Cross-linguistic Differences Research Articles

Cross-Linguistic Differences in Morphological Processing: Evidence from English and Italian

ABSTRACT Purpose The present study examined cross-linguistic differences in orthographic transparency and morphological complexity during complex word recognition in English and Italian. If morphological processing is more important in orthographically transparent and morphemically rich languages, larger morpheme-effects should be evident in Italian. However, if morphological processing is more pronounced in orthographically opaque and morphemically sparser languages, morpheme-effects should be larger in English. Method 60 Italian (M age = 25.33, 34 females, Caucasian) and 60 English (M age = 26.35, 34 females, mostly Caucasian) native-speakers completed an online lexical decision task, while reaction times and accuracy were measured. To tease apart the independent role of stems and suffixes, we employed four types of nonwords: Stem+Suffix: night+ness, Stem+NonSuffix: night-lude, NonStem+Suffix: nisht+ness, NonStem+NonSuffix: nisht-lude). Results The results revealed a significant morpheme interference effect in both languages: nonwords with stems were read slower and less accurately than those without stems and nonwords with suffixes slower and less accurately than those without suffixes. Crucially, this observed pattern was larger in English than Italian. Also, a significant Stem by Suffix interaction suggested that Stem+Suffix nonwords were harder to reject than all others. Conclusion The current findings suggest that morphological processing is more pronounced in opaque orthographies like English, possibly because the activation of morphemic chunks can be used to compensate for grapheme-to-phoneme inconsistencies.

Exploring crosslinguistic influence on learning particles in phrasal verbs through a cognitive linguistic approach

Abstract It is now well established that English phrasal verbs cause English as foreign language learners no small degree of confusion due to the semantic complexity. However, the influence of crosslinguistic transfer on learning phrasal verbs has remained unclear. There even has been little qualitative analysis of the crosslinguistic difference between literal and metaphorical meanings of particles. This paper proposes an instructional approach underpinned by metaphor and categorization in cognitive linguistics and highlights particles as a means of disentangling polysemous verb-particle constructions. Fifteen students from four universities in Taipei City and City of Newcastle upon Tyne participated in the study. Results of the qualitative data, i.e., discussion tasks, in-session tasks, and interviews, suggested that despite the difficulty of understanding some target items, the crosslinguistic similarities and differences generally aid the learning of the phrasal verbs via the proposed approach. Raising an awareness of crosslinguistic difference between metaphorical meanings of particles can be pedagogically useful.

Uh and um in autism: The case of hesitation marker usage in Dutch-speaking autistic preschoolers.

English-speaking autistic children use the hesitation marker um less often than non-autistic children but use uh at a similar rate. It is unclear why this is the case. We employed a sample of Dutch-speaking children from the Preschool Brain Imaging and Behavior Project to examine hesitation markers in autistic and non-autistic preschoolers with the aim to 1) make a crosslinguistic comparison of hesitation marker usage and 2) examine hypotheses regarding the underlying linguistic mechanisms of hesitation markers: the symptom hypothesis and the signal hypothesis. We found initial group differences in all hesitation markers but these results were rendered insignificant after controlling for age, sex and nonverbal cognition. We found significant correlations between hesitation marker usage and expressive and receptive language, but not autism traits. Lastly, we show interesting cross-linguistic differences in hesitation marker usage between Dutch-speaking participants and previously described English-speaking participants, such as a preference for um over uh.

The translation of food in Hong Lou Meng: a cross-linguistic study based on the English and French versions

ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of a corpus-based investigation of the English and French translations of Chinese food-related culture-specific items (CSIs) in the classic Chinese novel Hong Lou Meng (A Dream of Red Mansions). The aim of the study is threefold: i) to determine what (translation) techniques were commonly used to render these Chinese CSIs through systematic quantitative analysis; ii) to determine whether the translations tended to be foreignized, neutralized, or domesticated; and iii) to compare the two target texts (TTs) in order to identify similarities and differences. The quantitative analysis was conducted within the existing theoretical framework, and methods from the field of corpus-based studies were used. The results indicate two significant similarities between the English and French TTs: first, neutralizing techniques are the most prominent, followed by foreignizing and domesticating techniques in descending order; second, direct translation and paraphrase are the most frequently used techniques. However, data from the two TTs show significant differences in the distribution of techniques, the degree of neutralization, and the frequency of several techniques (e.g. generalization and compression). Moreover, comparing the English and French translations of the same Chinese CSI reveals more cross-linguistic differences than similarities.

