The effects of basal readers on oral language structures: A description of complexity

This report describes preliminary results of a research project to determine the effects of basal readers on productive and responsive (P/R) language. The research population consisted of 25 kindergarten and first-grade children, average age 6 years 4 months. Each child met with the interviewer three times: (1) to elicit a natural language sample, (2) to elicit (P/R) language following oral reading of a basal text, and (3) to elicit (P/R) language following oral reading of a story whose language matched, in complexity and length, their natural language sample. Results indicated that after children read a basal text, P/R language was significantly lower than their natural language. After children read a story whose language matched their natural language, P/R language was not significantly different from their natural language sample. The study implies that basal readers' language structures have a deleterious effect on (P/R) language of readers in their oral reactions to text.     

Language,cognition, and second language grammaticality judgments

In first language research, there appear to be two predominant positions relating metalinguistic awareness to language development. One suggests that since metalinguistic awareness is related to primary language acquisition (comprehension and production), general cognitive processes perform a limited role in metalinguistic awareness. The other suggests that since metalinguistic awareness is more closely related to secondary language acquisition (reading and writing), a greater role is assumed by general cognitive processes. There have been some indirect attempts to study the role of language and cognition with respect to second language grammaticality judgments. There is growing evidence that metalinguistic awareness is a reliable indicator of developing second language competence. Furthermore, it has been shown that language aptitude is significantly related to metalinguistic awareness. The present study was designed to investigate the statistical relationship between second language grammaticality judgments and selected cognitive and linguistic variables. The variables studied were second language proficiency, second language classroom achievement, first language reading competence, language aptitude, nonverbal intelligence, field dependence-independence, and a written grammaticality judgment test tapping the ability to recognize, and correct, deviance. Subjects were college students in advanced English-as-a-second-language classes. Multivariate statistical techniques were used to determine the relative contribution of linguistic and cognitive variables to the individual variation demonstrated by the learners in their ability to detect deviance in English. The results showed that second language proficiency, second language achievement in the classroom, and language aptitude were significant predictors of the subjects' ability to make grammaticality judgments. First language reading competence was significantly related to subjects' ability to correct deviance. These observations are discussed in the light of: (1) the relationship among cognition, language, and metalinguistic awareness, and (2) the role of metalinguistic awareness in second language acquisition and second language learning.     

False belief and language comprehension in Cantonese-speaking children

The current research compared two accounts of the relation between language and false belief in children, namely that (a) language is generally related to false belief because both require secondary representation in a social-interactional context and that (b) specific language structures that explicitly code metarepresentation contribute uniquely to the language-false belief relation. In three studies, attempts were made to correlate Cantonese-speaking children's false belief with their general language comprehension and understanding of certain structures that explicitly express metarepresentational knowledge. Results showed that these structures failed to predict false belief after age, nonverbal intelligence, and general language comprehension were considered. In contrast, general language remained predictive of false belief after controlling for age, nonverbal intelligence, and language structures. The current findings are more consistent with a general language account than a language structure account.     

A Voice and So Much More: The Neglect and Representation of Language in Social Psychology

Linguistic diversity is an irreducible characteristic of the world we live in today, yet the study of language remains relatively neglected in mainstream and critical social psychologies alike. In order to argue for a renewed confrontation between language and critical social psychology, this study presents an overview of both the absence of language from mainstream, experimental social psychology and of the emergence, since the 1970s, of the social psychology of language as a distinctive subfield in the discipline. It is argued that although the social psychology of language made the subject perceptible as a speaking and above all accented subject, foregrounding language as an index of class, ethnicity and race, it achieved this perceptibility without challenging the basic ideological coordinates according to which experimental social psychology conceptualises the world and subjects in relation to language. For this reason, the social psychology of language, despite its important contributions, reproduces an essentially national and monolingual imagination of language related phenomena and linguistic subjectivities. The task for a critical social psychology of language, it is argued, is to 'demythologise' and 'disinvent' language and language ideologies in the discipline.     

RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE AS POETRY: HEIDEGGER's CHALLENGE

This paper examines how Heidegger's view that language is poetry might provide a helpful way of understanding the nature of religious language. Poetry, according to Heidegger, is language in its purest form, in that it both reveals Being, whilst also showing the difference between word and thing. In poetry, Heidegger suggests, we come closest to the essence of language itself and encounter its strangeness and impermeability, and its revelatory character. What would be the implications for viewing religious language in this way? Through examining Heidegger's view that poetry is the purest form of language, I suggest that it would also be possible to view religious language as poetry in this way, in that it also shows the transcendence of what cannot be brought to presence in language, except as concealed. Such a view of religious language does not regard it as a problematic type of language, deserving special treatment, but rather suggests that in religious language the inarticulable relationship between word and world is revealed.     

Language Development and Assessment in the Preschool Period

Most young children make significant progress in learning language during the first 4?years of life. Delays or differences in patterns of language acquisition are sensitive indicators of developmental problems. The dynamic, complex nature of language and the variability in the timing of its acquisition poses a number of challenges for the assessment of young children. This paper summarises the key developmental milestones of language development in the preschool years, providing a backdrop for understanding difficulties with language learning. Children with specific language impairment (SLI) are characterised illustrating the types of language difficulties they exhibit. Genetic evidence for language impairment suggests complex interactions among multiple genes of small effect. There are few consistent neurobiological abnormalities and currently there is no identified neurobiological signature for language difficulties. The assessment of young children??s language skills thus focuses on the evaluation of their performances in comparison to typically developing peers. Assessment of language abilities in preschool children should involve an evaluation of both expressive and receptive skills and should include an evaluation of more than one dimension of language. The use of a single measure of a language component, such as vocabulary, is considered inadequate for determining whether preschool children have typical language or language impairment. Available evidence supports the inclusion of measures of phonological short-term memory in the assessment of the language abilities of preschool children. Further study of genetic, neurobiological and early behavioural correlates of language impairments in preschool children is needed.     

交流语言认知特征

交流是以语言为核心媒介的一种社会人际互动方式, 与个人语言认知过程不同, 交流互动性决定了交流语言认知过程的复杂性、灵活性。重点归纳和述评：交流语言内容特征、交流语言加工理论、交流语言与非语言因素的关系。未来对于交流语言认知特征的探讨应持一个相对开放的态度; 尝试采用多因素依次叠加的实验设计, 考虑交流实验情境的自然性, 以多种子加工过程为基础全面理解语言认知特征。     

Shyness as a risk factor for second language acquisition of immigrant preschoolers

The aim of this study was to examine whether shyness is a risk factor for second language acquisition in immigrant preschoolers. Results from studies on first language acquisition indicate that shy children show less favorable language development; however, it remains unclear how shyness affects second language acquisition. As second language skills are often acquired in interactions outside the family where shyness is more evident, we postulate that shyness has a strong negative effect on second language acquisition. This hypothesis was examined using standardized tests and parental ratings in a sample of 330 immigrant preschoolers cross-sectionally and with 130 immigrant preschoolers longitudinally. The analyses revealed lower second language competence as well as slower language development in shy immigrant children compared to their non-shy counterparts. The present study highlights that not only contextual but also personality factors need to be considered for a comprehensive understanding of second language acquisition in immigrant children.     

Involuntary language switching in two bilingual patients during the Wada test and intraoperative electrocortical stimulation

We present two bilingual patients without language disorders in whom involuntary language switching was induced. The first patient switched from Dutch to English during a left-sided amobarbital (Wada) test. Functional magnetic resonance imaging yielded a predominantly left-sided language distribution similar for both languages. The second patient switched from French to Chinese during intraoperative electrocortical stimulation of the left inferior frontal gyrus. We conclude that the observed language switching in both cases was not likely the result of a selective inhibition of one language, but the result of a temporary disruption of brain areas that are involved in language switching. These data complement the few lesion studies on (involuntary or unintentional) language switching, and add to the functional neuroimaging studies of switching, monitoring, and controlling the language in use.     

