Antonymy and ten modern English color-names

One-hundred college-age monolingual speakers of American English were asked to indicate in writing the color that they believed to be the opposite of each of ten English color-names:white, black, red, green, blue, yellow, brown, tan, orange, andpink. The results of this experiment indicate that adult speakers of Modern English do not attribute the same degree of antonymy to all ten of these color-names.Black andwhite were clearly viewed by the subjects as having a high degree of antonymy. In fact, they were viewed as being the opposite of each other. Less antonymy was attributed to the other color-names, withorange andpink receiving the lowest scores on the Index of Relative Antonymy. Although this experiment was not designed to evaluate the Berlin and Kay (1969) hypothesis that color-names have been added to the languages of the world in accordance with an evolutionary sequence, a surprisingly high correlation (=0.94) was obtained between the relative antonymy of color-names found in this study and the evolutionary sequence of color-name acquisition postulated by Berlin and Kay. This finding suggests that the greater the antiquity of an English color-name, the greater the degree of antonymy attributed to it by adult speakers of Modern English.     

Effects of past language experience and present language context on the shape bias in Spanish–English bilingual children

English‐monolingual children develop a shape bias early in language acquisition, such that they more often generalize a novel label based on shape than other features. Spanish‐monolingual children, however, do not show this bias to the same extent (Hahn & Cantrell, 2012). Studying children who are simultaneously learning both Spanish and English presents a unique opportunity to further investigate how this word‐learning bias develops. Thus, we asked how Spanish–English bilingual children (M_age = 21.31 months) perform in a novel‐noun generalization (NNG) task, specifically examining how past language experience (i.e. language exposure and vocabulary size) and present language context (i.e. whether the NNG task was conducted in Spanish or English) influence the strength of the shape bias. Participants completed the NNG task either entirely in English (N = 16) or entirely in Spanish (N = 16), as well as language understanding tasks in both English and Spanish to ensure that they understood what the experimenter was asking them to do. Parents completed a language exposure survey and vocabulary checklists in Spanish and English. There was a significant interaction between condition and choice type: Bilingual children in the English condition showed a shape bias in the NNG task, but bilingual children in the Spanish condition showed no reliable biases. No measures of past language experience were related to NNG task performance. These results suggest that when learning new words, bilingual children are attuned to the regularities of the present language context, and prior language experiences may play a more secondary role.     

John Plaifere (d.1632) on conditional predestination: a well-mixed version of scientia media and resistible grace

This article argues that John Plaifere's doctrine of predestination appearing in Appello Evangelium (1651) can be labelled as ‘conditional predestination’, since it embodies two Arminian features: scientia media and resistible grace. His conditional predestination needs to be considered as recognizing at least five different variations of predestination in his time. It is distinctive in English Arminianism, but not because Plaifere introduces scientia media and resistible grace or because he is unique in adopting these notions (as is not the case). Rather, Plaifere's doctrine of predestination is distinctive because it is a hybrid version embracing core tenets of Molina, Arminius, Arminianism, and the Remonstrants. Although not every English Arminian or Dutch Remonstrant had much concern for scientia media, Plaifere's conditional predestination advances resistible grace, which is substantially based on the notion of scientia media as its metaphysical foundation. In analyzing Plaifere's Appello Evangelium, one can gain a sense of the specific technical-theological components with which English Arminianism was constructed.     

Language-dependent access to autobiographical memory in Japanese-English bilinguals and US monolinguals

Japanese bilinguals retrieved autobiographical memories in response to 20 English and 20 Japanese cue words. US monolinguals were cued with 40 English words. All participants reported one earliest memory. Japanese bilinguals retrieved more memories and earlier memories when cued with Japanese words. They also retrieved more memories when the cue language matched either the language of memory encoding or the language of first thought. Although English cues elicited equivalent numbers of English and Japanese memories in the more fluent speakers of English, Japanese words elicited significantly larger numbers of Japanese memories in all Japanese-English bilinguals. The average age of cued autobiographical memories was significantly earlier for US than for Japanese students but age of the earliest memory did not differ.     

