Chinese Speakers Research Articles

Transitional probability between characters as a component of sentence processing in Chinese

Abstract This study explores the role of transitional probability (TP) in sentence processing in Chinese, a writing system that presents unique challenges due to its character-based structure and lack of word boundaries. The research investigates how the statistical regularities of character meaning, as captured by TP, aid in word segmentation and impact reading comprehension. Utilizing a moving window task, the study examines the processing speed of characters in high versus low TP conditions. Findings reveal that characters in high TP bigram conditions (indicating a consistent semantic association within a bigram) are processed more quickly, underscoring the importance of this statistical property of characters in Chinese sentence reading. These findings challenge conventional notions in Chinese linguistics concerning the relationship between characters, morphemes, and semantics, and suggests an alternative perspective on (and the need for reevaluation of) character-level semantics. The study also highlights the influence of prosodic context on reading speed, indicating that anticipatory linguistic patterns shape reader processing.

Analysis of Motivation in My English Learning Experience

In recent decades, China has witnessed great developments in its economy, intercultural communication, and English education. English was a compulsory course taught in secondary schools and first two years of universities as a foreign language in most places. The large number of English learners leads to many sophisticated researches focusing on English education in China. Motivation is an essential factor in mastering a second language. This essay aims to investigate the motivation in my 13 years’ English learning and its influences on my actual learning process, and thus promote English education in China. Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System was chosen as a guided theory since it combines a lot of important theoretical L2 approaches and elaborated motivation in a rather comprehensive way. In this essay, I will first briefly discuss the concept of L2 Motivational Self System. Then, I will analyse how the motivations affect my learning process with the guidance of L2 Motivation Self System. Finally, I will explore the effective application of this theory in teaching English to Chinese speakers.

Component analysis using UPLC-Q-TOF/MS and quality evaluation using fingerprinting and chemometrics for hops

Hops, extensively cultivated in China for their food and medicinal applications, currently lack well-defined chemical markers to evaluate variations in their quality. The study aimed to explore variations in the quality of Chinese hops by the chemical characteristics of hops, employing UPLC-Q-TOF/MS, integrated with chemical fingerprinting and chemometrics. The results indicated that Chinese hops are abundant in polyphenols and bitter acids. The integration of UPLC-Q-TOF/MS, Chemical fingerprinting, and chemometrics revealed to be an accurate and effective approach for assessing the quality of Chinese hops. In this study, ten important chemical markers were found to be useful in differentiating various hop varieties. Moreover, the support vector machine showed a prediction accuracy of 92.3077% in identifying Chinese hop varieties. The strategy of the study lays the groundwork for classifying Chinese hop varieties and serves as a prerequisite for future quality control studies, particularly focusing on chemical compositions.

Evaluating Self-Study Practices and Needs for Chinese Idioms among Upper-Year Students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education

Evaluating Self-Study Practices and Needs for Chinese Idioms among Upper-Year Students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education

Syntactic and typological properties of constrained language: A study based on dependency treebanks of translated English and non-native English

AbstractTo explore if translation-intrinsic features are apparent in other types of bilingualism-influenced constrained language use such as non-native production, this study approaches syntactic and typological properties of constrained English translated from Chinese and written by native Chinese speakers via two cognitively-motivated dependency metrics, viz. mean dependency distance (MDD) and dependency direction (DDir). Results of this study show that translated English (both L1 and L2) and non-native English differ from the non-constrained native English in a similar way yet to a slightly different extent, but not from each other in both indicators. Syntactically, bilingually-constrained varieties exhibit reduced syntactic complexity with shorter MDDs, suggesting a simplification tendency. Typologically, cross-linguistic influences are detected in constrained varieties for being more head-final in word-order primed by the source or native language Chinese. Surprisingly, it seems that language directionality affects, albeit marginally, the affinity between constrained varieties, with non-native English being more syntactically and typologically similar to translated English from L1 than from L2.

