Word Production Research Articles

A-122 Verbal Fluency Switching and Clustering Performance in Retired Professional Football Players

Abstract Introduction Repeated sports-related concussion has been associated with cognitive deficits, like other forms of traumatic brain injury. Football speed players (FSP; e.g., quarterbacks) are at greater risk of cognitive impairment compared to football non-speed players (FNP). Verbal fluency is typically comprised of two tasks: letter fluency (LF) and semantic fluency (SF). Verbal clustering (production of continuous words belonging to the same category or subcategory) and switching (abandoning an exhausted semantic cluster to a new one in order to produce more words) reflect executive control and strategy use. We examined LF, SF, as well as LF and SF switching and clustering performance in retired FSP, FNP, and healthy comparison (HC) participants. Methods The sample consisted of 28 HC, 17 retired FSP, and 53 retired FNP. ANOVAs were conducted to determine group differences on LF, SF, switching, and clustering. FSP and FNP did not differ in concussion frequency. Results We found the HC group outperformed the FSP group in LF, p = 0.042, ηp2 = 0.07. For SF, the HC and FNP groups outperformed the FSP group, p = 0.013, ηp2 = 0.09. Furthermore, we found the HC group outperformed both football groups in SF switching, p = 0.000, ηp2 = 0.17. Conclusion As expected, the HC group outperformed the FSP group on LF and SF. Also, the FNP group outperformed the FSP group on SF. Interestingly, FSP displayed generally worse performances, supporting the notion that their experience of sub-concussive blows puts them at greater risk for cognitive impairment. Further investigation is needed with larger sample sizes to evaluate SF and other cognitive deficits in the FSP participants.

Comprehension exposures to words in sentence contexts impact spoken word production.

Comprehension or production of isolated words and production of words embedded in sentence contexts facilitated later production in previous research. The present study examined the extent to which contextualized comprehension exposures would impact later production. Two repetition priming experiments were conducted with Spanish-English bilingual participants. In Experiment 1 (N = 112), all encoding stimuli were presented visually, and in Experiment 2 (N = 112), all encoding stimuli were presented auditorily. After reading/listening or translating isolated words or words embedded in sentences at encoding, pictures corresponding to each target word were named aloud. Repetition priming relative to new items was measured in RT and accuracy. Relative to isolated encoding, sentence encoding reduced RT priming but not accuracy priming. In reading/listening encoding conditions, both isolated and embedded words elicited accuracy priming in picture naming, but only isolated words elicited RT priming. In translation encoding conditions, repetition priming effects in RT (but not accuracy) were stronger for lower-frequency words and with lower proficiency in the picture-naming response language. RT priming was strongest when the translation response at encoding was produced in the same language as final picture naming. In contrast, accuracy priming was strongest when the translation stimulus at encoding was comprehended in the same language as final picture naming. Thus, comprehension at encoding increased the rate of successful retrieval, whereas production at encoding speeded later production. Practice of comprehension may serve to gradually move less well-learned words from receptive to productive vocabulary.

Comparing the cognate effect in spoken and written second language word production

AbstractCognates – words that share form and meaning between languages – are processed faster than control words. However, is this facilitation effect merely lexical in nature or does it cascade to phonological/orthographic (i.e., sub-lexical) processes? This study compared cognate effects in spoken and typewritten production, which share lexical, but not sub-lexical processes. Dutch–English bilinguals produced English names for pictures representing Dutch–English cognates and control words in either the spoken or typewritten modality. Onset latencies were shorter and accuracy was higher for cognates vs. control words and this effect was similar in both modalities. Compared to controls, total latencies in the written modality were similar for cognates with much cross-linguistic overlap, but longer for ones with less overlap. Additionally, error analysis showed that cognates were more affected by L1 interference than controls. These results suggest two different cognate effects: one at the lexical and one at the sub-lexical level.

The Prosody of Two-Syllable Words in French-Speaking Monolingual and Bilingual Children: A Focus on Initial Accent and Final Accent.

