English Naming Research Articles

Translanguaging, transculturality, and the English naming practice for children in China

This study examines Chinese parents’ English naming practices for their children through the analytical lens of translanguaging and transculturality, with the former conceptualised as the linguistic manifestation of the latter. A survey was conducted with 416 Chinese-speaking parents living in four metropolitan cities in the Chinese mainland: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. Forty of these parents were also interviewed. The results revealed that 89% of the respondents (n = 334) had given English names to their children. Among the 334 English names collected, only 6 names were randomly chosen, demonstrating that most parents put considerable thought into selecting English names for their children. Linguistic analysis of the 328 carefully-selected names revealed that 208 names involved translanguaging, and five subcategories were identified: Pinyin romanisation, translingual rhyming, translingual homophony, literal translation, and meaning association. The remaining 120 names manifested a ‘transcultural recontextualisation’ of English names, mainly including names of movie/book characters and celebrities. The results shed light on boundary-crossing in translanguaging practices and provide new insights into translanguaging creativity as a means of creating transcultural identities. They further show that transculturality is a multi-directional process at the level of cultural flow and a scaled continuum in terms of cultural hybridity.

Relationships Between First and Second Language Phonological Awareness and Rapid Automatized Naming in Chinese Children with Dyslexia

Relationships Between First and Second Language Phonological Awareness and Rapid Automatized Naming in Chinese Children with Dyslexia

THE DISTINCTIONS OF VERBS OF STEALING AMONG ARABIC-ENGLISH TRANSLATORS

This paper investigates the distinctions of verbs of stealing among Arabic-English translators. First, the four verbs selected for this study were ‘shoplift’, ‘rob’, ‘burglarize’, and ‘heist’. Second, visual stimuli for four verbs of stealing were developed along with their dimensions of distinctions. Six participants were presented with these visual stimuli and were asked to describe them in Arabic and English, along with their respective definitions. Semantic analysis of the English naming pattern revealed that the participants had not demonstrated any knowledge with regard to the English-based dimensions of meaning for the four respective verbs, showing no consistent distinctions among them. Rather, these participants used general English verbs to describe more specific actions, a pattern that was emulated in their Arabic naming pattern, which might suggest conceptual transfer. The only verb that generated the best answers in English was the verb ‘rob’ and that might be due to the exact lexicalization pattern in both English and Arabic in the sense both use single-verb format to express the same idea. This result suggested the positive effects of the one-to-one lexicalization pattern of the L1 on the acquisition of L2 verbs whereas the more-to-one lexicalization patterns had negative effects.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0008/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Neural similarities and differences between native and second languages in the bilateral fusiform cortex in Chinese-English bilinguals

In the field of bilingualism, researchers have proposed an assimilation hypothesis that posits that bilinguals apply the neural network of their native language to process their second language. In Chinese-English bilinguals, the bilateral fusiform gyrus has been identified as the key brain region showing the assimilation process. Specifically, in contrast to left-lateralized activation in the fusiform gyrus in native English speakers, Chinese-English bilinguals recruit the bilateral fusiform cortex to process English words as they do in the processing of Chinese characters. Nevertheless, it is unclear which type of information processing is assimilated in the fusiform gyrus. Using representational similarity analysis (RSA) and psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis, this study examined the differences in information representation and functional connectivity between both languages in the fusiform subregions in Chinese-English bilinguals. Univariate analysis revealed that both Chinese and English naming elicited strong activations in the bilateral fusiform gyrus, which confirmed the assimilation process at the activation intensity level. RSA indicated that the neural pattern of English phonological information was assimilated by Chinese in the anterior and middle right fusiform gyrus, while those of orthographic and visual form information were not. Further PPI analysis demonstrated that the neural representation of English phonological information in the right anterior fusiform subregion was related to its interaction with the frontotemporal areas for high-level linguistic processing, while the neural representation of English orthographic information in the right middle fusiform subregion was linked to its interaction with the left inferior occipital cortex for visual processing. These results suggest that, despite the recruitment of similar neural resources in one's native and second languages, the assimilation of information representation is limited in the bilateral fusiform cortex. Our results shed light on the neural mechanisms of second language processing.

