Clustering and switching in verbal fluency across varying degrees of cognitive control demands: Evidence from healthy bilinguals and bilingual patients with aphasia

Background. Different linguistic contexts place varying amounts of cognitive control on lexical retrieval in bilingual speakers, an issue that is complicated in bilingual people with aphasia (BPWA) due to subsequent language and cognitive deficits. Verbal fluency tasks may offer insight into the interaction between executive and language control in healthy bilinguals and BPWA, by examining conditions with varying cognitive control demands. Aims. The present study examined switching and clustering in verbal fluency tasks in BPWA and healthy bilinguals across single- and dual-language conditions. We also examined the influence of language processing and language proficiency on switching and clustering performance across the dual-language conditions. Materials and Methods. Thirty-five Spanish-English BPWA and twenty-two Spanish-English healthy bilinguals completed a language use questionnaire, tests of language processing, and two verbal fluency tasks. The semantic category generation task included four conditions, two single-language conditions (No-Switch L1 and No-Switch L2) which required word production in each language separately, one dual-language condition which allowed switching between languages as desired (Self-Switch), and one dual-language condition which required switching between languages after each response (Forced-Switch). The letter fluency task required word production in single-language contexts. Outcomes and Results. Overall, healthy bilinguals outperformed BPWA across all measures. Results indicate that switching is more sensitive to increased control demands than clustering, with this effect being more pronounced in BPWA, underscoring the interaction between semantic executive processes and language control in this group. Additionally, for BPWA switching performance relies on a combination of language abilities and language experience measures.

Moving beyond Asocial Minority-Language Policy

This paper exams how asocial symbolic minority-language policy contributes to the social processes of language shift from the perspective of highly threatened languages, such as Scottish Gaelic. In introducing the concept of language shift through Asocial Minority-Language Policy, we argue that symbolic minority-language policy is detrimental to threatened language minorities in that it is ideologically implicated in language shift when it neglects the societal circumstances of minority-language decline. The prioritisation of the symbolic aspect of language policy also hinders a value-for-money approach to official provision for the minority group. This paper calls for a materialist/functionalist approach to minority-language societal regeneration to counter the social irrelevance of symbolic policy. We suggest policy options for moving beyond the symbolic focus on the minority-language condition.

Influence of causal language on causal understanding: A comparison between Swiss-German and Turkish

Young children have difficulties understanding untypical causal relations. While we know that hearing a causal description facilitates this understanding, less is known about what particular features of causal language are responsible for this facilitation. Here, we asked: (1) Do syntactic and morphological cues in the grammatical structure of sentences facilitate the extraction of causal meaning, and (2) do these different cues influence this facilitation to a different degree. We studied children learning either Swiss-German or Turkish, two languages which differ in their expression of causality. Swiss-German predominantly uses lexical causatives (e.g., schniidä (cut)), which lack a formal marker to denote causality. Turkish, alongside lexical causatives, uses morphological causatives, which formally mark causation (e.g., ye (eat) vs. yeDIr (feed)). We assessed 2.5- to 3.5-year-old children’s understanding of untypical cause-effect relations described with either non-causal language (e.g., Here is a cube and a car) or causal language using a pseudo-verb (e.g., lexical: The cube gorps the car). We tested n = 135 Turkish-learning (non-causal, lexical, and morphological conditions) and n = 90 Swiss-German-learning children (non-causal and lexical conditions). Children in both language groups performed better in the causal language condition(s) than the non-causal language condition. Further, Turkish-learning children’s performance in both the lexical and morphological conditions was similar to Swiss-German-learning children in the lexical condition, and did not differ from each other. These findings suggest that the structural cues of causal language support children’s understanding of untypical causal relations, regardless of the type of construction.