This study examined the acoustic characteristics of disyllabic words produced by French-speaking monolingual and bilingual children, aged 2;6 to 6;10, and by adults. Specifically, it investigated the influence of age, bilingualism, and vocabulary on final-to-initial syllable duration ratios and on the presence of initial and final accent. Children and adults took part in a word-naming task in which they produced a controlled set of disyllabic words. Duration and maximum pitch were measured for each syllable of the disyllabic word and these values were inserted into mixed-effects statistical models. Results indicated that children as young as 2;6 obtained final-to-initial syllable duration ratios similar to those of adults. Young children realized accent on the initial syllable more often and accent on the final syllable less often than older children and adults. There was no influence of bilingualism on the duration and pitch characteristics of disyllabic words. Children aged 2;6 with smaller vocabularies produced initial accent more often than children with large vocabularies. Our findings suggest that early word productions are constrained by developmental tendencies favouring falling pitch across an utterance.

Second language experience influences salience of phonological units in spoken word production in the first language

Research question: Previous research suggests that the grain size of primary phonological units (PUs) in spoken word production is language-specific (e.g., phonemic segments in Germanic languages, and atonal syllables in Chinese). When the two languages of bilingual speakers have different primary PUs in their native speakers, will first language (L1) phonological processing be influenced by second language (L2) experience? Methodology: In a picture–word interference task, native Chinese speakers who spoke English as L2 were required to say aloud the predesignated L1 name of a picture while ignoring a written L1 character superimposed on the picture. The picture name shared a certain phonological component (i.e., rhyme or atonal syllable) with the distractor in the related condition but not in the unrelated condition. Data and analysis: Data of 186 participants from eight originally independent experiments were pooled. Multiple regression analyses were conducted on subject means to investigate whether the effects of rhyme relatedness and syllable relatedness on L1 naming latency were influenced by L2 self-rated proficiency, age of acquisition (AoA), and/or years of use. Trial-by-trial data were then analyzed with linear mixed-effects modeling. Findings: Both the rhyme effect and the syllable effect increased with years of L2 use, indicating that the salience of PUs in L1 spoken word production can be influenced by L2 experience. Originality: The current study adopted a chronometric approach to investigate the influence of L2 experience on phonological processing during L1 spoken word production. Importantly, multiple aspects of L2 experience (i.e., self-rated proficiency, AoA, and years of use) were examined at the same time in a relatively large sample. Implications: The current findings provide evidence for backward transfer of primary PUs in spoken word production, which demonstrates the plasticity of the phonological encoding process in bilingual speakers. These findings are discussed and compared with cross-language transfer of phonological awareness in the discussion.

Hands Down: Cognate Effects Persist During Written Word Production.

Words that share form and meaning across two or more languages (i.e., cognates) are generally processed faster than control words (non-cognates) by bilinguals speaking these languages. This so-called cognate effect is considered to be a demonstration of language non-selectivity during bilingual lexical access. Still, research up till now has focused mainly on visual and auditory comprehension. For production, research is almost exclusively limited to speech, leaving written production out of the equation. Hence, the goal of the current study was to examine whether bilinguals activate representations from both languages during typewriting. Dutch-English bilinguals completed second-language written sentences with names of displayed pictures. Low-constraint sentences yielded a cognate facilitation effect, whereas high-constraint sentences did not. These findings suggest that co-activation of similar words across languages also occurs during written production, just as in reading and speaking. Also, the interaction effect with sentence constraint shows that grammatical and semantic sentence restrictions may overrule interlingual facilitation effects.

Language Profiles and Their Relation to Cognitive and Motor Skills at 30 Months of Age: An Online Investigation of Low-Risk Preterm and Full-Term Children.