Competition dynamics of second-language listening

Spoken-word recognition in a nonnative language is particularly difficult where it depends on discrimination between confusable phonemes. Four experiments here examine whether this difficulty is in part due to phantom competition from “near-words” in speech. Dutch listeners confuse English /æ/ and /?/, which could lead to the sequence daf being interpreted as deaf, or lemp being interpreted as lamp. In auditory lexical decision, Dutch listeners indeed accepted such near-words as real English words more often than English listeners did. In cross-modal priming, near-words extracted from word or phrase contexts (daf from DAFfodil, lemp from eviL EMPire) induced activation of corresponding real words (deaf; lamp) for Dutch, but again not for English, listeners. Finally, by the end of untruncated carrier words containing embedded words or near-words (definite; daffodil) no activation of the real embedded forms (deaf in definite) remained for English or Dutch listeners, but activation of embedded near-words (deaf in daffodil) did still remain, for Dutch listeners only. Misinterpretation of the initial vowel here favoured the phantom competitor and disfavoured the carrier (lexically represented as containing a different vowel). Thus, near-words compete for recognition and continue competing for longer than actually embedded words; nonnative listening indeed involves phantom competition.     

Does code-switching influence novel word learning?

Code-switching occurs regularly in the input to bilingual children. Yet, the effect of code-switched input on language development is unclear. To test whether word learning would be affected by code-switching, Spanish–English bilingual children (N = 45, 19 boys, Mean_Age = 5.05 years; ethnicity: 37 Hispanic/Latino, six Non-Hispanic/Latino, two unreported) were taught English-like novel words in two conditions. In the English-only condition, definitions for novel words were provided entirely in English. In the code-switch condition, definitions for novel words were provided in English and Spanish, incorporating code-switches. Children required fewer exposures to retain novel words in the code-switch than the English-only condition and this effect was not moderated by children's language ability or exposure to code-switching, suggesting that code-switched input does not pose word-learning risks to bilingual children, including children with lower levels of language ability.     

Cross-linguistic phonotactic competition and cognitive control in bilinguals

The current study examines the relation between cognitive control and linguistic competition resolution at the sublexical level in bilinguals. Twenty-one Spanish–English bilinguals and 23 English monolinguals completed a non-linguistic Stroop task (indexing inhibitory control) and a linguistic priming/lexical decision task (indexing Spanish phonotactic-constraint competition during English comprehension). More efficient Stroop performance (i.e. a smaller Stroop effect) in bilinguals was associated with decreased competition from Spanish phonotactic constraints during English comprehension. This relation was observed when nonword targets overlapped in phonotactic constraints and phonological form with preceding cognate primes (e.g. prime: stable (Spanish: estable)/target: esteriors). Findings suggest a link between non-linguistic cognitive control and co-activation of linguistic structures at the sublexical level in bilinguals.     

Segmentation by lexical subtraction in Hungarian speakers of second-language English

Using cross-modal form priming, we compared the use of stress and lexicality in the segmentation of spoken English by native English speakers (L1) and by native Hungarian speakers of second-language English (L2). For both language groups, lexicality was found to be an effective segmentation cue. That is, spoken disyllabic word fragments were stronger primes in a subsequent visual word recognition task when preceded by meaningful words than when preceded by nonwords: For example, the first two syllables of corridor were a more effective prime for visually presented corridor when heard in the phrase anythingcorri than in imoshingcorri. The stress pattern of the prime (strong–weak vs. weak–strong) did not affect the degree of priming. For L1 speakers, this supports previous findings about the preferential use of high-level segmentation strategies in clear speech. For L2 speakers, the lexical strategy was employed regardless of L2 proficiency level and instead of exploiting the consistent stress pattern of their native language. This is clear evidence for the primacy and robustness of segmentation by lexical subtraction even in individuals whose lexical knowledge is limited.     

