Linguistic Experience Research Articles

Phonetics of Early Bilingualism

This article presents an overview of recent research on the phonetics of early bilinguals, individuals who have acquired both of their languages early in life, by either growing up being exposed to two languages since birth (i.e., simultaneous bilinguals) or having initially learned their first language with the second language introduced at a later stage during their childhood (i.e., early sequential or successive/consecutive bilinguals). This review puts forth empirical evidence from methodologically and theoretically diverse studies on the phonetics of early bilingualism and considers explanations for the observed patterns of cross-linguistic influence on the production, perception, and processing of sounds in both of their languages. Throughout, this article discusses the critical significance of early linguistic experience on bilingual speech patterns, how early-onset bilinguals perceive speech sounds in each language, bilinguals’ phonetic abilities when producing language-specific segmental and suprasegmental features, and the dynamic nature of cross-language sound interactions in early bilingual speech.

Bidialectal variety switching: the effects of language use and social contexts

While previous research shows that bilinguals' ability to mix and switch between two separate languages is influenced by both cross-language similarity and language use contexts, little attention has been paid to bidialectal populations. Given the linguistic and sociolinguistic differences between bilingualism and bidialectalism, it is thus unclear to what extent mechanisms underlying bidialectal variety switching resemble those underlying bilinguals. To investigate the effects of cross-variety phonological distance and variety use contexts on variety switching, we tested two groups of Chinese speakers in a bidialectal auditory word recognition task. Both groups speak a regional dialect (Chengdu Mandarin or Cantonese) as their native language and are also highly proficient in Standard Mandarin. Participants' language background and linguistic experience are collected by a language background questionnaire. Mixing and switching between two varieties are costly for bidialectal speakers in comprehension. Mixing costs can be attributed to variety switches instead of the mere presence of a mixed-variety context. While variety switch and mixing costs are not influenced by cross-variety phonological distance, they are modulated by variety dominance and habitual variety use contexts. This study highlights the similarities between bidialectals and bilinguals in language processing, as well as the significance of recognizing between- and within-group differences in conducting psycholinguistics research with multilingual populations.

Using Psychometric Network Analysis to Examine the Components of Spoken Word Recognition.

Using language requires access to domain-specific linguistic representations, but also draws on domain-general cognitive skills. A key issue in current psycholinguistics is to situate linguistic processing in the network of human cognitive abilities. Here, we focused on spoken word recognition and used an individual differences approach to examine the links of scores in word recognition tasks with scores on tasks capturing effects of linguistic experience, general processing speed, working memory, and non-verbal reasoning. 281 young native speakers of Dutch completed an extensive test battery assessing these cognitive skills. We used psychometric network analysis to map out the direct links between the scores, that is, the unique variance between pairs of scores, controlling for variance shared with the other scores. The analysis revealed direct links between word recognition skills and processing speed. We discuss the implications of these results and the potential of psychometric network analysis for studying language processing and its embedding in the broader cognitive system.

«…Мы отливаем нашу речь по определенным жанровым формам…»: размышления о прочитанном

The article provides an analytical review of the ideas set out in the book by L.V. Balashova and V.V. Dementiev “Russian speech genres” (Moscow: YASK Publishing House, 2022. 832 p.) in the context of the formation and development of speech definitions as a reflection of the language picture of the world. The concept of the theory of speech genres and its interpretation in the aspect of communicative and cognitive linguistics is revealed. It is said about the linguistic and cultural potential of the study of Russian speech phenomenon in this aspect. Related problems are considered: genre and creativity, genre and linguistic personality, etc. It is noted that much attention in the book is paid to the analysis of the value characteristics of speech communication — the study of genres such as heart-to-heart conversation, small talk, genres of the Runet, etc. A special place in the concept is occupied by the sphere of political linguistics and its verbal and genre organization. The role of the clerical speech, analytical review and friend-and-foe oppositions in the mass media is emphasized. It is indicated that the vector of evaluation meta-commentaries in the news pages of the media has changed. Attention is drawn to the applied importance of studying speech genres based on the use of the National Corpus of the Russian language, computer analysis of texts and digitalization of language material in the Russian Scientific Citation Index. The discussion of controversial issues related to the definition of the status of popular expressions as speech units of special organization is introduced. This circumstance makes it possible to include them in the system of speech genres. The rich historical and linguistic experience is used: from the classical ideas of M.M. Bakhtin, V.V. Vinogradov, G.O. Vinokur and other scientists who stood at the origins of this problem, to the concepts of modern domestic and foreign researchers. The reception of their views suggests possible vectors of the development of the theory of speech genres, the need to identify and analyze them in the conditions of centrifugal trends of communicative practice.

