Early Stages Of Acquisition Research Articles

Crosslinguistic influence in L3 acquisition

AbstractThis study investigates the role of lexical vs structural similarity in L3 acquisition. We designed a mini-artificial language learning task where the novel L3 was lexically based on Norwegian but included a property that was present in Russian and Greek yet absent in Norwegian (grammatical case). The participants were Norwegian-Russian and Norwegian-Greek bilinguals as well as a group of Norwegian L1 speakers. All participants also knew some English. The morphological expression of the L3 target property was more like Russian than Greek in that case was marked on the noun itself, not on articles. The results of our study indicate that previous experience with a language that is structurally like the L3 (Russian) is facilitative, even when the L3 lexically resembles a language that lacks this grammatical property (Norwegian). Our results suggest overt that the morphological expression of the target property also plays a role: previous experience with Greek that marks the target contrast on determiners did not seem to be facilitative at early stages of acquisition. Overall, our results are in line with models of L3/Ln acquisition which assume that both previously acquired languages influence the development of the L3 and that structural, morphological and lexical similarity play a role.

How L1-Chinese L2-English learners perceive English front vowels: A phonological account

Second language acquisition involves readjusting features from one’s L1 onto counterparts in the L2. Learners often face difficulty during this process due to the presence of an already firmly rooted L1 grammar. Furthermore, a learner’s L1 serves to constrain sensitivity to non-native contrasts during the acquisition process. If a learner’s L2 grammar lacks the phonological feature that can differentiate a non-native contrast, then that learner may experience persistent difficulties in representing the L2 sounds as a result. Mandarin learners of English as a second language have to contend with a substantially expanded L2 vowel inventory in the early stages of acquisition, grappling with the addition of pronounced features less prevalent in their L1. In an attempt to account for front vowel acquisition difficulties and possible routes to progress for L1- Mandarin L2-English using a direct transfer approach, this work follows the Toronto School of contrastive phonology which holds that phonological representation is determined primarily through the ordering of contrastive features. We present data from recent phonetic research that catalogues Mandarin learners’ progress in incorporating English front vowels while, at the same time, examining the underlying phonological processes. This serves as the basis for a preliminary model of contrastive hierarchy in language acquisition using elements of a feature geometry paradigm. The model provides a theoretical roadmap showing that, as Mandarin learners progress and gradually incorporate English front vowels into their L2 repository, the learner’s L2 hierarchy evolves through successive stages as contrasts are perceived and categorized.

Accuracy and Confidence of Strategic Intelligence in Cases of Inadequate Information: Implications for Acquisition of Collection Systems

In the early stages of acquisition of strategic intelligence collection systems, we may distinguish between developing new capabilities or adding additional capacity. To inform this decision, we suggest the use of a routine analytic product: long time series of reported accuracy and confidence. We test this by simulating notional collection and reporting in situations of inadequate capability and capacity. Inadequate capability, particularly where possible alternatives are not acknowledged, is the most striking case with consistently high confidence and low accuracy. Inadequate capacity is more recognizable, with well-calibrated but widely varying confidence and low accuracy. The adequate collection is identified with well-calibrated, slightly varying confidence and high accuracy. Capability and capacity may be able to be traded with similar performance.

Emergence of verb-pattern morphology in young Arabic speakers: morphological and semantic features.

Arabic, a Semitic language, displays a particularly rich derivational morphological system with all verb stems consisting of a semantic root and a prosodic verb-pattern. Such regular and frequently encountered knowledge is expected to be acquired early. The present study presents a developmental perspective on the relative contribution of morphological and semantic complexity to the acquisition of verbs in Spoken Arabic. Verbs in a spontaneous corpus from 133 typically developing children, 2; 6-6; 0-year-old, were coded for type and token frequency of verbal patterns and root type, and classified according to semantic complexity. Results support an item-based emergence driven by semantic complexity at the earliest stages of acquisition. A developmental expansion in the diversity of verbal patterns and morphological complexity was observed with age. Morphological complexity is only identified when the same root appears in different verb patterns. The late emergence of the same root in different verb patterns indicates that the perception of verb patterns as abstract linguistic entities beyond the actual verbs is attained later than the semantically-constrained verbs in earlier childhood. We conclude that whereas semantic complexity obstructs verbs from emerging in the lexicon in younger age groups, morphological complexity constitutes no such obstruction, since their perception as morphological devices is attained later in acquisition.

