A set of Japanese word cohorts rated for relative familiarity

A database is presented of relative familiarity ratings for 24 sets of Japanese words, each set comprising words overlapping in the initial portions. These ratings are useful for the generation of material sets for research in the recognition of spoken words

Segmental foreign accent

200 p.Tradicionalmente, el acento extranjero se ha estudiado desde una perspectiva holística, es decir, tratándolo como un todo en lugar de como una serie de rasgos individuales que suceden simultáneamente. Los estudios previos que se han centrado en alguno de estos rasgos individuales lo han hecho generalmente en el plano suprasegmental (Tajima et al., 1997, Munro & Derwing, 2001, Hahn, 2004, etc.). En esta tesis se lleva a cabo un análisis del acento extranjero desde un punto de vista segmental. Considerando que no existe mucha investigación en este campo, nuestro principal objetivo es averiguar si los resultados de estudios holísticos previos pueden ser extrapolados al nivel segmental. Con el objetivo de analizar el nivel segmental en detalle, en esta tesis se presentan técnicas que hacen uso de nuevas tecnologías. Para recabar la mayor información posible, los experimentos perceptivos son llevados a cabo con oyentes con muy distintos perfiles lingüísticos en términos de primera lengua o conocimiento de la segunda lengua y comparados con la literatura existente. Nuestros resultados muestran que algunos efectos importantes relativos a la producción y percepción de segmentos acentuados pueden pasar inadvertidos en un análisis holístico y acreditan la necesidad de continuar realizando estudios de unidades mínimas para comprender en profundidad los efectos del acento extranjero en la comunicación

Segmental foreign accent

200 p.Tradicionalmente, el acento extranjero se ha estudiado desde una perspectiva holística, es decir, tratándolo como un todo en lugar de como una serie de rasgos individuales que suceden simultáneamente. Los estudios previos que se han centrado en alguno de estos rasgos individuales lo han hecho generalmente en el plano suprasegmental (Tajima et al., 1997, Munro & Derwing, 2001, Hahn, 2004, etc.). En esta tesis se lleva a cabo un análisis del acento extranjero desde un punto de vista segmental. Considerando que no existe mucha investigación en este campo, nuestro principal objetivo es averiguar si los resultados de estudios holísticos previos pueden ser extrapolados al nivel segmental. Con el objetivo de analizar el nivel segmental en detalle, en esta tesis se presentan técnicas que hacen uso de nuevas tecnologías. Para recabar la mayor información posible, los experimentos perceptivos son llevados a cabo con oyentes con muy distintos perfiles lingüísticos en términos de primera lengua o conocimiento de la segunda lengua y comparados con la literatura existente. Nuestros resultados muestran que algunos efectos importantes relativos a la producción y percepción de segmentos acentuados pueden pasar inadvertidos en un análisis holístico y acreditan la necesidad de continuar realizando estudios de unidades mínimas para comprender en profundidad los efectos del acento extranjero en la comunicación

Second language comprehensibility revisited: investigating the effects of learner background

The current study investigated first language (L1) effects on listener judgment of comprehensibility and accentedness in second language (L2) speech. The participants were 45 university-level adult speakers of English from three L1 backgrounds (Chinese, Hindi, Farsi), performing a picture narrative task. Ten native English listeners used continuous sliding scales to evaluate the speakers’ audio recordings for comprehensibility, accentedness, as well as 10 linguistic variables drawn from the domains of pronunciation, fluency, lexis, grammar, and discourse. While comprehensibility was associated with several linguistic variables (segmentals, prosody, fluency, lexis, grammar), accentedness was primarily linked to pronunciation (segmentals, word stress, intonation). The relative strength of these associations also varied as a function of the speakers’ L1, especially for comprehensibility, with Chinese speakers influenced chiefly by pronunciation variables (segmental errors), Hindi speakers by lexicogrammar variables, and Farsi speakers showing no strong association with any linguistic variable. Results overall suggest that speakers’ L1 plays an important role in listener judgments of L2 comprehensibility and that instructors aiming to promote L2 speakers’ communicative success may need to expand their teaching targets beyond segmentals to include prosody-, fluency-, and lexicogrammar-based targets

