Groups Of Speakers Research Articles

The use of lexical semantics for processing face-masked speech in monolinguals and bilinguals.

Face masks impede visual and acoustic cues that help make speech processing and language comprehension more efficient. Many studies report this phenomenon, but few examined how listeners utilize semantic information to overcome the challenges posed by face masks. Fewer still investigated this impact on bilinguals' processing of face-masked speech [Smiljanic, Keerstock, Meemann, and Ransom, S. M. (2021). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 149(6), 4013-4023; Truong, Beck, and Weber (2021). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 149(1), 142-144]. Therefore, this study aims to determine how monolingual and bilingual listeners use semantic information to compensate for the loss of visual and acoustic information when the speaker is wearing a mask. A lexical priming experiment tested how monolingual listeners and early-acquiring simultaneous bilingual listeners responded to video of English word pairs. The prime-target pairs were either strongly related, weakly related, or unrelated and were both either masked or unmasked. Analyses of reaction time results showed an overall effect of masking in both groups and an effect of semantic association strength on processing masked and unmasked speech. However, speaker groups were not different; subsequent analyses of difference values showed no effect of semantic context. These results illustrate the limited role of word-level semantic information on processing in adverse listening conditions. Results are discussed in light of semantic processing at the sentence level.

Problems of ratification of the European Charter of regional or minority languages in Ukraine

The article examines the problems of ratification of the European Charter of Regional or Minority Languages of 1992 and changes in the obligations of Ukraine to fulfill its provisions. The authors came to the conclusion that Ukraine's approach to the ratification of the European Charter was not balanced and did not have sufficient scientific justification. In particular, it has the following conceptual flaws. 1. The idea of the rights of national minorities in the sphere of using their languages is taken as abasis, and not the actual protection of regional and minority languages. This fundamental error distorts the essence of the European Charter. 2. The named national minorities were chosen arbitrarily, partly inadequately. The criteria for classify ingcertain languages as regional or minority are unclear. 3. The fundamental mistake wasthe refusal to distinguish the territories of the traditional distribution of the languages that are planned to be protected. Derived from this and obviously unjustified is the special protection of the most numerous group of speakers of the minority language –Russian – within the whole of Ukraine instead of the few historical communities of its speakers. 4. The temporary, and later the final refusal of special protection of non-territorial languages, which lays the grounds for discrimination of such languages as Yiddish and Romani, is unjustified and discriminatory. 5. The biggest drawback is the equal treatment of all regional or minority languages. In such a case, the main beneficiaries of state support become the most widespread languages, and the least number of speakers in relict languages (for example, Karaim) receive very little protection and cannot stop the process of their decline and disappearance. Key words: minority languages, regional languages, language of minority,national minorities, ethno-cultural policy of the state.

Transfer and Bias in Norwegians’ Judgments of Word Order in L2 English

This study investigates transfer of V2 relative to certain adverbs in L1 Norwegian L2 English speakers of intermediate/advanced proficiency. Previous research has found transfer of V2 word order, especially relative to adverbs in elementary school children (i.e., beginners) (Westergaard 2002, 2003) as well as in highschoolers (Dahl et al. 2022; Listhaug et al. 2021). However, the question remains whether this tendency persists in intermediate/advanced adult speakers. The present study uses Acceptability Judgment Tasks (AJTs) to investigate the presence of V2 transfer in this speaker group. The use of AJTs to investigate transfer is complicated by the fact that there is sometimes talk of L2 users having a yes-bias (Romano and Guijarro-Fuentes 2023). In this study, I investigate the presence of such a bias in AJTs, and whether the emergence of a bias is potentially impacted by access to metalinguistic knowledge. I conducted two AJTs where access to metalinguistic knowledge differed. I used Signal Detection Theory (Bader and Häussler 2010) to get a measure of participants’ sensitivity (d’) and their decision criterion to investigate the presence of bias. The results revealed a clear no-bias in both experiments, suggesting we cannot always assume a yes-bias in L2 users. No detectable transfer of V2 relative to adverbs was found in this group of L2 users, whose performance was at ceiling. Furthermore, as the only way to detect V2 transfer in the data was for speakers to accept ungrammatical structures, any potential presence thereof may have been masked by this salient no-bias.

Positive cross-linguistic influence in the representation and processing of sentence-final particle le by L2 and heritage learners of Chinese.

