Language access and language selection in professional translators

Two experiments were conducted measuring self-paced reading to study language access and language selection in professional translators and bilinguals when they understood sentences randomly presented in their first language (L1, Spanish) and second language (L2, English). These sentences contained a critical cognate word or a control matched word. The effect of cognate words was considered an index of between-language activation while the inhibition of the non-target language was examined with the asymmetrical switching cost. In Experiment 1, participants read and repeated sentences while in Experiment 2 participants read sentences without repeating them after reading. The results indicated that lexical processing depended on the experience of participants in professional translation and the demands imposed by the understanding task (reading and repeating or only reading).     

Syntactic awareness in young monolingual and bilingual (Urdu–English) children

In two experiments, bilingual (Urdu and English) 5- and 6-year-old children outperformed their monolingual (English) peers when asked to detect grammatically incorrect sentences on a syntactic awareness test. This result occurred when children were tested in English (Experiment 1) and when they were tested in English or in Urdu (Experiment 2). Bilingual children aged 3 and 4 were better at detecting grammatically incorrect sentences than their monolingual peers, but only when tested in Urdu. However, no significant differences appeared in monolingual and bilingual children's ability to detect grammatically correct sentences, suggesting that both grammatically correct and incorrect sentences should be used to obtain an accurate measure of syntactic awareness. The issue of whether it is bilingualism or the properties of a language that affect syntactic awareness is considered.     

Occupational stereotypes: activation of male bias in a gender‐neutral world

The goal of the present study was to determine whether gender‐neutral language, used to replace male‐biased language, carries an implicit male bias. Participants read passages in which a target occupation was introduced using either male‐biased or gender‐neutral nouns. A target sentence followed defining the gender of the occupational character. In Experiment 1, participants read target sentences defining the character as a woman more slowly following passages that contained male‐biased nouns and gender‐neutral nouns. In Experiment 2, an additional sentence was added that defined the occupational character as a woman. This information eliminated the reading disruption in Experiment 1 demonstrating that gender‐neutral language can moderate against activation of gender stereotypes when combined with an explicit mention that the occupational character is female.     

语言理解转换中非目标语言影响目标语言的时间进程

运用跨语言即时启动和延时启动范式,要求被试完成生物属性的语义判断任务,研究语言理解转换中非目标语言影响目标语言语义理解的时间进程。实验1非目标语言为英文,目标语言为中文,结果表明,无论是即时启动(t = -0.423, p = 0.676),还是延时启动(t = -0.82, p = 0.419),语义相关组与语义无关组都无显著差异。实验2非目标语言为中文,目标语言为英文,结果表明,在即时启动条件下,语义相关组显著快于语义无关组(t = -3.05, p = 0.006),但延时条件下语义相关组与语义无关组无显著差异(t = -0.63, p = 0.536)。综合两个实验结果表明,晚期熟练双语者在双语语言理解转换过程中语义的即时启动影响存在不对称性,语义相关的非目标语言中文对目标语言英文语义理解起促进作用;但是语义启动效应没有得到延时体现。     

How does verb aspect constrain event representations?

We investigated the relative contribution of perfective and imperfective aspectual cues on situation models. In Experiment 1, participants were more likely to choose pictures showing completed events than pictures showing ongoing events when they had read perfective sentences, but chose either picture after reading imperfective sentences. In Experiment 2, only one picture was presented and participants were faster to respond to completed pictures than to ongoing pictures when they had read perfective sentences, but showed no latency differences after reading the imperfective sentences. In Experiment 3, participants were faster to read perfective sentences after having seen completed pictures rather than intermediate pictures, but there was no difference for imperfective sentences. The consistent pattern of results demonstrates that readers construct mental representations of completed events when the perfective aspect is used to describe an event. The lack of effect on imperfective sentences and pictures suggests that each reader represents an in-progress event at varying stages of completion.     

Verb aspect and perceptual simulations

Two experiments investigate the influence of verb aspect on situation representations. The results demonstrate that comprehenders use verb aspect as a cue to regulate the activation of ongoing simulations of situations over time. Experiment 1 measured word-by-word reading as well as sensibility judgements on sentences in which a target object word had been replaced by a picture. For the past imperfective sentences, participants were faster to process the picture, the two words following the picture, and the sensibility judgements when objects were pictured in use rather than not in use. However, this in-use facilitation was limited to processing of the picture for the past perfect sentences. Experiment 2 served as a control to ensure that the use effect and its interaction with verb aspect were a result of contextual manipulations rather than surface features of the pictures themselves. The results are interpreted within the framework of perceptual simulations during language comprehension.     

Gender Bender: Gender Errors in L2 Pronoun Production

To address questions about information processing at the message level, pronoun errors of second language (L2) speakers of English were studied. Some L2 pronoun errors—he/she confusions by Spanish speakers of L2 English—could be due to differences in the informational requirements of the speakers’ two languages, providing a window into the composition of the preverbal message that guides grammatical encoding during language production. To study this, Spanish and French speakers of L2 English were made to answer questions designed to elicit pronouns. Spanish speakers produced significantly more gender errors than any other type of pronoun error, and significantly more gender errors than French speakers. The results are as expected given that Spanish is a pro-drop language where many sentences would not have required gender to be encoded had they been uttered in the L1 instead of the L2. The implications for theories about the preverbal message are discussed.     

