741,749 research outputs found
Word order variation in interrogative structures of native and non-native French
Inter-individual variation in the use of direct interrogative structures (N=450) is explored in a corpus of spoken native and non-native French. A quantitative analysis of the data reveals that while non-native speakers seem to avoid non-standard structures, they do not use more formal variants systematically. Comparison with data from other native and non-native corpora reveals important differences in the frequency of particular interrogative structures. The choice of interrogative structure seems to be influenced by a number of situational, pragmatic and socio-stylistic variables
The vernacularization of non-native items in early english medical writing
Early Modern English is characterised by an extraordinary lexical growth motivated by two main linguistic processes, borrowing and word-formation (Nevalainen 1999: 332). Within affixation, prefixation grew more than suffixation in early Modern English, probably because prefixes have fewer word-class restrictions and do not change the word-class of the base (Nevalainen 1999: 335). Thus, native and non-native forms competed to achieve a position in the lexicon. This not only increased the English vocabulary, but also modified the traditional derivational system of the language by the introduction of foreign affixes. As far as we have investigated, the topic has been discussed in Present-Day English and in the history of English. However, the literature is still in need of quantitative and qualitative research in the field of early English medical writing. Therefore, the present paper pursues the following objectives: 1) to analyse the use of the native prefix un- and the non-native dis-, in- and non- in early English medical writing; 2) to assess the distribution of these prefixes across genres; 3) to calculate the morphological productivity of the negative prefixes under study; and 4) to evaluate the contribution of qualitative factors, i.e. the origin of the bases, the different word-classes, and the competion among the different negative prefixes. The data come from the Corpus of Early English Medical Writing.Universidad de MĂĄlaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional AndalucĂa Tech
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Lexical stress constrains English-learning infants' segmentation in a non-native language.
Infants' ability to segment words in fluent speech is affected by their language experience. In this study we investigated the conditions under which infants can segment words in a non-native language. Using the Head-turn Preference Procedure, we found that monolingual English-learning 8-month-olds can segment bisyllabic words in Spanish (trochees and iambs) but not French (iambs). Our results are incompatible with accounts that rely on distributional learning, language rhythm similarity, or target word prosodic shape alone. Instead, we show that monolingual English-learning infants are able to segment words in a non-native language as long as words have stress, as is the case in English. More specifically, we show that even in a rhythmically different non-native language, English-learning infants can find words by detecting stressed syllables and treating them as word onsets or offsets
Late Bilinguals Are Sensitive to Unique Aspects of Second Language Processing: Evidence from Clitic Pronouns Word-Order.
In two self-paced reading experiments we asked whether late, highly proficient, English-Spanish bilinguals are able to process language-specific morpho-syntactic information in their second language (L2). The processing of Spanish clitic pronouns' word order was tested in two sentential constructions. Experiment 1 showed that English-Spanish bilinguals performed similarly to Spanish-English bilinguals and revealed sensitivity to word order violations for a grammatical structure unique to the L2. Experiment 2 replicated the pattern observed for native speakers in Experiment 1 with a group of monolingual Spanish speakers, demonstrating the stability of processing clitic pronouns in the native language. Taken together, the results show that late bilinguals can process aspects of grammar that are encoded in L2-specific linguistic constructions even when the structure is relatively subtle and not affected for native speakers by the presence of a second language
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Effects of Different Types of Noise on Foreign Accent Adaptation
Understanding foreign-accented speech can be difficult. Comprehension can be further compromised by environmental noise. Previous research has shown that listeners are able to adapt rapidly to a foreign accent. The present study examines how foreign accent (FA) adaptation is affected by two kinds of noise: speech-shaped white noise and competing speech. Native English listeners heard blocks of sentences produced by native-accented or foreign-accented talkers (Korean, Spanish) mixed with either type of noise, and indicated if the word written on the screen and the last word they heard were the same by pressing a button. Results show that listener responses were more accurate (though slower) when sentences were mixed with competing speech than with speech-shaped white noise. These findings suggest that while competing speech made word recognition more effortful, ultimately it was less disruptive than white noise for FA adaptation.Linguistic