A Comparative Study on Students Immersion Programme: A Case of the Nigerian French Language Village and Institut Universitaire Panafricain (IUP) Porto-Novo, Benin Republic

This study addresses the effectiveness and impact of immersion programmes at two distinct French Language Institutions: the NFLV in Badagry, Lagos Nigeria and the IUP in Porto Novo, Benin Republic. The problem under investigation is the comparative effectiveness of the immersion programme offered by NFLV and IUP. Specifically, the study identified and evaluated differences in programme design, pedagogical strategies, students’ outcomes, and the level of availability of human and material resources between these two Institutions. The study used cluster sampling design to select 100 students who served as participants for the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted and a wellstructured questionnaire was the main instrument used for collecting data in the course of the study. The data collected was analysed using simple percentages, mean/standard deviation descriptive statistical tools and independent t-test for significance difference between two means was equally tested. The result showed that the Human and Material resources for immersion programmes in the NFLV and IUP is moderate. This is because of the grand mean scores of 2.96 and 3.14 are within the mean range interpretation of moderate high and are above the criterion mean of 2.50 for a four point likert scale rating. Although, better in IUP Porto Novo, since the grand mean of 3.14 is greater than 2.96 which represents NFLV. The programme design, pedagogical strategies, students’ outcomes were found to be better in IUP since their environment is a naturally francophone country, which provides a more immersive linguistic experience. Independent t-test for difference between means led to upholding of the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference between the effectiveness of NFLV and IUP centres for immersion programme. The study recommended inter alia that; leveraging on technology can enhance language learning. The NFLV should invest in digital resources such as language learning apps, virtual reality experiences, and online French speaking forum to complement traditional teaching methods.

The Role of Linguistic Anthropocentrism Theories in Uzbek National Linguistics

Objectives: The primary objective of this article is to explore the impact of the anthropocentric paradigm on Uzbek linguistics and its subsequent formation. The focus is on the shift towards an anthropocentric approach in world linguistics, especially since the late 20th century. The article aims to highlight the specific areas within Uzbek linguistics that have been influenced by this paradigm, emphasizing changes and developments in scientific views and ideas.
 
 Methods: To achieve the stated objectives, the article employs a methodological approach that involves an examination of the anthropocentric paradigm and its integration into Uzbek linguistics. It explores how the subject of language, along with its owner, national mentality, and culture, has gained prominence in linguistic studies. The methods also include an analysis of the fields that emerged based on anthropocentric views and the notable changes witnessed in 21st-century Uzbek linguistics.
 
 Results: The results of this study shed light on the significant impact of the anthropocentric paradigm on various aspects of Uzbek linguistics. The article analyzes the emergence of fields such as Uzbek cognitive linguistics, linguistic and cultural studies, and pragmalinguistics. It delves into the exploration of spiritual values and linguistic experiences within national-cultural communities, offering insights into the signs of interdependence between language and culture.
 