This study investigates the representation and processing of written Chinese sentences subject to a semantic condition (i.e., "direction of change") attached to the sentence-final particle (SFP) le in Mandarin Chinese. Three groups of bilingual speakers of Chinese and English who differ in their onset age of bilingualism and proficiency of English were studied. It was anticipated that there would be a positive cross-linguistic influence (CLI) from English due to similarities between the SFP le and the English adverb already in terms of direct semantic transfer. An acceptability judgment (AJ) task and a self-paced reading (SPR) task were conducted to elicit judgment and processing difficulty with and without semantic violations. The participants included English-dominant second language (L2) learners (n = 18) and heritage learners (n = 19) who had advanced proficiency in Chinese, as well as monolingually raised Mandarin speakers from China as a baseline control group (n = 18). The results indicated that sensitivity to violations of the semantic condition varied depending on factors such as the specific structure (noun vs. verb phrase), the task type (offline vs. online), and the type of bilingual speaker (early vs. late). Among the three groups of bilinguals, the heritage learners demonstrated a representation of the semantic condition that resembled the target language across different sentence structures, whereas the L2 learners did not. Furthermore, the heritage learners exhibited earlier sensitivity to violations during online processing compared to the baseline control group. These exceptional results can be attributed to the heritage learners' early exposure to and positive CLI between the SFP le in Mandarin and the English adverb already.

MSA Speech Rhythm Pattern in a Multilingual Setting

This study examines variation in rhythm metrics in a multilingual setting by focusing on between-speaker differences. The investigation analyzes speech rhythm patterns of segmental durations in the speech of 77 Algerian speakers belonging to three educational background classes and three age groups. The experiment focuses on speech rhythm variability according to the level of educational background of the speakers and the language used in daily life. The gender and age of speakers are also analyzed. Results show that five vocalic rhythm metrics reflect the contrast between long and short vowels that was observed from the acoustic measurements. The statistical analysis reveals that rhythm metrics are sensitive to differences between groups of speakers, such as age and educational background. The outcomes also show that the lack of practice of Modern Standard Arabic by some speaker groups considerably affects vowel quantity.

Anaphora resolution and age effects in Greek-Spanish bilingualism: Evidence from first-generation immigrants, heritage speakers, and L2 speakers

The present study compares anaphora resolution (AR) data from Greek and Spanish monolinguals and Greek-Spanish bilinguals who live in Chile to identify differences in resolving third-person null subjects (NSs) and overt pronominal subjects (OSPs) in ambiguous non-focused linguistic contexts. Overextension of the scope of OSPs in contexts where NSs are discursively expected has been consistently observed in different language contact situations, including pairs of null subject languages. According to the Interface Hypothesis, this is a compensatory strategy that occurs on account of bilingualism itself (inefficiency in syntax-pragmatic mappings). The study evaluates the Interface Hypothesis, focusing on the understudied combination of Greek and Spanish, by comparing three types of bilinguals: first-generation immigrants, heritage speakers, and L2 speakers, together with monolingual baseline groups. In addition, the study examines the age effects on speakers’ performance. Five groups of speakers (N = 115; age range 16–87; mean: 50.13, SD = 19.33) performed a self-paced auditory AR task. No overextension of the scope of OSPs was found in any of the bilingual groups, against the predictions stemming from the Interface Hypothesis. Significant age effects were found in the interpretation of NSs by both monolingual and bilingual speakers of Greek.

Central bank communication and public trust: The case of ECB speeches

Does communication influence trust in the central bank? We examine this question using survey data covering 488,000 Eurozone citizens from 1999 to 2019. We find compelling evidence that more communication, as measured by the number of speeches made by Eurosystem representatives, negatively impacts citizens’ trust in the ECB. This holds for speeches as a whole and for different groups of speakers. This effect was exacerbated during the global financial and European sovereign debt crises. We do detect a positive result from more speeches in the form of increased informedness on the ECB and the EU. However, the overall negative effect prevails.

Requests for Verification across Varieties of Spanish

Abstract This article examines requests for verification across varieties of Spanish. It focuses on the role of gaze behaviour in the design of the request and shows how gaze is interrelated with other resources, such as facial expressions, epistemic markers, prosody and tag questions. By comparing speakers from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador, the article finds similarities but also differences between the groups of speakers. The speakers from Bolivia and Ecuador rarely establish mutual gaze or use facial expressions during the verification sequence. Instead, more frequently, they deploy other resources for obtaining verifications, such as tag questions, hand gestures and rising intonation. The article considers differences in gaze behaviour within the larger machinery of response mobilisation and shows how gaze is intertwined with other aspects of conversational organisation. Results are based on qualitative and quantitative analysis. The data stems from face-to-face conversations recorded in similar side-by-side settings.

