55 research outputs found

    ERP evidence for different strategies in the processing of case markers in native speakers and non-native learners

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    BACKGROUND: The present experiments were designed to test how the linguistic feature of case is processed in Japanese by native and non-native listeners. We used a miniature version of Japanese as a model to compare sentence comprehension mechanisms in native speakers and non-native learners who had received training until they had mastered the system. In the first experiment we auditorily presented native Japanese speakers with sentences containing incorrect double nominatives and incorrect double accusatives, and with correct sentences. In the second experiment we tested trained non-natives with the same material. Based on previous research in German we expected an N400-P600 biphasic ERP response with specific modulations depending on the violated case and whether the listeners were native or non-native. RESULTS: For native Japanese participants the general ERP response to the case violations was an N400-P600 pattern. Double accusatives led to an additional enhancement of the P600 amplitude. For the learners a native-like P600 was present for double accusatives and for double nominatives. The additional negativity, however, was present in learners only for double nominative violations, and it was characterized by a different topographical distribution. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that native listeners use case markers for thematic as well as syntactic structure building during incremental sentence interpretation. The modulation of the P600 component for double accusatives possibly reflects case specific syntactic restrictions in Japanese. For adult language learners later processes, as reflected in the P600, seem to be more native-like compared to earlier processes. The anterior distribution of the negativity and its selective emergence for canonical sentences were taken to suggest that the non-native learners resorted to a rather formal processing strategy whereby they relied to a large degree on the phonologically salient nominative case marker

    Negative Transfer Effects on L2 Word Order Processing

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    Does first language (L1) word order affect the processing of non-canonical but grammatical syntactic structures in second language (L2) comprehension? In the present study, we test whether L1-Spanish speakers of L2-Basque process subject-verb-object (SVO) and object-verb-subject (OVS) non-canonical word order sentences of Basque in the same way as Basque native speakers. Crucially, while OVS orders are non-canonical in both Spanish and Basque, SVO is non-canonical in Basque but is the canonical word order in Spanish. Our electrophysiological results showed that the characteristics of L1 affect the processing of the L2 even at highly proficient and early-acquired bilingual populations. Specifically, in the non-native group, we observed a left anterior negativity-like component when comparing S and O at sentence initial position and a P600 when comparing those elements at sentence final position. Those results are similar of those reported by Casado et al. (2005) for native speakers of Spanish indicating that L2-Basque speakers rely in their L1-Spanish when processing SVO-OVS word order sentences. Our results favored the competition model (MacWhinney, 1997).This research has been supported by grants from the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitivad and Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (FFI2015-64183-P and RYC-2010-06520) and the Basque Government (IT665-13)

    THE COMPARISON OF L1 AND L2 CASE PROCESSING: ERP EVIDENCE FROM TURKISH

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    This dissertation investigates the morphological and morphosyntactic processing of case-marking by native and nonnative speakers of Turkish, through behavioral and electrophysiological responses. The study explores the locus of case processing costs during first (L1) and second language (L2) word recognition both in isolation and in sentences. It identifies the factors leading to persistent problems that late L2 learners face in attaining native-like processing of case assignment. To this end, the first experiment (a visual lexical decision task) examines whether different case forms generate differential processing costs, based on four main comparisons that reflect case properties and its status in the inflectional paradigm: 1) structural (genitive, accusative) vs. lexical (dative) case; 2) argument (accusative, dative) vs. non-argument (genitive); 3) higher (genitive) vs. lower type frequency (accusative, dative), and 4) citation form (nominative) vs. oblique cases (genitive, accusative, dative). The behavioral findings show significantly larger processing costs (i.e., longer reaction times and lower accuracy rates) for the genitive than the nominative case (citation form) across both subject groups, and than other oblique cases in L2 group only. ERP findings show significantly larger processing costs for the genitive than the accusative, and for the dative than the accusative only in L2 group. When the same case-inflected nouns were placed in a sentence context, larger N400 effects were found for the genitive, compared to the nominative and accusative in L1 group only. Together, these results suggest that different case forms generate differential processing costs in both subject groups, and L2 learners’ difficulty with the non-argument genitive and lexical dative oblique cases are at the level of form rather than sentence structure. The second (sentence) experiment also examined the processing of case errors (i.e., substitution of the accusative for the dative or vice versa on the object). ERP findings show a qualitative difference between L1 and L2 morphosyntactic patterns: P600 was missing while early negativities (N400 and left anterior negativity, LAN) were present in L2 group. These results suggest that advanced L2 learners evaluate the verb argument structure (LAN) and semantic fit (N400), but do not attempt to reparse the sentence (P600), unlike native speakers