The child the apple eats: processing of argument structure in Mandarin verb-final sentences

Mandarin Chinese is typologically unusual among the world’s languages in having flexible word order despite a near absence of inflectional morphology. These features of Mandarin challenge conventional linguistic notions such as subject and object and the divide between syntax and semantics. In the present study, we tested monolingual processing of argument structure in Mandarin verb-final sentences, where word order alone is not a reliable cue. We collected participants’ responses to a forced agent-assignment task while measuring their electroencephalography data to capture real-time processing throughout each sentence. We found that sentence interpretation was not informed by word order in the absence of other cues, and while the coverbs BA and BEI were strong signals for agent selection, comprehension was a result of multiple cues. These results challenge previous reports of a linear ranking of cue strength. Event-related potentials showed that BA and BEI impacted participants’ processing even before the verb was read and that role reversal anomalies elicited an N400 effect without a subsequent semantic P600. This study demonstrates that Mandarin sentence comprehension requires online interaction among cues in a language-specific manner, consistent with models that predict crosslinguistic differences in core sentence processing mechanisms.

Is vision necessary for the timely acquisition of language-specific patterns in co-speech gesture and their lack in silent gesture?

Blind adults display language-specificity in their packaging and ordering of events in speech. These differences affect the representation of events in co-speech gesture-gesturing with speech-but not in silent gesture-gesturing without speech. Here we examine when in development blind children begin to show adult-like patterns in co-speech and silent gesture. We studied speech and gestures produced by 30 blind and 30 sighted children learning Turkish, equally divided into 3 age groups: 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 years. The children were asked to describe three-dimensional spatial event scenes (e.g., running out of a house) first with speech, and then without speech using only their hands. We focused on physical motion events, which, in blind adults, elicit cross-linguistic differences in speech and co-speech gesture, but cross-linguistic similarities in silent gesture. Our results showed an effect of language on gesture when it was accompanied by speech (co-speech gesture), but not when it was used without speech (silent gesture) across both blind and sighted learners. The language-specific co-speech gesture pattern for both packaging and ordering semantic elements was present at the earliest ages we tested the blind and sighted children. The silent gesture pattern appeared later for blind children than sighted children for both packaging and ordering. Our findings highlight gesture as a robust and integral aspect of the language acquisition process at the early ages and provide insight into when language does and does not have an effect on gesture, even in blind children who lack visual access to gesture. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Gestures, when produced with speech (i.e., co-speech gesture), follow language-specific patterns in event representation in both blind and sighted children. Gestures, when produced without speech (i.e., silent gesture), do not follow the language-specific patterns in event representation in both blind and sighted children. Language-specific patterns in speech and co-speech gestures are observable at the same time in blind and sighted children. The cross-linguistic similarities in silent gestures begin slightly later in blind children than in sighted children.

Subject position in Greek and Spanish monolingual and bilingual production: Exploring the influence of verb type and definiteness

ABSTRACT This research study aims to capture linguistic variation in subject distribution in monolingual and bilingual speakers of an understudied language combination of two null subject languages, following the premises of the Interface Hypothesis (IH). Greek and Chilean Spanish are examined with a focus on subject-verb (SV) inversion in neutral contexts as influenced by two factors: verb type and subject definiteness. Oral semi-structured narratives were elicited from 116 participants: Greek and Spanish monolinguals (N = 40) and Greek-Spanish bilinguals (N = 86), namely immigrants, heritage speakers (HS), and L2 speakers of Greek. The findings show crosslinguistic differences between Greek and Spanish regarding verb-subject(-object) [VS(O)] orders, which are allowed more liberally in Greek than in Spanish. The bilingual groups behaved similarly on subject placement regarding verb type. The effect of definiteness, which was statistically significant in all the other groups, was not obtained in the HS data, indicating a relaxed distinction between definite and indefinite subjects in the heritage grammar. The findings are discussed in the light of the Interface Hypothesis (IH) and provide valuable insights into bilingual language production in relation to vulnerability in heritage and bilingual grammars, involving an insufficiently researched linguistic phenomenon.

Exploring complex multilingual motivation types among Chinese students majoring in dual foreign languages: a Q method study

ABSTRACT Researches on L2 motivation have traditionally exhibited a monolingual bias. However, the concept of a multilingual motivational system has gradually gained attention in recent studies. This study examines the multilingual motivation types and components among 50 students majoring in dual foreign languages in China. To explore diverse motivation types and cross-linguistic differences in multilingual motivations, Q methodology, which shares features of both qualitative and quantitative research approaches, was employed. Retrospective interviews were also conducted after data analysis to gain a more profound understanding. The students’ shared viewpoints were identified through multiple inverted factor analysis, which were further verified by the interview results. Findings indicate that, within the framework of the L2 Motivation Self System, the multilingual self serves as the initial motivation for students choosing dual language majors. Notably, the ought-to language self is more significant than the ideal language self. Additionally, students majoring in different L3 exhibit distinct types of multilingual motivation. The study has some pedagogical importance of incorporating translanguaging backgrounds into teaching strategies and offers specific recommendations for language teachers working with students majoring in dual foreign languages in China.

