Spanish Control Group Research Articles

Variable Acceptability of Differential Object Marking in Bilingual Galician–Spanish Speakers: An Exploratory Study

This paper presents an initial study of the acceptability of differential object marking (DOM) by Galician–Spanish bilinguals in Galicia. The research explores judgments provided by these bilinguals (n = 69) on DOM in both Galician and Spanish and it also explores data from a monolingual Spanish control group (n = 12). The surveys target contexts covering key syntactic and semantic–pragmatic contexts for DOM in Galician and Spanish, based on the existing literature. The Galician data reveal a tendency towards reduced acceptability of DOM compared to Spanish, but without a generalized rejection of DOM in any of the contexts. The Spanish data show variability in both groups. The study contributes insights from an under-studied language pair and aims to open avenues for further work. More generally, it enhances our understanding of DOM in bilingual grammars, particularly in microcontact situations.

Lexical Frequency in Heritage Speakers of Spanish

This study examines the impact of lexical frequency on grammatical agreement in heritage speakers of Spanish and a Spanish monolingual control group. Research has provided evidence of frequency effects when accessing nouns and this effect was proven to be more prominent in bilingual speakers. This investigation expands on the antecedent psycholinguistic research on lexical access through agreement operations carried out on monolingual speakers of Spanish by examining this effect in two populations of heritage speakers of Spanish that differ in relation to their dominance in Spanish. Experiment 1 was a Elicit Production Task and Experiment 2 was a Picture Description Task. Retrieval of grammatical gender features is needed in both tasks; therefore, lexical frequency plays a role in accessing this information. Reaction times analysis showed frequency effects in both bilingual populations and, as predicted by the Frequency-Lag Hypothesis, larger frequency effects in the less Spanish-dominant group. Results contribute to the understanding of processing mechanisms in adult bilingualism, particularly in heritage speakers of Spanish in the United States.

A multicompetence perspective of hedging in second language academic writing

Most studies on hedging in second language academic writing include data in the second language or in both the first (L1) and the second language (L2) but not data from the same participants in both their L1 and L2. Following the multicompetence framework (Cook, 2012; Cook and Li, 2016; Ortega, 2016), this paper analyses hedging in L2 writing by examining the use of hedges in a group of 24 Spanish learners of English as a L2, both in their L1 and in their L2 in order to have evidence from the learners’ total system, as well as two baseline control groups of 24 native speakers of Spanish and 24 native speakers of English. This study also investigates crosslinguistic influence and convergence in the use of hedges. Hedges were coded following Hyland’s (1994) typology. Chi-square analyses revealed differences between English and Spanish speakers. English speakers and L2 learners also showed differences in the use of hedging devices indicating impersonal expressions and lexical verbs. Findings in the Spanish native control group and Spanish learners of L2 English in their L1 Spanish showed differences in the use of adverbs and nouns. Evidence of crosslinguistic influence was found and findings showing L1-L2 similarity in the use of adverbs in the learners’ group indicated L1-L2 convergence.

Theoretical implications of research on bilingual subject production: The Vulnerability Hypothesis

