First-language Speakers Research Articles

Why second-language speakers sometimes, but not always, derive scalar inferences like first-language speakers: Effects of task demands

ABSTRACT Many studies report that the computation of scalar inferences, such as the inference from ‘some’ to ‘not all’, is cognitively costly. However, a number of studies on scalar inferences in L2 suggest the opposite conclusion, reporting that, even though processing L2-input is often thought to be cognitively demanding, people are at least as likely to compute scalar inferences in L2 as L1. Here, we propose that cognitive difficulties with computing scalar inferences in L2 may be masked by the use of experimental tasks that encourage participants to take their time to process target sentences. Thus, we found that, in a self-paced pen-and-paper experiment, participants did not significantly differ in the propensity with which they computed scalar inferences in L1 and L2. However, in a computerized experiment in which sentences were flashed on screen, low-proficiency L2 speakers were significantly less likely to compute scalar inferences in L2 than L1. These results underscore the importance of analyzing task demands in research on pragmatics and multilingualism.

Dynamic auditory-acoustic properties differentiate word-final fricatives in Gitksan

Gitksan is an endangered, understudied Tsimshian language spoken in northwestern British Columbia. This study aims to provide an acoustic-phonetic description of Gitksan fricatives. Isolated words containing word-final fricatives were recorded with three Gitksan first-language speakers (2 male, 1 female; age 65 + ). Postvocalic fricative tokens ([s] = 159, [ɬ] = 123, [ç] = 180, [Xw] = 150, [χ] = 267) were analyzed. Dynamic, spectral measurements of peak frequency in equivalent rectangular bandwidths (peakERB; Reidy, 2016) were estimated from 17 20-ms windows centered at equidistant points between the onset and offset of the fricative. The resulting trajectories (windows 3–15) show that the peakERB decreases as the place of articulation shifts further back in the vocal tract (alveolar [s]∼25–31, palatal [ç]∼20–23, uvular [χ]∼17–19; exception: labiovelar [Xw]∼15–16, likely lowered by labialization). Also, the lateral alveolar [ɬ] shows a lower peakERB (∼22–24) than the central alveolar [s]. A random forest model (Breiman, 2001) was trained on 586 tokens in predicting the fricatives with peakERB measures of the 17 windows. The trained model was tested on 293 tokens; it identified [s] most accurately and [ɬ] least accurately. Additionally, the model's relative-importance ranking of the 17 peakERB predictors suggests that the middle third of the peakERB trajectory is robust in differentiating word-final fricatives in Gitksan.

The Role of Language in Shaping Identity in Indian Literature: A Critical Study

In India’s cultural tapestry, which is diverse and multifaceted with a strong literary tradition, language and identity are intertwined. The deep connection between language and identity in Indian literature is explored in this critical study, which provides insights into how language functions as a potent tool in the creation, preservation, and alteration of both individual and collective identities in the Indian setting. This study investigates the crucial function of language in forming, developing, and reflecting the identities of the people of India, drawing on a wide range of Indian literary works. Undoubtedly, one of the most challenging procedures in life is learning a language other than one’s native tongue. It is a startlingly drawn-out experience that is reliant on mental, emotional, and physical factors. The second language learners should alternate between thinking of themselves as first-language speakers and second-language learners, which forces them to consider how they “identify” themselves. Teachers no longer just play a supporting role in the global education system. The idea of identity is one of the most recent topics that is being researched widely across the world.

Senses of Language

For most students beginning to study a second language, the image of the native speaker looms large. The native speaker is presented as a model of appropriate language use as well as the final arbiter of the validity of every utterance; to speak “like a native speaker” often becomes the explicit goal of study. But such monolithic images are more projections than reality. Even within communities of first-language speakers, there is an endless diversity of language use. if we accept that language is not a neutral tool to be mastered, but rather a dynamic medium shaped by and reflecting our personal experience of acquisition, then both the feasibility and desirability of speaking “like a native speaker” become questionable. In this essay, I consider what it means to be a first-language speaker and suggest that we may want to reevaluate our common hierarchies of language proficiency. As the use of second languages is becoming increasingly common, it is important to recognize the legitimacy of second-language speakers and their potential for enriching language communities. I discuss my how my own sense of appropriate language has evolved, and briefly touch on movement in the linguistics community to critically consider longstanding “native speaker” biases.