Native language advantage in electrical brain responses to speech sound changes in passive and active listening condition

It is not clear whether the brain can detect changes in native and non-native speech sounds in both unattended and attended conditions, but this information would be important to understand the nature of potential native language advantage in speech perception. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) for changes in duration and in Chinese lexical tone in a repeated vowel /a/ in native speakers of Finnish and Chinese in passive and active listening conditions. ERP amplitudes reflecting deviance detection (mismatch negativity; MMN and N2b) and attentional shifts towards changes in speech sounds (P3a and P3b) were investigated. In the passive listening condition, duration changes elicited increased amplitude in the MMN latency window for both standard and deviant sounds in the Finnish speakers compared to the Chinese speakers, but no group differences were observed for P3a. In passive listening to lexical tones, P3a was increased in amplitude for both standard and deviant stimuli in Chinese speakers compared to Finnish speakers, but the groups did not differ in MMN. In active listening, both tone and duration changes elicited N2b and P3b, but the groups differed only in pattern of results for the deviant type. The results thus suggest an overall increased sensitivity to native speech sounds, especially in passive listening, while the mechanisms of change detection and attentional shifting seem to work well for both native and non-native speech sounds in the attentive mode.

How Second Language English Learning Enhances Chinese Native Speakers‘ Linguistic Cognitive Skills

How Second Language English Learning Enhances Chinese Native Speakers‘ Linguistic Cognitive Skills

English

Soil salinity and poor-quality irrigation water in Florida, USA, have become major issues for agricultural crops. Since Florida is one of the major producers of cabbage in the country, soil salinization may significantly impact this industry. Chinese cabbage varieties are very popular in the farming community of Florida and are widely cultivated. In the present study, four Chinese cabbage varieties (‘Bilko’, ‘Red Dragon’, ‘Rubicon’, and ‘Minuet’) were tested for their tolerance, agronomic, physiological, and nutritional responses to irrigation with 0, 100, and 200 mM NaCl solutions. The results showed that NaCl irrigation has decreased the growth of the tested plants, with ‘Bilko’ being the most tolerant one, showing higher production in both control and salt stress conditions. Although NaCl stress has increased electrolyte leakage in plant leaves, it has no significant effect on proline contents, and chlorophyll contents tend to increase with salinity stress, highlighting the physiological responses of all tested varieties. Among nutritional contents, there were no significant differences, but a few treatment groups showed a significant increase and decrease in nutrient contents. The higher NaCl treatments have caused a higher accumulation of Na and Cl elements in plants, making it a major factor for the decrease in plant growth.

Recruitment strategies in a lung cancer screening program for Asian women with no smoking history.

e22514 Background: The Female Asian Nonsmoker Screening Study (FANSS) is a pilot study for eligible Asian women with no smoking history to provide low-dose CT (LDCT) Chest scans for lung cancer screening annually for 3 years. To recruit for the study, we took into consideration several factors including potential language barriers, low awareness of lung cancer incidence in non-smoking populations, and participant (pt) availability. Here we describe the use of various recruitment strategies to support enrollment to the FANSS study. Methods: Multimodal recruitment strategies for enrollment into FANSS were used. A dedicated phone line answered by receptionists able to speak English and several Chinese dialects was created. Research staff are bilingual or utilized telephonic interpretation services in all pt interactions. Informational flyers available in both English and Chinese were mailed to primary care physicians serving primarily Asian communities and posted in pharmacies and storefronts in NYC Chinatown. A website was developed for interested individuals to submit their contact information for further information. Working with our institutional Epic EMR, a list of all pts with active MyChart accounts was created with criteria “Asian,” “female,” “OK to contact for Research recruitment,” “age 40-74,” and excluded anyone with a smoking history and “Cancer” in the past 5 years. From this list, pts then were sent an IRB-approved recruitment message through MyChart from 3/2023-6/2023. Interested pts who reached out through the above methods were contacted by research staff to determine eligibility. All eligible pts who agreed to participate were consented either in-person or virtually to allow for schedule flexibility to review the consent. Results: From 3/5/21 to 1/27/24, 1518 women inquired about FANSS through our website, dedicated phone line or MyChart messages and were directly contacted by our team. After determination of eligibility, 760 pts had an informed consent discussion either virtually or in-person. From 3/5/21 to 3/2023, 247 pts underwent the consent process and 229 pts had a baseline LDCT. Following the intervention of directed MyChart messaging in 3/2023, 568 pts responded to the MyChart message indicating interest, however 102 pts were not eligible due to inaccurate info in their Epic medical record (i.e. ethnicity or smoking history). Overall, from 3/2023 to 1/27/24, 513 pts underwent the consent process. Among these, 90 subjects (18%) were recruited via MyChart. Conclusions: Recruitment to a lung cancer screening program in non-smokers is feasible, and specific considerations tailored to engage minority populations can improve enrollment such as bilingual staff and translated materials. The use of directed messaging through the Epic EMR is an important tool to identify potential pts which may be applied to aid in recruitment to other clinical trials or lung cancer screening programs.

