Non-binary gender in Polish. A pilot study

The article surveys the problem of non-binary gender in the context of linguistic experience of speakers of Polish. The first part deals with the notion of non-binary gender, the second part discusses its linguistic aspects, the third part presents the results of a questionnaire conducted among non-binary Polish speakers, the fourth part concludes the discussion and points to possible directions of further research.

Listeners’ Linguistic Experience Affects the Degree of Perceived Nativeness of First Language Pronunciation

The aim of this study was to explore if and to what extent Austrian-English late sequential bilinguals who have been living in a second language (L2) environment for several decades are perceived to sound native in their first language (L1) when being compared to monolingual Austrian German (AG) control speakers. Furthermore, this investigation aimed to identify if listeners differ in their judgments of nativeness of L1 pronunciation depending on their own language background. For this purpose, two groups of native Austrian German listeners (N = 30 each), who differed regarding their linguistic background (Austrian German monolingual and Austrian German-English bilingual listeners) were asked to rate spontaneous speech samples produced by Austrian English bilingual and Austrian German monolingual speakers. Results showed that the bilingual L1 speech was perceived to sound overall less native compared to monolingual control speech. It was further observed that the two listener groups significantly differed in their perception of nativeness: Bilingual listeners were overall less likely to judge bilingual L1 pronunciation to sound non-native compared to monolingual listeners. To date, this is the first study to show that listener experience influences their perception of nativeness of L1 pronunciation and, thus, adds a new dimension to the notion of the native speaker.

Neuroplasticity of second language vocabulary acquisition

The present article reviews a series of selected functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies focusing on the neuroplasticity of second language vocabulary acquisition as a function of linguistic experience. A clear-cut picture emerging from the review is that brain changes induced by second language vocabulary acquisition are observed at both functional and structural levels. Importantly, second language experience is even able to shape brain structures in short-term training of a few weeks. The evidence that linguistic experience can sculpt the brain in late second language learners, and even solely after a short-term laboratory training, constitutes a strong argument against theoretical approaches postulating that environmental factors are relatively unimportant for language development. Rather, combined neuroimaging data lend support to the determining role of linguistic experience in linguistic knowledge emergence during second language acquisition, at least at the lexical level.

A Simplified Approach to Quantifying a Child's Bilingual Language Experience

Purpose Bilingual children's linguistic experience can vary markedly from child to child. For appropriate audiological assessment and intervention, audiologists need accurate and efficient ways to describe and understand a bilingual child's dynamic linguistic experience. This report documents an approach for quantitatively capturing a child's language exposure and usage in a time-efficient manner. Method A well-known pediatric bilingual language survey was administered to 83 parents of bilingual children, obtaining information about the child's exposure to (input) and usage of (output) Spanish and English for seventeen 1-hr intervals during a typical weekday and weekend day. Results A factor analysis indicated that capturing linguistic exposure and usage over three grouped-time intervals during a typical weekday and weekend day accounted for ≥ 74% of the total variance of the linguistic information captured with the full-length survey. Conclusions Although further confirmation is required, these results suggest that collecting language exposure and usage data from parents of bilingual children for three grouped-time intervals provides similar information as a comprehensive hour-by-hour approach. A time-efficient method of capturing the dynamic bilingual linguistic experience of a child would benefit pediatric audiologists and speech-language pathologists alike.

Attriters and Bilinguals: What’s in a Name?

The use of language as a universal tool for communication and interaction is the backbone of human society. General sociocultural milieu and specific contextual factors can strongly influence various aspects of linguistic experience, including language acquisition and use and the respective internal neurolinguistic processes. This is particularly relevant in the case of bilingualism, which encompasses a diverse set of linguistic experiences, greatly influenced by societal, cultural, educational, and personal factors. In this perspective piece, we focus on a specific type of linguistic experience: non-pathological first-language (L1) attrition—a phenomenon that is strongly tied to immersion in non-L1 environments. We present our view on what may be the essence of L1 attrition and suggest ways of examining it as a type of bilingual experience, in particular with relation to its neurocognitive bases.