Traditional Health Care Practitioners' Perspectives on Applying Informed Consent During African Traditional Medical Practice in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria: A Cross-Sectional Qualitative Study.

Introduction: This study explored the perspectives of traditional health care practitioners (THPs) practicing in the areas of herbalism, bone setting, and traditional birth attendance, from Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria, on the possibility and implications of applying informed consent (IC) during African traditional medicine (ATM) practice. Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted with 11 THPs, consisting of 5 herbalists, 3 traditional bone setters (TBS), and 3 traditional birth attendants (TBAs), who represented the diverse groups that the study intended to cover. In-depth interviews were conducted using a semistructured guide and were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis with the assistance of NVivo® qualitative analysis software. Results: Participants were seven males (64%) and four females (36%), 35-67 years of age, with 5-25 years of experience as THPs. Forty-six percent of participants were herbalists (27%), TBS, and TBAs (27%). Most participants (82%) were Annang, and (18%) were Ibibio first-language speakers. Three major themes emerged from the data analysis: (i) Existing ethical framework related to IC, (ii) knowledge of consent, and (iii) application of IC during traditional medical practice. These themes and relevant subthemes were explored. All (100%) THPs agreed that it was essential to communicate risks and benefits while allowing patients to ask questions before treatment. All participants (100%) stated that risk communication is essential in ATM, whereas 36% said they communicated all therapy benefits to their patients. Respondents believed patients could make an informed choice if they had complete information disclosure. However, THPs in this study had limited knowledge of formal IC rules and regulations. Conclusions: This study revealed that THPs in this setting disclose a diagnosis, risks, some benefits, and treatment options to patients. Consent/agreement was obtained verbally and voluntarily during ATM practice, consistent with IC doctrine. THPs had limited knowledge of the critical elements of IC. However, they suggested that a form of IC that does not conflict with traditional African norms could be applicable in ATM. IC could facilitate documentation and help reduce risks in ATM practice.

Language motivations and choices of Dutch L1 speakers attending English-language churches in The Netherlands

ABSTRACT The Netherlands is home to an increasing number of English-language churches. These churches are often established with an international audience in mind: however, interestingly, they also attract a large number of Dutch as a first-language (L1) speakers. This article investigates the language attitudes and language choices of Dutch L1 speakers attending these churches. It examines the religious considerations behind their language choices, and the influence a second language (L2) might have on their faith experience. The study shows that, while English is indeed permeating the religious domain of the Netherlands, Dutch is still used in many contexts. For example, a majority of the participants, while favouring English as the main language of the church service, preferred to pray in Dutch. We also found that ideologies surrounding the English language guided many of the participants’ language choices. Lastly, the English language brought participants a sense of distance that aided discussions about their faith and prevented negative feelings associated with the Dutch language from interfering. This study adds to the discussion of the global spread of English and sheds new light on linguistic attitudes and choices in religious contexts.

The Upper Nicola Nsyilxcn Talking Dictionary Project: Community-Driven Revitalization Lexicography within an Academic Context