Participant adherence in a lung cancer screening (LCS) program in a non-smoking population.

10556 Background: LCS guidelines in smoking populations includes an annual low-dose CT Chest (LDCT) scan. Historically, real-world adherence to repeat imaging following the baseline LDCT has been low at 22% (Silvestri et al. Chest 2023). Various reasons for non-adherence have been cited and can be amplified in populations where English is not the primary language, low health literacy, or logistical reasons that interfere with scheduling. We are conducting the Female Asian Nonsmoker Screening Study (FANSS), which is a pilot study for Asian women with no smoking history to provide LDCTs to this population. We describe the strategies utilized to address potential barriers to adherence and report the participant (pt) adherence observed to date for this population. Methods: FANSS is an IRB-approved trial that provides LDCTs annually for 3 years and has an interim follow-up phone call every 6 months. All aspects of the study other than the LDCT could be conducted virtually pending pt preference. All pt interactions were conducted in the pt’s requested language. LDCTs were interpreted according to Lung-RADS. Review of the LDCT results were available in-person or virtually by a nurse practitioner or the principal investigator. The timeline for the 2nd and 3rd LDCT after the baseline scan was determined as follows: pts with negative findings were recommended for a repeat LDCT in 1 year; pts with suspicious findings were reviewed at the NYU Multidisciplinary Nodule Board and recommended for a repeated LDCT in a 3 or 6 month interval. A bilingual (English and Chinese speaking) research coordinator and medical secretaries reached out to pts at their preferred contact (email, phone, or text) for scheduling the follow-up LDCT. Up to three attempts to reach pts to schedule their follow-up LDCT were made. Results: From 3/5/21 to 1/27/24, 634 subjects completed their baseline LDCTs. Language interpretation services were utilized in 30% of pts. As of 1/27/24, 215 pts were due for their 2nd LDCT: 195 (91%) completed (186) or scheduled (9) the LDCT, 5 pts withdrew their consent, and 15 did not complete the scan. The main reasons for not completing the scans were: living outside New York City, other health concerns, and lost to follow-up. As of 1/27/24, 95 pts were due for their 3rd LDCT: 87 (92%) completed (82) and scheduled (5) the LDCT, and 8 did not complete the scan due to being lost to follow-up. Conclusions: The FANSS population is a unique pt cohort comprised of all Asian women who do not qualify for current LCS guidelines. Interventions to address potential adherence issues were implemented. In our research-based setting, virtual conduct of most of the study procedures allowed pt flexibility. Pt outreach to ensure follow-up by contacting through various methods also ensured adherence of >90%. These interventions can be considered for use in other LCS programs to improve adherence to LCS follow-up.

Effect of Face Masks on Voice Quality Associated with Young and Older Chinese Adult Speakers

ObjectivesFace masks have become important after the pandemic, but the change in voice when wearing a face mask is still unclear. The study investigated the effect of face masks on the acoustic and perceptual characteristics of voice quality associated with young and older Chinese adults. MethodsVoice samples of the sustained vowel /a/ and continuous speech produced by 44 older and 61 young adults with and without an ASTM level-3 surgical face mask were recorded and analyzed. Perceptual and acoustic parameters including mean fundamental frequency (F0) and intensity, perturbation measures (jitter and shimmer), harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR), smoothed cepstral peak prominence (CPPs), and long-term average spectrum (LTAS) measures were obtained and compared. ResultsWhen comparing masked to unmasked voices, for both male and female speakers, F0 and intensity showed no significant changes, except for F0 of continuous speech, which increased significantly. Meanwhile, perturbation measures including jitter and shimmer were reduced, HNR and CPPs were increased, and LTAS measures encompass low frequency mean spectral energy (MSE), high frequency MSE, and spectral tilt (ST) were different. For perceptual measures, the overall grade of dysphonia, and roughness were reduced, except for the breathiness among older male speakers, while the other vocal qualities were not changed. Between young and older speakers, significant differences in shimmer, CPPs, and perceived breathiness among male speakers, and low frequency MSE among female speakers were found. ConclusionWearing a surgical mask appeared to change the perceived voice quality. This is supported by the change in perturbation and LTAS measures, and HNR and CPPs values. In addition, some differences between young and older male adults were observed. Communication effectiveness may be affected when wearing surgical masks due to changes in voice quality. Additionally, clinicians need to exercise caution in evaluating the voice quality of clients when wearing face masks.

