Processing of a Free Word Order Language: The Role of Syntax and Context

In languages with flexible constituent order (so-called free word order languages), available orders are used to encode given/new distinctions; they therefore differ not only syntactically, but also in their context requirements. In Experiment 1, using a self-paced reading task, we compared Russian S V IO DO (canonical), DO S V IO and DO IO V S constructions in appropriate vs. inappropriate contexts (those that violated their context requirements). The context factor was significant, while the syntax factor was not. The less pronounced context effect evidenced in previous studies (e.g., Kaiser and Trueswell in Cognitioin 94:113–147, 2004) might be due to the use of shorter target sentences and less extensive contexts. We also demonstrated that the slow-down starts at the first contextually inappropriate constituent, which shows that the information about context requirements is taken into account immediately, but that it develops faster on preverbal subjects and postverbal indirect objects (occupying their canonical positions) than on preverbal indirect objects (occupying a noncanonical position, or scrambled). In Experiment 2, these findings were replicated for IO S V DO and IO DO V S orders. S V IO DO orders with a continuation were used to show that there is no additional effect of inappropriate context at the end of the sentence.     

Second Language Acquisition at Interfaces: A Study of the Word Order Variation in the Chinese Nominal Domain

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - This study is aimed to re-examine the Interface Hypothesis via investigating the adult L2 acquisition of the word order variation of numeral classifier...     

阅读中字序编码对自上而下词汇加工的影响

研究采用边界范式通过两项实验考察词内字序编码对预测性效应的影响,结果发现:(1)全程词内字序颠倒和注视中词内字序颠倒都不影响预测性效应,但预视中词内字序颠倒则消除预测性效应,说明预视阶段内词内字序编码影响自上而下词汇加工,却不影响注视阶段内自上而下的词汇加工;(2)预视中词内字序颠倒和注视中词内字序颠倒条件下目标词汇凝视时间都高于全程词内字序颠倒条件,说明整个时程上的词汇加工并不严格依赖于词内字序编码。     

Second Language Processing of Korean Floating Numeral Quantifiers

This study investigated whether Chinese–Korean bilinguals can use structure-based information to interpret Korean sentences containing floating numeral quantifiers during online processing. A numeral quantifier in Korean can be stranded from its modified noun through scrambling as long as the quantifier forms a constituent with the noun. For Chinese–Korean bilinguals, acquiring this structural knowledge gives rise to a learnability problem because this ability cannot be derived from the L1, not easily induced from Korean input and is not obtained through classroom instruction. In acceptability judgment, highly proficient Chinese–Korean bilinguals demonstrated target-like knowledge of this structural constraint. Results from a self-paced reading task showed that the bilinguals showed sensitivity to the violation of the mismatch between an NQ and its modified NP, both in local and non-local dependency conditions. Our findings suggest that structure-based processing is possible for highly proficient bilinguals even when the target structure is not instantiated in bilinguals’ L1.     

第二语言句子加工的ERP研究

研究者对第一语言句子加工的事件相关电位(ERP)进行研究,提出了句子加工三阶段模型及对应的ERP成分。第二语言(L2)句子加工的ERP研究结果很不一致。首先,从句子加工的ERP反应模式上来看,大多数研究发现L2学习者的ERP反应模式和母语者有质的差异,少数研究发现L2学习者加工L2句子的ERP模式类似母语者,但其反应的时间进程、波幅或分布与母语者有显著差异。被试的学习年龄、熟练程度以及学习者的两种语言的相似性程度可能是影响第二语言句子加工ERP反应的主要因素。     

Processing Italian Relative Clauses: Working Memory Span and Word Order Effects on RTs

In this study, the authors aim to clarify whether the subject–object asymmetry in relative clause comprehension is due to the use of parsing strategies (Active Filler Theory) or to a greater memory load generated by object sentences. Two experiments investigate how individual differences in working memory span may influence the reading times of relative sentences in Italian, a language characterized by a flexible structure. The results of Experiment 1 indicate that object extraction is more complex than subject extraction when sentences have a canonical structure. Furthermore, low-span participants have particular difficulties with object relative sentence comprehension. The results of Experiment 2 show that subject-relative clauses with uncanonical structures are more complex to understand than object-relative clauses, and low-span participants have more difficulties than high-span participants in elaborating both subject and object relative clauses. These data seem to be coherent with the Active Filler Theory.     

Doomed to Read in a Second Language: Implications for Learning

The aim of the study was to elucidate whether and how reliance on a second language impacts the learning of new information under very basic learning conditions. The paradigm used to investigate this issue required individuals to learn a series of associations between numerals and particular letter strings. Participants were two groups of university students: (1) individuals for whom spoken Hebrew was the mother tongue and written Hebrew a primary orthography (L1 group), and (2) individuals for whom Hebrew, both spoken and written, was a second language (L2 group). Data were collected under two conditions. In the language-dependent condition (LDC), the paradigm required learning associations between eight numerals and the letter strings of eight familiar Hebrew words. In the language-independent condition (LIC), it required learning associations between eight numerals and eight random letter strings in Hebrew. Results suggest that learners may be significantly disadvantaged when compelled to learn new information mediated in a second language. This disadvantage appears to manifest itself at a very basic learning level and in instances where new information is mediated by language that is fairly overlearned by the L2 learner.     