Phonetic variation in Italian L2: An acoustic analysis of sibilant fricatives in the speech of L1 Spanish learners


 
 The present study investigates the acoustic features of Italian sibilant fricatives (/s/, /z/ and /ʃ/) in the speech of L1 Spanish learners. Segmental duration, degree of voicing and place of articulation of learners’ productions are analysed alongside those of a control group of L1 Italian speakers to investigate the fine-grained phonetic differences between native and non-native pronunciation. Results from a quantitative analysis suggest that factors such as the degree of typological markedness of the phoneme and the influence of the L1 in perception and production affect L2 pronunciation to a different extent for each of the target sounds.
 

Nouns are not always processed faster than verbs in bilingual speakers: effects of language distance

AbstractThe purpose of the current report is to study the effects of language distance on noun and verb processing in bilingual speakers. We recruited two groups of bilingual speakers: one group spoke two typologically distant languages (Cantonese and English) and the other group spoke two typologically similar languages (Mandarin and Cantonese). Participants named object and action pictures in their first language. We controlled psycholinguistic properties of words such as frequency, AoA, imageability, name agreement, visual complexity, familiarity, and participants’ bilingual language experiences. Our findings revealed a significant role for language distance. We observed a difference between noun and verb processing in the similar language pair (Mandarin–Cantonese) due to interference induced by language similarity. However, in the distant language pair (Cantonese–English), the difference disappeared because of the lack of cross-language interference. Our findings support that current and future models of bilingual language processing should take into account the effects of language distance.

The Intelligibility of Korean-Accented English in the Lingua Franca Context

This study aimed to establish an empirical basis for prioritizing English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) instruction by evaluating the importance of “intelligibility” in communication with accented English speakers. It specifically examined the claims surrounding the Lingua Franca Core (LFC) features as the minimum requirements for intelligibility in ELF contexts. The experiment focused on the intelligibility of Korean-accented English (KoE) and general American English (AmE) to Korean-Speaking Learners (KSLs) and Japanese- Speaking Learners (JSLs). The findings indicated that AmE was more intelligible to both non-native English speaker groups. In contrast, KoE’s intelligibility was hindered by non- LFC features such as the pronunciation of the dark /l/ sound and specific vowel qualities. These results challenge the LFC proposal and suggest the need for a modified set of LFC features in ELF teaching and learning. The implications of this study are significant for English language education, highlighting the necessity of considering different accents and non-LFC features in ELF communication. By incorporating these aspects into instruction, teachers can better prepare learners for real-world interactions in diverse linguistic contexts. This approach enhances learners’ confidence and proficiency in understanding and being understood by individuals from various linguistic backgrounds, fostering successful intercultural exchanges.

Second language word processing in sentence contexts: pre-lexical prediction versus post-lexical integration

This study investigated the effects of sentence contexts on the second language (L2) word recognition process. It aims at finding whether second language (L2) learners of English perform similar to English native speakers in terms of using the sentence context to predict upcoming word in their L2. A group of L2 participants and a control group of native speakers (L1) participants performed a cross-modal priming task in which they were asked to make a lexical decision on a visually presented word while listening to a semantically related or non- related English sentence. The test was conducted to determine whether both groups of participants were able to predict an upcoming word based on the context of the preceding sentence that is auditorily presented. The study is conducted using PsychoPy software whereas the data was analyzed using linear-mixed effects modeling in RStudio software. The results showed that the L1 speakers were able to predict an upcoming word based on the context of the preceding sentence. That is, a significantly faster recognition of the related word was observed compared to the less related words. On other hand, the English second language participants were not as able to predict an upcoming word as quickly as the English native speaker participants were. However, the L2 participants showed post-access lexical processing or what is called an integrating process of the presented word to the previous sentence context. That is, an effect of the sentence context was observed with L2 participants, yet only after reading the presented word, they decide whether it is appropriate to the preceding sentence context or not. Acknowledgments The author is thankful to the Deanship of Scientific Research at Najran University for funding this work under the National Research Priorities funding program.