ABSTRACT: The Upper Nicola dialect of Nsyilxcn (aka Okaangan Salish) currently has fewer than twelve first-language speakers ( twi -Sharon Lindley, p.c.). This paper describes the Upper Nicola Nsyilxcn Talking Dictionary Project, a community-driven, collaborative project that utilizes heritage language recordings and their associated transcriptions with the goal of developing an online dictionary resource for use by the Upper Nicola Syilx community. The content of the dictionary stems from recently digitized recordings (originally made by Dr. Yvonne Hébert between 1978 and 1980) of elder twi -Joseph Albert Michel reciting Nsyilxcn words and sentences along with their English translations. The collection now consists of 6,831 individual sound files, which our team is currently transcribing with the aid of published language materials. A significant number of lexical items are either unique to this dialect, or otherwise previously undocumented. Our team currently consists of a linguist and two Syilx Indigenous language learners from the Upper Nicola who are enrolled in University of British Columbia, Okanagan's Bachelor of Nsyilxcn Language Fluency Program. This project is important since there has never before been any published dictionary of the Upper Nicola dialect. This project also builds capacity within the community for language maintenance and provides a model for future collaborations between Indigenous communities and academic institutions.

Arabic language-in-education policy opportunities

This paper addresses the language-in-education policy of the Arabic language, particularly in Arab countries. The situation of the Arabic language currently calls for exploring opportunities for language-in-education policies to inform basic and tertiary education. The paper contributes to the policy of Arabic language-in-education knowledge and understanding to support pedagogical practices. The implications of a recent research study analysing Arabic language initiatives in the UAE bring to the forefront new pathways for the development of Arabic language-in-education policy, pedagogical practices and curriculum planning in the UAE. This paper extends the discussion emerging from this previous research to address trends of language-in-education policies in Arab countries. Specifically, it highlights policy opportunities that have implications on teaching and learning practices of the Arabic language by its first-language speakers. This paper builds direct links between research and the practice of language policy and planning (LPP) in its broader sense and addresses the concept of Arabic language policy and planning in the context of Arab countries.

A bifurcation threshold for contact-induced language change

One proposed mechanism of language change concerns the role played by second-language (L2) learners in situations of language contact. If sufficiently many L2 speakers are present in a speech community in relation to the number of first-language (L1) speakers, then those features which present a difficulty in L2 acquisition may be prone to disappearing from the language. This paper presents a mathematical account of such contact situations based on a stochastic model of learning and nonlinear population dynamics. The equilibria of a deterministic reduction of the model, describing a mixed population of L1 and L2 speakers, are fully characterized. Whether or not the language changes in response to the introduction of L2 learners turns out to depend on three factors: the overall proportion of L2 learners in the population, the strength of the difficulty speakers face in acquiring the language as an L2, and the language-internal utilities of the competing linguistic variants. These factors are related by a mathematical formula describing a phase transition from retention of the L2-difficult feature to its loss from both speaker populations. This supplies predictions that can be tested against empirical data. Here, the model is evaluated with the help of two case studies, morphological levelling in Afrikaans and the erosion of null subjects in Afro-Peruvian Spanish; the model is found to be broadly in agreement with the historical development in both cases.

The role of English in South African multilinguals’ linguistic repertoires: a cluster-analytic study

ABSTRACT A substantial body of research has examined the role of English in South Africans’ linguistic repertoires. Many of these studies have investigated whether a language shift towards English might be underway among first-language (L1) speakers of the indigenous languages. At the same time, the role of English in the repertoires of L1 English speakers has received little attention, the implicit assumption being that English remains dominant for them. This paper presents an empirically informed comparison of English experience within and across L1 and non-L1 (Ln) English speakers in order to shed light on the importance of English in these individuals’ repertoires. Cluster analysis is employed to analyze language background data from bi-/multilinguals (n = 200). The analysis produces two clusters, which differ in extent of English exposure and preference for English use. All but one of the L1 English speakers belong to the ‘higher exposure, higher preference’ cluster, while the vast majority of the Ln speakers fall into the ‘lower exposure, lower preference’ cluster. The results indicate that English experience is relatively homogeneous across L1 speakers but differs, for the most part, across L1 and Ln speakers. The findings are relevant to our understanding of language use in multilingual South Africa.