Exploring cross-linguistic differences in parental input and their associations with child expressive language in ASD: Bulgarian versus English comparison.

Parental input plays a central role in typical language acquisition and development. In autism spectrum disorder (ASD), characterized by social communicative and language difficulties, parental input presents an important avenue for investigation as a target for intervention. A rich body of literature has identified which aspects of grammatical complexity and lexical diversity are most associated with child language ability in both typical development and autism. Yet, the majority of these studies are conducted with English-speaking children, thus potentially overlooking nuances in parental input derived from cross-linguistic variation. To examine the differences in verbal parental input to Bulgarian- and English-speaking children with ASD. To examine whether aspects of verbal parental input found to be concurrent predictors of English-speaking children's expressive language ability are also predictors of the expressive language of Bulgarian-speaking children with ASD. We compared parental input to Bulgarian-speaking (N=37; 2;7-9;10 years) and English-speaking (N=37; 1;8-4;9 years) children with ASD matched on expressive language. Parent-child interactions were collected during free play with developmentally appropriate toys. These interactions were transcribed, and key measures of parental input were extracted. English-speaking parents produced more word tokens and word types than Bulgarian-speaking parents. However, Bulgarian parents produced more verbs in relation to nouns and used more statements and exclamations but asked fewer questions than English-speaking parents. In addition, child age and parents' use of questions were significant concurrent predictors of child expressive vocabulary. This is one of the first studies to conduct a cross-linguistic comparison of parental input in ASD. The differences found emphasize the need to further study parental input to Bulgarian children and adapt naturalistic parent-mediated interventions to the local language and its specific characteristics. What is already known on the subject A rich body of literature has identified the specific aspects of grammatical complexity, lexical diversity, and question-asking that are concurrently and longitudinally associated with the language ability of children with typical development and of children with ASD. Yet, the majority of these studies are conducted with English-speaking children. What this paper adds to the existing knowledge The present study finds that there are specific differences in verbal parental input to Bulgarian- and English-speaking children with autism in terms of lexical composition and question-asking. Bulgarian parents used more verbs than nouns, and the opposite pattern was found for English-speaking parents. In addition, Bulgarian parents asked fewer questions but used more statements and exclamations. Nevertheless, parental question use was significantly correlated with children's language ability across both groups, suggesting that question-asking should be further examined as a potential target for parent-mediated language interventions for Bulgarian children with autism. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Most language and social communication interventions for autism are designed and piloted with English-speaking children. These interventions are often simply translated and used in different countries, with different populations and in different contexts. However, considering that one of the defining characteristics of autism is language difficulty, more studies should examine (1) how these language difficulties manifest in languages other than English, and (2) what characterizes verbal parental input in these other contexts. Such research investigations should inform future language and social communication interventions. The present study emphasizes the cross-linguistic differences between Bulgarian- and English-speaking parents' verbal input to their children with autism.

The role of foreign language in the experience and emotional expression of guilt: evidence from moral scenarios and autobiographical memories of bilinguals

ABSTRACT This study investigated the influence of language – first language (L1) versus second language (L2) – on the experience and the expression of the emotion of guilt. Fifty-two Greek – Spanish bilinguals read two moral scenarios that induced guilt in their L2 (Spanish) and rated the intensity with which they felt a series of emotions (moral scenario task). Then they were asked to recall and write about a real-life event that made them feel guilty in their L2 (autobiographical memory task). A month later they performed the same tasks in their L1. Content analysis and emotional vocabulary analysis were conducted to examine cross-linguistic differences in the expression of guilt. Overall, these bilinguals experienced higher levels of guilt and regret when they read the moral scenarios in their L1 Greek. They also used a greater number of emotion words in their autobiographical memories in L1. However, they appeared to be more willing to talk about sensitive topics (e.g. infidelity, homosexuality, and death) in their L2. These findings have implications for both psychotherapy and L2 instruction.

What can be said?