The association between bilingual semantic fluency and episodic memory among bilingual Mexican American older adults.

AbstractBackgroundBilingualism is increasingly common in older adults in the US and may impact the expression and course of Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRD). Optimal methods for assessing cognition in population‐based studies of bilingual older adults are not established. Given that declines in semantic fluency are associated with declines in episodic memory in ADRD, we examined the degree to which animal naming in English and Spanish is associated with memory performance in a sample of bilingual Mexican American (MA) older adults.MethodThe Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi‐Cognitive study is a population‐based study of cognition in MA and non‐Hispanic white adults 65+ in south Texas. We included US‐born, bilingual MA participants who completed in‐person neuropsychological assessment in their preferred language (English) with the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol. We added a Spanish animal naming trial to the standard animal naming trial in English. We used the delayed recall score from a word list as the indicator of memory performance. We performed a series of regression analyses with delayed recall as the dependent variable and the English and Spanish animal naming scores as the independent variables, with age, sex, years of education, and a self‐reported bilingualism index score to account for level of bilingualism (range 0–1; 0 indicates monolingual Spanish; 1 indicates monolingual English) as covariates.ResultNinety‐six participants were included (Mage = 73yrs±6; Meducation = 11±4; 60% women; Table 1). In separate regression models including covariates, English animal naming (b = 0.25, p<.0001) and Spanish animal naming (b = 0.20, p <.05) were each associated with delayed recall. When considered together, English animal naming (b = 0.24, p = <.0001) and not Spanish animal naming (b = 0.03, p = .69) was associated with delayed recall, after accounting for age, sex, years of education, and level of bilingualism (Table 2). Results were consistent when the analysis was restricted to balanced bilinguals (Table 3).ConclusionSemantic fluency in English and Spanish were each related to episodic memory among bilingual MA older adults assessed in English, although the Spanish trial did not add unique information in its association with episodic memory. Future studies should evaluate how bilingual semantic fluency is associated with longitudinal cognitive decline in ADRD.

Semantic analysis of offensive language categories from existing annotated corpora

There exists a vast amount of different offensive language corpora for English language, annotation criteria and category naming. In this paper, we explore 21 different categories of offensive language. We use natural language processing techniques to find correlations between the categories based on seven different data sets. We employ several traditional (TF–IDF) and advanced (fastText, GloVe, Word2Vec, BERT, and other deep NLP methods) techniques to uncover similarities among different offensive language categories. The findings reveal that most of the categories are densely interconnected, while a two-level hierarchical representation of them can be provided. We also transfer the analysis to the Slovenian language and compare the findings between both researched languages.

Identity, agency, and investment in Chinese students’ English naming practices

ABSTRACT The requirement for Chinese students to adopt an English name for the English language classroom remains a relic of a previous era, which is not only accepted but also desirable by some. This study reports on 357 Chinese English language students’ relationship with their English names in terms of the concepts of identity, agency and investment, using a questionnaire designed to gather both quantitative and qualitative responses. The study suggests that English names are moving toward a normative practice in mainland China, similar to the relationship that diaspora Chinese communities have with their English names. This can be regarded as a product of the internationalism experienced within China. However, the study also suggests that while students have the appearance of agency, this is mediated by the belief that the Chinese language is problematic for non-Chinese.

