Psycholinguistic Perspective Research Articles

Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics I: Papers from the First Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics

1. Preface 2. 1. Overview 3. Arabic linguistics: The current scene (by Eid, Mushira) 4. Come forth with a Surah like it: Arabic as a measure of Arab society (by Ferguson, Charles A.) 5. 2. Grammatical prespectives 6. Sound plural and broken plural assignment in classical Arabic (by Abd-Rabbo, Mohamad Z.) 7. The problem of subject-verb agreement in Arabic: towards a solution (by Mohammad, Mohammad A.) 8. Word order and proper government in classical Arabic (by Majdi, Basim) 9. Bound anaphora in Egyptian Arabic (by Osman, Mariam H.) 10. Time reference, tense, and formal aspect in Cairene Arabic (by Eisele, John C.) 11. 3. Textual analysis perspectives 12. 'Orality' and discourse structure in modern standard Arabic (by Johnstone, Barbara) 13. Loss of nominal case endings in the modern Arabic dialects: evidence from Palestinian Christian middle Arabic texts (by Gruber-Miller, Ann M.) 14. 4. Psycholinguistic perspectives 15. Bilingual linguistic memory (by Tel, Shadia A.) 16. Slips of the tongue in Arabic (by Safi-Stagni, Sabah) 17. Index of subjects

Análisis del desarrollo fonológico en sujetos malagueños

The present study tries to analyse from a psycholinguistic perspective the phonological development of spanish speaking children from the city of Malaga, as a function of variables such as sex, sociocultural level and the child's age. The injluence of the dialectical characteristics of Andalusian speech were also studied. After the elaboratzon and admini gration of a screening test under conditions of imitation, the correct artkulations and dffirent processes of simplification of speech were recorded. No significant dzfferences were obtahzed for sex, though differences u,ere found with regards to sociocultural level and child age. It is necessary to underline that the influence of Andalusian linguistic patterns might mask the developmental patterns of child phonology. However, ihe fact that in some phoneme categorks subjects from Malaga present low percentages in correa articulation at advanced ages is due to the influence of the dialectal varzunts rather than to a slower development in their abtlity for phonological representation.

Parameter-generated Loci of Critical Points of Polynomials

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsF. Alexander NormanF. Alexander (Sandy) Norman is presently an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte—a position only recently attained. Over the preceding dozen years, he has taught mathematics in secondary school and lectured in mathematics and mathematics education at the University of Georgia (while pursuing his doctorate). His current research interests include psycholinguistic perspectives of mathematics, algebra learning, and the use of microcomputers in classroom investigations of a variety of mathematical topics. Professor Norman received his B.A. in mathematics from the University of Virginia, and his M.A. in mathematics and doctorate in mathematics education from the University of Georgia. He lives with his wife, Carla, in rural North Carolina, surrounded by woods, farmland, eight dogs, two cats, and assorted other critters.

Language Processing in Bilinguals: Psycholinguistic and Neuropsychological Perspectives

Part 1: Psycholinguistic Perspectives 1. Skilled Reading in the Second Language Norman Segalowitz 2. Lexical Function: Is a Bilingual Account Necessary? Kim Kirsner 3. Memory for Bilingual Prose Kirsten M. Hummel 4. Pairing First- and Second-Language Speech and Writing in Ways that Aid Language Acquisition Wallace E. Lambert 5. Selected Issues in Second and Third Language Learning Edith Magiste 6. Intrasentential Code-Switching: The Case of Language Assignment Miwa Nishima 7. Processing Mixed Language: Some Preliminary Findings Francois Grosjean and Carlos Soares Part 2: Neuropsychological Perspectives 8. Aphasia in a Multilingual Society: A Preliminary Study Prithika Chary 9. Sentence Interpretation Strategies in Healthy and Aphasic Bilingual Adults Beverly B. Wulfeck, Lary Juarez, Elizabeth A. Bates and Kerry Kilborn 10. The Ageing Bilingual Loraine Obler, Martin Albert and Sandra Lozowick 11. Leaning to the Right: Some Thoughts on Hemisphere Involvement in Language Acquisition Eta I. Schneiderman 12. Bilingualism in a Visuo-Gestural Mode Catherine Kettrick and Nancy Hatfield 13. Script Effects and Cerebral Lateralization: The Case of Chinese Characters Reiko Hasuike, Ovid Tzeng and Daisy Hung

The Language Learning Situation of Asian Immigrant Students in the U.S.: A Socio- and Psycholinguistic Perspective

Abstract This essay delineates the nature of the language learning situation of Asian immigrant students in the United States, drawing on insights from existing socio- and psycho-linguistic literature. Using Schumann’s acculturation model of second language acquisition, the author argues that: (1) the experience of immigration has a profound effect on the social and psychological distance felt by Asian immigrant students for native English speakers in their efforts to learn English; (2) their Asian ethnicity, given the current interethnic relations in the country, further increases this distance; (3) the above mentioned factors are more significant than the students’ linguistic and cultural “baggage” in accounting for their difficulties with the English language; (4) an ambivalence-ridden “no-win” situation is created when Asian immigrant students attempt to make English their own, causing them to adopt a range of responses unproductive for language learning; (5) consequently, the language needs of Asian ...