Non-verbal predicate negation in child Emirati Arabic

ABSTRACT We provide an account of the developmental trajectory of Emirati Arabic negation particles. We treat the non-verbal predicate negator (NVPN) mub as a negative copula, in contrast to the verbal predicate negator (VPN) maa, which encodes sentential negation in verbal and existential contexts. The analysis is supported by evidence from a longitudinal corpus of six Emirati children. Given the high frequency of occurrence of maa in the ambient language, we show that an input-frequency account predicts maa-mub substitutions in early stages of acquisition. However, confirming previous findings by Becker we show that when mub emerges in later stages, its distribution exhibits an asymmetry: mub is used frequently with individual-level nominal/adjectival predicates but it almost never appears with stage level adjectival/prepositional/ adverbial predicates, mirroring the distribution of copular elements in child English (and other languages).

Are there biological gender differences at the early stages of first language acquisition when producing double object constructions and to/for-datives?

This study examines whether biological gender differences appear in the early stages of acquisition in the case of English dative alternation (DA) structures (double object constructions (DOCs) and to/for-datives). Girls have been found to show faster syntactic development when compared to boys (Lovas, 2011). In the case of the acquisition of DA, an order in the emergence and in the incidence of English DA would entail a syntactic derivational status between DOCs and to/for-datives with one being the original structure and the other the derived one (Gu, 2010). However, analogous ages of onset and fairly similar frequency rates in the production could suggest the construction of two underived structures. We investigate whether biological gender differences appear in the case of DOCs and to/for-datives. We also investigate whether the exposure to English DA (adult input) results in differences between the girls’ output and the boys’ output. We analyze data from seven monolingual English girls and six monolingual English boys, and the adults that interact with them, as available in CHILDES. Our findings reveal that monolingual girls and monolingual boys pattern closely in the acquisition of the syntactic non-derivational relationship between DOCs and to/for-datives, as seen in their similar emergence. Biological gender differences are not seen either in the acquisition of the additional properties of to/for-datives given their later onset and their lower incidence when compared to DOCs. These production patterns also correlate with the frequency with which these structures are heard in the adult input.

Growth algorithms in the phonological networks of second language learners: A replication of Siew and Vitevitch (2020a).

A recent study by Siew and Vitevitch (2020a) investigated word form lexica and their growth in children acquiring English and Dutch as first languages from a network perspective. They identified a unique developmental trajectory in network growth, with high-density neighborhoods becoming enriched through growth at early acquisition stages (the "preferential attachment" mechanism) but low-density neighborhoods gaining new neighbors at advanced acquisition stages (termed "inverse preferential attachment"). Their findings were confirmed for various languages, they fit with assumptions of cognitive efficiency in lexical memory and retrieval and are intriguing for second language research as well. The present study was designed as a replication of Siew and Vitevitch (2020a) study "An investigation of network growth principles in the phonological language network" with data of English-as-a-second-language learners. Results mirror findings by Siew and Vitevitch and demonstrate that preferential attachment is the main network growth algorithm driving lexical learning at early second-language proficiency stages, while inverse preferential attachment prevails at more advanced proficiency stages. The similar growth dynamics observed in phonological networks of first and second language users may indicate a universal cognitive principle underlying word learning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Mineral oil interferes with potato virus Y in aphid stylets

AbstractMineral oils have been used for many decades to control the transmission of plant viruses and their ensuing epidemics. Although it is not clearly defined, the mode of action of these oils has been extensively studied, and effects on the feeding behaviour and orientation of the vector or the transmission of the virus by its vector have often been put forward as possible explanations. This study examines the effect of mineral oil on the interaction between potato virus Y (PVY) and its vector, the green peach aphid Myzus persicae, with particular focus on the transmission organ. A lipophilic staining technique was used to visualize the oil inside the insect's stylets for the first time. Virus binding and localization were also examined in aphid stylets following PVY acquisition. The results indicate that the presence of mineral oil on leaves reduces the likelihood of acquiring the virus. This study verified that this reduced acquisition could be accompanied by a reduction in viral load, as measured by reverse transcription‐quantitative PCR on the stylets. The effect of the oil on virus retention inside the stylets was also measured. The mechanism by which the oil impacts virus acquisition seems to take place in the very early stages of acquisition, well before the virus attaches to the stylets.