Universal interpretations of vocal music

Despite the variability of music across cultures, some types of human songs share acoustic characteristics. For example, dance songs tend to be loud and rhythmic, and lullabies tend to be quiet and melodious. Human perceptual sensitivity to the behavioral contexts of songs, based on these musical features, suggests that basic properties of music are mutually intelligible, independent of linguistic or cultural content. Whether these effects reflect universal interpretations of vocal music, however, is unclear because prior studies focus almost exclusively on English-speaking participants, a group that is not representative of humans. Here, we report shared intuitions concerning the behavioral contexts of unfamiliar songs produced in unfamiliar languages, in participants living in Internet-connected industrialized societies (n = 5,516 native speakers of 28 languages) or smaller-scale societies with limited access to global media (n = 116 native speakers of three non-English languages). Participants listened to songs randomly selected from a representative sample of human vocal music, originally used in four behavioral contexts, and rated the degree to which they believed the song was used for each context. Listeners in both industrialized and smaller-scale societies inferred the contexts of dance songs, lullabies, and healing songs, but not love songs. Within and across cohorts, inferences were mutually consistent. Further, increased linguistic or geographical proximity between listeners and singers only minimally increased the accuracy of the inferences. These results demonstrate that the behavioral contexts of three common forms of music are mutually intelligible cross-culturally and imply that musical diversity, shaped by cultural evolution, is nonetheless grounded in some universal perceptual phenomena

Phonological form in L2 lexical access: Friend or Foe?

The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the contribution of lexical factors that affect second language (L2) lexical access, such as size of L2 mental lexicon, lexical frequency, and number of competitors. It introduces and explores an additional L2-specific dimension that plays a differential role in L2 lexical access, which is the degree of familiarity with the L2 lexical item, in particular, familiarity with its phonological form as it maps onto its meaning. The current thesis focuses on this factor's main consequence, which is the underspecification of the phonological representation of less-known words in the L2 mental lexicon. The combination of traditional lexical factors with the proposed L2-specific lexical factor makes it possible to propose an L2-specific model that accounts for the interactions not found in L1 lexical access mechanisms. The Second Language Lexical Access Model (SLLAM) proposed in the dissertation incorporates L2 specific factors, such as the underspecification of phonological representations and the proficiency-defined size of the mental lexicon, and makes predictions about the process of lexical access in L2. The dissertation compares lexical access mechanisms in three groups of subjects, two of which are L2 learners of Russian at different stages of acquisition (Intermediate learners and Advanced learners), and uses novel empirical evidence from five behavioral experiments: lexical decision task without priming, lexical decision task with phonological priming, lexical decision task with semantic priming, lexical decision task with pseudo-semantic priming, and a translation task. The results of the experiments are discussed in light of the proposed SLLAM model. The dissertation argues that the majority of the observed results can be accommodated by the assumptions made by SLLAM, compatible with the postulated underspecification at the lexical level of L2 phonological representations. Moreover, the study concludes that some of the L2-specific lexical access mechanisms, commonly attributed to a lack of semantic links within the lexicon, may be more parsimoniously explained as resulting from phonological underspecification as well

Identity change and the human dissection experience over the first year of medical training

The aim of this study is to explore identity change in medical students over their first year of medical training, particularly in relation to their experience of human dissection. Each of our four participants completed two repertory grids at the end of term one and, again, towards the end of term three. One grid tapped their identity construction, and the other, their experience of human dissection. Our participants were optimistic about becoming similar to a doctor they admired and, towards the end of term three, began to develop a stable identity as a medical student. Their identity constructs involved three common themes: dedication, competence, and responsibility. However, the data also revealed negative reactions to the demands of training, such as feeling driven and stressed. Three major themes were apparent in their experience of human dissection: involvement, emotional coping, and ability. Our participants’ dedication to their studies was reflected in their appreciation of the need to become involved actively in the process of dissection but some experienced an erosion of their self-confidence and perceived some of their colleagues to have lost much of their enthusiasm for learning. Emotional coping could be an additional challenge within this context and their reaction tended to reflect distancing processes previously identified in the literature. In all, we see a development of a vulnerable sense of professionalism alongside a frustration of losing out potentially on wider aspects of personal development due to the high work demands

Japanese vocabulary development in Study Abroad: the timing of the year abroad in a language degree curriculum

This paper reports the results of a study of vocabulary development by learners of Japanese, during a year abroad in Japan. The particular feature of this study is that it compares the performance of two cohorts, studying in the same UK university and in degrees in Japanese, in which the period of study abroad is undertaken at different points of the degree — respectively in year 2 and year 3. Their performance is compared at three points in time: before and after the period of study abroad, and one year after return. The group going to Japan at a lower proficiency level (i.e. study abroad in year 2) appears to benefit more in terms of absolute gains (although the two groups appear to perform rather similarly when their potential gains, i.e. gains against the test’s ceiling, are considered). The two groups’ gains in the following year are considerably smaller than during the period abroad but remarkably similar to each other; however, these gains take place at different instructional levels. The implications are discussed for the timing of periods of study abroad in BA programmes