A comparison of basic color terms in Mandarin and Spanish

AbstractBasic perceptual abilities are universal, and most people can distinguish between millions of distinct shades. However, languages differ in the set of basic color terms (BCTs) they have. Despite numerous prior studies, the exact number of BCTs in Mandarin (Sino‐Tibetan) and Spanish (Indo‐European) is still debated. In Mandarin, this number varies from 6 to 11, whereas in Spanish there are about 11 or 12 BCTs. Additionally, differences between these two languages can be expected with regard to the differing usage of BCTs in reference to color, as well as the naming strategies used for specifying references. To clarify this, we recruited a group of Mainland Mandarin speakers and a group of Castilian Spanish speakers and assessed them in two related tasks: the list task, in which participants were asked to write down as many color names as they could recall; and the color‐naming task, in which they were asked to name color chips from the Munsell color chart that were presented randomly. Our results suggest that Mandarin has nine BCTs, while Spanish has 12 BCTs. Furthermore, we found that Mandarin speakers use more modified terms and compounds to achieve precise color reference, whereas Spanish speakers rely more on monomorphemic non‐basic terms. Finally, we observed that Mandarin speakers use some colors (gray, blue, and purple) less consistently; although, the color space is partitioned similarly by these two languages. Our results reinforce the view that there are universal constraints on color naming that are compatible with subtle cross‐cultural differences in how colors are used.

How long can naturalistic L2 pronunciation learning continue in adults? A 10-year study

We examined the naturalistic pronunciation development of two groups of L2 speakers over 10 years. Initially, 50 beginner ESL students participated in production tasks; despite attrition, the tasks were administered eight more times. Here we report listener judgements of accentedness, comprehensibility and fluency for the remaining six Mandarin and 12 Slavic language speakers at Year 10. Analyses of listener judgments of accentedness, comprehensibility, and fluency of utterances recorded at the 2-month, 1-year, 2-year, 7-year and 10-year points revealed that the Slavic language speakers improved in comprehensibility and fluency at each comparison point, while the Mandarin speakers’ results were variable; there was improvement in comprehensibility from Year 7 to Year 10, but only after worsening at earlier points. The Slavic language group showed improvement in accentedness several times, whereas the Mandarin group showed no improvement in accentedness at any point. The data were examined for individual differences in learning trajectories. Interview responses and a survey of language use were compared to participants’ trajectories. Some speakers showed steady improvement from Year 7 to Year 10, but the majority plateaued or regressed. We also elicited speakers’ views of their progress. The results are interpreted through Complexity Theory and the Willingness to Communicate framework. Suggestions are made for research and teaching interventions.

Investigating language transfer from a usage-based perspective

Aims and objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate language contact from a usage-based perspective. In particular, we test the explanatory power of a schematicity continuum, one of the central assumptions within usage-based approaches, in regard to these contact effects. In doing so, we aim to better understand how schematicity influences language transfer as well as learn more about the cognitive mechanism of schematicity itself. Design: The empirical focus of this study is on native German speakers living in the Netherlands who tend to experience a lot of language transfer from their second language Dutch to their native language German. The experiment consists of a production task containing constructions that differ in regard to their potential level of schematicity (i.e., lexically specific, partially schematic, fully schematic) and in the type of transfer that they might trigger (i.e., covert and overt transfer). Data and analysis: We compare production data of native German speakers living in the Netherlands ( N = 60) with those of a control group of speakers not in contact with Dutch ( N = 60), to establish whether the language use of these two groups differs. In addition, we analyze both speaker and item variation for the different constructions. Findings/conclusions: The speakers with Dutch contact show a number of contact effects, such as covert and overt transfer as well as hypercorrection regarding the use of certain constructions. Originality: The variation analysis reveals individual differences in how speakers use the different constructions. Some of these differences can be attributed to their mental levels of schematicity. Significance/implications: The study shows that transfer depends on schematicity. In doing so, it provides direct evidence for different levels of schematicity in speakers’ mental representations, demonstrating the usefulness of studying cognitive mechanisms within a language contact setting.

Cross-linguistic influence meets diminished input: A comparative study of heritage Russian in contact with Hebrew and English

While it is known that heritage speakers diverge from the homeland baseline, there is still no consensus on the mechanisms triggering this divergence. We investigate the impact of two potential factors shaping adult heritage language (HL) grammars: (1) cross-linguistic influence (CLI), originally proposed for second language acquisition (SLA), and (2) background factors associated with input. To assess the role of CLI and input we compared two groups of adult heritage speakers of Russian ( n = 66) with two typologically distinct societal languages (SLs), Hebrew and American English. Their production was evaluated for three morphosyntactic phenomena: adjective–noun agreement, accusative case morphology, and numerical phrases. Using self-rating and baseline vocabulary tasks as proficiency measures, we conducted controlled experiments to assess mastery of the target phenomena. Our results show that, while CLI is the main mechanism behind HL grammar maintenance, increased input and proficiency can modulate performance in the absence of grammatical similarities between the HL and SL. An analysis of non-target responses revealed systematic patterns, including reliance on default, or unmarked, forms in both groups, in line with previous research. These findings contribute to the literature on the mechanisms of HL grammar formation and maintenance.