In this paper we propose a new hypothesis for the formal analysis of cross-linguistic influence, the Vulnerability Hypothesis (VH), with the support of data from subject personal pronoun use in Spanish and Catalan in Minorca, and contrast it to the Interface Hypothesis (IH). The VH establishes a categorical–variable continuum of permeability, that is, structures that show variable distributions are permeable while those that exhibit categorical distributions are not. To test the predictions of the VH, Spanish language samples were collected from 12 monolingual Spanish speakers, 11 Spanish-dominant bilinguals, and 12 Catalan-dominant bilinguals, and Catalan language samples from 12 Catalan-dominant speakers. Following a variationist comparative analysis, 4,466 first person singular (1sg) and 1,291 third person singular (3sg) tokens were coded for speech connectivity, verb form ambiguity, and semantic verb type. The language-external variable included in the analysis was language group (Spanish monolinguals, Spanish-dominant bilinguals, Catalan-dominant bilinguals, and Catalan controls). Results indicated that speech connectivity is the highest ranked variable in the Spanish control group (most categorical variable), while ambiguity and verb type are ranked lower, with only ambiguity reaching significance. The VH would, therefore, predict bilinguals would be similar to monolinguals in the most categorical variables, in this case, speech connectivity. This is in contrast to the IH, which would predict bilinguals would exhibit difficulty with the pragmatically driven distributions (e.g. speech connectivity), while they would show no contact effects or lesser effects with distributions at the lexico-semantic interface with syntax (e.g. verb form ambiguity and verb type). The prediction of the VH bears out in our data. Bilinguals do not differ with respect to speech connectivity. Ambiguity, on the other hand, is no longer significant in the bilingual groups and verb type reaches significance with 1sg (and not with 3sg) subjects. These results are discussed, redefining the concepts of convergence and simplification from language contact research to adapt to the variationist analysis used. Simplification is specified as the reduction of lower ranked predicting variables, while convergence is defined as an increase in parallels across languages with respect to the variables that are significant, their effect size (variable ranking), and the direction of effects (constraint ranking). Regarding language group, it was not returned as significant in 1sg data. Thus, the groups did not differ in their rates of overt pronominal expression. Differences, however, emerged across groups in the 3sg data, where bilinguals used significantly more overt pronominal subjects than monolinguals do. This paper contributes to current discussions in the fields of language contact, second language acquisition, and bilingualism, introducing a new hypothesis and contrasting it with the IH. In addition, it contributes to variationist approaches by examining a novel community of bilingual speakers.

Interpreting mood choice effects in L2 and L1 Spanish: empirical evidence and theoretical implications

Abstract The rich morphology of Spanish, such as that of tense and verbal mood, encodes a range of features leading to diverse contextual effects on interpretation, some of which are examined in the light of original experimental data in the present study. Specifically, we analyse data on the interpretation of mood in concessive structures by upper-intermediate and advanced learners of L2 Spanish, with L1 French (N=48) and L1 English (N=40), and from an L1 European Spanish control group (N=35). The results of the learner-group interpretation experiment led to a follow-on study enquiring into the understanding of mood alternation in concessive clauses by another group of L1 European Spanish speakers through a metalinguistic interpretation task. Learner group findings suggested a heavier reliance on lexical information and world-knowledge than on grammatical cues, while L1 speakers’ data indicate a default association maintained between subjunctive and irrealis interpretations, leading to a greater measure of variability in describing presuppositional uses of this mood. The native speaker data may reflect challenges posed by representing and describing, using metalinguistic knowledge, structures whose interpretation requires the integration of linguistic, discourse and extralinguistic information. Findings are discussed in relation to current linguistic descriptions and potential contributions of our empirical data.

Stress perception

This study assesses the claim that English late learners of Spanish do not perceive stress like native Spanish speakers, and that a short targeted stress perception training intervention during a study abroad Spanish language course has clear positive effects on stress perception. Fifteen English speakers were exposed to 90 hours of Spanish lessons during a three–week study abroad experience in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The trained group (N = 8) received 10 minutes of perceptual training on vowel and stress contrasts with nonce words three days a week, while the L1 English control group (N = 7) received communicative training focused on consonants, and the native Spanish control group (N = 7) received no training. Participants’ perception was assessed at pretest and posttest, both consisting of identification tasks with nonce words. Results indicated that all English speakers experienced difficulties in perceiving Spanish stress when compared to native Spanish speakers in the pretest. At posttest, however, the English trained group performed comparably to the native Spanish group and differed significantly from the control group, indicating an effect of training on the perception of L2 stress. The results show that English speakers evidenced perceptual difficulties when learning Spanish stress, which could be overcome with a small dose of targeted training with nonce words. Even though L2 immersion in a study abroad context was beneficial for the acquisition of Spanish stress, only students receiving stress training performed like native speakers.

Interfaces in the interpretation of mood alternation in L2 Spanish

In this paper, we present the results of one written task testing the interpretation of mood choice in if-conditional constructions in L2 Spanish: a linguistic task of conditional utterances containing both regular and irregular indicative and subjunctive forms was completed by 48 L1 French and 40 L1 English speakers, and by an L1 Spanish control group (n = 35). Results show a similar pattern in the answers of both experimental groups despite the varying degree of similarity and disparity among the languages. We adopt a cognitive pragmatic perspective for the analysis of the results in connection with the various kinds of effects created by mood alternation in the constructions studied. Furthermore, in relation to current SLA debates (Lardiere 2008, 2009), our findings demonstrate that feature re-assembly in L2 Spanish is not trouble-free, as simple current feature accounts would advocate, even if those features exist in the learners’ L1.

