The Longitudinal Development of Lexical Network Knowledge in L2 Learners: Multiple Methods and Parallel Data

This dissertation analyzes the development of adult second language (L2) English learners’ depth of lexical knowledge over six months through a series of three longitudinal experimental studies. The goal of the project is to provide a better understanding of how the English lexicon develops over time in L2 learners. Methods employed include vocabulary size assessment, a word association task, lexical decision semantic priming, and the computational analysis of subjects’ spoken lexical output. Results found little evidence of longitudinal development in L2 subjects’ lexical network knowledge, with the exception of L2 word associations, which actually became less native-like over time. In addition, results indicated no observed relationship between vocabulary size and the dependent measures obtained in the three studies. This dissertation project has theoretical implications for our understanding of depth of lexical knowledge and its rate of development. The project also has methodological implications for future experimental and/or longitudinal investigations of the L2 lexicon

Uncovering the myth of learning to read Chinese characters: phonetic, semantic, and orthographic strategies used by Chinese as foreign language learners

Oral Session - 6A: Lexical modeling: no. 6A.3Chinese is considered to be one of the most challenging orthographies to be learned by non-native speakers, in particular, the character. Chinese character is the basic reading unit that converges sound, form and meaning. The predominant type of Chinese character is semantic-phonetic compound that is composed of phonetic and semantic radicals, giving the clues of the sound and meaning, respectively. Over the last two decades, psycholinguistic research has made significant progress in specifying the roles of phonetic and semantic radicals in character processing among native Chinese speakers …postprin

(Dis)connections between specific language impairment and dyslexia in Chinese

Poster Session: no. 26P.40Specific language impairment (SLI) and dyslexia describe language-learning impairments that occur in the absence of a sensory, cognitive, or psychosocial impairment. SLI is primarily defined by an impairment in oral language, and dyslexia by a deficit in the reading of written words. SLI and dyslexia co-occur in school-age children learning English, with rates ranging from 17% to 75%. For children learning Chinese, SLI and dyslexia also co-occur. Wong et al. (2010) first reported on the presence of dyslexia in a clinical sample of 6- to 11-year-old school-age children with SLI. The study compared the reading-related cognitive skills of children with SLI and dyslexia (SLI-D) with 2 groups of children …postprin

Astronomy and Literature | Canon and Stylometrics

This eighth issue of Interfaces contains two thematic clusters: the first cluster, entitled The Astronomical Imagination in Literature through the Ages, is edited by Dale Kedwards; the second cluster, entitled Medieval Authorship and Canonicity in the Digital Age, is edited by Jeroen De Gussem and Jeroen Deploige

Meaning in Distributions : A Study on Computational Methods in Lexical Semantics

This study investigates the connection between lexical items' distributions and their meanings from the perspective of computational distributional operations. When applying computational methods in meaning-related research, it is customary to refer to the so-called distributional hypothesis, according to which differences in distributions and meanings are mutually correlated. However, making use of such a hypothesis requires critical explication of the concept of distribution and plausible arguments for why any particular distributional structure is connected to a particular meaning-related phenomenon. In broad strokes, the present study seeks to chart the major differences in how the concept of distribution is conceived in structuralist/autonomous and usage-based/functionalist theoretical families of contemporary linguistics. The two theoretical positions on distributions are studied for identifying how meanings could enter as enabling or constraining factors in them. The empirical part of the study comprises two case studies. In the first one, three pairs of antonymical adjectives (köyhä/rikas, sairas/terve and vanha/nuori) are studied distributionally. Very narrow bag-of-word vector representations of distributions show how the dimensions on which relevant distributional similarities are based already conflate unexpected and varied range of linguistic phenomena, spanning from syntax-oriented conceptual constrainment to connotations, pragmatic patterns and affectivity. Thus, the results simultaneously corroborate the distributional hypothesis and challenge its over-generalized, uncritical applicability. For the study of meaning, distributional and semantic spaces cannot be treated as analogous by default. In the second case study, a distributional operation is purposefully built for answering a research question related to historical development of Finnish social law terminology in the period of 1860–1910. Using a method based on interlinked collocation networks, the study shows how the term vaivainen (‘pauper, beggar, measly’) receded from the prestigious legal and administrative registers during the studied period. Corroborating some of the findings of the previous parts of this dissertation, the case study shows how structures found in distributional representations cannot be satisfactorily explained without relying on semantic, pragmatic and discoursal interpretations. The analysis leads to confirming the timeline of the studied word use in the given register. It also shows how the distributional methods based on networked patterns of co-occurrence highlight incomparable structures of very different nature and skew towards frequent occurrence types prevalent in the data.Nykyaikaiset laskennalliset menetelmät suorittavat suurista tekstiaineistoista koottujen tilastollisten mallien avulla lähes virheettömästi monia sanojen merkitysten ymmärtämistä edellyttäviä tehtäviä. Kielitieteellisen metodologian kannalta onkin kiinnostavaa, miten tällaiset menetelmät sopivat kiellisten rakenteiden merkitysten lingvistiseen tutkimukseen. Tämä väitöstutkimus lähestyy kysymystä sanasemantiikan näkökulmasta ja pyrkii sekä teoreettisesti että empiirisesti kuvaamaan minkälaisia merkityksen lajeja pelkkiin sanojen sekvensseihin perustuvat laskennalliset menetelmät kykenevät tavoittamaan. Väitöstutkimus koostuu kahdesta osatutkimuksesta, joista ensimmäisessä tutkitaan kolmea vastakohtaista adjektiiviparia Suomi24-aineistosta kootun vektoriavaruusmallin avulla. Tulokset osoittavat, miten jo hyvin rajatut sekvenssiympäristöt sisältävät informaatiota käsitteellisten merkitysten lisäksi myös muun muassa niiden konnotaatioista ja affektiivisuudesta. Sekvenssiympäristön tuottama kuva merkityksestä on kuitenkin kattavuudeltaan ennalta-arvaamaton ja ne kielekäyttötavat, jotka tutkimusaineistossa ovat yleisiä vaikuttavat selvästi siihen mitä merkityksen piirteitä tulee näkyviin. Toisessa osatutkimuksessa jäljitetään erään sosiaalioikeudellisen termin, vaivaisen, historiaa 1800-luvun loppupuolella Kansalliskirjaston historiallisesta digitaalisesta sanomalehtikokoelmasta. Myötäesiintymäverkostojen avulla pyritään selvittämään miten se katosi oikeuskielestä tunnistamalla aineistosta hallinnollis-juridista rekisteriä vastaava rakenne ja seuraamalla vaivaisen asemaa siinä. Menetelmänä käytetyt myötäesiintymäverkostot eivät kuitenkaan edusta puhtaasti mitään tiettyä rekisteriä, vaan sekoittavat itseensä piirteitä erilaisista kategorioista, joilla kielen käyttöä on esimerkiksi tekstintutkimuksessa kuvattu. Tiheimmät verkostot muodostuvat rekisterien, genrejen, tekstityyppien ja sanastollisen koheesion yhteisvaikutuksesta. Osatutkimuksen tulokset antavat viitteitä siitä, että tämä on yleinen piirre monissa samankaltaisissa menetelmissä, mukaan lukien yleiset aihemallit

Grammatical gender and linguistic complexity : Volume II: World-wide comparative studies

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