The impact of bilinguality and language context on the understanding of epistemic adverbs in health communication: the case of English and Russian.

To explore how English epistemic adverbs, as used in health communication, are understood by speakers depending on their first language (L1) and language context. We used an online dissimilarity rating task with paired doctors' opinions which differed only with respect to the embedded epistemic adverbs (e.g., This treatment definitely has side effects vs. This treatment possibly has side effects). In order to evaluate the possible effect of one's L1, we compared the ratings of English-speaking monolinguals and Russian-English bilinguals in Australia (Study 1). To evaluate the impact of language context, we compared the ratings of Russian-English bilinguals in Australia and Russia (Study 2). The data were interpreted using classical multidimensional scaling (C-MDS) analysis, complemented by cultural consensus analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis. The C-MDS analyses returned statistically acceptable results. Intragroup consensus was evident for all speaker groups. They all clustered the high confidence adverbs (clearly, definitely, and obviously) and the hearsay adverbs (presumably and supposedly) similarly. Effects of L1 were seen: for example, unlike the monolinguals, the Russian bilinguals did not include evidently with the high confidence adverbs (Study 1). An effect of context was also evident: Russian-English bilinguals in Australia most resembled the monolinguals in their understanding of epistemic adverbs. The way Russian-based bilinguals clustered epistemic adverbs reflected a less nuanced understanding (Study 2). The subtle differences in how adverbs of likelihood and doubt are understood in health communication suggest extra care is needed when conveying risk and uncertainty to patients from diverse linguistic and/or cultural backgrounds to ensure mutual understanding and mitigate against miscommunication. The impact of L1 and language context on one's understanding highlights the need to explore more widely how epistemic adverbs are understood by diverse populations and, in doing so, improve healthcare communication practices.

Foot duration and polysyllabic shortening among Arab speakers of English

This study investigates a neglected aspect of second language acquisition. It compares the timing patterns adopted by speakers of English as a foreign language with those of English native speakers. The paper aims to explore the extent to which Arab speakers, whose L1 is not as stress-timed as English is, can acquire the mechanisms of polysyllabic shortening in English. Three groups (English native speakers and two groups of Jordanian speakers of English) were requested to read three sets of monosyllabic, disyllabic and trisyllabic words in a carrier sentence. The total length of the word and the vowel duration in all the words were measured. Clear differences between the native speaker group and the non-native speaker groups were attested. Results show that isochronous foot duration and polysyllabic shortening are a tendency in English speech timing, rather than a fundamental process. Furthermore, acquiring the timing patterns of the stress-timed English rhythm is challenging to Arab speakers.

Phonetic variation in Italian L2: An acoustic analysis of sibilant fricatives in the speech of L1 Spanish learners

The present study investigates the acoustic features of Italian sibilant fricatives (/s/, /z/ and /ʃ/) in the speech of L1 Spanish learners. Segmental duration, degree of voicing and place of articulation of learners’ productions are analysed alongside those of a control group of L1 Italian speakers to investigate the fine-grained phonetic differences between native and non-native pronunciation. Results from a quantitative analysis suggest that factors such as the degree of typological markedness of the phoneme and the influence of the L1 in perception and production affect L2 pronunciation to a different extent for each of the target sounds.

Speakers are more cooperative and less individual when interacting in larger group sizes.

Cooperation, acoustically signaled through vocal convergence, is facilitated when group members are more similar. Excessive vocal convergence may, however, weaken individual recognizability. This study aimed to explore whether constraints to convergence can arise in circumstances where interlocutors need to enhance their vocal individuality. Therefore, we tested the effects of group size (3 and 5 interactants) on vocal convergence and individualization in a social communication scenario in which individual recognition by voice is at stake. In an interactive game, players had to recognize each other through their voices while solving a cooperative task online. The vocal similarity was quantified through similarities in speaker i-vectors obtained through probabilistic linear discriminant analysis (PLDA). Speaker recognition performance was measured through the system Equal Error Rate (EER). Vocal similarity between-speakers increased with a larger group size which indicates a higher cooperative vocal behavior. At the same time, there was an increase in EER for the same speakers between the smaller and the larger group size, meaning a decrease in overall recognition performance. The decrease in vocal individualization in the larger group size suggests that ingroup cooperation and social cohesion conveyed through acoustic convergence have priority over individualization in larger groups of unacquainted speakers.