Memory for metaphor by nonfluent bilinguals

The purpose of this study was to investigate memory for metaphors by nonfluent bilinguals under different orientation conditions. In Experiment 1 beginning bilinguals were asked to either (1) translate into English the figurative meanings of metaphors in the second language (L2); (2) translate into English the literal meanings of these same metaphorical sentences; (3) translate these metaphorical sentences into English-no specific instructions as how to translate given; (4) translate into English a similar list of nonmetaphorical sentences; (5) copy in L2 the list of metaphorical sentences; or (6) copy in L2 the list of nonmetaphorical sentences. Subjects' memory for these sentences was measured on a cued recall test. In Experiment 2 monolingual subjects did language tasks similar to conditions 1, 5, and 6 in Experiment 1. In both experiments, recall was best in the first condition and worst in the fifth condition. In Experiment 1 recall was also poorer in the second condition than in the other translation conditions. The implication is that the task for this condition requires subjects to process materials in a counterintuitive manner.     

维吾尔族与汉族的大学生在汉语歧义词消解中的语境促进效应及反应抑制效应

词汇歧义是语言的普遍现象。在汉语中, 歧义词的种类繁多, 是少数民族学生汉语学习困难的重要原因之一。通过两个实验, 考察在不同加工时间条件下维吾尔族和汉族的大学生在汉语歧义词消解中的语境促进效应及抑制效应。结果发现, 两个民族的大学生均出现了语境促进效应, 但在短时加工条件下, 汉族大学生的语境促进效应显著大于维吾尔族大学生, 在长时加工条件下, 两个民族的大学生的语境促进效应并无显著差异。在短时加工条件下, 仅汉族大学生可以有效地抑制无关信息的干扰; 在长时加工条件下, 两个民族的大学生均可以有效地抑制无关信息的干扰。整个研究表明, 在汉语歧义词消解中, 随着加工时间增加, 维吾尔族大学生的语境促进效应和对无关信息的抑制均可以达到与汉族大学生相近的水平。     

The bilingual L2 advantage in recognition memory

To better understand the mechanisms by which bilingual proficiency impacts memory processes, two recognition memory experiments were conducted with matched monolingual and bilingual samples. In Experiment 1, monolingual speakers of English and Spanish studied high- and low-frequency words under full attention or cognitive load conditions. In Experiment 2, Spanish–English bilingual participants studied high- and low-frequency words under full-attention conditions in each language. For both monolinguals and bilinguals, low-frequency words were better recognized than high-frequency words. The central new findings were that bilingual recognition was more accurate in the less fluent language (L2) than in the more fluent language (L1) and that bilingual L2 recognition was more accurate than monolingual recognition. The bilingual L2 advantage parallels word frequency effects in recognition and is attributed to the greater episodic distinctiveness of L2 words, relative to L1 words.     

Wired for Gender: Experientiality and Gender-Stereotyping in Computer-Mediated Communication

The present experiments examined how experiential thinking moderates gender stereotyping in anonymous, text-based computer-mediated communication. In Experiment 1, participants played a trivia game with an ostensible partner via computer, represented by a randomly assigned gender-marked character. Consistent with the cognitive-experiential self-theory, high experientials were more likely than lows to infer their partner's gender from arbitrary characters and also exhibited greater conformity to the male- than to female-charactered partners. In Experiment 2, when the partner's comments revealed gender-linked language differences, high experientials were more likely than lows to base their gender inferences on the linguistic features. Women were more likely to accept the partner's answers when masculine than feminine questions were asked and showed greater overall conformity than men, but such self-stereotyping was more pronounced among high experientials than lows.     

语言转换对非熟练双语者不同认知控制成分的即时影响

语言转换情境是否影响非熟练双语者的认知控制存在争议。实验1和实验2分别采用不同的实验范式探讨语言转换对非熟练双语者的认知控制是否会有即时的影响, 以及对不同认知控制成分的影响是否会有不同。结果表明, 语言转换情境能够即时地促进反应抑制, 阻碍干扰抑制, 但对认知灵活性没有影响, 同时说明了反应抑制、干扰抑制和认知灵活性属于3种不同的认知成分, 其内在作用机制不同。此外, 研究结果还进一步说明了双语者的认知控制优势是双语者长期双语使用的结果, 为双语优势的内在机制提供了实验支持。     

The Effect of Language-Specific Characteristics on English and Japanese Speakers' Ability to Recall Number Information

The current paper presents two experiments investigating the effect of presence versus absence of compulsory number marking in a native language on a speaker's ability to recall number information from photos. In Experiment 1, monolingual English and Japanese adults were shown a sequence of 110 photos after which they were asked questions about the photos. We found that the English participants showed a significantly higher accuracy rate for questions testing recall for number information when the correct answer was “2” (instead of “1”) than Japanese participants. In Experiment 2, English and Japanese adults engaged in the same task as in Experiment 1 with an addition that explored reasons for the results found in Experiment 1. The results of Experiment 2 were in line with the results of Experiment 1, but also suggested that the results could not be attributed to differences in guessing patterns between the two groups or the type of linguistic constructions used in the test situations. The current study suggests that native language affects speakers' ability to recall number information from scenes and thus provides evidence for the Whorfian hypothesis.     