Analysis and comparison of staminate flowers components in five Chinese walnut varieties

Analysis and comparison of staminate flowers components in five Chinese walnut varieties

Extraction process optimization and link evaluation of Reyanning Mixture based on quality by design idea

Reyanning Mixture is one of the superior Chinese patent medicine varieties of "Qin medicine". Based on the idea of quality by design(QbD), the extraction process of the Reyanning Mixture was optimized. The caffeic acid, polydatin, resveratrol, and emodin were used as critical quality attributes(CQAs). The material-liquid ratio, extraction temperature, and extraction time were taken as critical process parameters(CPPs) by the Plackett-Burman test. The mathematical model was established by the star design-effect surface method, and the design space was constructed and verified. The optimal extraction process of the Reyanning Mixture was obtained as follows: material-liquid ratio of 11.84 g·mL~(-1), extraction temperature at 81 ℃, and two extractions. A partial least-square(PLS) quantitative model for CQAs was established by using near-infrared spectroscopy(NIRS) combined with high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) under the optimal extraction process. The results showed that the correlation coefficients of the correction set(R_c) and validation set(R_p) of the quantitative models of four CQAs were more than 0.9. The root mean square error of the correction set(RMSEC) were 0.744, 6.71, 3.95, and 1.53 μg·mL~(-1), respectively, and the root mean square error of the validation set(RMSEP) were 0.709, 5.88, 2.92, and 1.59 μg·mL~(-1), respectively. Therefore, the optimized extraction process of the Reyanning Mixture is reasonable, feasible, stable, and reliable. The NIRS quantitative model has a good prediction, which can be used for the rapid content determination of CQAs during extraction. They can provide an experimental basis for the process research and quality control of Reyanning Mixture.

Characteristics of Chinese translation of drug names in advertisements

In recent years, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, cooperation among countries in the medical field has become increasingly important. Cooperation continues to develop, and more and more foreign products are appearing in the pharmaceutical market. This has led to an increasing interest in changing drug names to another language, especially Chinese. This article analyzes four methods for translating traditional Chinese medicine terminology in advertising: phonetic method, semantic method, hybrid method, and semantic method, while considering the particularity of traditional Chinese medicine. The research object is the particularity of translating foreign medical terms into Chinese. This article aims to analyze the methods of translating medical terminology into Chinese. In addition, a new translation method – a semantic approach with the particularity of traditional Chinese medicine – has been proposed. The research materials include medical terms and their Chinese translations. This article provides an example of a method for translating medical terminology into Chinese and proposes a new method for translating medical terminology – a semantic approach that takes into account the unique characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine.People have found that names translated using phonetic methods are usually associated with Latin words. When using semantic methods, select these hieroglyphs to indicate the exact action of the drug. The use of hybrid methods to translate drug names not only preserves the sound of the original language, but also includes information about the usefulness of the product. When translating into Chinese, English words with traditional Chinese medicine characteristics are usually added. When translating European drug names, considering the particularity of traditional Chinese medicine, the reality of Chinese language and culture is often added to make the operation of drugs easier for consumers to understand. Translation is usually supported through visualization, which refers to Chinese idioms and traditional cultural images.

Insertional code-switching as interactional resource in Mandarin–English bilingual conversation

Aims and Objectives: This study investigates the interactional relevance of insertional code-switching, that is, insertion of other-language words/phrases, in Mandarin–English bilingual conversation. It focuses on a next speaker’s (dis)alignment with an insertion in an adjacency pair and its import to the ongoing interaction. Methodology: This study adopts the framework of conversation analysis, which seeks to describe the underlying organization of talk-in-interaction. It features analyses warranted by techniques and signals in conversation that are demonstrably relevant to conversation participants. Data and Analysis: The data come from CallFriend Mandarin Corpus. Speakers are native speakers of Mandarin Chinese who resided in the United States at the time of recording. First, all instances of insertional code-switching were extracted with the extended context, filtering out those not occurring in an adjacency pair. Next, sequential analysis was conducted to examine the interactional import of a next speaker’s alignment and disalignment, respectively, when insertional code-switching occurs in an adjacency pair. Findings: This study discovers that a next speaker’s alignment with an insertion is sequentially preferred over disalignment. When different language choice over the same word occurs, speakers orient to it as problematic and then repair it, such that, alignment is achieved. Disalignment is used to claim the current speaker’s more authoritative status in the matter concerned. Originality: A large bulk of literature on insertional code-switching has focused on its syntactic constraints and semantic conditions; its interactional functions in bilingual conversation have not received as much attention. This study reveals that insertional code-switching works as an extra resource for bilingual speakers to achieve interactional alignment. Significance: This study challenges the view that insertional code-switching is not sequentially implicative by showing that it does place sequential constraints on the next speaker. It further argues that such sequential implicativeness can be exploited to establish finely calibrated alignment and index epistemic status.