Morphologically complex words in L1 and L2 processing: Evidence from masked priming experiments in English
This paper reports results from masked priming experiments investigating regular past-tense forms and deadjectival nominalizations with -ness and -ity in adult native (L1) speakers of English and in different groups of advanced adult second language (L2) learners of English. While the L1 group showed efficient priming for both inflected and derived word forms, the L2 learners demonstrated repetition-priming effects (like the L1 group), but no priming for inflected and reduced priming for derived word forms. We argue that this striking contrast between L1 and L2 processing supports the view that adult L2 learners rely more on lexical storage and less on combinatorial processing of morphologically complex words than native speakers.</jats:p
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Co-construction of Word Search Activities in Native and Non-native Speaker Interaction
This paper examines the co-construction of word search activities between native and non-native speakers of English. Word searching occurs when two interlocutors use joint resources to retrieve a word that is alluding one of the interlocutors in conversation. Word searches are highly prevalent in interaction, often becoming a central activity in non-native discourse. The focus of this article is twofold: first, on the sequential organization of the word search activity, and second, on the public structure of word searches. Using video recordings of English tutoring sessions and social gatherings of native and non-native speakers of English, the detailed practice of word searching was analyzed in this study. It examines the interactional process through which a distributed responsibility of participants for sequential coherence, meaning, and events is co-constructed (Jacoby & Ochs, 1995). This article argues that a word search activity is a social action, and interactions between native and non-native speakers of English demonstrate the ways through which participants coordinate this sequential and public action
Combined Acoustic and Pronunciation Modelling for Non-Native Speech Recognition
In this paper, we present several adaptation methods for non-native speech
recognition. We have tested pronunciation modelling, MLLR and MAP non-native
pronunciation adaptation and HMM models retraining on the HIWIRE foreign
accented English speech database. The ``phonetic confusion'' scheme we have
developed consists in associating to each spoken phone several sequences of
confused phones. In our experiments, we have used different combinations of
acoustic models representing the canonical and the foreign pronunciations:
spoken and native models, models adapted to the non-native accent with MAP and
MLLR. The joint use of pronunciation modelling and acoustic adaptation led to
further improvements in recognition accuracy. The best combination of the above
mentioned techniques resulted in a relative word error reduction ranging from
46% to 71%
What do English speakers know about gera-gera and yota-yota?: A cross-linguistic investigation of mimetic words for laughing and walking
The relation between word form and meaning is considered arbitrary; however, Japanese mimetic words, giseigo and gitaigo , are exceptions. For giseigo (words mimicking voices), there is a direct resemblance(âiconicityâ) between the sound of the word and the sound it refers to; for gitaigo (words that mimic manners/states) there is a symbolic relationship (âsound symbolismâ) between the
sound and the manner/state to which the word refers. While native speakers intuitively recognize these relationships, it is questionable whether speakers of other languages are able to access the meaning of Japanese mimetic words from their sounds. In the current study, we asked native English
speakers with no prior experience with the Japanese language to listen to Japanese mimetic words for laughing (giseigo) and for walking (gitaigo), and rate each wordâs meaning on semantic differential scales (e.g.,âGRACEFUL-VULGARâ(laughing,âGRACEFUL-CLUMSYâ(walking). We compared English and Japanese speakersâ ratings and found that English speakers construed many of the features of laughing in a similar manner as Japanese native speakers (e.g., words containing /a/ were rated as more amused, cheerful, nice and pleasant laughs). They differed only with regard to a few sound-meaning relationships of an evaluative nature (e.g., words for laughing containing /u/ were
rated as more feminine and graceful, and those containing /e/ were rated as less graceful and unpleasant). In contrast, for the words referring to walking, English speakersâ ratings differed greatly from native Japanese speakersâ. Native Japanese speakers rated words beginning with voiced consonants as referring to a big person walking with big strides, and words beginning with voiceless consonants as more even-paced, feminine and formal walking; English speakers were sensitive only to the relation between voiced consonants and a big person walking. Hence, some sound-meaning associations were language-specific. This study also confirmed the more conventional and lexicalized nature of the mimetic words of manner
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