Abstract We employ a cluster approach to explore the comparative semantic maps of several markers of modal possibility – the “potential” prefix nga‑ and expressions meaning, roughly, ‘know how to’ and ‘be able to’ – in four South African Nguni languages: isiNdebele, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Siswati. We also compare the Nguni results with results from Xitsonga, a closely related language outside of the Nguni clade. The languages exhibit cross-linguistic differences in the expansion of core meanings, some of which do not appear to follow the cross-linguistically common diachronic pattern in which goal-oriented modality precedes deontic modality. In addition, the distinction between inherent and learned ability is salient in several of these languages. Semantic maps of the markers’ functional distributions further show the diversity of modal systems that can be found even in closely related languages in significant contact with one another.

Frames and semantic roles in metaphorical mappings

Abstract Conceptual Metaphor Theory describes metaphorical mappings as correspondences between domains. Nevertheless, the interrelations of the mapped elements still need to be characterised. This study analyses metaphorical mappings from one situational frame in the cooking domain in American English and Peninsular Spanish. The aims are to elucidate to what extent each language primes particular semantic roles in the boiling frame for metaphorisation and explore the possible cultural implications of these cross-linguistic differences. The qualitative analysis reveals the contrastive relevance of semantic roles in frame mappings. In addition, the frequencies of boil and hervir metaphorical senses determine the degree of entrenchment and salience of metaphors cross-linguistically. The results suggest that the English boiling frame has a considerably broader scope as a source than the Spanish hervir frame. Additionally, the paper contrasts the relative saliency of the semantic roles mapped in those metaphors shared by both languages. Finally, cultural implications are discussed.

Crosslinguistic Differences in Food Labels Do Not Yield Differences in Taste Perception

AbstractResearch has shown that speakers of different languages may differ in their cognitive and perceptual processing of reality. A common denominator of this line of investigation has been its reliance on the sensory domain of vision. The aim of our study was to extend the scope to a new sense—taste. Using as a starting point crosslinguistic differences in the category boundaries of edible bulbs, we examined whether monolingual speakers of English and bilingual speakers of Norwegian and English were influenced by language‐specific categories during tasting. The results showed no evidence of such effects, not even for the Norwegian participants in an entirely Norwegian context. This suggests that crosslinguistic differences in visual perception do not readily generalize to the domain of taste. We discuss the findings in terms of predictive processing, with particular reference to trigeminal stimulation (a central tasting component) and the interplay between chemosensory signals and top‐down linguistic modulation.

Language-dependent reminiscing: Bilingual mother-child autobiographical conversations differ across Thai and English

Cross-linguistic differences in narrative patterns were examined in bilingual mother-preschooler dyads. Twenty-six Thai-English bilingual mothers and their four-year-old children completed a reminiscing task where they jointly recalled autobiographical memories in response to word prompts. Bilingual mothers and children exhibited different reminiscing styles in each of their languages. Specifically, bilinguals adopted high-elaborative and child-centered styles (e.g., use of evaluative feedback) when speaking English and low-elaborative and adult-centered styles (e.g., use of directives) when speaking Thai. Additionally, positive associations between maternal and child narrative patterns in both languages suggested that mothers’ scaffolding strategies influenced children’s own emerging linguistic skills. Findings from the present study show that bilingual mothers socialize their children differently across languages. In turn, children learn to present themselves in distinct ways depending on the linguistic and social contexts. We conclude that language can cue culture-specific communicative and behavioral norms as early as preschool.

The Comparison of Modal Be Going to and Will Between English and Gorontalonese

This study explores the differences and similarities in the use of modal expressions "be going to" and "will" between English and Gorontalonese, a language spoken in the Gorontalo region of Indonesia. The modal expressions "be going to" and "will" are commonly used in English to indicate future actions, intentions, or predictions. However, their usage may vary across languages and dialects. Through a comparative analysis of authentic language data, including texts and conversations, this research investigates how speakers of English and Gorontalonese employ these modal expressions in different contexts. The study examines factors such as grammatical structure, semantic nuances, and cultural influences that may contribute to the variation in the usage of "be going to" and "will" between the two languages. The findings provide insights into the linguistic features of modal expressions in English and Gorontalonese, shedding light on cross-linguistic differences and contributing to the field of comparative linguistics.