Use of Long-Term Care Services by Older Persons with Limited English Proficiency

ABSTRACT Older migrants face special difficulties in the access and use of long-term care services and supports (LTSS). Our study was designed to examine how older persons with limited English proficiency (LEP) in two groups of migrants (Spanish or Chinese speaking) interact with the LTSS system. Focus groups were used to elicit information from members of these groups. We discovered Chinese elders were likely to believe that the LTSS services could, if managed properly, meet their needs, while the Spanish speakers were more skeptical. These differences were associated with the presence of trusted intermediaries among the Chinese elders who could represent their interests, while most Spanish speakers did not report having such intermediaries. In this way, trust, or lack of it, was uncovered as the key element defining older adults’ interactions with the formal health and social service systems. Findings will be used to develop a modeling method that will allow us to analyze results in a manner that can be extended to use with other migrant groups.

The syntactic variety and semantic unity of the V de resultative construction in Mandarin Chinese

Abstract The V de resultative construction has been an intriguing issue in Chinese linguistics. Theories have been put forth regarding what the morpheme de (here called de result to avoid confusion) does in this construction. In this article, the preexisting theories are empirically questioned. It is shown that the presence of de result is not obligatory when the result predicate takes some special forms. A procedural account is proposed of how the typical V de result construction and its variants deliver the same logical form although they involve different functional morphemes. As a bonus, this account provides an improved model explaining the phenomenon that the V de result construction can have multiple readings.

UNIVERSAL AND SPECIFIC IN THE FORMATION AND FUNCTION OF COMPOUND ABBREVIATED WORDS IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN AND CHINESE LANGUAGES

The purpose of the proposed study is to determine universal and specific features in the systems of compound abbreviated words of some Indo-European languages (Ukrainian, Polish, English, French, Italian, German), which are inflectional in their morphological nature and have letter graphics, and the Chinese language, which is the root language and has hieroglyphic graphics. The object of study is the abbreviations of the above-mentioned languages and trends in the functioning of these language units. The subject of research is the relationship between the derivatives of compound abbreviated units and those language units that act as creative for them. The material of the study was taken from several dictionaries of abbreviations, and many lists and realities available for review. In total, more than 4500 language units were considered, of which almost 1150 (in total from different languages) were analyzed. It should be noted that only those units that are formed from word combinations, i.e. compound abbreviated words, were studied; Abbreviations of one word were not considered as an object of analysis. The main methods of research are general methods of analysis and synthesis, procedures of methods of comparative, word-forming, syntactic, graphic analysis and descriptive method. The result of the analysis is presented in a number of conclusions. The formation and functioning of compound abbreviated words is a linguistic universal at the present stage of language development. Representatives of the linguistic schools formed on the basis of the Indo-European languages consider the law of economy of speech means to be the “driving force” of the abbreviation process. In Chinese linguistics, there is an opinion that the phenomenon of contraction is natural for the Chinese language, because it reflects the ancient monosyllabicity of Chinese words. In different languages, the set of ways to form compound abbreviated words depends on their typological features, the rules of the order of words in combinations, graphic features of written speech, pronunciation features, and methods of word formation.

Political media discourse in Russian, European and Chinese linguistics: A theoretical and analytical review of current trends

Political media discourse in Russian, European and Chinese linguistics: A theoretical and analytical review of current trends

Phonological processing in Chinese word repetition: Dementia effect and age effect

ABSTRACT This paper examined phonological processing as reflected in Mandarin word and non-word repetition. Issues related to dementia effects, age effects, and linguistic variables are discussed. Forty-five speakers of Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan took part in this study. Fourteen seniors with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), 14 healthy adults, and 17 healthy seniors individually completed a task of word repetition. Scores of accurate repetition were calculated, and error types as well as error frequency were analysed. Linguistic variables, including lexicality, frequency, non-word, and syllable length, were discussed. Major findings were indicative of a significant dementia effect, in which participants with AD were significantly impaired in repeating words with more syllables, specifically 5-syllable non-words of low frequency. Numerous significant age effects were noted. Theoretical implications and directions for future study are discussed.