Purpose Wide interindividual variability characterizes language development in the general and at-risk populations of up to 3 years of age. We adopted a complex approach that considers multiple aspects of lexical and grammatical skills to identify language profiles in low-risk preterm and full-term children. We also investigated biological and environmental predictors and relations between language profiles and cognitive and motor skills. Method We enrolled 200 thirty-month-old Italian-speaking children-consisting of 100 low-risk preterm and 100 comparable full-term children. Parents filled out the Italian version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories Infant and Toddler Short Forms (word comprehension, word production, and incomplete and complete sentence production), Parent Report of Children's Abilities-Revised (cognitive score), and Early Motor Questionnaire (fine motor, gross motor, perception-action, and total motor scores) questionnaires. Results A latent profile analysis identified four profiles: poor (21%), with lowest receptive and expressive vocabulary and absent or limited word combination and phonological accuracy; weak (22.5%), with average receptive but limited expressive vocabulary, incomplete sentences, and absent or limited phonological accuracy; average (25%), with average receptive and expressive vocabulary, use of incomplete and complete sentences, and partial phonological accuracy; and advanced (31.5%), with highest expressive vocabulary, complete sentence production, and phonological accuracy. Lower cognitive and motor scores characterized the poor profile, and lower cognitive and perception-action scores characterized the weak profile. Having a nonworking mother and a father with lower education increased the probability of a child's assignment to the poor profile, whereas being small for gestational age at birth increased it for the weak profile. Conclusions These findings suggest a need for a person-centered and cross-domain approach to identifying children with language weaknesses and implementing timely interventions. An online procedure for data collection and data-driven analyses based on multiple lexical and grammatical skills appear to be promising methodological innovations. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14818179.

Just Words: Intentions, Tolerance and Lexical Selection*

AbstractWe all make mistakes in pronunciation and spelling, but a common view is that there are limits beyond which a mistaken pronunciation or spelling becomes too dramatic to be recognized as of a particular word at all. These considerations have bolstered a family of accounts that invoke speaker intentions and standards for tolerance as determinants of which word, if any, an utterance tokens. I argue this is a mistake. Neither intentions nor standards of tolerance are necessary or sufficient (individually or jointly) for determining which word an utterance tokens. Instead, drawing in part on empirical research on word production, I offer an alternative account, Originalism‐plus‐Transfer (OPT), according to which word tokening depends entirely on lexical selection during word production, and on how the selected lexical item is situated within the network of causal/historical connections leading back to its neologizing. Once the elements of my account are in place, as a bonus, we will have resources for a promising answer to the question of word individuation as well.

Digital Speech Analysis in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Corticobasal Syndromes.

Progressive supranuclear palsy syndrome (PSPS) and corticobasal syndrome (CBS) as well as non-fluent/agrammatic primary progressive aphasia (naPPA) are often associated with misfolded 4-repeat tau pathology, but the diversity of the associated speech features is poorly understood. Investigate the full range of acoustic and lexical properties of speech to test the hypothesis that PSPS-CBS show a subset of speech impairments found in naPPA. Acoustic and lexical measures, extracted from natural, digitized semi-structured speech samples using novel, automated methods, were compared in PSPS-CBS (n = 87), naPPA (n = 25), and healthy controls (HC, n = 41). We related these measures to grammatical performance and speech fluency, core features of naPPA, to neuropsychological measures of naming, executive, memory and visuoconstructional functioning, and to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) phosphorylated tau (pTau) levels in patients with available biofluid analytes. Both naPPA and PSPS-CBS speech produced shorter speech segments, longer pauses, higher pause rates, reduced fundamental frequency (f0) pitch ranges, and slower speech rate compared to HC. naPPA speech was distinct from PSPS-CBS with shorter speech segments, more frequent pauses, slower speech rate, reduced verb production, and higher partial word production. In both groups, acoustic duration measures generally correlated with speech fluency, measured as words per minute, and grammatical performance. Speech measures did not correlate with standard neuropsychological measures. CSF pTau levels correlated with f0 range in PSPS-CBS and naPPA. Lexical and acoustic speech features of PSPS-CBS overlaps those of naPPA and are related to CSF pTau levels.