Time course of inhibitory processes in bilingual language processing

This study examines the time course of inhibitory processes in Spanish–English bilinguals, using the procedure described in Macizo, Bajo, and Martín. Bilingual participants were required to decide whether pairs of English words were related. Critical word pairs contained a word that shared the same orthography across languages but differed in meaning (interlingual homographs such as pie, meaning foot in Spanish). In Expts 1 and 2, participants were slower to respond to homographs presented along with words related to the Spanish meaning of the homograph as compared to control words. This result agrees with the view that bilinguals non‐selectively activate their two languages irrespective of the language they are using. In addition, bilinguals also slowed their responses when the English translation of the Spanish homograph meaning was presented 500 ms after responding to homographs (Expt 1). This result suggests that bilinguals inhibited the irrelevant homograph meaning. However, the inhibitory effect was not observed in Expt 2 when the between‐trial interval was fixed to 750 ms which suggests that inhibition decayed over time.     

Imitation of synthesized English and nonEnglish vowels by children and adults

Imitations of 15 synthesized vowels, some like English vowels and some not, were obtained from nine adults and ten 6-year-old children. Estimates of the first three formant frequencies (F ₁ , F ₂ , and F ₃ ) were made from spectrograms of the vowel imitations. The reliability of reproduction was assessed by calculating standard deviations for five imitations each of ten of the synthetic stimuli. Generally, both the intrasubject and intersubject variabilities were greater for the children than for the adults. However, the differences in intrasubject variability between the two groups often were not much greater than the difference in measurement error which would be expected for voices of different fundamental frequencies. Subjects tended to reproduce the nonEnglish vowels less reliably than the English vowels, although the adults were less influenced by phonetic familiarity than were the children. Vowel familiarity appeared to be especially important for reliable reporoduction of the F ₂ frequency. Plotting of the imitation data for English vowels in a F ₁ –F ₂ plane with linear dimensions revealed a fairly systematic clustering for the four age-sex groups of men, women, boys, and girls, but the group clustering was not so systematic for the imitation data for the nonEnglish vowels.This work was supported by Public Health Service Research Grant NS-HD-12281.     

Priming Effects on Tip-of-the-Tongue States in Farsi-English Bilinguals

The tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon, the inability to immediately retrieve a word one desires, was studied in bilingual Farsi-English-speaking adults. One question was whether insufficient activation or increased inhibition underlie TOT states in bilinguals. Another was whether bilinguals have common or separate lexicons for their two languages. Participants heard a definition in either Farsi or English, followed by either a Farsi or English prime word related in meaning or sound, or not at all related, to the target word. Participants supplied the target word that best fit the definition. Similar-sound primes increased TOTs for English definitions and targets, with a trend for more correct responses as well, suggesting that the similar-sound prime word facilitates rather than inhibits retrieval, supporting the transmission deficit hypothesis. Primes had the same effect for same and different language conditions, suggesting that both Farsi and English map onto a single lexicon, supporting the single-store model of bilingual memory.     

Shared spatial representations for physical locations and location words in bilinguals’ primary language

For monolinguals, the Simon effect is eliminated when Simon task trials are intermixed with ones in which participants respond to the words left and right with incompatibly mapped keypresses. For bilingual Dutch/ French speakers, this result has been shown to occur when the words are in Dutch (their first and primary language), but not when they are in French. To dissociate the influence of order in which the languages were learned from whether the language was the primary one currently being used, we tested bilinguals who learned Spanish or Vietnamese as their first language but for whom English became their primary language. For both groups, the incompatible location-word mapping influenced performance of the Simon task when the words were in English but not when they were in the first language. These findings indicate that the strength of language, not order of acquisition, is the critical factor.     