Sentence repetition is a measure of children's language skills rather than working memory limitations

Sentence repetition tasks are widely used in the diagnosis and assessment of children with language difficulties. This paper seeks to clarify the nature of sentence repetition tasks and their relationship to other language skills. We present the results from a 2‐year longitudinal study of 216 children. Children were assessed on measures of sentence repetition, vocabulary knowledge and grammatical skills three times at approximately yearly intervals starting at age 4. Sentence repetition was not a unique longitudinal predictor of the growth of language skills. A unidimensional language latent factor (defined by sentence repetition, vocabulary knowledge and grammatical skills) provided an excellent fit to the data, and language abilities showed a high degree of longitudinal stability. Sentence repetition is best seen as a reflection of an underlying language ability factor rather than as a measure of a separate construct with a specific role in language processing. Sentence repetition appears to be a valuable tool for language assessment because it draws upon a wide range of language processing skills.     

Adult language use and infant comprehension of English: Associations with encoding and generalization across cues at 20 months

Adult-provided language shapes event memory in children who are preverbal and in those who are able to discuss the past using language. The research conducted to date, however, has not yet established whether infant language comprehension abilities moderate the extent to which preverbal infants benefit from adult-provided supportive language. The present study was conducted to address this question by examining immediate imitation and 1-week delayed generalization across cues in 20-month-old infants as a function of (a) variability in adult-provided linguistic support at encoding and test, (b) infant language comprehension abilities, and (c) their interaction. The provision of supportive adult language at encoding and test was associated with delayed generalization across cues although supportive adult language at encoding did not influence performance at immediate imitation. Infant language comprehension abilities were associated with performance at immediate imitation and delayed generalization across cues. In addition, infant language comprehension abilities moderated the extent to which infants benefited from adult-provided supportive language at encoding and test. The findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating that adult language use and infant language comprehension are independently and differentially associated with immediate imitation and 1-week delayed generalization across cues but also serve to jointly structure event memory in the second year of life.     

Handedness and sex of children with developmental language disorders

The handedness and sex of 4- and 5-year-old children with developmental language disorders were studied through a comparison of language disordered children and a normal control group and through a comparison of six linguistically homogeneous subgroups of language disordered children. Differences between the handedness of a generalized language disordered group and a normal control group were not found, possibly due to the multiple etiologies of developmental language disorders. Children with severe language disorders, however, were non-right-handed more often than children with mild language disorders. Furthermore, certain types of linguistic deficits were associated with non-right-handedness, whereas age and cognitive abilities were not. Males were more often language disordered than females; however, sex ratios did not significantly differ among the subgroups, possibly due to the small number of language disordered females in this study. Implications for cerebral laterality in developmental language disorders are discussed.     

From the left to the right: How the brain compensates progressive loss of language function

In normal right-handed subjects language production usually is a function oft the left brain hemisphere. Patients with aphasia following brain damage to the left hemisphere have a considerable potential to compensate for the loss of this function. Sometimes, but not always, areas of the right hemisphere which are homologous to language areas of the left hemisphere in normal subjects are successfully employed for compensation but this integration process may need time to develop. We investigated right-handed patients with left hemisphere brain tumors as a model of continuously progressive brain damage to left hemisphere language areas using functional neuroimaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to identify factors which determine successful compensation of lost language function. Only patients with slowly progressing brain lesions recovered right-sided language function as detected by TMS. In patients with rapidly progressive lesions no right-sided language function was found and language performance was linearly correlated with the lateralization of language related brain activation to the left hemisphere. It can thus be concluded that time is the factor which determines successful integration of the right hemisphere into the language network for compensation of lost left hemisphere language function.     

Is a Tenseless Language Possible?

Whether it takes the form of a translation or of giving truth-conditions, any putative reduction of tensed language to tenseless language will be undermined if it can be shown that there could be no genuinely tenseless language. A similar problem faced traditional phenomenalism: it was far from clear that there could be a 'language of sense-data'. Either the imagined language was no language at all, or it was dependent upon object-language, not the other way around. A parallel dilemma faces tenseless reductionism. In spelling out what a tenseless language would be like, one either ends up with something that no creature could have as a language, or with something that is parasitic upon tensed language - not the other way around.     