Omissions and Overgeneralizations of Reflexive Clitic in the Acquisition of Reflexive Constructions in Croatian as L1

Verb constructions with a reflexive marker are termed “reflexive constructions”. Reflexive constructions in language acquisition research have been studied mainly within a formal theoretical framework while focusing on developmental differences in comprehension of syntactically bound or free pronominal elements. The present study aimed to determine the acquisition pathway of reflexive constructions in Croatian by examining the errors that children produce in early stages of acquisition. Correct and erroneous reflexive verb constructions were extracted from the spontaneous language production of three children previously recorded and transcribed for the Croatian Corpus of Child Language (Kovačević 2003). Errors were classified as omissions or overgeneralizations and further analyzed with respect to the type of reflexive construction, the complexity of the verb’s argument structure and consistency between the reflexive marker and verb. The results showed that children initially omitted the reflexive marker, then gradually introduced it into their production, occasionally overextending its use and thus producing overgeneralization errors. With age they became more successful in producing reflexive constructions. Consistent use of a reflexive marker alongside the verb in child-directed speech influenced the error rates in different types of reflexive constructions, while potential influence of the complexity of argument structure needs to be studied further.

Integrating Reliability in Conceptual Design Trade‐Off Analysis: A look at the Literature

AbstractThis research focuses on developing models to estimate the system reliability of Unmanned Ground Vehicles using knowledge and data from similar systems. Reliability is often a stand‐alone requirement and not always fully included in performance and life cycle cost models. Traditional reliability approaches require detailed knowledge of a system and are used in later design sta ges as well as development, operational test and evaluation, and operations. The critical role of reliability and its impact on acquisition program performance, cost, and schedule motivates the need for improved system reliability models in the early design stages. This research seeks to integrate reliability, performance, and cost models in a trade‐off analysis framework in the early acquisition stages. This research uses functional analysis methods to estimate reliability Pre‐Milestone A and assess the impact of reliability on performance and cost models of early system concepts. This research us es technology readiness level (TRL), which is indexed, to assess different levels of reliability for design. An integrated cost and performance model will inform decision ‐makers on the impact of reliability before choosing a system concept for further development.

Crosslinguistic influence in child L3 English: An empirical study on Russian-German heritage bilinguals

Aims and objectives: This empirical study investigates variables affecting crosslinguistic influence (CLI) in child third language (L3) acquisition. We examine whether structural or typological similarity leads to CLI from one or both of the previously acquired languages at later stages of acquisition. Design/methodology: We compare Russian-German heritage bilinguals acquiring L3 English to L2 English learners with either L1 German or L1 Russian (matched in age, proficiency, age of onset, length of exposure), which allows us to assess whether CLI obtains from one language or both. We carried out an acceptability judgment task: Two of the structures under investigation in English are structurally similar to German (subject-auxiliary inversion, determiner use) and two to Russian (adverb placement, non-subject-initial declaratives). Data and analysis: We tested 10- to 12-year-old L3 learners ( n = 66), L2 learners with L1 Russian ( n = 26), and L1 German ( n = 33). The L3 learners were tested in both previously acquired languages. Findings/conclusions: Our findings suggest that structural proximity may override typological similarity at later stages and indicate that CLI obtains cumulatively from both languages. We found facilitative and non-facilitative CLI from Russian and German. For properties that are structurally similar in English and Russian, the L3 learners outperformed the L2 learners with L1 German and were outperformed by the L2 learners with L1 Russian, and vice versa for properties similar in English and German. Originality: Our research adds child L3 data to the current debate on whether morpho-syntactic properties from previously acquired languages are transferred wholesale or property by property, based on typological primacy or linguistic proximity. Significance: Previous research has shown that surface typological similarity is an important factor at early stages of acquisition. Our study investigates whether structural similarity can override this strong factor at later stages of child L3 acquisition.

