Bilingual Mental Lexicon and Collocational Processing

The chapter starts with a definition and models of mental dictionary. It then builds on the bilingual lexical activation models and goes on to discuss formulaic language (collocations in particular). After explaining the basics of formulaic language processing, the author attempts to address the issue of lexical and collocational priming theory by Hoey, which has its roots in cognitive linguistics and usage-based language models. Last but not least, some suggestions for future research are provided in an attempt to address the needs of the lexical research literature in the Turkish setting.

Inclusion in Linguistic Education

Education norms have been altered over the years; however, marginalization problems in linguistic education have not changed. A contemporary approach to linguistic education is taken in which individuals with brain injury or dysfunction are not observed isolatedly from the operations that structure them. This chapter is a study on the signification processes that are constituted during enunciation by subjects who, due to brain dysfunction, appropriate reality and produce conscience of themselves in a particular fashion. Linguistic monitoring articulated with neurolinguistics is suggested in order to promote rhythmic, lexical, and syntactic modifications in such subjects' discourse so as to place the significant chain in order as regards its oral or written production. Hence, subjects with brain dysfunction can develop authorship characteristics as concerns both language appropriation and the subjective aspect, thus showing unicity under the form of coherence: such subjects' creative imagination is imposed, ordinating and coordinating the content expressed.

Complex Structures in the Child-Directed Speech of Native and Nonnative Speakers

Children in bilingual communities are frequently exposed to speech from nonnative speakers, but little research has described how that input might differ from the input of native speakers. There is evidence that input from nonnative speakers might be less useful to language learning children, but little research has asked why. This chapter analyzes the frequency of complex structures in the child-directed speech of 30 native English speakers and 36 nonnative speakers who were late learners of English, all speaking English to their two-and-a-half-year-old children. All instances of nine categories of complex structures were coded in transcripts of mother-child interaction. The frequency of all but one category was greater in the speech of native speakers. These findings suggest that input provided by native speakers provides more frequent models of complex structures than nonnative input.

Measuring Phonological and Orthographic Similarity

Marked and unmarked language forms can be distinguished with the level of simplicity or complexity denotations of the forms. Unmarked target language forms may create little or no difficulty, even if they do not exist in the native language of the learner, while marked forms can be relatively difficult for language learners. In addition to the notions of markedness/unmarkedness, there has also been an emphasis on similarity and dissimilarity between the items of first (L1) and second languages (L2). Along with similarity or dissimilarity of L1 and L2 forms, the level of difficulty may vary enormously in different language-specific procedures. In this chapter, therefore, it is intended to build an understanding of the recognized pronunciation and orthographic problems of similar loanwords in both Turkish (L1 of the participants) and English (L2).

The Impact of Grammatical Aspects on Cognition Level in Foreign Language Learning Process

Linguistics as the study of the nature of languages has a visible impact on various fields such as education, language teaching, philosophy, computer science, and anthropology. However, the nature of language is a broad idea, which makes it hard to give a clear, simple definition. One of the most fundamental assumptions is the rule-governed feature of the human language interrelated with pronunciation, word formation, and grammatical construction. The aim of this chapter is to discuss how the rules of the language have an impact on foreign language learning process and how it affects foreign language learners' storing and processing the language in the brain. In doing so, some predetermined samples of lexical items and formal structures of language are analyzed in terms of the foreign language learners' cognition as prospective teachers of English in the teacher training process.

Semantic Priming in Monolingual Russian and Bilingual Russian (L1)-English (L2) Speakers in a Single Word Naming Task

Identifying and exploring factors that influence bilingual language processing has been the topic of much psycholinguistic research. Semantic priming is typically used to examine semantic processing and refers to the phenomenon in which semantically related items (doctor-nurse) are processed faster and more accurately than semantically unrelated items (doctor-butter). The aim of the chapter is to address two key questions: 1) how the two languages of a bilingual are organised or stored and 2) how the two languages are processed. A review of the literature shows that there are currently no theoretical frameworks that explain Russian monolingual or Russian (L1)-English (L2) bilingual storage or processing. Monolingual Russian speakers and bilingual Russian (L1)-English (L2) speaking university students were asked to name target words under related or unrelated conditions. The results show that the magnitude of the semantic priming effect was determined by L2 proficiency. The implications for these findings is discussed within the current bilingual theoretical models.

An Investigation of the Relationship Between Preschool Teachers' Picture Story Book Reading Activities and Children's Language Development

This chapter examines the relationship between teachers' picture story book reading activities and 48- to 60-month-old children's language development and to identify the effect of different variables on this relationship. The study sample was composed of 208 children in classrooms for 48- to 60-month-old children and 10 teachers in five independent pre-schools in the province of Kırşehir. The data obtained in the study were analyzed by using appropriate statistical methods. Based on the study results, a significant relationship was identified between pre-school teachers' picture story book reading activities during their daily programs and language development of children. The result of the study presents the importance of picture story book reading activities for language development. Longitudinal studies that will investigate teachers' and parents' involvement in picture story book reading activities in detail and development of programs that will support children's language development are suggested in the chapter.

Central Language Hypothesis

The purpose of this chapter is to define and present central language integration by neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic aspects in bilingual and multilingual persons in emotion-based circumstances. Central language hypothesis (CLH) imparts that one language in the subconscious mind of bilingual and multilingual individuals is more suppressive and it is structured as central language. It has an emotional background such that if limbic cortex of the brain gets any stimulus (e.g., fear, anxiety, sorrow, etc.), the brain directly produces the CL. This phenomenon distinguishes CL from the notion of mother tongue because mother tongue is the first language that is acquired at home, but CL may be the second language as well.

Phonetic Fossilization

Fossilization is a common linguistic phenomenon among learners. It presents an obstacle that hinders the process of learning and prevents learners from acquiring the target language. The present chapter explores this phenomenon. It gives an overview of the theory of interlanguage and the concept of fossilization. The chapter presents the history of pronunciation teaching. It also reviews a previous study on pronunciation problems and fossilized errors that face learners of English as a second or a foreign language. The present chapter also raises an important question. It attempts to show the matter behind this linguistic phenomenon. There seems to be different views. Some researchers claim that phonetic fossilization is a matter of intelligibility. Other researchers state that achieving perfection in pronunciation is preferable. Another trend of researchers assumes that fossilization cannot be applied to the multilingual context.

Context Effects in Bilingual Language Processing

Previous studies show that the presence of a context word in picture naming either facilitates or interferes with the naming. Although there has been extensive research in this area, there are many conflicting findings, making it difficult to reach firm conclusions. This chapter aims to delve into the dynamics of such processing and understand the nuances involved in experimental manipulations that may influence the pattern of results and be responsible for differences in outcomes. The series of experiments reported in this chapter was aimed at refining our understanding of mechanisms in the way bilinguals process language production by examining two different paradigms—primed picture naming and picture-word interference. This was investigated by manipulating both the type of visual context words presented with the picture and the time interval between the presentation of context word and picture. The results are interpreted within the context of current models of lexical access.