 Conclusion: In conclusion, the article synthesizes the findings by providing general conclusions on the influence of the anthropocentric paradigm on Uzbek linguistics. It underscores the importance of studying language in conjunction with its owner and cultural context. The changes and developments observed in the 21st century within Uzbek linguistics, shaped by anthropocentric views, are highlighted. The conclusion emphasizes the continued relevance of the relationship between language and culture, as well as language and thinking, within the anthropocentric approach in world linguistics. Overall, the article contributes to the understanding of the evolving landscape of Uzbek linguistics under the influence of the anthropocentric paradigm.

From Intercultural to Transcultural Communication: ELF in Multilingual Settings

The study centres around the idea that English is a global lingua franca for intercultural communication among multilingual speakers. Drawing on relevant literature in the field, the paper will highlight the intercultural and transcultural nature of English used as a multilingua franca (EMF). In particular, the study will explore learners’ attitudes with the purpose to identify how learners perceive the complex relation between culture and language and the factors which may affect intercultural communication through English. The study will analyse two sample groups. The first group is composed of students belonging to different first language backgrounds, mainly non-native speakers of English studying in an Italian university. The second group is composed of both native and non-native English speakers studying in the US and Canada. An online link to a questionnaire was sent via email to all participants and was used as a research instrument to collect quantitative data. It is highlighted that English used in multilingual settings cannot be analysed as a static and bounded entity with precise boundaries. On the contrary, English has transcended boundaries, in a fluid, dynamic and flexible process where borders are fuzzy and blurred and languages do not reflect well-defined national cultures. Therefore, it is suggested that language teaching practices should incorporate intercultural/transcultural oriented issues to provide learners with a more comprehensive knowledge of the multifaceted global English world and encourage a richer cultural and linguistic experience.

Preparing culturally and linguistically responsive teachers of multilingual learners through teacher research

This article presents an overview of Project ELEECT (English Learners’ Educational Excellence Capitol Teacher Training Project), a U.S. Department of Education-funded program designed to prepare teachers in Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Pedagogy (CLRP) for multilingual learners (ML). The purpose of Project ELEECT is to promote educational justice for MLs by revising a Master of Arts + ESL Licensure program for pre-service teachers and creating a professional development program for in-service teachers. It prepares pre-service and in-service teachers of MLs in CLRP through teacher research, and specifically offers a novel professional learning tool, which we call Impact on Learning Studies (IOLS). This teacher research tool represents a framework for the systematic and intentional self-study of their teaching practices. In this article, we lay the foundations for a research agenda that investigates pre-service and in-service teachers’ understanding and implementation of CLRP, documents concrete examples of CLRP in various classroom contexts, and examines the efficacy of teacher research initiatives to prepare teachers in CLRP. Project ELEECT prepares teachers to invite students’ cultural and linguistic experiences into their classrooms, create spaces for CLRP, and foster critical consciousness in learning settings, thus taking a major shift towards cultivation of anti-racist dispositions in education.

Peer-Mediated Intervention for Socially Isolated Preschoolers: An Early-Stage Feasibility Study.

A common goal of peer-mediated interventions is to train peers to successfully initiate and maintain social and linguistic interactions with a target child in the classroom. Ample evidence indicates that peer-mediated interventions improve social and linguistic outcomes for students in the primary and later grades with developmental disabilities; however, relatively little work has focused on applying these approaches to socially isolated preschoolers who are vulnerable to academic and social challenges. In this early-stage feasibility study, we examined the potential of Promoting Early Engagement, Relationships, and Socialization (PEERS), a peer-mediated intervention designed to support socially isolated preschoolers. The main goal was to consider whether the intervention showed promise for improving the social and linguistic experiences of young, isolated children and was appropriate for implementation in a preschool setting. In one preschool classroom, two peers who were well connected to their classmates were trained via storybook-based activities to provide social support to an isolated classmate. In-person and sensing technology observations were used to examine the target student's incoming peer interactions, outgoing peer interactions, and physical proximity to peers. In-person observations showed a trend toward increased interactions; sensing technology data, which provided longer snapshots of classroom experiences, were more variable. In addition, teachers perceived PEERS to be appropriate and effective. The findings of this study support further investigation of storybook-based peer-mediated interventions in preschool settings to improve the social and linguistic experiences of children who are socially isolated.

