AThEME: Advancing the European Multilingual Experience

AThEME is a collaborative research project studying multilingualism in Europe. This 5-year research project was set up with funding from the European Commission, and it runs from March 2014 until March 2019. The main objectives of the project are: (1) to investigate cognitive, linguistic and sociological issues in multilingual Europe, (2) to assess existing public policies and practices within the areas of education and health as well as their impact on multilingualism and (3) to contribute to evidence-based policy making. AThEME uses a range of research methodology and aims to raise awareness of multilingualism among policy makers, health professionals, academics and educators.Theoretical and Experimental Linguistic

The meaning of negation in the second language classroom: evidence from 'any'

This article brings together an experimental study involving L2 knowledge of negation in English and an analysis of how English language textbooks treat negation, in order to consider whether textbook explanations of negation could better exploit linguistic insights into negation. We focus on the English negative polarity item any, whose distribution is contingent on negation, whether through the explicit negator not or through lexical semantic negators (e.g. hardly). Our experiment compares Chinese-speaking learners with existing data from Arabic-speaking learners, finding lower accuracy on any with lexical semantic negators in both groups. Our textbook analysis reveals an approach to negation that is limited to form, focusing on the explicit negator not without explicit treatment of other types of negation. We propose that emphasizing the meaning of negation, with explicit treatment of the full range of negative forms could facilitate more complete acquisition across a range of grammatical properties where negation plays a role

Backward licensing of Negative Polarity Items in Dutch: an ERP investigation

This Event-related Potential (ERP) study examines the licensing of NPIs in Dutch in a grammatical configuration where the NPI linearly precedes its licensor. It investigates how the addition of modifiers at two different structural positions in the sentence affects differently the process of actively searching for an upcoming licensor. We measured the ERPs elicited at the licensor position by comparing conditions with modifiers at two different structural positions, with a control condition where no modifier was added, where all the tested conditions were grammatical. In addition, we examined whether adding different number of modifiers at the two structural positions affects the processing of the licensor differently. Our results show that there is a central anterior negativity elicited at the licensor in conditions with modifiers at the structural position where a licensor could occur in comparison to the control condition without modifiers. Further, there is an amplitude difference shown for the central anterior negativity when these conditions differ in the number of modifiers. In comparison, an ERP component with a reduced amplitude was elicited at the licensor for conditions with modifiers at a structural position where the licensor cannot occur, when compared with the control condition. We suggest that our results show evidence that the parser is sensitive to structural relations in the on-line licensing of NPIs.Theoretical and Experimental Linguistic