Second Language Comprehensibility Revisited: Investigating the Effects of Learner Background

The current study investigated first language (L1) effects on listener judgment of comprehensibility and accentedness in second language (L2) speech. The participants were 60 university-level adult speakers of English from four L1 backgrounds (Chinese, Romance, Hindi, Farsi), with 15 speakers per group, performing a picture narrative task. Ten native English listeners used continuous sliding scales to evaluate the speakers’ audio recordings for comprehensibility, accentedness, as well as 10 linguistic variables drawn from the domains of pronunciation, fluency, lexis, grammar, and discourse. While comprehensibility was associated with several linguistic variables (segmentals, prosody, fluency, lexis, grammar), accentedness was primarily linked to pronunciation (segmentals, word stress, intonation). The relative strength of these associations also varied as a function of the speakers’ L1, especially for comprehensibility, with Chinese speakers influenced chiefly by pronunciation variables (specifically segmental errors), Hindi speakers by lexicogrammar variables, Romance speakers by variables spanning both pronunciation and lexicogrammar domains, and Farsi speakers showing no strong association with any linguistic variable. These results overall suggest that speakers’ L1 plays an important role in listener judgments of L2 comprehensibility and that instructors aiming to promote L2 speakers’ communicative success may need to expand their teaching targets beyond segmentals to include prosody-, fluency-, and lexicogrammar-based targets

Social representations of history, wars and politics in Latin America, Europe and Africa

This study analyzes how people perceive world history on three continents: Latin America, Europe and Africa. A total of 1179 university students form Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Guinea-Bissau, and Cape Verde were asked to evaluate world events and leaders in terms of their valence and importance. The results demonstrated that social representations of history show a Euro/North American-centric, long-term positive evaluation, recency, and socio- centric bias. Euro/North American-centric events and leaders were found to be rated as more important and were more positively perceived in general. Distant political events, like French or American Revolution, were considered to be more positive than XX century similar events, which supports the long-term positive evaluation bias hypothesis. The hypothesis on recency bias was partially substantiated. Confirming the existence of such bias, World War II was rated as more important than the previous XX century wars and revolutions. Socio-centric bias also received partial support. African participants rated Mandela as a more important leader than other participants did. Latin Americans rated Che Guevara less positively, which suggests that some leaders are generally idealized icons, not based on group belongingness. However, results did not bring support to the centrality of war hypothesis. Wars were indeed negatively evaluated and World War II was rated as an important and negative event. Nevertheless, war- and politics-related events were not perceived as more important than the Industrial Revolution, suggesting that people appraise the importance of long-term socioeconomic factors of history when responding to close-ended quantitative measures (vs. open-ended salience measures). Results are discussed in the framework of social representations of history.El estudio analiza como las personas perciben la historia mundial en tres continentes: Latinoamérica, Europa y África. 1179 estudiantes universitarios de Argentina, Brasil, Perú, Portugal, España, Guinea-Bissau y Cabo Verde evaluaron una lista de eventos mundiales y líderes en lo que concierne a su valoración e importancia. Los resultados han mostrado que la representación social de la historia se caracteriza por un Euro centrismo, una evaluación positiva a largo plazo, y por sesgos socio-céntricos. Los eventos “Occidentales” (vinculados a Europa y Norteamérica) fueron evaluados como más importantes y percibidos más positivamente que los no-Occidentales. Eventos políticos distantes, como la Revolución Francesa o Americana, fueron evaluados más positivamente que eventos similares del siglo XX, apoyando la hipótesis de la evaluación positiva del pasado lejano. La hipótesis del sesgo de recencia o proximidad fue parcialmente confirmada, ya que la II Guerra Mundial fue evaluada como más importante que revoluciones o guerras anteriores al siglo XX. El sesgo socio-céntrico también recibe apoyo parcial. Los africanos consideraron a Mandela como un líder más importante comparado con los otros participantes. Los Latinos americanos evaluaron Che Guevara menos positivamente, lo que sugiere que ciertos líderes son generalmente íconos idealizados, y su valoración positiva no se basa en la proximidad o la pertenencia grupal. Sin embargo, los resultados no apoyaron la hipótesis de la centralidad de la guerra. Las guerras fueron efectivamente evaluadas negativamente y la II Guerra Mundial fue evaluado como la guerra más importante y como un evento muy negativo. No obstante, las guerras y eventos políticos relacionados con la violencia no fueron percibidos como más importantes que la Revolución industrial, sugiriendo que las personas valoran la importancia general de los factores históricos socioeconómicos cuando responden a medidas cuantitativas cerradas (vs. medidas abiertas). Los resultados se analizan desde el marco teórico de las representaciones sociales de la Historia