Growing trees: The acquisition of the left periphery

We suggest here a Growing Trees approach for the description of the acquisition of various syntactic structures in Hebrew, based on the main results reported in Friedmann and Reznick (this volume) and on our own research on a corpus of natural productions. The heart of our account is that stages of acquisition follow the geometry of the syntactic tree, along the lines of the cartographic analysis of the clause, with early stages of acquisition corresponding to small portions of the adult syntactic tree, which keeps growing with the growth of the child. The lower parts of the tree are acquired first, and higher parts are acquired later. We propose three stages of acquisition connected to the development of functional layers of the syntactic tree. In the first stage, the IP is acquired, including the lexical and inflectional layers. This allows for the appearance of A-movement structures, including SV/VS alternations with unaccusative verbs, alongside SV sentences with unergative/transitive verbs. The second stage involves the acquisition of the lower part of the left periphery, up to QP, which allows for the acquisition of subject and object Wh questions, some adjunct questions, yes/no questions, and sentence-initial adverbs. In the third stage, the rich structure of the left periphery is completely acquired, including the higher CP field. This is the stage in which sentential embedding (of finite declarative and interrogative clauses), subject and object relative clauses, why questions, and topicalization appear. A further, different type of stage, which occurs on the already-grown tree and which is independent of structure building, is the acquisition of intervention configurations, allowing for the mastery of structures involving movement of a lexically-restricted object across an intervening lexically-restricted subject. The paper illustrates the fruitful dialogue between the science of syntax acquisition and the cartography of syntactic structures.

Helping Children and Teens Strengthen Executive Skills to Reach Their Full Potential.

Executive skills are brain-based skills that develop across childhood and that take a minimum of 25years to reach full maturation. They are skills that support goal-directed behavior and although essential to school success, they are typically not explicitly listed in local, state, or national curriculum standards. When the pandemic closed schools in the USA in March 2020, the resulting reliance on remote-learning instruction exposed how much support teachers and in-person learning provide to students with immature executive skills. This paper will describe those supports and will build the case that in the absence of the kind of scaffolding teachers provide for students with weak executives, many students have struggled. Three strategies for strengthening executive skills will be outlined. These include: modifying the environment to make it more supportive and less punishing for students with weak executive skills; explicitly teaching executives by embedding them in daily routines; and offering incentives or motivators to entice students to practice skills which are laborious in their early stages of acquisition. Focusing on strengthening students' executive skills will address the problem of "learning loss" that has resulted from the disruption the pandemic has caused.

Cross-linguistic interference in late language learners: An ERP study

This study investigated cross-linguistic interference in German low-proficient late learners of Spanish. We examined the modulating influence of gender congruency and cognate status using a syntactic violation paradigm. Behavioural results demonstrated that participants were more sensitive to similarities at the syntactic level (gender congruency) than to phonological and orthographic overlap (cognate status). Electrophysiological data showed that they were sensitive to syntactic violations (P600 effect) already in early acquisition stages. However, P600 effect sizes were not modulated by gender congruency or cognate status. Therefore, our late learners of Spanish did not seem to be susceptible to influences from inherent noun properties when processing non-native noun phrases at the neural level. Our results contribute to the discussion about the neural correlates of grammatical gender processing and sensitivity to syntactic violations in early acquisition stages.

ITRAQ-based quantitative proteomics suggests mitophagy involvement after Rice black-streaked dwarf virus acquisition in insect vector small brown planthopper Laodelphax striatellus Fallén