Processing of gender and number agreement in late Spanish bilinguals: A commentary on Sagarra and Herschensohn

IntroductionSagarra and Herschensohn's article examines English L2 learners' knowledge of Spanish gender and number agreement and their sensitivity to gender and number agreement violations (e.g. *El ingeniero presenta el prototipo *famosa/*famosos en la conferencia) during real-time sentence processing. It raises some interesting questions that are central to both acquisition and process- ing research. In the following paper, I discuss a selection of these topics, for instance, what types of knowledge may or may not be available/accessible during real-time L2 processing at different proficiency levels, what the differences may be between the processing of number versus gen- der concord, and perhaps most importantly, the problem of how to characterize the relationship between the grammar and the parser, both in general terms and in the context of language acquisition.Explicit and implicit knowledgeS&H report that although both their lower proficient and intermediate English L2 learners of Spanish were able to demonstrate adequate knowledge of Spanish gender and number in an inde- pendent grammar test, whether or not they could make accurate metalinguistic judgments in an off-line task and were sensitive to agreement discord during real-time processing depended on their general proficiency. The intermediate learners were able to assess successfully the ungram- maticality of gender as well as number disconcord and were also sensitive online to number and gender agreement violations. Furthermore, although the intermediates were not fully native-like, they performed similarly to the Spanish control group in that gender disconcord was overall more difficult to process than number disconcord, and animate nouns more difficult than inanimates. The less proficient group showed no effects at all for the gender conditions, and although they could judge the ungrammaticality of the items in the number concord conditions, they were not sensitive online to number agreement violations. One might disagree with the authors' claims that these results strongly go against fundamental difference accounts of L2 acquisition (e.g. Hawkins & Franceschina, 2004) because their intermediate learners start to show target-like processing and representation (p.3) of parameterized functional features not available in their L1: one would need to test a much more advanced group showing native-Spanish-like performance to make such a strong claim (see Keating, 2009). Nevertheless, these data do show that the English learners can acquire some knowledge of Spanish gender concord, despite not having grammatical gender in their L1.Interestingly, the results highlight the fact that the learner groups have different types of knowl- edge of the phenomena under investigation, as tapped into by the three different tasks. Critically, both groups were shown to know explicitly the gender of the nouns used in these experiments, but one could argue that only the intermediate learners had developed some implicit or automatized knowledge of gender concord, as captured during the real-time comprehension task. Furthermore, given that the lower proficiency group were not sensitive at all to number discord during real-time processing, this suggests the fact that English has number agreement (between demonstratives and nouns, e.g. these books, as well as between subject and verbs) helped them, but only in the gram- maticality judgment task. However, it must be assumed that the lower proficient group indeed computed the dependency at some no doubt later stage in the processing of the experimental items because they were able to judge the number agreement items correctly. Taken together, these find- ings suggest that the immediate computing of agreement during online comprehension, even with phenomena that are available in one's L1, is a skill that must be developed with L2 experience. S&H suggest that a working memory (WM) account such as that of Ullman (2005) can explain these findings-the less proficient learners have declarative knowledge that has yet to be procedur- alized, and critically, this automatization can eventually take place, as shown by the performance of the intermediate learners. …

Evolución del riesgo cardiovascular de los inmigrantes residentes en España según procedencia y años de estancia

ObjectiveTo assess whether there are differences in the immigrant population in terms of the years since their arrival in Spain and their geographical area of origin. DesignA cross-sectional study was conducted in three immigrant groups. ParticipantsThe groups selected were: a group of Latin American immigrants (298), a group of North African immigrants (130) and a group from Eastern Europe (114). A control group of 100 from a Spanish population of similar age and sex was also included. MethodsAnthropometric variables were measured, including biochemical inflammatory markers, blood pressure and cardiovascular risk estimation according to the tables of the European Societies of Hypertension and Cardiology. ResultsThe cardiovascular risk of the three groups of immigrants is similar between them (added cardiovascular risk high or very high at 5.5% in Latin Americans, 4.3% in North Africans, and 1.6% in immigrants from eastern countries), but significantly lower than the Spanish control group (28%). After 8 years in Spain, cardiovascular risk increases in the three groups of immigrants, with those from North Africa and eastern countries being comparable to the Spanish group (added cardiovascular risk high or very high of 18.5% in North Africans, and 20% in group from eastern countries). This cardiovascular risk was higher than the other groups, including the Spanish control group (Latin American immigrants 48.7% vs 28% in Spanish group). ConclusionsThe cardiovascular risk of immigrants increases over the years in Spain, with this increase being higher if they come from Latin America. This increase becomes clinically significant after the 8 years of stay in Spain.