从语言到思想:基于指称问题考察分析哲学的范式转移

本文通过追溯当代内容理论的语言哲学和现象学起源,以指称性概念和意向性概念为核心,简要刻画了指称理论和内容理论的发展线索。在此基础上,本文试图借助语言指称问题和心理指称问题的平行关系,为当代分析哲学的主流从语言哲学到心灵哲学的范式转移的动机和方法勾勒出一个考察纲要。     

Use of Prosocial Word Enhances the Processing of Language: Frequency Domain Analysis of Human EEG

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - Use of prosocial language enhances human cooperation and harmony. Previous research has shown that talking about helping, sharing and giving to others creates...     

评述基于认知加工的第二语言习得研究

认知加工研究范式是第二语言习得内在因素研究的一个重要方法,它代表第二语言习得向计量研究发展的方向。这一范式注重研究习得动态过程,不仅关注学习者习得什么和为什么能习得,更关注学习者是怎样掌握目标语规则的过程。除了计量研究特点外,该范式还从语言本体研究范式合理吸收了有关理论和方法,这些对汉语作为第二语言习得研究都具有借鉴意义。     

The Interplay of Word Formation Type, Affixal Homonymy, and Productivity in Lexical Processing: Evidence from a Morphologically Rich Language

This study addresses the role of three factors in morphological processing of visually presented words in Finnish: word formation type (inflection versus derivation), productivity, and affixal homonymy. Three visual lexical decision experiments show that complex words can be processed slower, equally fast, or even faster than comparable monomorphemic word forms. We will argue that this diverse pattern of results reflects the ways different complex words are stored and processed. Moreover, it indicates that the balance of storage and computation crucially depends on the interplay of the three above-mentioned factors. Surprisingly, our results converge in a manner consistent with data obtained from a typologically very different language, namely Dutch.     

Conversion Symptoms and Psychoanalysis in a Second Language

Abstract

Conversion symptoms involve a regression, where the patient appears to have lost access to previously available modes of verbal expression. Instead movements, sensations, postures, gestures, and visceral processes express emotions and unconscious wishes directly. Patients who are analyzed in a language other than their mother tongue, without access to the language of their early years, may rely on the body to express powerful affect and fantasies. A patient who displayed pseudoseizures on the couch is presented, looking specifically at how this man's conversion reaction may relate to the fact that the language of the analysis is not his mother tongue.     

From Corpora to Experiments: Methodological Triangulation in the Study of Word Order at the Interfaces in Adult Late Bilinguals (L2 learners)

This paper shows the need to triangulate different approaches in Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research to fully understand late bilinguals’ interlanguage grammars. Methodologically, we show how experimental and corpus data can be (and should be) triangulated by reporting on a corpus study (Lozano and Mendikoetxea in Biling Lang Cognit 13(4):475–497, 2010) and a new follow-up offline experiment investigating Subject–Verb inversion (Subject–Verb/Verb–Subject order) in L1 Spanish–L2 English (n = 417). Theoretically, we follow a recent line in psycholinguistic approaches to Bilingualism and SLA research (Interface Hypothesis, Sorace in Linguist Approaches Biling 1(1):1–33, 2011). It focuses on the interface between syntax and language-external modules of the mind/brain (syntax-discourse [end-focus principle] and syntax-phonology [end-weight principle]) as well as a language-internal interface (lexicon-syntax [unaccusative hypothesis]). We argue that it is precisely this multi-faceted interface approach (corpus and experimental data, core syntax and the interfaces, representational and processing models) that provides a deeper understanding of (i) the factors that favour inversion in L2 acquisition in particular and (ii) interlanguage grammars in general.     

Intercultural Rhetoric and Reading Comprehension in a Second Language

Intercultural rhetoric has been studied in the context of second language writing for many decades. This article looks at the topic from a new perspective and offers an experimental study of the effects of intercultural rhetoric on reading comprehension. The experiment was set in Hong Kong, China, and assessed the reading comprehension (using a rational cloze design and quantitative and qualitative recall protocols) of 490 school students who were presented with four rhetorically different texts. Results suggest that the rhetoric of the students’ first language (Chinese) had clear effects on reading comprehension.     

From Body to Language: Gestural and Pantomimic Scenarios of Language Origin in the Enlightenment

Topoi - Gestural and pantomimic accounts of language origins propose that language did not develop directly from ape vocalisations, but rather that its emergence was preceded by an intervening...