Plant viruses trigger numerous responses in their insect vectors. Using iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomics analysis, early responses of the insect vector, the small brown planthopper (Laodelphax striatellus Fallén, SBPH), after acquiring Rice black-streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) at 3 days and 5 days post first access to diseased plants (padp) were revealed. A total of 582 differentially abundant proteins (DAPs) in SBPH with a fold change >1.500 or <0.667 (p-value < 0.05) were identified. The proteomic analysis in SBPH at 3 days padp revealed 106 highly abundant proteins and 193 of low abundance, while 5 days padp revealed 214 highly abundant proteins and 182 of low abundance. Among them, 51 highly abundant proteins and 42 of low abundance were shown consistently at both 3 days and 5 days padp. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis mapping and Gene Ontology (GO) term classification suggested impairment of mitochondria in SBPH after RBSDV acquisition, and the 77 out of 582 differentially abundant SBPH proteins analyzed by the STRING program revealed the interaction network of the mitochondrial DAPs, showing an overall down-regulation of mitochondrial proteins including the electron transport chain proteins and mitochondrial ribosome proteins. The high abundance of Parkin at 5 days padp suggests that activation of mitophagy induced degradation of mitochondria occurred. Further verification of autophagy/mitophagy-related genes by reverse-transcription quantitative RT-PCR (RT-qPCR) in SBPH after RBSDV acquisition showed up-regulation of the autophagy receptors Optineurin (OPTN), Sequestosome-1 (SQSTM1, also known as p62) and Tax1-binding protein 1 (TAX1BP1) which targets ubiquitinated damaged mitochondria during mitophagy. The phosphorylation of the three autophagy receptors may be up-regulated through an increase of transcription level TRAF-associated NFκB activator (TANK)-binding kinase 1 (TBK1). As a result, an overall reduction in the abundance of mitochondrial proteins was observed and the selective autophagic degradation was up-regulated through increased transcription level of OPTN, p62/SQSTM1, TAX1BP1 and TBK1. Therefore, acquisition of RBSDV associated with up-regulated autophagy and selective mitochondrial degradation in SBPH suggest prevention of mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis and extension of the vector life span. Biological significanceRBSDV causes severe yield loss in rice plants. RBSDV is transmitted efficiently only through SBPH. It is important to understand how RBSDV infects SBPH in a persistent, circulative and propagative manner. However, there has been no study on the interaction between RBSDV and SBPH at the early acquisition stage using a proteomics approach. In this study, we combined iTRAQ technique and LC-MS/MS to analyze the vector proteomics at both the initial and latent infection stages after RBSDV acquisition and verified the results by RT-qPCR. Our results revealed that significantly low DAPs were involved in various pathways, including biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, ribosomes, carbon metabolism, biosynthesis of amino acids and TCA cycle. Further clustering of the DAPs revealed significant changes in SBPH mitochondria, including decreased proteins in mitochondrial ribosomes and electron transport chain complex I, II and V. On the other hand, there was a high abundance of Parkin, suggesting the occurrence of mitochondria damage and subsequent Parkin-mediated mitophagy for clearance of impaired mitochondria. Moreover, the decreased level of PMPCB in terms of gene expression and protein abundance suggested decreased PINK1 turnover, promoting Parkin/PINK1-mediated mitophagy. Further analysis on autophagy/mitophagy-related gene transcription level indicated up-regulation of OPTN, p62/SQSTM1, TAX1BP1 and TBK1, promoting selective autophagy in SBPH after RBSDV acquisition. These findings provided new insights into the effects of RBSDV on SBPH after early acquisition by selective degradation of mitochondria, especially on reprogramming of energy metabolism and decreased mitochondria biogenesis, to prevent apoptosis and prolong the life span of SBPH post virus acquisition.

6-month-olds are sensitive to English morphology.

Each language has its unique way to mark grammatical information such as gender, number and tense. For example, English marks number and tense/aspect information with morphological suffixes (e.g., -s or -ed). These morphological suffixes are crucial for language acquisition as they are the basic building blocks of syntax, encode relationships, and convey meaning. Previous research shows that English-learning infants recognize morphological suffixes attached to nonce words by the end of the first year, although even 8-month-olds recognize them when they are attached to known words. These results support an acquisition trajectory where discovery of meaning guides infants' acquisition of morphological suffixes. In this paper, we re-evaluated English-learning infants' knowledge of morphological suffixes in the first year of life. We found that 6-month-olds successfully segmented nonce words suffixed with -s, -ing, -ed and a pseudo-morpheme -sh. Additionally, they related nonce words suffixed with -s, but not -ing, -ed or a pseudo-morpheme -sh and stems. By 8-months, infants were also able to relate nonce words suffixed with -ing and stems. Our results show that infants demonstrate knowledge of morphological relatedness from the earliest stages of acquisition. They do so even in the absence of access to meaning. Based on these results, we argue for a developmental timeline where the acquisition of morphology is, at least, concurrent with the acquisition of phonology and meaning.

