis in the academic year of 2015-2016 from the UBM English Department alumni database. The data regarding the abstracts written down by the native speakers is downloaded from the reputable universities in The United States of America. After that, the data is analyzed by making used of the syntactic analyzer by Lu &amp; Ai (2015). The results shows that the Indonesian learners tend to write more complex sentences and use subordination in the abstracts. The native speakers, on the other hands, tend to write longer sentences with longer T-Unit and clauses. They also tend to write complex nominal in the abstracts. The number of coordination used is similar between the ones written down by Indonesian learners and native speakers of English. <strong></strong></p><strong>Keywords:</strong> syntactic complexity, syntactic structures, undergraduate thesis, Indonesian learners

scholarly journals Stress Placement in English Quadri-Syllabic and Five-Syllabic Suffixed Words and Their Roots by Pashto Speakers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
Afzal Khan ◽  
Inayat Ullah ◽  
Aziz Ullah Khan
Keyword(s):  
Oral Reading ◽  
English Language ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Stress Pattern ◽  
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ◽  
Primary Stress ◽  
Word Stress ◽  
Primary Word ◽  
Stress Placement

This research study investigates the pattern of English (primary) word stress in quadri-syllabic and five-syllabic suffixed words and their roots by Pashto speakers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan and the effect of suffixation on stress placements. These suffixes in English language are called shifters which shift strong stress to the antepenultimate (third from the last), penultimate (second from the last), and ultimately (last) syllables, as well as those suffixes that do not shift strong stress to other syllables. The data was collected from sixteen Pashto language native speakers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan, by way of recording their oral-reading of a card that contained the selected words. The findings of this study indicate that primary stress pattern varies among quadri-syllabic, and five-syllabic, suffixed words. The three types of suffixes in English language assert different degrees of effect on subjects stress placement, which can influence the amount of correct productions by the subjects. Actually, the suffixes “cial” or “tial” and “ic” state a great effect on subjects primary stress placement, because the subjects were capable of generating the shift in primary stress in penultimate syllable. Unlike the greater number of incorrect productions in “tory” and “ity” suffixed words, the subjects were sensitive to the change of stress pattern, which assists a great number of correct productions in “cial” or “tial” and “ic” suffixed words. The findings disclose the fact that there was extreme unawareness of the strong stress shifting effect by Pashto speakers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which further needed more attention.

The syntax of variable behavior verbs: Experimental evidence from the accusative–oblique alternations in Japanese

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-314
Author(s):  
SHIN FUKUDA
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Accusative Case ◽  
Selectional Restrictions ◽  
The Core ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Core Meaning ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

Japanese has two types of two-place motion verbs whose ‘objects’ can be marked as either accusative or oblique (accusative–oblique alternations). The accusative–goal verbs mark their objects with accusative case -o or the goal marker -ni, and the accusative–source verbs mark their objects with accusative -o or the source marker -kara. Previous studies describe systematic differences in the interpretation of the arguments of these verbs and the events they denote between the two structures. This study argues that these alternating verbs are variable behavior verbs that are linked to two distinct syntactic structures. The core evidence for this claim comes from the results of two acceptability judgment experiments with Japanese native speakers that examined: (i) selectional restrictions on the subjects of the alternating verbs and (ii) the ability of their subjects to license ‘floating’ numeral quantifiers. The results of the experiments demonstrate that the accusative–source verbs alternate between the transitive and unaccusative structures, whereas the accusative–goal verbs consistently behave like transitive verbs but assign two different structural cases to their objects. Thus, the study shows that there are multiple ways in which two-place motion verbs are mapped onto distinctive syntactic structures, whereby the core meaning of the verbs and their syntactic structures together determine their interpretation.

Compound stress in a Norwegian variety of Esperanto

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-284
Author(s):  
Jardar Eggesbø Abrahamsen
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Stress Pattern ◽  
Primary Stress ◽  
Compound Nouns ◽  
Word Classes

In Norway, there are between 10 and 15 bilingual or multilingual native speakers of Norwegian and Esperanto. This paper discusses some prosodic traits in the Esperanto spoken by one of them. The focus will be on compound stress. The speaker assigns primary stress to the penultimate syllable of words as in Standard Esperanto, including most compounds. Some of the Esperanto compounds, however, display first element primary stress, as in the Norwegian adstrate. In the current dataset, this is especially so for underived nouns. It is proposed that the Norwegian-like pattern is found in compound nouns that are formed spontaneously, while the Standard Esperanto pattern is found in lexicalised compounds, understood as prosodically simplex. For derived compounds in word classes other than nouns, the overall stress pattern is more like that of Standard Esperanto.