Word learning in the lab is hard! Data from 14-month-old monolingual and bilingual infants

Infants can learn words in their daily interactions early in life, and many studies have demonstrated that they can also learn words from brief in-lab exposures. While most studies have included monolingual infants, less is known about bilingual infants’ word learning and the role that language familiarity plays in this ability. In this study we examined word learning in a large sample (up to N = 155) of bilingual and monolingual 14-month-olds using a preferential looking paradigm. To support word learning, novel words were presented within sentence frames in one language (single-language condition) or two languages (dual-language condition). We predicted that infants would exhibit greater word–object learning when they were more familiar with the language of the sentence frame. Using both traditional (t-tests) and updated (linear mixed-effects models) analyses, we found no evidence for successful word learning, nor an effect of familiarity. Our results suggest that word learning in experimental settings can be challenging for 14-month-olds, even when sentence frames are provided. We discuss these results in relation to prior work and suggest how open science practices can contribute to more reliable findings about early word learning.

Purposes of Writing Signposts: The Case of the Signposts in Nusa Penida

The discussion of signpost belongs to the area of linguistic landscape. This area is frequently related to the other fields of study namely Sociolinguistics, Applied Linguistics or Historical Linguistics. One of its topics is studying the naming of objects in public space (Ben-Rafael, Shohamy, et al. 2006). According to Landry & Bourchis (1997) signpost will shape the language condition in a particular surrounding. This idea is applied in a place called Nusa Penida Island which is located in the Province of Bali. As a tourist destination, more than one languages are involved in the writing of the signpost there. The multiple languages used and the way they are put in order show the perception of the people towards those languages. Will Gorter’s (2012) idea saying that nowadays monolingual signposts are rarely found turn to be true? This research on name place has been done in Nusa Penida. The data was taken from various signposts related to tourist destination found there. The purpose of this article is to present (1) how the people in Nusa Penida, Bali create their signposts to support their increasing tourism, (2) the purposes behind the creation of the signpost. The result of the research presents that most of the signposts in Nusa Penida are presented in more than one language (script) which reflects their desire to serve tourism well or to show hospitality and at the same time to show their loyalty to their identity as Balinese people.

Polszczyzna i Żydzi w publicystyce „Myśli Narodowej” w latach 1921–1939

Polish language and the Jews in the articles of “Myśl Narodowa” (1921–1939) Summary “Myśl Narodowa” was a journal represented political views of National Democracy in Poland in the interwar period and directed to the well-educated readers. Opinion that Jews had influenced harmfully on the Polish language condition had been popularized in the articles on social, political and cultural subjects. The authors of “Myśl Narodowa” digressed frequently to express their negative attitude towards Jewish assimilation. This paper presents examples of nationalist statement in which anti-Semitic remarks were accompanied by language purism.

WUJUD ALIH KODE DAN CAMPUR KODE DALAM LIRIK LAGU YUNA ITO PADA ALBUM HEART

Abstrak: Alih kode adalah gejala peralihan pemakaian bahasa karena berubahnya situasi, Campur kode dapat terjadi saat seorang penutur mencampur dua bahasa atau ragam bahasa tanpa ada situasi atau keadaan berbahasa yang menuntut percampuran tersebut. Alih kode dan campur kode tidak hanya terjadi dalam percakapan, namun juga terdapat dalam bentuk lagu. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan wujud alih kode dan campur kode dalam lirik lagu “yuna ito” pada album heart. Metode penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah deskriptif kualitatif. Analisis dilakukan dengan membaca dan memahami teks lirik lagu serta melakukan reduksi data dan mengklarifikasi data berupa wujud alih kode dan campur kode. Dalam penelitian ini ditemukan dua data yaitu data alih kode dan campur kode. Data alih kode yang ditemukan adalah wujud alih kode antar kalimat terdapat 9 data, wujud alih kode dalam kalimat terdapat 8 data, dan wujud alih kode tag sebanyak 2 data. Adapun wujud campur kode ditemukan data sebagai berikut, penyisipan unsur berwujud kata berupa 7 data, penyisipan unsur berwujud frasa sebanyak 10 data, penyisipan unsur berwujud klausa sebanyak 12 data, penyisipan unsur berwujud perulangan kata sebanyak 4 data, penyisipan unsur berwujud baster sebanyak 14 data.Kata kunci: Sosiolinguistik, Alih kode, Campur kode, Lirik lagu Abstract: Code switching is a symptom of language switching due to changing situations. Code mixing can occur when a speaker mixes two languages or varieties of languages without any situation or language condition that demands such mixing. Code switching and code mixing not only occur in conversation, but also in the form of songs. This study aims to describe the form of code switching and code mixing in the lyrics of the song "yuna ito" on the album heart. The research method used in this research is descriptive qualitative. The analysis was carried out by reading and understanding the song lyric text as well as doing data reduction and clarifying the data in the form of code switching and code mixing. In this study, two data were found, namely code switching and code mixing data. The code transfer data found were the form of code switching between sentences, there were 9 data, the form of code switching in a sentence contained 8 data, and the form of code switching was 2 data. As for the form of code mixing, the data were found as follows, insertion of word elements in the form of 7 data, insertion of phrase tangible elements as much as 10 data, insertion of clause tangible elements as many as 12 data, insertion of word repetitive tangible elements as many as 4 data, insertion of baster tangible elements as many as 14 data. Keywords: Sociolinguistics, Code switching, Mix code, Song lyrics