Deaf readers’ response to syntactic complexity: Evidence from self-paced reading

This study was designed to determine the feasibility of using self-paced reading methods to study deaf readers and to assess how deaf readers respond to two syntactic manipulations. Three groups of participants read the test sentences: deaf readers, hearing monolingual English readers, and hearing bilingual readers whose second language was English. In Experiment 1, the participants read sentences containing subject-relative or object-relative clauses. The test sentences contained semantic information that would influence online processing outcomes (Traxler, Morris, & Seely Journal of Memory and Language 47: 69–90, 2002; Traxler, Williams, Blozis, & Morris Journal of Memory and Language 53: 204–224, 2005). All of the participant groups had greater difficulty processing sentences containing object-relative clauses. This difficulty was reduced when helpful semantic cues were present. In Experiment 2, participants read active-voice and passive-voice sentences. The sentences were processed similarly by all three groups. Comprehension accuracy was higher in hearing readers than in deaf readers. Within deaf readers, native signers read the sentences faster and comprehended them to a higher degree than did nonnative signers. These results indicate that self-paced reading is a useful method for studying sentence interpretation among deaf readers.     

Listeners feel the beat: Entrainment to English and French speech rhythms

Can listeners entrain to speech rhythms? Monolingual speakers of English and French and balanced English–French bilinguals tapped along with the beat they perceived in sentences spoken in a stress-timed language, English, and a syllable-timed language, French. All groups of participants tapped more regularly to English than to French utterances. Tapping performance was also influenced by the participants’ native language: English-speaking participants and bilinguals tapped more regularly and at higher metrical levels than did French-speaking participants, suggesting that long-term linguistic experience with a stress-timed language can differentiate speakers’ entrainment to speech rhythm.     

汉语时间-空间隐喻加工垂直偏向性的稳固性

前人的研究发现,汉语时间-空间隐喻的加工表现出一定的垂直偏向性。本文两个实验采用空间启动的范式,考察汉英双语者二语（英语）经验对汉语时间-空间隐喻加工偏向性的影响。实验1以中国内地汉英双语大学生为被试,结果发现,在垂直空间启动条件下,被试的反应时更快,垂直性时间问题的反应时最短,正确率最高,即表现出时间-空间隐喻加工的垂直偏向性,这说明英语经验未影响汉语时间-空间隐喻加工的垂直偏向性。实验2采用英语熟练程度更高,来自我国港、澳地区的汉英双语大学生为被试,得到了和实验1类似的结果。两个实验结果表明,对于非平衡的汉英双语者而言,英语经验并未对汉语母语时间-空间隐喻加工的偏向性产生影响,汉语时间-空间隐喻加工的垂直偏向性表现出相当程度的稳固性。     

Effects of syntactic structure in the memory of concrete and abstract Chinese sentences

Smith (1981) found that concrete English sentences were better recognized than abstract sentences and that this concreteness effect was potent only when the concrete sentence was also affirmative but the effect switched to an opposite end when the concrete sentence was negative. These results were partially replicated in Experiment 1 by using materials from a very different language (i.e., Chinese): concrete-affirmative sentences were better remembered than concrete-negative and abstract sentences, but no reliable difference was found between the latter two types. In Experiment 2, the task was modified by using a visual presentation instead of an oral one as in Experiment 1. Both concrete-affirmative and concrete-negative sentences were better memorized then abstract ones in Experiment 2. The findings in the two experiments are explained by a combination of the dual-coding model and Marschark's (1985) item-specific and relational processing. The differential effects of experience with different language systems on processing verbal materials in memory are also discussed.This research was partially supported by a research grant from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong to Hsuan-Chih Chen. Connie Suk-Han Ho was supported on an Overseas Research Studentship from the University of Oxford of United Kingdom during the preparation of this article.     

词切分对印-英双语者阅读影响的眼动研究

以25名印-英双语者为被试,采用EyeLink2000眼动仪,探讨词切分对印-英双语者阅读的影响。实验一要求被试阅读印地语句子,实验二要求被试阅读英语句子,词切分方式有三种：正常条件、无空格隔词加灰条件和无空格条件。结果发现：（1）对印-英双语者阅读自己的两种官方语言来说,空格因素在其阅读中发挥着积极作用,删除空格会明显影响他们的阅读;（2）在无空格隔词加灰条件和无空格条件下,印-英双语者阅读英语时下降的速度显著低于阅读印地语的,这表明空格因素的作用会受语言特点的制约。     

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.