Protracted development in child heritage Spanish: Evidence from inalienable possession

The present study examined the production of inalienable possession with body parts in Spanish among 20 school-age children of Mexican-born parents born and raised in the United States. The results were compared to those of 20 first-generation immigrant parents (main input providers), 27 Spanish-dominant children of similar age, and 12 Spanish monolingual parents living in Mexico. Group and individual results obtained via a question-and-answer task showed low proportion of clitic se plus the definite determiner (e.g. Ella se rompió el brazo ‘She broke her arm’) among the heritage children in their production of the inalienable construal. The heritage children significantly overextended the possessive determiner instead of the definite determiner in contrast to their parents, the Spanish-dominant children and monolingual parents. Results also showed a significant role for dominance and language experience in the degree of morphosyntactic variability among heritage children, supporting recent research. The higher the Spanish dominance and the more Spanish contact and use the heritage children had, the more they aligned closer to their parents and the Spanish-dominant children in the use of the definite determiner. There were no divergences with the use of the definite determiner in alienable contexts. We argue for protracted development in child heritage Spanish stemming from crosslinguistic influence effects, minority language dominance and linguistic experience.

Bilectal Exposure Modulates Neural Signatures to Conflicting Grammatical Properties: Norway as a Natural Laboratory

AbstractThe current study investigated gender (control) and number (target) agreement processing in Northern and non‐Northern Norwegians living in Northern Norway. Participants varied in exposure to Northern Norwegian (NN) dialect(s), where number marking differs from most other Norwegian dialects. In a comprehension task involving reading NN dialect writing, P600 effects for number agreement were significantly affected by NN exposure. The more exposure the NN nonnatives had, the larger the P600 was, driven by the presence of number agreement (ungrammatical in NN). In contrast, less exposure correlated to the inverse: P600 driven by the absence of number agreement (ungrammatical in most other dialects). The NN natives showed P600 driven by the presence of number agreement regardless of exposure. These findings suggests that bilectalism entails the representation of distinct mental grammars for each dialect. However, like all instances of bilingualism, bilectalism exists on a continuum whereby linguistic processing is modulated by linguistic experience.

Investigation of Development of Phonology using Artificial Intelligence: A Preliminary Study

Background: Investigation of the development of acquisition of phonological processes is a very important phenomenon to predict language development in childhood. Phonological development refers to the gradual acquisition of an adult-like speech system used to convey meaning in a language. Adequate phonological development can lead to higher speech intelligibility, essential for perception and speech production. The test battery approach for phonological assessment includes formal as well as informal testing modalities. Speech intelligibility is a vital parameter for the assessment of phonological development. This is done via scoring collected audio speech samples, followed by IPA transcription and scoring and analysis of data manually. The primary objective of the study was to investigate the speech intelligibility score across real-timed stimuli (rhyming, storytelling, open-ended questions, and picture description tasks) across two age categories, i.e., 3-4 and 4-5 years among 40 Hindi-speaking children. Methods: A total of 40 children (15 girls and 25 boys) in the age range of 3 to 5 years were randomly selected from a junior high school in New Delhi, India. Groupwise speech intelligibility score was calculated for rhyming, storytelling, open-ended questions, and picture description tasks. Results: It was observed that the speech intelligibility score for open-ended questions was significantly higher in the 4-5 years group (94.09 ± 3.7) than the 3-4 years (89.83 ± 8.2), t (1, 38) =2.12, p =0.04). However, no significant improvement in rhyming task [t (1, 38) =1.14, p =0.18), storytelling [t (1, 38) =1.81, p =0.07), and picture description [t (1, 38) =1.89, p =0.06) was observed. Conclusion: Chances of error in conventional method of phonology assessment still persists which may be controlled using Artificial Intelligence (AI). The target phonetic stimulus can be customized based on the linguistic experience and environment.