Assessing critical thinking in L2: An exploratory study

Critical thinking (CT) is taking on an increasingly important role in Japanese tertiary education. Teachers tasked with developing CT in a second-language (L2) context may need a way of assessing students’ abilities. However, a number of difficulties face L2 students taking a test designed for first-language (L1) speakers. They may be disadvantaged by linguistic and perhaps cultural issues. This study describes an exploratory attempt to make a CT test that can be administered to learners of English and which allows them to display selected elements of CT, specifically analyzing arguments and judging or evaluating. A comparison of L1 and L2 performance in the test showed the results to be comparable. Analysis of two different question topics showed differences in CT skills displayed. Issues with rating accuracy are linked to the format of the test. We argue that this test format is suitable for many students in Japan and elsewhere who have intermediate levels of English.

Assessing critical thinking in L2: An exploratory study

Critical thinking (CT) is taking on an increasingly important role in Japanese tertiary education. Teachers tasked with developing CT in a second-language (L2) context may need a way of assessing students’ abilities. However, a number of difficulties face L2 students taking a test designed for first-language (L1) speakers. They may be disadvantaged by linguistic and perhaps cultural issues. This study describes an exploratory attempt to make a CT test that can be administered to learners of English and which allows them to display selected elements of CT, specifically analyzing arguments and judging or evaluating. A comparison of L1 and L2 performance in the test showed the results to be comparable. Analysis of two different question topics showed differences in CT skills displayed. Issues with rating accuracy are linked to the format of the test. We argue that this test format is suitable for many students in Japan and elsewhere who have intermediate levels of English.

Introduction

Introduction

Northern Paiute

Northern Paiute

“Creating the illusion of speaking Romanian well”: Hungarian speakers’ teaching and learning the majority language in Romania

Abstract The case study of the article is translanguaging as an educational strategy in preparation for the graduation exam in Romanian language and literature in a Hungarian school in Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda, Romania. Romanian language competence scores are at the bottom of national rankings in this Hungarian-majority town in Szeklerland. Students who speak a minority language have their knowledge of the majority language evaluated in the graduation exam in Romanian language and literature based on the same criteria as first-language speakers’, which has strong implications for their participation in Romanian society. The main research question of this ethnographically informed article is how translanguaging happens in a classroom where students’ first language is being used with the aim of facilitating performance in their second language. The article argues that in the classrooms where the research was conducted, translanguaging is a strategy that negotiates between students’ educational needs in the local environment and the expectation espoused by the state to perform as if they were monolingual Romanian speakers. Similarly, students use translanguaging to strategize between the curricular expectations and their language performance. Yet, I argue that in this case study the emancipatory potential of translanguaging is limited due to ethnolinguistic hierarchies that remain unchallenged.

Contributors

Contributors

Native non-prototypicality in vowel perception induces prominent neuromagnetic mismatch intensities in non-native speakers: a pilot study.

Neural mismatch response resulting from the difference between prediction and observation is related to change detection and discrimination. Robust neuromagnetic brain activity of auditory mismatch-related perception occurs in response to non-prototypical vowels inacross-category contrasts for first-language speakers. However, whether this non-prototypicality effect applies to within-category vowel perception remains to be elucidated. Here, healthy Japanese adults (n = 7) were subjected to magnetoencephalography (MEG) while watching a silent movie, and passively listened to synthesized English vowels /i/. We observed the source-level mismatch effect to the mid-high near-front vowel deviant [ɪ] with the most non-prototypical, unspecified feature in the participants' native language system. The mismatch effect recruited the left posterior superior temporal sulcus with a peak latency of 225ms post-stimulus onset. We further studied whether a longer F1 distance between vowel pairs would increase mismatch-activated intensities, however, we did not observe neuromagnetic changes when the prototypical anchor standard [i] was compared with three non-prototypical deviants differing in first resonance frequency (F1) values. Our results indicate that an F1 increase in within-category upper front vowel perception is a strong activator of mismatch responses measured by source-level activated intensities for non-native listeners.