Can beginner L2 learners handle explicit instruction about language variation? A proof-of-concept study of French negation

Research has pointed to the importance of introducing social aspects of language at the beginning stages of second language (L2) acquisition (Yates, 2017). This proof-of-concept study therefore sought to determine if an explicit pedagogical intervention consisting of various types of sociolinguistic awareness activities could be implemented with beginner learners of French to bring about changes in knowledge about form, meaning and use of French negation. A beginner university-level French course (N = 22) received systematic explicit instruction on language variation over a 15-week period, targeting the variable use of the negative morpheme ne in verbal negation in French. To assess the effects of instruction on declarative knowledge, participants provided L1 explanations about the target feature at the beginning (Time 1) and end of the course (Time 2).They also displayed application of the rule in writing at Time 1 and 2. Findings point to increased awareness of variable presence of ne and its use, as well as increased ability to use target features in their appropriate contexts of use, suggesting that introduction of sociolinguistic features at early stages of acquisition can benefit L2 learners without confusing or overwhelming them. Discussed are the potential benefits of implementing pedagogical strategies to increase beginner learners’ sociolinguistic awareness.

A Response to Ellis: The Dangers of a Narrowly Focused SLA Canon

I thank Rod Ellis (2020) for taking time to read and respond to my critique of his original work (Ellis 2019). However, while he grasps some of the aspects of the TATE framework that I propose as an alternative (Anderson 2020), there is evidence in his response that he misconstrues it, and assigns my nuanced discussion of explicit and implicit processes within what I called a ‘TSLT-mainly framework’ (p. 183) to the category of ‘structural approach’, which he then argues is not as effective as his proposal, drawing on familiar arguments used against structural approaches. First, I consider his responses to my two criticisms of his model, and then I sound a word of caution regarding the dangers of a narrowly focused SLA canon that frequently interprets ‘learning’ as acquisition of morphosyntax, and ‘use’ as spoken production to the detriment of other aspects of language. Firstly, Ellis acknowledges that I ‘correctly’ point out his neglect of lexis in his framework, and also acknowledges that lexis is clearly amenable to synthetic, sequenceable instruction. He notes that ‘the early stages of acquisition are lexical rather than grammatical’ (p. 191), even though his model, paradoxically, rejects any attempt at planned, sequenced instruction at such stages. His response to this acknowledged weakness is to state that ‘lexis can be acquired naturally through performing tasks’, or ‘through out-of-class activities’ (p. 191), apparently leaving to the vagaries of chance what has been argued to be the central element of language learning and use (Lewis 1993), what Crystal (2009: 7) has called ‘the Everest of language’.

Production of inflectional morphology in intercomprehension-based language teaching: the case of Slavic languages

ABSTRACTThe present paper investigates the acquisition of L3 Polish by L1 Italian university students of L2 Russian. The participants had never studied the L3 prior to the experiment, but took a meta-linguistically explicit course in Slavic Linguistics focussing on Polish/Russian contrastive grammar. The main research question is whether or not the similarity of the target structure in the two languages allows learners to transfer the L2 processing mechanisms to the L3. The conflicting predictions of the FT/FA hypothesis and of the DMTH are compared. The results show that alongside typical developmental errors, clear instances of L2 transfer can be identified. Although transfer does not always produce target-like results, it arguably constitutes evidence of the processing of a target structure which is not normally accessible in the early stages of acquisition.

Neural Dynamics of Associative Learning during Human Sleep.

Recent evidence indicates that humans can learn entirely new information during sleep. To elucidate the neural dynamics underlying sleep-learning, we investigated brain activity during auditory–olfactory discriminatory associative learning in human sleep. We found that learning-related delta and sigma neural changes are involved in early acquisition stages, when new associations are being formed. In contrast, learning-related theta activity emerged in later stages of the learning process, after tone–odor associations were already established. These findings suggest that learning new associations during sleep is signaled by a dynamic interplay between slow-waves, sigma, and theta activity.