Colloquial pain stories of rheumatic patients — towards a psycholinguistic perspective in unravelling ‘the puzzle of pain’

Colloquial pain stories of rheumatic patients — towards a psycholinguistic perspective in unravelling ‘the puzzle of pain’

Learners' Hypotheses for the Acquisition of Lexis

In this article the relationship between the source language (Spanish) and the target language (French) in the construction of lexis during the first phases of target language acquisition is examined from a psycholinguistic perspective. After an analysis of two case studies, it is hypothesized that there are two types of approaches to the construction of lexis used by Hispanophones learning French: systematic and non-systematic.

Remediating Reading Problems in a Hispanic Learning Disabled Child from a Psycholinguistic Perspective: A Case Study

Remediating Reading Problems in a Hispanic Learning Disabled Child from a Psycholinguistic Perspective: A Case Study

Subject Matter Experts' Assessment of Item Statistics

The study was conducted to determine the degree to which subject matter experts could predict the difficulty and discrimination of items from the Test of Standard Written English. Two studies were conducted. The first study was meant to serve as a training exercise while the second study was meant to simulate the conditions under which ratings would be obtained in practice. It was concluded that despite the extended training period the raters did not approach a high level of accuracy, nor were they able to pinpoint the factors that contribute to difficulty and discrimination. Further research should attempt to uncover those factors by examining the items from a linguistic and psycholinguistic perspective. It was argued that by coupling linguistic features of the items with subject matter ratings it may be possible to attain more accurate predictions of difficulty and discrimination.

The Reading Process: Cognitive and Psycholinguistic Perspectives

The Reading Process: Cognitive and Psycholinguistic Perspectives

Communication development and its disorders: a psycholinguistic perspective.

There is a reciprocal relationship between the study of language disorders and research in normal language development. Recent studies in normal acquisition have led to a model of language development that includes not only linguistic achievements, but the development of social and cognitive abilities that lay the basis for the transition from prelinguistic communication to the use of conventional forms. This model has been applied to the study of developmental disorders of language learning. Such a model allows the more puzzling disorders of language development, such as childhood aphasia and primary autism, to be placed in a framework that predicts language disruption when underlying perceptual, cognitive, or social abilities are lacking. Assessment procedures that can be drawn from the model of language disorders are presented. It is argued that the study of these disabilities is important in the building of theoretical models of intact language processing that specify more precisely the contribution of underlying skills to overall functioning. Questions for future research that serve this reciprocal purpose are discussed.

SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS' ASSESSMENT OF ITEM STATISTICS

ABSTRACTThe study was conducted to determine the degree to which subject matter experts could predict the difficulty and discrimination of items from the Test of Standard Written English. Two studies were conducted. The first study was meant to serve as a training exercise while the second study was meant to simulate the conditions under which ratings would be obtained in practice. It was concluded that despite the extended training period the raters did not approach a high level of accuracy, nor were they able to pinpoint the factors that contribute to difficulty and discrimination. Further research should attempt to uncover those factors by examining the items from a linguistic and psycholinguistic perspective. It was argued that by coupling linguistic features of the items with subject matter ratings it may be possible to attain more accurate predictions of difficulty and discrimination.

READING IN SPANISH AND ENGLISH: EVIDENCE FROM ADULT ESL STUDENTS

The research discussed here attempted to determine if (a) pycholing‐uistics could explain the reading behaviors of adult Spanish speakers reading in Spanish and in English, and (b) if theme readers transferred their skills to English. The results of two studies are presented. In the first study, twenty‐one adult Spanish‐speaking ESL students took cloze tests in Spanish and in English. In the second study, the Spanish and English reading performances of a good L1 reader and a poor L1 reader were analyzed according to established oral miscue procedures. The results of these studies confirm the psycholinguistic perspective of reading for Spanish speakers reading in Spanish. However, it appears that language competence exerta a powerful effect on the reader, thereby reducing the good reader's advantage over the poor reader when their performances in English are compared. It is concluded that a language competence ceiling effectively prohibits the complete transfer of L1 reading skills to the second language. It is suggested that limited command of the language produces a “short circuit” effect on good readers, forcing them to revert to “poor reader strategies.” Theoretical, pedagogical and methodological implications are discussed.