Contributions of Pre and Postmorbid Nondominant Language Interventions to Coactivation of L1-L2 Lexical Representations: A Case Study of Persian-English Bilingual Stroke-Induced Aphasic Patients

The current study sought to bring into light the important functions of pre and postmorbid nondominant language interventions and aphasia patients’ level of L1-L2 proficiency considering the productive dimension of vocabulary knowledge affected by intertrial tasks. Two Persian-English bilingual cases with anomia and different levels of postmorbid L2 proficiency were subjected to a treatment of English naming to find the contribution of English naming improvement to Persian naming. Both cases were given the therapeutic language intervention to enhance their naming performance of English lexical items and to find out whether it could be generalized to Persian equivalents.Data obtained from the 2 participants were analyzed using semantic naming tests, and the responses were validated through time-series analysis. Statistical findings suggested that participant 1, who had a higher L2 proficiency, exhibited higher performance than participant 2 throughout 5 consecutive trials, once they had received phonemic cues after semantic ones. Concerning within-language impacts, treated items exhibited a considerable improvement. The treated items and repeated untreated ones improved concerning cross-language impacts.

Who are the nonresponders to intervention among Chinese children learning English as a second language?

The purpose of this study was to examine the profiles of nonresponders among native Chinese-speaking students struggling in English reading before and after an intensive intervention in phonological awareness as well as letter knowledge. Struggling English learners (n = 72) were screened from 668 Grade 4 students based on their English word recognition, school English examinations, and nominations by teachers. About 43% of struggling readers were remediated in decoding skills after the intervention. Nonresponders were profiled on both phonological and orthographic processing skills in their first and second languages. More than 76% of nonresponders showed deficits in English rapid letter naming, letter sound knowledge and English orthographic image. Nonresponders also had deficits in Chinese phonological memory and rapid digit naming. Rapid letter naming made the most contribution to word reading after intervention and letter sound knowledge was the only significant predictor in 1-year follow-up word reading. The findings suggest that Chinese poor English learners have difficulties in both phonological and orthographic processing in English reading. Educational implications are discussed using the triangle model. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Lexical activation in late bilinguals: effects of phonological neighbourhood on spoken word production

ABSTRACT This research explores patterns of lexical activation of both languages of a bilingual when producing spoken words. Specifically, it investigates the influence of within- and cross-language measures of phonological neighbourhood, on the English picture naming performance of a diverse group of French (L1) – English (L2) late bilinguals. A novel phonological neighbourhood density measure was used that took into account the phonological and lexical constraints of this sample of late bilinguals. Results showed that both within- and cross-language neighbours influenced picture naming performance and that the length of exposure to L2 and familiarity of the target modulated these effects, with both facilitatory and inhibitory effects observed. Additionally, the previously well-attested cognate facilitation effect decreased with L2 language exposure. These results support interactive models of word production, within a language non-specific view of lexical access, and show the dynamic nature of a bilingual’s lexical connections.

What’s Behind a Name? Origins and Meaning of Some of the Recurrent Characters in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld

Nominative symbolism in fantasy is a tool to attribute certain traits to literary characters and thus to convey meaning which enriches the readers’ comprehension of the fictitious personality. Proper names in the English naming tradition are not generally seen as means of alluding to the character of a person, yet they have sometimes been chosen purposefully by writers so as to reveal the idea that a symbolic name tries to convey. The paper therefore aims at investigating the origin and author’s intended meaning behind the names of some recurrent literary characters in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series from the viewpoint of their structure and the allusions they evoke in the reader’s imagination. The analysis includes five names presenting three different structures: neologisms based on syntactic composition, imitations of borrowed structures that are foreign to the English model of naming, and typical English naming models where name symbolism is due to the lexical choice of the components in the name.