Predicting language outcomes in bilingual children with Down syndrome

ABSTRACT Continuous approaches to measuring bilingualism have recently emerged as a means of understanding individual variation in language abilities. To date, limited information is available to assist in understanding the language abilities of bilingual children with Down syndrome (DS), who are specifically known to have a large variation in linguistic outcomes. Group studies in this population report that children exposed to two languages do not differ from their monolingual counterparts after considering age and non-verbal cognitive abilities, although no study to date has examined the relationship between the amount of exposure to one language and the linguistic abilities in the other language within this population. This study sought to identify whether exposure to an additional language, specifically Welsh, predicted linguistic abilities in the majority language, in this case, English. Sixty-five children between the ages of 5;5–16;9 who had varied linguistic experiences completed a range of cognitive and linguistic assessments. Results from hierarchical regression analyses show that the amount of exposure to Welsh had no impact on language abilities in English, after controlling for non-verbal cognitive abilities, short-term memory and socioeconomic status. This demonstrates that exposure to an additional language does not have a negative impact on language development, a finding that has important clinical and educational implications.

Mental association of time and valence

Five experiments investigated the association between time and valence. In the first experiment, participants classified temporal expressions (e.g., past, future) and positively or negatively connotated words (e.g., glorious, nasty) based on temporal reference or valence. They responded slower and made more errors in the mismatched condition (positive/past mapped to one hand, negative/future to the other) compared with the matched condition (positive/future to one hand, negative/past to the other hand). Experiment 2 confirmed the generalization of the match effect to nonspatial responses, while Experiment 3 found no reversal of this effect for left-handers. Overall, the results of the three experiments indicate a robust match effect, associating the past with negative valence and the future with positive valence. Experiment 4 involved rating the valence of time-related words, showing higher ratings for future-related words. Additionally, Experiment 5 employed latent semantic analysis and revealed that linguistic experiences are unlikely to be the source of this time–valence association. An interactive activation model offers a quantitative explanation of the match effect, potentially arising from a favorable perception of the future over the past.

Vocabulary size and exposure to print predict mastery of connectives in teenage years

ABSTRACT Connectives such as because and but are crucial for signaling coherence relations in discourse. They contribute to a better reading comprehension and, thus, academic performance. The aim of this article is to contribute to our understanding of connective development during teenage years by studying individual differences in the performance of native Russian-speaking teenagers (N = 107, M age = 13.93, range: 11 to 17) in a connective-cloze task. The tested connectives marked six coherence relations and were used either predominantly in speech or in the written language. In addition, we examined whether students’ performance with the connectives was modulated by their general linguistic experience, as assessed by a vocabulary test and degree of exposure to print. Our results reveal that interpersonal differences in lexicon size and level of exposure to print were the strongest predictors of appropriate usage of connectives, whereas differences in age, connective mode, and polyfunctionality played a lesser role. This finding may indicate that, starting from age 11, biological age and intrinsic properties of connectives matter less for their mastery than general linguistic experience, as measured by vocabulary level and exposure to print.

Effects of individual differences in text exposure on sentence comprehension

Linguistic experience plays a clear role in accounting for variability in sentence comprehension behavior across individuals and across sentence types. We aimed to understand how individual differences in reading experience predict reading behavior. Corpus analyses revealed the frequencies with which our experimental items appeared in written and spoken language. We hypothesized that reading experience should affect sentence comprehension most substantially for sentence types that individuals primarily encounter through written language. Readers with more text exposure were faster and more accurate readers overall, but they read sentence types biased to written language particularly faster than did readers with less text exposure. We see clear effects of text exposure on sentence comprehension in ways that allow explicit links between written and spoken corpus statistics and behavior. We discuss theoretical implications of effects of text exposure for experience-based approaches to sentence processing.