    More than one language in the brain

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    Boeckx C., M.C. Horno & J.L. Mendívil (Eds.)[EN] What difference does it make to have one language in the brain or to have more than one? This is an intriguing and currently much inquired question, which can help us unravel more than one mystery concerning language and the brain. At present, we only know bits and pieces of the answer. As research progresses and more pieces of this large and complex puzzle fit together, we discover some general outlines of the answer, and realize the intricacies of the detail. In this chapter, I will attempt to keep our eyes set in that general outline, occasionally dwelling into a detail or two, in the hope of giving you a glimpse of how research is conducted in this field of inquiry.Spanish Ministry of Education and Science within the program CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 (BRAINGLOT CSD2007-00012), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (FFI2009-09695), and the Basque Council for Education, Universities and Research (IT414-10

    Musical training modulates the early but not the late stage of rhythmic syntactic processing

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    Syntactic processing is essential for musical understanding. Although the processing of harmonic syntax has been well studied, very little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying rhythmic syntactic processing. The present study investigated the neural processing of rhythmic syntax and whether and to what extent long-term musical training impacts such processing. Fourteen musicians and 14 nonmusicians listened to syntactic-regular or -irregular rhythmic sequences and judged the completeness of these sequences. Musicians, as well as nonmusicians, showed a P600 effect to syntactic-irregular endings, indicating that musical exposure and perceptual learning of music are sufficient to enable nonmusicians to process rhythmic syntax at the late stage. However, musicians, but not nonmusicians, also exhibited an ERAN response to syntactic-irregular endings, which suggests that musical training only modulates the early but not the late stage of rhythmic syntactic processing. These findings revealed for the first time the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of rhythmic syntax in music, which has important implications for theories of hierarchically-organized music cognition and comparative studies of syntactic processing in music and language

    The Effect Of Input Modality On Pronunciation Accuracy Of English Language Learners

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    The issues relative to foreign accent continue to puzzle second language researchers, educators, and learners today. Although once thought to be at the root, maturational constraints have fallen short of definitively accounting for the myriad levels and rates of phonological attainment (Bialystok & Miller, 1999, p. 128). This study, a Posttest-only Control Group Design, examined how the pronunciation accuracy of adult, English language learners, as demonstrated by utterance length, was related to two input stimuli: auditory-only input and auditoryorthographic input. Utterance length and input modality were further examined with the added variables of native language, specifically Arabic and Spanish, and second language proficiency as defined by unofficial TOEFL Listening Comprehension and Reading Comprehension section scores. Results from independent t tests indicated a statistically significant difference in utterance length based on input modality (t(192) = -3.285. p = .001), while with the added variable of native language, factorial ANOVA results indicated no statistically significance difference for the population studied. In addition, multiple linear regression analyses examined input modality and second language proficiency as predictors of utterance length accuracy and revealed a statistically significant relationship (R 2 = .108, adjusted R 2 = .089, F(3, 144) = 5.805, p = .001), with 11% of the utterance length variance accounted for by these two factors predictors. Lastly, hierarchical regressions applied to two blocks of factors revealed statistical significance: (a) input modality/native language (R 2 = .069, adjusted R 2 = .048, F(2, 87) = 3.230, p = .044) and ListenComp (R 2 = .101, adjusted R 2 = .070, F(3, 86) = 3.232, p = .026), with ListenComp iv increasing the predictive power by 3%; (b) input modality/native language (R 2 = .069, adjusted R 2 = .048, F(2, 87) = 3.230, p = .044) and ReadComp (R 2 = .112, adjusted R 2 = .081, F(1, 86) = 3.629, p = .016), with ReadComp increasing the predictive power by 4%; and (c) input modality/native language (R 2 = .069, adjusted R 2 = .048, F(2, 87) = 3.230, p = .044) and ListenComp/ReadComp (R 2 = .114, adjusted R 2 = .072, F(2, 85) = 2.129, p = .035), with ListenComp/ReadComp increasing the predictive power by 4%. The implications of this research are that by considering issues relative to input modality and second language proficiency levels especially when teaching new vocabulary to adult second language learners, the potential for improved pronunciation accuracy is maximized. Furthermore, the heightened attention to the role of input modality as a cognitive factor on phonological output in second language teaching and learning may redirect the manner in which target language phonology is approached

    Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying Second Language Listening Comprehension

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    This dissertation research investigates the cognitive mechanisms underlying second language (L2) listening comprehension. I use three types of sentential contexts, congruent, neutral and incongruent, to look at how L2 learners construct meaning in spoken sentence comprehension. The three types of contexts differ in their context predictability. The last word in a congruent context is highly predictable (e.g., Children are more affected by the disease than adults), the last word in a neutral context is likely but not highly predictable (e.g., Children are more affected by the disease than nurses), and the last word in an incongruent context is impossible (e.g., Children are more affected by the disease than chairs). The study shows that, for both native speakers and L2 learners, a consistent context facilitates word recognition. In contrast, an inconsistent context inhibits native speakers’ word recognition but not that of L2 learners. I refer to this new discovery as the facilitation-without-inhibition phenomenon in L2 listening comprehension. Results from follow-up experiments show that this facilitation-without-inhibition phenomenon is a result of insufficient suppression by L2 learners

    Second Language Processing Shows Increased Native-Like Neural Responses after Months of No Exposure

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    Although learning a second language (L2) as an adult is notoriously difficult, research has shown that adults can indeed attain native language-like brain processing and high proficiency levels. However, it is important to then retain what has been attained, even in the absence of continued exposure to the L2—particularly since periods of minimal or no L2 exposure are common. This event-related potential (ERP) study of an artificial language tested performance and neural processing following a substantial period of no exposure. Adults learned to speak and comprehend the artificial language to high proficiency with either explicit, classroom-like, or implicit, immersion-like training, and then underwent several months of no exposure to the language. Surprisingly, proficiency did not decrease during this delay. Instead, it remained unchanged, and there was an increase in native-like neural processing of syntax, as evidenced by several ERP changes—including earlier, more reliable, and more left-lateralized anterior negativities, and more robust P600s, in response to word-order violations. Moreover, both the explicitly and implicitly trained groups showed increased native-like ERP patterns over the delay, indicating that such changes can hold independently of L2 training type. The results demonstrate that substantial periods with no L2 exposure are not necessarily detrimental. Rather, benefits may ensue from such periods of time even when there is no L2 exposure. Interestingly, both before and after the delay the implicitly trained group showed more native-like processing than the explicitly trained group, indicating that type of training also affects the attainment of native-like processing in the brain. Overall, the findings may be largely explained by a combination of forgetting and consolidation in declarative and procedural memory, on which L2 grammar learning appears to depend. The study has a range of implications, and suggests a research program with potentially important consequences for second language acquisition and related fields

    FROM SOUND TO MEANING: QUANTIFYING CONTEXTUAL EFFECTS IN RESOLUTION OF L2 PHONOLEXICAL AMBIGUITY

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    In order to comprehend speech, listeners have to combine low-level phonetic information about the incoming auditory signal with higher-order contextual information. Unlike native listeners, nonnative listeners perceive speech sounds through the prism of their native language, which sometimes results in perceptual ambiguity in their second language. Across four experiments, both behavioral and electrophysiological, this dissertation provides evidence that such perceptual ambiguity causes words to become temporarily indistinguishable. To comprehend meaning, nonnative listeners disambiguate words through accessing their semantic, syntactic and morphological characteristics. Syntactic and semantic cues produce a stronger context effect than morphological cues in both native and nonnative groups. Thus, although nonnative representations may differ in that they may lack phonological specification, the mechanisms associated with the use of higher-order contextual information for meaning resolution in auditory sentence comprehension are essentially the same in the native and nonnative language
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