THE SOUND CORRESPONDENCE OF TEOCHEW, HAKKA, AND CANTONESE

This research is based on a theory in Historical Comparative Linguistics. This theory is also called a diachronic theory, which involves the analysis of the form and regularity of changes in common languages such as those accompanied by sound changes. The objects of the research are Teochew (TC), Hakka (HK), and Cantonese (CO) dialects used in Medan city. These three dialects are categorized into the Sino-Tibetan family. Sino-Tibetan (ST) as one of the largest language families in the world, with more first-language speakers than even Indo-Europeans, is having more than 1.1 billion speakers of Sinitic (the Chinese dialects) constitute the world's largest speech community. According to STEDT (Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus), Chinese is considered as a Sino-Tibetan language family. The research method used is the qualitative method. The data collection method and technique used to refer to the conversation method with the techniques of recording and writing. The data were analyzed using the qualitative method of glottochronology. The result of the research shows that TC, HK, and CO were related in terms of sound correspondences and were separated thousands of years ago. TC and HK were related and both corresponded identically one similar vowel, one similar consonant, and one different phoneme, and one similar syllable. TC and CO were related and both corresponded to one similar vowel, one similar vocalic cluster, one similar consonant, and one different phoneme, and one similar syllable. HK and CO were related and both corresponded identically, one similar vowel, one similar consonant, one different phoneme, one different vocalic cluster, and one similar syllable. From all the findings and discussion in this research, the writer has concluded that HK and CO are the closest dialects among the three compared dialects.

The validity of an isiZulu speech reception threshold test for use with adult isiZulu speakers.

BackgroundThis study continued the development of an isiZulu speech reception threshold (zSRT) test for use with first language, adult speakers of isiZulu.ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to determine the convergent and concurrent validity of the zSRT test.MethodsOne hundred adult isiZulu first-language speakers with normal hearing and 76 first-language, adult isiZulu speakers with conductive or sensorineural hearing losses ranging from mild to severe were assessed on pure tone audiometry and a newly developed isiZulu SRT test. Convergent validity was established through agreement of the zSRT scores with pure tone average (PTA) scores. Concurrent validity was assessed by examining the steepness of the psychometric curve for each word in the zSRT test for each type and degree of hearing loss.ResultsIntraclass correlation coefficient analyses showed zSRT scores were in substantial to very high agreement with PTA scores for the normal hearing and hearing loss groups (NH – right ear ICC consistency = 0.78, left ear ICC = 0.67; HL – right ear ICC consistency = 0.97, left ear ICC consistency = 0.95). The mean psychometric slope (%/dB) at 50% correct perception for all words in the zSRT test was 4.92%/dB for the mild conductive hearing loss group, 5.26%/dB for the moderate conductive hearing loss group, 2.85%/dB for the moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss group and 2.47%/dB for the severe sensorineural hearing loss group. These slopes were appropriate for the degree of hearing loss observed in each group.ConclusionThe zSRT test showed convergent and concurrent validity for assessing SRT in first language, adult speakers of isiZulu.

Drama as Methodology for Coast Salish Language Revitalization

This article analyses theatre project ‘Hul’q’umi’num’ Heroes: Reclaiming Language through Theatre’, which aims to stem the decline of the Hul’q’umi’num’ language by bringing traditional stories about heroes to life in dramatic performances that spark and hold the interest of language speakers, language learners, and the general public. The territory of the Hul’q’umi’num’ people extends along the Salish Sea from Nanoose to Malahaton Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Today, around forty fluent first-language speakers remain, mostly over the age of 60, and thus Hul’q’umi’num’ is considered an endangered language. However, among the population of over 6,000 Hul’q’umi’num’, there are many people who desire to learn the language or improve their fluency. By embarking on the next step—turning traditional stories into theatre—the wproject is hoping to bring the language to the eyes and ears of the community, and, for the participants, it will possibly help unlock their ability to speak Hul’q’umi’num’. This article argues that applied theatre can be used to effectively address concerns pertaining to—in this case—the indigenous community the language revitalization work is meant to benefit, even though there are multiple challenges that stand in the way of such a process. The work has a strong focus on traditional and playful artistry and on consensus.