Prediction in bilingual sentence processing

Abstract The Unified Competition Model (MacWhinney, 2012) accounts for cross-linguistic differences in thematic role mapping. We investigated production and predictive use of accusative case morphology in Russian-Hebrew bilingual children. We also investigated the role of production in predictive processing testing the Prediction-by-Production Account (Pickering & Garrod, 2018) vs. the Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis (Prévost & White, 2000). Three groups of children aged 4–8 participated: Russian-Hebrew-speaking bilinguals, Russian-speaking and Hebrew-speaking monolingual controls. All children participated in the accusative case production and Visual-World eye-tracking comprehension experiments. Bilinguals were tested in both of their languages. The results of the study confirmed the predictions of the Unified Competition Model showing typological differences in the strength of the case-marking cue and its predictive use in sentence processing in Russian- and Hebrew-speaking controls. While Russian-speaking monolinguals relied on case marking to predict the upcoming agent/patient, the performance of Hebrew-speaking monolingual children varied. The findings for bilinguals showed that despite their lower production accuracy in both languages, they were either indistinguishable from monolinguals or showed an advantage in the predictive use of case morphology. The findings support the Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis, which predicts a dissociation between production and comprehension.

Creaky voice across language and gender: A study of Canadian English-French bilingual speech

This study addresses how non-contrastive creaky voice varies among languages and across speakers (as a function of gender). Spontaneous speech from 9 English-French bilingual speakers born and raised in Ontario/Québec was collected from publicly available online data sources, amounting to roughly 5 min of speech per speaker-language pair and 13 992 vowels total. This corpus will reach 40 speakers by the conference. Acoustic analysis consisted of pitch tracking in Praat, providing a proportion of unreliable f0 tracks for each vowel as well as one spectral slope measure (H1*-H2*) and two Harmonics-to-Noise Ratios (CPP and HNR05) as acoustic correlates of creaky voice. Statistical significance was tested using mixed-effects regression models, with fixed effects of language, gender, and utterance position, and maximal by-word and by-speaker random effects. The main results for gender show that men's vowels have more unreliable f0 tracks, lower H1*-H2*, lower HNR05 and somewhat lower CPP, suggesting that male speakers are creakier overall. Regarding language, English displays more unreliable pitch tracking compared to French, providing some evidence for language-dependent vocal settings. Other acoustic correlates of creak, however, do not show consistent cross-linguistic differences.

PONG: A computational model of visual word recognition through bihemispheric activation.

Orthographic processing is an open problem. Decades of visual word recognition research have fueled the development of various theoretical frameworks. Although these frameworks have had good explanatory power, various recent results cannot be satisfactorily captured in any model. In order to account for old and new phenomena alike, here I present a new theory of how the brain computes letter positions. According to PONG (which describes the Positional Ordering of N-Grams), each hemisphere of the brain comprises a set of mono- and multigram detectors. The crux is that the detectors for a given N-gram are activated to different extents in their respective hemispheres, depending on where in the visual field the N-gram is located. This differential activity allows the brain to estimate the leftness or rightness of that N-gram, whereby word activation is a function of the N-gram's identity plus its laterality relative to that of other activated N-grams. Simulations with PONG suggest that the framework effectively accounts for classic phenomena, as well as newer phenomena and cross-linguistic differences that cannot be explained by other models. I also reflect on the neurophysiological plausibility of the model and avenues for future inquiry. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Phonological impairments in Hindi aphasics: Error analyses and cross-linguistic comparisons

ABSTRACT We assessed phonological and apraxic impairments in Hindi persons with aphasia (PwA) and compared them to Italian PwA reported in previous studies. Overall, we found strong similarities. Phonological errors were present across production tasks (repetition, reading and naming), most errors were non-lexical and, among those, a majority involved individual phonemes. There were significant effects of length, but not frequency. Hindi PwA, like the Italian PwA, showed strong effects of syllabic structure, with most errors occurring on consonants and weak syllabic positions, preserving syllable structure and simplifying phonemes or syllabic templates. These similarities were modulated by some language-specific patterns. Vowel insertions were more common in Hindi, possibly due to the presence of a central vowel, and segmental simplifications concentrated on marked aspiration and retroflection features. We hope our study will encourage further research in Hindi and other Indian languages. This will improve clinical diagnosis and our understanding of cross-linguistic differences.

The semantics of the polysemic Amharic word fit ‘face’

Abstract This study examines the figurative conceptualization of the polysemic Amharic word fit ‘face.’ Based primarily on the “lexical approach,” the study shows how the meaning of “face” extends metaphorically and metonymically to such abstract concepts as time, emotions, and the intellect. Most of the face-related words in Amharic are also found in other languages, though cross-linguistic differences also exist. In the comparative study of body-part terms, a new approach is proposed, the “encompassing approach,” which claims that the contrastive study of body-part terms cannot be confined to a single term. Rather, it needs to consider the potential association between individual parts and specific cognitive processes. Once these processes are considered, the cross-linguistic variations between related body-part terms become marginal. We conclude that the (near)-universal status of body parts cannot be measured by examining the explicit use of a given part only.