Accommodating variability in voice and foreign accent: flexibility of early word representations

In six experiments with English‐learning infants, we examined the effects of variability in voice and foreign accent on word recognition. We found that 9‐month‐old infants successfully recognized words when two native English talkers with dissimilar voices produced test and familiarization items ( Experiment 1 ). When the domain of variability was shifted to include variability in voice as well as in accent, 13‐, but not 9‐month‐olds, recognized a word produced across talkers when only one had a Spanish accent ( Experiments 2 and 3 ). Nine‐month‐olds accommodated some variability in accent by recognizing words when the same Spanish‐accented talker produced familiarization and test items ( Experiment 4 ). However, 13‐, but not 9‐month‐olds, could do so when test and familiarization items were produced by two distinct Spanish‐accented talkers ( Experiments 5 and 6 ). These findings suggest that, although monolingual 9‐month‐olds have abstract phonological representations, these representations may not be flexible enough to accommodate the modifications found in foreign‐accented speech.     

Multilingual assessment of early child development: Analyses from repeated observations of children in Kenya

In many low‐ and middle‐income countries, young children learn a mother tongue or indigenous language at home before entering the formal education system where they will need to understand and speak a country's official language(s). Thus, assessments of children before school age, conducted in a nation's official language, may not fully reflect a child's development, underscoring the importance of test translation and adaptation. To examine differences in vocabulary development by language of assessment, we adapted and validated instruments to measure developmental outcomes, including expressive and receptive vocabulary. We assessed 505 2‐to‐6‐year‐old children in rural communities in Western Kenya with comparable vocabulary tests in three languages: Luo (the local language or mother tongue), Swahili, and English (official languages) at two time points, 5–6 weeks apart, between September 2015 and October 2016. Younger children responded to the expressive vocabulary measure exclusively in Luo (44%–59% of 2‐to‐4‐year‐olds) much more frequently than did older children (20%–21% of 5‐to‐6‐year‐olds). Baseline receptive vocabulary scores in Luo (β = 0.26, SE = 0.05, p < 0.001) and Swahili (β = 0.10, SE = 0.05, p = 0.032) were strongly associated with receptive vocabulary in English at follow‐up, even after controlling for English vocabulary at baseline. Parental Luo literacy at baseline (β = 0.11, SE = 0.05, p = 0.045) was associated with child English vocabulary at follow‐up, while parental English literacy at baseline was not. Our findings suggest that multilingual testing is essential to understanding the developmental environment and cognitive growth of multilingual children.     

Bilingualism,executive control,and age at diagnosis among people with early‐stage Alzheimer's disease in Wales

The observation of a bilingual advantage in executive control tasks involving inhibition and management of response conflict suggests that being bilingual might contribute to increased cognitive reserve. In support of this, recent evidence indicates that bilinguals develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) later than monolinguals, and may retain an advantage in performance on executive control tasks. We compared age at the time of receiving an AD diagnosis in bilingual Welsh/English speakers (n = 37) and monolingual English speakers (n = 49), and assessed the performance of bilinguals (n = 24) and monolinguals (n = 49) on a range of executive control tasks. There was a non‐significant difference in age at the time of diagnosis, with bilinguals being on average 3 years older than monolinguals, but bilinguals were also significantly more cognitively impaired at the time of diagnosis. There were no significant differences between monolinguals and bilinguals in performance on executive function tests, but bilinguals appeared to show relative strengths in the domain of inhibition and response conflict. Bilingual Welsh/English speakers with AD do not show a clear advantage in executive function over monolingual English speakers, but may retain some benefits in inhibition and management of response conflict. There may be a delay in onset of AD in Welsh/English bilinguals, but if so, it is smaller than that found in some other clinical populations. In this Welsh sample, bilinguals with AD came to the attention of services later than monolinguals, and reasons for this pattern could be explored further.     