An investigation of iconic language development in four datasets.

Iconic words imitate their meanings. Previous work has demonstrated that iconic words are more common in infants' early speech, and in adults' child-directed speech (e.g., Perry et al., 2015; 2018). This is consistent with the proposal that iconicity provides a benefit to word learning. Here we explored iconicity in four diverse language development datasets: a production corpus for infants and preschoolers (MacWhinney, 2000), comprehension data for school-aged children to young adults (Dale & O'Rourke, 1981), word frequency norms from educational texts for school aged children to young adults (Zeno et al., 1995), and a database of parent-reported infant word production (Frank et al., 2017). In all four analyses, we found that iconic words were more common at younger ages. We also explored how this relationship differed by syntactic class, finding only modest evidence for differences. Overall, the results suggest that, beyond infancy, iconicity is an important factor in language acquisition.

An efficient, accurate and clinically-applicable index of content word fluency in Aphasia

ABSTRACT Background Despite the clinical importance of assessing the efficiency and accuracy of fluency in terms of content words production during connected speech, assessments based on discourse tasks are very time-consuming and thus not clinically feasible. Aims (1) Examine the relationship between single-word naming and word retrieval during discourse production. (2) Investigate the relationship between word retrieval and content word fluency derived from a simple versus naturalistic discourse tasks. (3) Develop and validate an efficient and accurate index of content word fluency that is clinically viable. Methods Two discourse tasks (simple picture description and naturalistic storytelling narrative) were collected from 46 participants with post-stroke aphasia, and 20 age/education matched neuro-typical controls. Each discourse sample was fully transcribed and quantitative analysis was applied to each sample to measure word retrieval and content word fluency. Three single-word naming tasks were also administered to each participant with aphasia. Results Correlational analyses between single-word naming and word retrieval in connected speech revealed weak/moderate relationships. Conversely, strong correlations were found between measures derived from simple picture description against naturalistic storytelling discourse tasks. Moreover, we derived a novel, transcription-less index of content word fluency from the discourse samples of an independent group (neuro-typical controls), and then we validated this index across two discourse tasks in the tested group (persons with aphasia). Correlation and regression analyses revealed extremely strong relationships between participants’ (neuro-typical controls and persons with aphasia) scores on the novel index and measures of content word fluency derived from the formal transcription and quantitative analyses of discourse samples, indicating high accuracy and validity of the new index. Conclusions Simple picture description rather than picture naming provides a better estimate of word retrieval in naturalistic connected speech. The novel developed index is transcription-less and can be implemented online to provide an accurate and efficient measure of content word fluency. Thus, it is viable during clinical practice for assessment purposes, and possibly as an outcome measure to monitor therapy effectiveness, which can also be used in randomised clinical trials.

Integrating familiar listeners and speech recognition technologies into augmentative and alternative communication intervention for adults with down syndrome: Descriptive exploration

ABSTRACT Many individuals with Down syndrome exhibit speech impairments that necessitate augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention. AAC intervention allows for access to communication through means other than, or supplemental to, speech. This descriptive study provided initial insight into the feasibility of incorporating familiar listeners (e.g., family members) and speech recognition technology into AAC intervention to increase communication success for individuals with Down syndrome. Six adults with Down syndrome participated. The participants’ intelligibility to a familiar listener, unfamiliar listeners, and speech recognition technologies (i.e., Google Speech-to-Text and Windows Speech Recognition) was evaluated. Additionally, consistency in word pronunciation was evaluated to examine the feasibility of future training of speech recognition technologies. The participating adults with Down syndrome experienced limited intelligibility to all listeners and technologies but were most intelligible to familiar listeners. The adults also demonstrated consistencies across their production of words, and across one another’s productions. The findings suggest the promise in using familiar listeners as a current resource and speech recognition technology as a future resource in AAC intervention for adults with Down syndrome. However, intervention research and technological development are needed to thoroughly explore these approaches.