ГЕНДЕР VS ГРАМАТИЧНИЙ РІД У СУЧАСНІЙ АНГЛІЙСЬКІЙ МОВІ

The article highlights paradigm shift in the Category of Gender triggered by expansion of gender roles spectrum in western world. This category is not reduced to the binary opposition of masculine and feminine any more and does not balance binary oppositions of grammatical gender and biological sex. To categorize new gender identities English naming and word-formation patterns and basic gender terms (male, female, masculine, feminine) were used. Some initialisms, firstly LGTB, gender derivatives were borrowed by other languages as English neologisms. In the 21st century gender-related coinages in Modern English are mushrooming. Mass Media give wide coverage of LGBT movement, fight for their rights, contribution of celebrities to spread and popularization of LGBT culture. New gender identities triggered extension of the initialism LGTB to LGTBQIA+ where the mathematical symbol stands for other diversities unindentified by letters and words yet. Gender diversity will pose the question about appropriate pronouns, so changes within grammatical gender. Mass media texts give numerous examples of increasing gender terms combinability in English, new contexts and make it possible to conclude that LGBT lexico-semantc group in present-day English is developing rapidly. Social trends, naming patterns in English, cognitive mechanisms behind them pose multiple questions about categorization, correlation of biological sex, gender diversities and grammatical gender in English and other languages.

Cross-Language Influence of Phonological Processing Skills on Early Reading in Chinese-English Speaking Children

Empirical research shows the importance of phonological processing in children’s acquisition of reading skills. However, the cross-language relationship between first language and second language is still not clearly described especially in Malaysia’s multi-cultural context. This study examines the relations between phonological processing skills and early reading in children’s acquisition of Chinese (L1) and English (L2) as second languages. A total of 150 Chinese-speaking children (6 - 7 years old) participated and were administered measures of early reading and phonological processing skills in both L1 and L2. Within-language and cross-language structural equation, models (SEMs) were created to explore the causal relationships between phonological processing skills and early reading in both languages. Results indicated that among the three key skills of phonological processing, rapid automatic naming was the strongest predictor of Chinese early reading. In contrast, phonological awareness strongly predicted English early reading. Only English (L2) rapid automatic naming skills contributed to Chinese (L1) early reading. The cross-language transfer of English rapid automatic naming skills on Chinese (L1) early reading was found and reported. This study contributes to the development of models and theories of bilingual acquisition. It aims to design instructional programmes by considering these critical skills' contribution in enhancing successful reading in English as a second language

Using Audio Prompting to Assist Monolingual Speech-Language Pathologists to Teach English–Spanish Vocabulary to English Learners

This research investigates the effectiveness of using a child’s first language (L1), specifically Spanish, with Audio Prompting (AP) delivered via a tablet computer by monolingual English-speaking clinicians to enhance vocabulary growth in the L1 and second language (L2) of children who are English Learners (ELs). Outcomes of vocabulary instruction for Spanish-speaking preschoolers assigned to one of three groups: (a) Spanish–English instruction ( n = 14) with Spanish delivered through AP, (b) English-only instruction ( n = 14), and (c) control group ( n = 15) indicates that both Spanish–English instruction and English-only instruction may result in greater gains in English naming when compared with no instruction. Importantly, Spanish–English instruction may produce greater gains in English definition as well as Spanish naming and definition when compared with no instruction, with outcomes maintained post instruction. AP can be useful to increase L1 and L2 vocabulary and definition in ELs, once monolingual English-speaking speech-language pathologist is trained in the use of AP.

Re‐evaluating English personal naming on the eve of the Conquest

Between 850 and 1150, the names of the people of England underwent a fundamental transformation. The old Germanic system of dithematic naming was replaced by a system of indivisible names in which a diminishing number of names became shared by an increasing number of people. This is often seen as one of the many consequences of the Norman Conquest, and is assumed to have gone hand in hand with a switch to continental names. Analysing three corpora of names from pre‐Conquest England, this article offers a re‐evaluation of the transformation in medieval English personal naming.

What's left for balanced bilinguals? Language proficiency and item familiarity affect left-hemisphere specialization in metaphor processing.

