Eye-tracking multi-word units: some methodological questions

Eye-tracking in linguistics has focused mainly on reading at the level of the word or sentence. In this paper we discuss how the phenomenon of formulaic language might best be examined using this methodology. Formulaic language is fundamentally multi-word in nature, therefore an approach to eye-tracking that considers the “word” as the basic unit of analysis may require re-evaluation. We review the existing literature on single word and sentence processing, and also those studies that have used eye-tracking as a way of investigating formulaic language to date. We discuss how eye-tracking might elucidate the “added extra” processing advantage for formulaic language. We conclude with some suggestions about the best way to utilise eye-tracking within this sub-field of linguistic investigation

Getting your wires crossed: Evidence for fast processing of L1 idioms in an L2

Monolingual speakers show priming for idiomatic sequences (e.g. a pain in the neck) relative to matched controls (e.g. a pain in the foot); single word translation equivalents show cross-language activation (e.g. dog–chien) for bilinguals. If the lexicon is heteromorphic (Wray, 2002), larger units may show cross-language priming in the same way as single words. We used the initial words of English idioms (e.g. to spill the . . . beans) and transliterated Chinese idioms (e.g. draw a snake and add . . . feet) as primes for the final words in a lexical decision task with high proficiency Chinese–English bilinguals and English monolinguals. Bilinguals responded to targets significantly faster when they completed a Chinese idiom (e.g. feet) than when they were presented with a matched control word (e.g. hair). The results are discussed in terms of conceptual activation and lexical translation processes, and are also incorporated into a dual route model of formulaic and novel language processing

Mental Simulation in the Processing of Literal and Metaphorical Motion Language: An Eye Movement Study

An eye-tracking while listening study based on the blank screen paradigm was conducted to investigate the processing of literal and metaphorical verbs of motion. The study was based on two assumptions from the litera- ture: that language comprehension by default engages mental simulation, and that looking behavior (measured through patterns of eye movements) can provide a window into ongoing cognitive processes. This study specifi- cally compared the comprehension of sentences that depicted actual physi- cal motion (the curtain is rising) and sentences that described changes in quantity or emotional states in terms of vertical motion (prices are rising). Results showed that eye movements were selectively biased upward or downward in accordance with the direction implied by the verb, regardless of the context (literal or metaphorical) in which they appeared, and in the absence of any visual stimuli or explicit task. Thus, these findings suggest that literal and metaphorical language drive spontaneous, direction-specific mental simulations captured by eye movements and that at least in the case of verbs presented in the present progressive, which emphasizes the ongoing nature of actions, visual biases along the vertical axis may start during the verb itself

Words go together like ‘bread and butter’: The rapid, automatic acquisition of lexical patterns

While it is possible to express the same meaning in different ways (‘bread and butter’ versus ‘butter and bread’), we tend to say things in the same way. As much as half of spoken discourse is made up of formulaic language, or linguistic patterns. Despite its prevalence, little is known about how the processing system treats novel patterns and how rapidly a sensitivity to them arises in natural contexts. To address this, we monitored native English speakers’ eye movements when reading short stories containing existing (conventional) patterns (‘time and money’), seen once, and novel patterns (‘wires and pipes’), seen 1-5 times. Subsequently readers saw both existing and novel phrases in the reversed order (‘money and time’; ‘pipes and wires’). In 4-5 exposures, much like existing lexical patterns, novel ones demonstrate a processing advantage. Sensitivity to lexical patterns – including the co-occurrence of lexical items and the order in which they occur – arises rapidly and automatically during natural reading. This has implications for language learning and is in line with usage-based models of language processing

Is All Formulaic Language Created Equal? Unpacking the Processing Advantage for Different Types of Formulaic Sequences

Research into recurrent, highly conventionalised ‘formulaic’ sequences has shown a processing advantage compared to ‘novel’ (non-formulaic) language. Studies of individual types of formulaic sequence often acknowledge the contribution of specific factors, but little work exists to compare the processing of different types of phrases with fundamentally different properties. We use eye-tracking to compare the processing of three types of formulaic phrases–idioms, binomials and collocations–and consider whether overall frequency can explain the advantage for all three, relative to control phrases. Results show an advantage, as evidenced through shorter reading times, for all three types. While overall phrase frequency contributes much of the processing advantage, different types of phrase do show additional effects according to the specific properties that are relevant to each type: frequency, familiarity and decomposability for idioms; predictability and semantic association for binomials; and mutual information for collocations. We discuss how the results contribute to our understanding of the representation and processing of multiword lexical units more broadly

Found in translation: The Influence of the L1 on the Reading of Idioms in a L2

© 2016 Cambridge University Press. Formulaic language represents a challenge to even the most proficient of language learners. Evidence is mixed as to whether native and nonnative speakers process it in a fundamentally different way, whether exposure can lead to more nativelike processing for nonnatives, and how L1 knowledge is used to aid comprehension. In this study we investigated how advanced nonnative speakers process idioms encountered in their L2. We used eye-tracking to see whether a highly proficient group of L1 Swedes showed any evidence of a formulaic processing advantage for English idioms. We also compared translations of Swedish idioms and congruent idioms (items that exist in both languages) to see how L1 knowledge is utilized during online processing. Results support the view that L1 knowledge is automatically used from the earliest stages of processing, regardless of whether sequences are congruent, and that exposure and advanced proficiency can lead to nativelike formulaic processing in the L2

Challenges in editing late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century prose fiction: what is editorial “completeness”?

Guy, Scott, Conklin, and Carrol join forces to analyze controversial questions about multi-volume variorum editions of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century writers such as Wilde, Conrad, Woolf, James, and Wyndam Lewis. What prompted such ambitious, costly editions that take years to complete? How do editors plan to compete with the many popular and scholarly editions readily available? Controversy has also emerged about the readership for these projects and how editorial principles have changed. At center is the thorny question of the role of an editor's value judgments and the "completeness" of an edition. On what grounds can a variorum edition claim to be "definitive"? Is there a better means of determining the "meaningfulness" of textual variants than a reliance on editorial judgment alone? Guy and company offer a timely consideration of variorum editions, the kinds of textual data such editorial scholarship provides and its relevance to literary critical judgments