Ellipsis in Mandarin

1997 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Helen Charters
Keyword(s):  
Individual Variation ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Significant Contributor

Abstract Overall, learners of Mandarin tend to use overt nouns and pronouns to a greater extent than native speakers (Charters 1996b), but what specifically gives rise to this discrepancy? Differences in the distribution of ellipsis in learner and native speaker texts is investigated: both frequency and discourse contexts of syntactic structures associated with ellipsis are compared. Learners made no errors of ellipsis in structures where ellipsis is grammatically prescribed, nor did they appear to avoid such syntactic structures. In fact, the discrepancy in overall frequencies arises in contexts where ellipsis is optional; it is a consequence not of differing syntactic choices, but of differing pragmatic choices in comparable syntactic contexts. No single syntactic structure emerges as a significant contributor to the different rates of optional ellipsis overall. However, when individual variation is taken into account, it is clear that some learners use ellipsis only in syntactic contexts where it is permissible in English, and most learners use elliptic syntactic structures in a narrower range of discourse contexts than is typical of native speaker use.

The Comprehension of Certain Syntactic Structures by Adults

1971 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 739-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lois Joan Sanders
Keyword(s):  
Verbal Behavior ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Usage ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Test Items ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Normal Speech

Forty adult native speakers of English with normal speech were tested for comprehension of four different syntactic constructions in sentences which were semantically quite simple to understand and similar in nature. Although the syntactic constructions selected have been commonly assumed to be part of ordinary adult language usage, 21 of the 40 subjects responded with at least one error. Thirty-four percent of the responses to one of the subcategories of test items were incorrect, indicating that comprehension of this structure was not characteristic of the verbal behavior of the subjects tested. Use of terms such as “adult English,” “adult language,” or “adult grammar” to refer to language forms used by adults as opposed to immature forms used by children may be misleading since the terms suggest that the syntactic constructions known to adults have been delineated.

scholarly journals Adaptation to syntactic structures in native and nonnative sentence comprehension

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
EDITH KAAN ◽  
CORINNE FUTCH ◽  
RAQUEL FERNÁNDEZ FUERTES ◽  
SONJA MUJCINOVIC ◽  
ESTHER ÁLVAREZ DE LA FUENTE
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Future Expectations ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Task Effects ◽  
Word Versus ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Processing Difficulty

AbstractPrevious research suggests that native speakers quickly adapt to the properties of the language in the surrounding context. For instance, as they repeatedly read a structure that is initially nonpreferred or infrequent, they show a reduction of processing difficulty. Adaptation has been accounted for in terms of error-based learning: the error resulting from the difference between the expected and actual input leads to an adjustment of the knowledge representation, which changes future expectations. The present study tested whether experiencing an error is sufficient for adaptation. We compared native English speakers and second language (L2) learners’ processing of, and adaptation to, two types of temporarily ambiguous structures that were resolved toward the nonpreferred interpretation. Whereas both native English and L2 speakers showed increased reading times at the disambiguating word versus a nonambiguous control, our data suggest that only native English speakers adapted, and only to one of the two structures. These results suggest that experiencing an error is not sufficient for adaptation, and that factors such as ease of revision and task effects may play a role as well.

Learning to assign stress in a second language: The role of second-language vocabulary size and transfer from the native language in second-language readers of Italian

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-136
Author(s):  
Giacomo Spinelli ◽  
Luciana Forti ◽  
Debra Jared
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Stress Pattern ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Stress Assignment ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Distributional Information ◽  
Written Word

AbstractLearning to pronounce a written word implies assigning a stress pattern to that word. This task can present a challenge for speakers of languages like Italian, in which stress information must often be computed from distributional properties of the language, especially for individuals learning Italian as a second language (L2). Here, we aimed to characterize the processes underlying the development of stress assignment in native English and native Chinese speakers learning L2 Italian. Both types of bilinguals produced evidence supporting a role of vocabulary size in modulating the type of distributional information used in stress assignment, with an early bias for Italian's dominant stress pattern being gradually replaced by use of associations between orthographic sequences and stress patterns in more advanced bilinguals. We also obtained some evidence for a transfer of stress assignment habits from the bilinguals’ native language to Italian, although only in English native speakers.

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