EXAMINING ADOLESCENT EFL LEARNERS’ TV VIEWING COMPREHENSION THROUGH CAPTIONS AND SUBTITLES

This study explores the differential effects of captions and subtitles on extensive TV viewing comprehension by adolescent beginner foreign language learners, and how their comprehension is affected by factors related to the learner, preteaching of target vocabulary, the lexical coverage of the episodes, and the testing instruments. Four classes of secondary school students took part in an 8-month intervention viewing 24 episodes of a TV series, two classes with captions, and two with subtitles. One class in each language condition received explicit instruction on target vocabulary. Comprehension was assessed through multiple-choice and true-false items, which included a combination of textually explicit and inferential items. Results showed a significant advantage of subtitles over captions for content comprehension, and prior vocabulary knowledge emerged as a significant predictor—particularly in the captions condition. Comprehension scores were also mediated by test-related factors, with true-false items receiving overall more correct responses while textually explicit and inferential items scores differed according to language of the on-screen text. Lexical coverage also emerged as a significant predictor of comprehension.

Psychophysiological Measures of Reactance to Persuasive Messages Advocating Limited Meat Consumption

Persuasive interventions can lose their effectiveness when a person becomes reactant to the persuasive messages—a state identified by feelings of anger and perceived threat to freedom. A person will strive to reestablish their threatened freedom, which is characterized by motivational arousal. Research suggests that the motivational state of psychological reactance can be observed in physiology. Therefore, the assessment of physiological reactions might help to identify reactance to persuasive messages and, thereby, could be an objective approach to personalize persuasive technologies. The current study investigates peripheral psychophysiological reactivity in response to persuasive messages. To manipulate the strength of the reactant response either high- or low-controlling language messages were presented to discourage meat consumption. The high-controlling language condition indeed evoked more psychological reactance, and sympathetic arousal did increase during persuasive messaging in heart rate and heart rate variability, although no clear relationship between physiological reactivity and self-reported psychological reactance was found. However, the evaluation of multiple linear models revealed that variance in self-reported psychological reactance was best explained by initial intentions in combination with cardiovascular reactivity. To conclude, considering physiological reactivity in addition to motivational state can benefit our understanding of psychological reactance.

Dónde está la ball? Examining the effect of code switching on bilingual children's word recognition

Hearing words in sentences facilitates word recognition in monolingual children. Many children grow up receiving input in multiple languages – including exposure to sentences that ‘mix’ the languages. We explored Spanish–English bilingual toddlers’ (n = 24) ability to identify familiar words in three conditions: (i) single word (ball!); (ii) same-language sentence (Where's the ball?); or (iii) mixed-language sentence (Dónde está la ball?). Children successfully identified words across conditions; however, the advantage linked to hearing words in sentences was present only in the same-language condition. This work hence suggests that language mixing plays an important role on bilingual children's ability to recognize spoken words.