Early linguistic experience shapes bilingual adults’ hearing for phonemes in both languages

How do bilinguals represent category structure for phonemes in early acquired languages? /b/ and /p/ voice onset times (VOTs) are earlier and closer together in English than in Mandarin. Hence the category boundary and the steepness of the transition can show ‘tuning’ to language-specific acoustic structure (i.e., earlier boundary and steeper slope for English). As preregistered, we mapped identification functions of early English-Mandarin bilingual adults (N=66) on a /b/ - /p/ VOT continuum in each language. Individual bilingual-balance was derived using principal component analysis and entered into GLMMs of categorical boundary and slope. As predicted, VOTs were earlier for English than Mandarin. Early bilingual-balance predicted the slope of the transition between categories: Those who heard more English from an earlier age showed steeper slopes than those who heard more Mandarin. Findings are consistent with discrete representations for each language, and transfer of category structure from the earlier acquired language.

REALIZATIONS OF PROJECTION IN NEWS STORY AND EDITORIAL TEXTS

ABSTRACTThis research deals with projection that is used in news story and editorial texts. Projection is well defined as representation of a linguistic experience in another linguistic experience. Projection is equivalent to direct and indirect or reported speech in traditional or formal grammar. As projection is an element of the logical function, it is realized as a clause complex, where there are at least two clauses. With reference to some theories, projection is also potentially realized in the form of single clause and phrase. The aim of this research is to describe similarities and differences with reference to the realizations of projection used in the news story and editorial texts. This research is conducted by using descriptive qualitative design. The data of this research are clause complexes containing projection in news story and editorial texts of Indonesian newspapers. The sources of data are taken from news story and editorial texts of four newspaper publications, namely the daily Kompas, Republika, Waspada and Sinar Indonesia Baru (SIB). The four daily newspapers are assumed to represent national and provincial or local newspapers. Each of the newspapers is represented by seven headlines for news story texts and seven leading articles for editorial texts. The data are analyzed by using interactive model in which the clause complexes are analyzed with reference to systemic functional linguistic (SFL) theory about projection. The findings indicate that there are similarities and diffrences with reference to the realizations of projetion in the news story and editorial texts of Indonesian newspapers. Keywords: Projection, News Story, Editorial, Newspaper, Systemic Functional Linguistic

Eyes can tell. Attention to the eyes and the mouth during audiovisual vowel processing in monolingual and bilingual infants

After 6 months of age monolingual infants look more to the mouth of a speaker when there is a mismatch (as opposed to match) between heard and (visually) articulated native consonants. Here, we examined whether monolingual and bilingual infants increase their attention to speakers’ mouth when processing vowels. We compared 4.5- and 8-month-old monolingual and bilingual infants’ attention to the eyes and the mouth while presented with native vowels in audiovisual match and mismatch conditions. We observed that 4.5-month-old monolingual and bilingual infants detect the AV mismatch by increasing their attention to the eyes, not to the mouth – as has been previously observed for consonants. However, by 8 months of age monolingual and bilingual infants’ attention to the eyes and the mouth is not affected by audiovisual disruption. Our findings suggest that audiovisual vowel and consonant processing differ during the first year of life, and that the specific type of linguistic experience does not modulate selective attention to the mouth or the eyes during vowel processing.

Eyes can tell. Attention to the eyes and the mouth during audiovisual vowel processing in monolingual and bilingual infants

After 6 months of age monolingual infants look more to the mouth of a speaker when there is a mismatch (as opposed to match) between heard and (visually) articulated native consonants. Here, we examined whether monolingual and bilingual infants increase their attention to speakers’ mouth when processing vowels. We compared 4.5- and 8-month-old monolingual and bilingual infants’ attention to the eyes and the mouth while presented with native vowels in audiovisual match and mismatch conditions. We observed that 4.5-month-old monolingual and bilingual infants detect the AV mismatch by increasing their attention to the eyes, not to the mouth – as has been previously observed for consonants. However, by 8 months of age monolingual and bilingual infants’ attention to the eyes and the mouth is not affected by audiovisual disruption. Our findings suggest that audiovisual vowel and consonant processing differ during the first year of life, and that the specific type of linguistic experience does not modulate selective attention to the mouth or the eyes during vowel processing.