TOWARD A REALIZATION OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC PRINCIPLES IN THE ESL READING CLASS1

This article is an attempt to utilize psycholinguistic research to develop a framework for the teaching of reading to second language (L2) learners. The first section highlights current psycholinguistic reading theory and develops goals for L2 reading teachers based on this theory. The proficient reader is viewed as an active, information‐processing individual who uses a minimum number of clues to extract the author's message from the page. It becomes the responsibility of teachers to train students to determine their own goals and strategies for a particular reading, to give students practice and encouragement in using a minimum number of syntactic and semantic clues to obtain the maximum amount of information, and to encourage students to take risks, to guess, and to ignore their impulses to be always correct. In an attempt to translate theory into practice, the second section of the article explores the implications of a psycholinguistic perspective for the learning environment, teacher behavior, and the preparation and use of L2 reading materials. The optimum learning environment is viewed as one in which students and teachers work together: teacher intervention is minimized as students are encouraged to use their developing skills to solve reading problems on their own. Materials development is viewed as being composed of the development of reading skills exercises (scanning, skimming, reading for thorough comprehension, and critical reading) and the development of language skills exercises (vocabulary, structure, and discourse). The third section of the article discusses lesson planning within a psycholinguistic framework and presents a sample lesson plan in English as a second language which emphasizes a skills approach to reading. Lessons are planned for maximum flexibility, allowing the teacher to take advantage of students' interests and needs.

Reading behavior of children with emotional problems: A psycholinguistic perspective

Reading behavior of children with emotional problems: A psycholinguistic perspective

Teaching Standard Italian to Dialect Speakers: A Pedagogical Perspective of Linguistic Systems in Contact

In the period since World War II, the position of the Italian dialects in respect to the standard language has altered significantly. The awareness that a dialect reflects the ethos of a particular social group and that school Italian is an artificial standard has created an anti-puristic linguistic atmosphere in Italy.1 In the past, the association between dialect speakers and lower-class status had been frequently made. Quite predictably, some vestiges of this sociological stigma still exist, particularly in rural schools where, as Beninca et al. have recently demonstrated, instances of hypercorrection based on an archaic pseudo-norm are still found to persist.2 However, as De Mauro points out, one finds a new sociolinguistic climate in Italy today which permits the acceptance of a pluralita di registri linguistici: l'italiano comune, l'italiano regionale, il dialetto italianizzante, il dialetto nelle sue forme piu arcaiche e lontane dallitaliano. 3 This pluralita has even infiltrated the literary output. In fact, it has become normal to find in writers such as De Filippo, Moravia, Pasolini, Gadda, and Mastronardi il coesistere nella stessa pagina di registri linguistici diversi come nuovo e suggestivo mezzo per individuare e obiettivare il variare degli stati d'animo e dei punti di vista dei personaggi o del narratore. 4 In teaching standard Italian to dialect speakers in Italy or abroad, one must take into account the fact that there is, in effect, no national standard (only regional standards). Furthermore, it would be pedagogically counteractive to equate dialectal (or regional) speech with linguistic deprivation. The whole situation, from a pedagogical standpoint, must be put into a socioand psycholinguistic perspective. Since the regional varieties, as De Mauro observes,

Glossolalic speech from a psycholinguistic perspective

This is a psycholinguistic study of glossolalia produced by four speakers in an experimental setting. Acoustical patterns (signal waveform, fundamental frequency, and amplitude changes) were compared. The frequency of occurrence of vowels and consonants was computed for the glossolalic samples and compared with General American English. The results showed that three of the four speakers had substantially higher vowel-to-consonant ratios than are found in English speech. Phonology, morphology, and syntax of the four glossolalic productions were analyzed. This revealed two distinct forms of glossolalia. One form, which we called "formulaic" tends towards stereotypy and repetitiousness. The second form, which we called "innovative" shows more novelty and unpredictability in the chaining of speech-like elements. These contrastive forms of glossolalia may relate to dimensions of linguistic creativity. Precise correlates with personality patterns, educational backgrounds, psychopathology, and other sociolinguistic variables remain to be employed.

Three Problems in the Development of Speech Perception

Drawing upon a wide variety of psychological and linguistic research, this article identifies and examines three related phenomena of early speech development: asynchrony, asymmetry, and discontinuity in infant phonological development. The aim of this analysis is to help the researcher to consider the first two years of infant speech from an original and truly psycholinguistic perspective. The major focus of this article is on the implications of these three problems for our understanding of infant speech perception in particular and of the perception-production relationship in general.Two of the problems considered here—asynchrony and asymmetry—have repeatedly created anomalies and inconsistencies in the treatment of developmental phonology by different theories, particularly Jakobsonian distinctive-feature theory. However, by viewing the beginnings of infant speech as a “cognitive-linguistic” phenomenon and by utilizing the Piagetian concept of decalage, a solution is offered to these two problems. Fur...