To characterize the hemispheric processing of metaphors in bilinguals compared with monolinguals and to determine the role of language proficiency in hemispheric lateralization. Fifty-seven English-dominant Spanish-English bilinguals and 57 English speaking monolinguals participated in a divided visual field study. The two groups performed a semantic judgment task with metaphorical, literal, and unrelated word pairs presented either to the right visual field/left hemisphere or to the left visual field/right hemisphere. Bilinguals processed metaphors more slowly and less accurately than monolinguals in both visual field presentations but there was no difference between the groups in the symmetry of processing-both groups showed a left hemisphere advantage. In bilinguals, the efficiency of processing within the left, but not the right, hemisphere was predicted by language dominance scores (i.e., English minus Spanish picture naming scores). Additionally, in all participants, the left hemisphere was more sensitive than the right hemisphere to metaphor familiarity; the latter in turn was sensitive to metaphor familiarity only in balanced bilinguals (not in unbalanced bilinguals and monolinguals). These results suggest that even though bilinguals are less efficient, they rely on the same underlying cognitive mechanisms as monolinguals in linguistic processing of metaphors. Moreover, whereas the right hemisphere is coarsely affected by language proficiency, the left hemisphere, and metaphor processing therein, is more sensitive to small variations in linguistic experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

SEMANTICS OF PERFUME AND COSMETIC NAMING IN THE SOCIAL STRATIFICATION ASPECT

The article deals with the problem of English perfume and cosmetic naming. Special attention is given to the ways of social stratification verbalization. The system of indicators is responsible for the semantic reflecting social stratification explicitly. These indicators are connected with the social status or professional activity in a semantic way. The system of symbols-markers reflects social stratification implicitly. These symbols-markers are connected with object symbols or personal names. Object symbols are divided into toponymes and gemonymes. Personal name symbols are divided into real person names and mythonymes. Using the dictionary definitions of indicators and symbols-markers makes possible to identify archesemes, differential semes. These semes are basic criterium for further grasping the semantic bearers into corresponding groups and subgroups.

Second‐Language Reading Difficulties Among Native Chinese‐Speaking Students Learning to Read English: The Roles of Native‐ and Second‐Language Skills

AbstractThe authors report two studies that examined how native‐ and second‐language skills were related to second‐language reading difficulties for native Chinese‐speaking fourth graders learning to read English. In study 1, 50 poor English readers with Chinese‐reading difficulties (the PB group) and 34 poor English readers without Chinese‐reading difficulties (the PE group) were compared with 53 typically developing controls on phonological awareness, rapid naming, and phonological memory. Results showed that both groups of poor English readers showed English phonemic awareness and rapid naming deficits in both languages and that the PB group had additional skill deficits in English onset‐rime awareness and phonological memory in both languages. In study 2, 69 poor English readers (25 in the PE group) trained on English phonological skills were compared with 43 typically developing controls before the training, right after, and one year later. Results showed that poor English readers caught up with their typically developing peers on English phonemic awareness irrespective of their Chinese‐reading status and that the PE group also caught up on English pseudoword reading and retained their gains one year later. After one year, about one third of the PE group performed comparably to their typically developing peers not only on English reading performance but also on bilingual language skills. However, the majority of the poor English readers persistently showed poor performance in English reading and phonemic awareness, as well as in Chinese and English rapid naming. Findings highlight both language‐universal and specific skill deficits contributing to second‐language reading difficulties.

The discursive construction of English naming practice in Mainland China: A nationalism and authenticity perspective

Recently, a regional newspaper agency in Mainland China reported on the Chinese celebrity Angelababy by using her English name (Net Ease Entertainment, 2016). A reader complained about this, suggesting that Angelababy's Chinese name needs to be in the report as well. The reader's comment and the nameAngelababywent viral on many online news outlets, and comments were posted about the problems associated with such an English name from a large number of Chinese netizens.

The development of a bilingual vocabulary measure for Armenian–English children

The purpose of this study was to develop a parallel bilingual vocabulary measure for the comparative study of receptive and expressive vocabulary growth in young Armenian–English bilinguals. The measure was comprised of four independent vocabulary lists equivalent on age of acquisition ratings. The lists were counterbalanced across four tasks, Armenian picture identification, Armenian picture naming, English picture identification, and English picture naming. This article includes a detailed description of the procedures employed to develop the measure and evidence regarding its reliability and validity. The procedures from this study may be valuable in developing parallel vocabulary measures for other minority–majority language combinations.