三语者语义通达中的跨语言重复启动效应

采用跨语言重复启动的任务范式探讨三语者的语义通达机制。被试为在广州学习汉语的印度尼西亚留学生48名。自变量是学习条件(包括学过与未学过), 因变量是单词判断的反应时和正确率。实验1探讨三语者在视觉与听觉呈现的三语词汇语义通达任务中是否会借助于一语对等词, 结果发现一语词汇在两种任务条件下都能够发挥中介作用, 此结果表明了三语者与双语者语义通达机制的一致性; 实验2探讨三语者在视觉与听觉呈现的三语词汇语义通达任务中是否会借助于二语对等词, 结果发现二语词汇只能在视觉呈现任务条件下发挥中介作用, 此结果表明二语词汇在三语语义通达过程中的中介作用具有限制性。本研究结果表明三语者的语义通达机制与双语者既有一致性, 也有其限制性。     

Language comprehension vs. language production: age effects on fMRI activation

Normal language acquisition is a process that unfolds with amazing speed primarily in the first years of life. However, the refinement of linguistic proficiency is an ongoing process, extending well into childhood and adolescence. An increase in lateralization and a more focussed productive language network have been suggested to be the neural correlates of this process. However, the processes underlying the refinement of language comprehension are less clear. Using a language comprehension (Beep Stories) and a language production (Vowel Identification) task in fMRI, we studied language representation and lateralization in 36 children, adolescents, and young adults (age 6-24 years). For the language comprehension network, we found a more focal activation with age in the bilateral superior temporal gyri. No significant increase of lateralization with age could be observed, so the neural basis of language comprehension as assessed with the Beep Stories task seems to be established in a bilateral network by late childhood. For the productive network, however, we could confirm an increase with age both in focus and lateralization. Only in the language comprehension task did verbal IQ correlate with lateralization, with higher verbal IQ being associated with more right-hemispheric involvement. In some subjects (24%), language comprehension and language production were lateralized to opposite hemispheres.     

Language facilitates event memory in early childhood: Child comprehension,adult-provided linguistic support and delayed recall at 16 months

Adult-provided supportive language facilitates memory for the past in preverbal and verbal children. Work conducted with 18-month-olds indicates that children benefit from supportive adult language when tested after a 4-week delay but not when tested immediately after sequence demonstration; moreover, findings reveal that supportive language provided only at test may be more facilitative of recall after a delay relative to supportive language provided only at encoding. In the present study, we examined whether child language comprehension abilities moderated the extent to which preverbal children benefitted from supportive language provided at encoding and test. The findings indicated that child language comprehension and supportive language provided at encoding were unassociated with performance at baseline or immediate imitation; however, the moderating effect of child language comprehension on adult-provided supportive language at encoding and test was observed after a 1-week delay. Correlations revealed continuous associations between general comprehension scores and recall performance after the 1-week delay on sequences presented in the most supportive condition at encoding. Taken together, the presented findings reveal that the complex interplay between language and cognition is established in early childhood, with foundational relations emerging before children are capable of verbally reporting on the past.     

Do Bilinguals Automatically Activate Their Native Language When They Are Not Using It?

Most models of lexical access assume that bilingual speakers activate their two languages even when they are in a context in which only one language is used. A critical piece of evidence used to support this notion is the observation that a given word automatically activates its translation equivalent in the other language. Here, we argue that these findings are compatible with a different account, in which bilinguals “carry over” the structure of their native language to the non‐native language during learning, and where there is no activation of translation equivalents. To demonstrate this, we describe a model in which language learning involves mapping native language phonological relationships to the non‐native language, and we show how it can explain the results attributed to automatic activation of translation equivalents.     

Does sexist language reflect personal characteristics?

We investigated whether or not sexist language in written form can be linked to traditional views of sex roles, assertiveness, psychological androgyny, Christian beliefs, or sexist language in oral form. In Experiment 1, undergraduates were given an essay designed to test written sexist language and several pencil-and-paper personality inventories. No relationship between sexist language and interpersonal assertiveness or psychological androgyny was found. However, those who avoided sexist language were less traditional in their sex role perceptions scored lower on a scale of Christian beliefs. In Experient 2, the method of measuring sexist language was expanded by using three essay responses and a brief oral interview. Those who used sexist language in written form were more likely than others to use sexist language in oral form on some responses. Interpretations and implications of the findings are discussed.