Timing storytime to maximize children’s ability to retain new vocabulary

Shared storybook reading is a key aid to vocabulary acquisition during childhood. However, word learning research has tended to use unnaturalistic (explicit) training regimes. Using a storybook paradigm, we examined whether children (particularly those with weaker vocabularies) are more likely to retain new words if they learn them closer to sleep. Parents read their children (5- to 7-year-olds; N = 237) an alien adventure story that contained 12 novel words with illustrations at one of two training times: at bedtime or 3–5 h before bedtime. Using online tasks, parents tested their children’s ability to recall the new words (production) and associate them with pictures (comprehension) immediately after hearing the story and again the following morning. As hypothesized, we replicated two findings. First, children showed overnight improvements in their ability to produce and comprehend new words when tested again the next day. Second, children with better existing vocabulary knowledge showed larger overnight gains in new word comprehension. Counter to expectations, overnight gains in comprehension were larger if the story was read 3–5 h before bedtime rather than at bedtime. These ecologically valid findings are consistent with theories that characterize word learning as a prolonged process supported by mechanisms such as consolidation and retrieval practice, with existing vocabulary knowledge acting as an important source of variability in retention. The findings provide preliminary evidence that encountering new words in stories later in the day (but not too close to sleep) may help to harness vocabulary growth and may be more beneficial than leaving shared storybook reading just for bedtime.

Do Acoustic Environment Characteristics Affect the Lexical Development of Children With Cochlear Implants? A Longitudinal Study Before and After Cochlear Implant Activation

Purpose This study investigates the acoustic environment of children with cochlear implants (CIs) and the relationship between exposure to speech, in noise and in quiet, and the children's lexical production up to 1 year after CI activation, while controlling for the effect of early individual differences in receptive vocabulary growth. Method Eighteen children with CIs were observed at 3, 6, and 12 months after CI activation. Children's spontaneous word production during interaction with their mothers (types and tokens) and their expressive and receptive vocabulary size were considered. The characteristics of the acoustic environments in terms of acoustic scenes (speech in noise or in quiet, quiet, noise, music, and other) and of loudness ranges were assessed using data logging of the children's devices. Results Data analysis showed that both the number of tokens and the number of types produced 1 year after CI activation were affected by the children's exposure to speech in quiet with a loudness range between 40 and 69 dB. Expressive vocabulary size and types were affected by the receptive vocabulary knowledge that the children achieved over the first 3 months after CI activation. Conclusions Our data support the role of speech environment and individual differences in early comprehension on lexical production. The importance of exposure to speech with particular characteristics for the lexical development of children with CIs and the implications for clinical practice are discussed.

Intraword Variability in French-Speaking Monolingual and Bilingual Children.

Purpose This study examines intraword variability in 40 typically developing French-speaking monolingual and bilingual children, aged 2;6-4;8 (years;months). Specifically, it measures rate of intraword variability and investigates which factors best account for it. They include child-specific ones such as age, expressive vocabulary, gender, bilingual status, and speech sound production ability, and word-specific factors, such as phonological complexity (including number of syllables), phonological neighborhood density (PND), and word frequency. Method A variability test was developed, consisting of 25 words, which differed in terms of phonological complexity, PND, and word frequency. Children produced three exemplars of each word during a single session, and productions of words were coded as variable or not variable. In addition, children were administered an expressive vocabulary test and two tests tapping speech motor ability (oral motor assessment and diadochokinetic test). Speech sound ability was also assessed by measuring percent consonants correct on all words produced by the children during the session. Data were entered into a binomial logistic regression. Results Average intraword variability was 29% across all children. Several factors were found to predict intraword variability including age, gender, bilingual status, speech sound production ability, phonological complexity, and PND. Conclusions Intraword variability was found to be lower in French than what has been reported in English, consistent with phonological differences between French and English. Our findings support those of other investigators in indicating that the factors influencing intraword variability are multiple and reflect sources at various levels in the speech processing system.