The Effect of Distributional Restrictions in Speech Perception: A Case Study From Korean and Taiwanese Southern Min.

In Korean, voiced oral stops can occur intervocalically as allophones of their voiceless lenis counterparts; they can also occur initially as variants of nasal stops as a result of initial denasalization (e.g., /motu/→[bodu] "all"). However, neither [ŋ] nor [ɡ] (the denasalized variant of the velar nasal) is allowed in the initial position due to the phonotactic restriction against initial [ŋ] in Korean. Given the distribution of nasal and voiced stops in Korean, this study draws on the idea of cue informativeness, exploring (a) whether Korean listeners' attention to nasality and voicing cues is based on the distributional characteristics of nasal and voiced stops, and (b) whether their attention can be generalized across different places of articulation without such linguistic experience. In a forced-choice identification experiment, Korean listeners were more likely than Taiwanese listeners to perceive items on the voiced oral-to-nasal stop continua as nasal when they occurred in the initial position than in the intervocalic position, with the exception of velar stops. The results demonstrate that the Korean listeners attended to the nasality cue more reliably in the medial position than in the initial position, since the nasality cue in this position is less informative due to initial denasalization. Two additional forced-choice identification experiments suggested that upon hearing initial velar nasal [ŋ], Korean listeners variably employed different perceptual strategies (i.e., vowel insertion and place change) to repair the phonotactic illegality. These findings provide support for exemplar models of speech perception in which cue attention is specific to the position of a word, and to segments rather than to features.

Long-form recordings in low- and middle-income countries: recommendations to achieve respectful research

The last decade has seen a rise in big data approaches, including in the humanities, whereby large quantities of data are collected and analysed. In this paper, we discuss long-form audio recordings that result from individuals wearing a recording device for many hours. Linguists, psychologists and anthropologists can use them, for example, to study infants’ or adults’ linguistic behaviour. In the past, recorded individuals and communities have resided in high-income countries (HICs) almost exclusively. Recognising the need for better representation of all cultures and linguistic experiences, researchers have more recently started to collect long-form audio recordings in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We aim to help researchers to collect, analyse and use these recordings ethically. To do so, we identify four main ethical challenges linked to research that relies on long-form recordings in LMICs. We provide recommendations to overcome these challenges. These considerations should be useful to researchers employing other big data techniques collected via wearables.

"Please say what this word is": Linguistic experience and acoustic context interact in vowel categorization .

Ladefoged and Broadbent [(1957). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 29(1), 98-104] is a foundational study in speech perception research, demonstrating that acoustic properties of earlier sounds alter perception of subsequent sounds: a context sentence with a lowered first formant (F1) frequency promotes perception of a raised F1 in a target word, and vice versa. The present study replicated the original with U.K. and U.S. listeners. While the direction of the perceptual shift was consistent with the original study, neither sample replicated the large effect sizes. This invites consideration of how linguistic experience relates to the magnitudes of these context effects.

The role of bilingualism in paired-associate and cross-situational word learning.

In adulthood, novel words are commonly encountered in the context of sequential language learning, and to a lesser extent, when learning a new word in one's native language. Paired-associate (PAL) and cross-situational word learning (CSWL) paradigms have been studied separately, under distinct theoretical umbrellas, limiting the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the learning process in each. We tested 126 monolinguals and 111 bilinguals on PAL and CSWL, manipulating familiarity and measuring verbal working memory. Results revealed highly similar learning performance across groups, both demonstrating better performance in PAL than in CSWL, similar sensitivity to familiarity, and similar reliance on phonological working memory. We observed a trend such that bilinguals outperformed monolinguals in PAL but not in CSWL, but this trend was weak. Findings indicate limited effects of bilingualism on word learning in adulthood and suggest highly similar word learning mechanisms in learners with different linguistic experiences.