The Awful English Language

Abstract

The ever-increasing dominance of English within analytic philosophy is an aspect of linguistic globalisation. To assess it, I first address fundamental issues in the philosophy of language. Steering a middle course between linguistic universalism and linguistic relativism, I deny that some languages might be philosophically superior to others, notably by capturing the essential categories of reality. On this background I next consider both the pros and cons of the Anglicisation of (analytic) philosophy. I shall defend the value of English as a lingua franca, while denying both the feasibility and the desirability of English as the sole universal language of philosophy. Finally I turn to the linguistic inequality in contemporary analytic philosophy. While it does not per se amount to an injustice, there is a need to level the playing field. But the remedy does not lie in linguistic academic sectarianism. Instead, what might be called for are piecemeal measures to reduce explicit and implicit biases against analytic philosophers on the geographic fringes, biases that are only partly connected to the predominance of English.     

English Vowel Spaces Produced by Japanese Speakers: The Smaller Point Vowels’ and the Greater Schwas’

This study investigated how Japanese-speaking learners of English pronounce the three point vowels /i/, /u/, and /a/ appearing in the first and second monosyllabic words of English noun phrases, and the schwa /ə/ appearing in English disyllabic words. First and second formant (F1 and F2) values were measured for four Japanese speakers and two American English speakers. The hypothesis that the area encompassed by the point vowels in the F1-F2 vowel space tends to be smaller for the Japanese speakers than for the English speakers was verified. The hypothesis that the area formed by the three schwas in chicken{{chick\underline{e}n}}, spoonful{{spoonf{\underline{u}}l}}, and Tarzan{{Tarz\underline{a}n}} is greater for the Japanese speakers than for the English speakers and its related hypothesis were largely upheld. Implications for further research are briefly discussed.     

Do gender differences in academic attainment correspond with scholastic attitudes? An exploratory study in a UK secondary school

Research has examined how standardized tests give rise to gender differences in English and STEM attainment, but little research has explored gender differences in classroom-based attainment and the degree to which these correspond to differences in school-related attitudes. To explore the extent to which gender-achievement gaps in classroom-based performance parallel differences in self-perceptions and scholastic attitudes. An independent sample of first (n = 187, age 11–12, Study 1) and second-year students (n = 113, age 12–13, Study 2) from a UK comprehensive secondary school completed a questionnaire measuring academic mindset, self-efficacy, self-concept, competence beliefs, personal and social self-esteem, and endorsement of gender-subject and career stereotypes. Responses were then matched to their respective classroom grades in English, mathematics, science, and computing. Girls outperformed boys in English in their first year but reported lower global self-esteem and greater endorsement of science-career stereotypes. Conversely, girls outperformed boys in mathematics in their second year, but paradoxically reported lower self-concept and competence beliefs in mathematics and science, and higher competence beliefs in English. Across both studies, mindset, self-efficacy, competence beliefs, and social self-esteem were positively related to English attainment; academic self-efficacy was positively related to mathematics attainment; and mindset, self-efficacy, self-concept, and competence beliefs were positively related to science attainment. Gender-achievement gaps in classroom-based academic attainment are complex and highly nuanced; they appear to vary between school subjects across years and may not correspond with similar differences in self-perceptions and scholastic attitudes.     

Competitor effects in naming objects and famous faces

The prior production of an alternative name increases the time taken to name a famous face. For example, naming a picture of the comedy actor “John Cleese” by the name of the character he played in the TV series Fawlty Towers (Basil Fawlty) increases the time required to subsequently produce the name “John Cleese”. This effect has been termed the “nominal competitor effect”. In contrast prior production of a property associated with a famous person has no effect on naming speed. For example, prior production of the name of the TV series Fawlty Towers does not slow subsequent production of “John Cleese”. The experiments reported explored analogous effects in object naming. Experiment 1 examined the effects of prior production of an alternative name (e.g., from American English or British English) and a semantic associate on the time taken to name line drawings of objects. It was found that prior production of an alternative name slowed object naming, but prior production of the name of a semantic associate did not. Experiment 2 demonstrated that cueing a specific name (e.g., the British English name) was not a necessary condition for the nominal competitor effect on object naming. Experiment 3 demonstrated that the nominal competitor effect on naming famous faces was also observed under both cued and uncued naming instructions. The data from both object and face naming are interpreted within the terms of current models of speech production.