Vocabulary Acquisition and Usage for Late Talkers Treatment: Effect on Expressive Vocabulary and Phonology.

Purpose This study examined the effect of Vocabulary Acquisition and Usage for Late Talkers (VAULT) treatment on toddlers' expressive vocabulary and phonology. Parent acceptability of VAULT treatment was also considered. Method We used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline single case experimental design with three late talking toddlers aged 21-25 months. The treatment was delivered twice weekly in 30-min sessions for 8 weeks by a rotating team of four speech-language pathologists. Toddlers heard three of their 10 strategically selected target words a minimum of 64 times in play activities each session. Expressive vocabulary and phonology was assessed pre-post, with parent interviews conducted posttreatment. Results All toddlers increased production of target words and expressive vocabulary. Ambient expressive vocabulary size increased by an average of 16 words per week (range of 73-169 words learned over the treatment period). On a 20-item, single-word speech assessment, the toddlers' phonetic inventories increased on average from three to seven consonants, and five to eight vowels. Two toddlers used protowords pretreatment, which were replaced by recognizable attempts at words posttreatment. Parents reported the treatment was acceptable for the child and their family with future consideration of parent-based delivery of the treatment in the home. Conclusions The results of this treatment provide further evidence of a model of intervention informed by the principles of implicit learning, and the interconnectedness of phonological and lexical learning. Investigation is required to establish the efficacy and feasibility of VAULT in clinical contexts. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14714733.

Hapaxes as Productivity of Word Variations Based on Classical Texts

This study aims to examine the productivity of old Malay words that are contained in classic Malay texts. The ability of classical Malay texts was able to be examined through the presence of old Malay word variations based on the appearance of 1.000000 / corpus. In examining this emergence, words that are hapaxes were removed from the corpus-generated results. This study utilized the quantitative research design using the corpus linguistic statistical approach. This study used 7 classical Malay texts entitled Tips for Building a House. This classical text is non-literary and delivers architectural knowledge from feudal Malay scholars. The findings show that almost 54% of word are hapaxes in this classical text discourse. The stimulation of old Malay lexical used by past scholars showed less words reuse.

The impact of parent training intervention in early years: language and literacy development

ABSTRACT This study examined implementation of a newly developed shared book reading intervention program, to boost infants’ early skills and provide a solid foundation for continued language learning. A randomised control study was conducted to elevate the effects of Shared Book Reading Intervention with 20 parents (n = 10 experiment, n = 10 control) and their infants/toddlers aged 8–16 months. The program including 12-week parental training, had a powerful alterable influence on infant’s language comprehension, word production, and literacy skills. Additionally, findings provide further evidence that the shared book intervention instructional strategies helped parents learn language domain content. When taken together, the results suggest that parents have the potential to shape their infants’ development in the short-term by initiating reading skill changes in their home environment.

Rumiar nuestras heridas. Del dolor social a la potencia colectiva

The article explores in a conceptual way the possibility of processing in collective, group and personal spaces the multiple wounds of our biographies as a motor of problematization and collective empowerment. Taking as a base the intersection of Political ecology, environmental affectivity and bodies and emotions´ sociology; it reflects on the social wounds that make up our short and long memory in the midst of power relations and predation. It focuses on the ways in which «pain becomes silent», especially in the disaffection of violence towards the human and non-human. Finally, a conception of politics as a continuous (re) composition of life (in common) is proposed, in contrast to the idea of the reproduction of life, based on the etymology of the words composition and production.

An Information-Theoretic Account of Semantic Interference in Word Production.

I present a computational-level model of semantic interference effects in online word production within a rate–distortion framework. I consider a bounded-rational agent trying to produce words. The agent's action policy is determined by maximizing accuracy in production subject to computational constraints. These computational constraints are formalized using mutual information. I show that semantic similarity-based interference among words falls out naturally from this setup, and I present a series of simulations showing that the model captures some of the key empirical patterns observed in Stroop and Picture–Word Interference paradigms, including comparisons to human data from previous experiments.