Parametric clustering nell’acquisizione di Pro-drop in l2. Il parametro del soggetto nullo nell’italiano L2

This paper explores the idea of parametric clustering in Second Language Acquisition, specifically concerning the case of Pro-drop in Italian L2. The experiment hereby proposed aims at exanimating the cluster of properties related to the Parameter taken into account and how these affect L2 learners with a diametrically opposed Pro-drop parametric value in their L1. It consists in testing how French and German learners interpret non-explicitly related phenomena in Italian L2, such as subject-verb inversion, expletive subjects, that-trace effect. The results lead to new questions concerning the existence of a clustered transfer of properties in Second Language Acquisition.

The rhythms of language: an overview of linguistic processes and neural oscillations

For the last decades neuroscientists have grown interest in the analysis of the rhythmic activity of the brain synchronized at temporal and spatial level. These neural oscillations, grouped by their frequency, have been proposed to govern all cognitive processes. In the field of the neurobiology of language, considerable research has linked speech processing and language comprehension to neural oscillations. On one hand, neural rhythmic activity is thought to synchronize to relevant spectral information of speech on three-time scales – which physically reflect phoneme, syllable and phrase processing. On the other hand, syntactic and semantic processing is subserved by faster oscillatory patterns not necessarily related to the acoustic properties of speech. For each linguistic process, this article summarizes the neural oscillations involved. Further evidence comes from studies on language-related pathologies