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection among immigrant and native pregnant women in Eastern Spain

In European countries, toxoplasma antenatal screening is recommended to prevent toxoplasmosis. The seroprevalence of these infections in immigrants can be different than in native population. From February 2006 to June 2010, a cross-sectional study was carried out in all pregnant women attended at a reference unit in Elche, Spain. An enzyme immunoassay was used for detection of IgG antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii. For each immigrant woman, one Spanish pregnant woman of the same age cared for in the same day was recruited (Spanish control group). A total of 1,627 migrant pregnant women participated in this study. The adherence to screening among migrants was 91.9% (95% CI, 90.5-93.1%), similar than that found in Spaniards (92.2%; 95% CI, 90.8-93-4%). Among migrant women, 619 were positive for IgG anti-T. gondii antibodies (41.4%; 95% CI, 38.9-43.9%), compared with 12.0% (95% CI, 10.5-13.8%) among Spaniards (odds ratio (OR), 5.2 (95% CI, 4.3-6.3). Seroprevalence in pregnant women from Latin America, northern Africa, Eastern Europe, Africa Sub-Saharan and Western Europe was higher than in the Spanish control group (OR, 5.4, 5.8, 6.5, 5.4, and 2.4, respectively; p < 0.001). No Asian pregnant woman was immune. Seroprevalence increased with increasing age in migrant pregnant women: 15-25 years, 38.2%; 26-35 years, 40.7%; and 36-45 years, 52.8%. The seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in migrant pregnant women living in Spain was higher than in the native population. However, no cases were found in Asian immigrants, highlighting the importance of primary prevention of this infection in pregnant women coming from that geographic region.

Welsh Citizens in South-Eastern Spain: A Study of Attitude Toward Organ Donation

Introduction The increase in the British population, including Welsh citizens, in the south-east of Spain is generating a new social and healthcare reality that is affecting the world of transplantation. Objectives The objectives of this study were as follows: (1) to determine the attitude of the local population originating from Wales toward the donation of their own organs, and (2) to analyze the factors that determine this attitude. Materials and Methods A random sample (n = 126) was selected from the population in Murcia originating from Wales (November 2005–March 2006). Attitudes were evaluated using a validated questionnaire. A control group comprised the autochthonous population (n = 2000). The sample was stratified according to age, gender, and geographical location. Results In this study 76% (n = 96) had favorable attitudes toward donation, 6% (n = 8) were against, and the remainder 18% (n = 22) were not sure. Attitudes were more favorable than among the Spanish control group (76% vs 63%; P = .045). The following variables were associated with this attitude: (1) knowledge of the concept of brain death ( P < .001); (2) having spoken within the family about the subject ( P = .005); (3) attitude toward the donation of a family member's organs ( P < .001); (4) knowing the attitude of one's religion toward donation ( P = .033); and (5) attitude of one's partner toward donation ( P < .001). Conclusion Welsh citizens who are residents in south-eastern Spain have attitudes toward organ donation that are more favorable than those of the native Spanish population. They seem to be determined by knowing the concept of brain death and positive attitudes of one's family.

L2 effects on L1 event conceptualization

The finding that speakers of aspect languages encode event endpoints to a lesser extent than do speakers of non-aspect languages has led to the hypothesis that there is a relationship between grammatical aspect and event conceptualization (e.g., von Stutterheim and Nüse, 2003). The present study concerns L1 event conceptualization in 40 L1 Spanish – L2 Swedish bilinguals (all near-native speakers of Swedish). Spanish and Swedish differ as regards grammatical aspect: whereas Swedish lacks this grammatical category, Spanish conveys aspect through verbal morphology and periphrasis. The principal aim of the study was to explore the relationship between productive event conceptualization patterns and receptive decoding proficiency related to aspectual contrasts. The participants were asked to provide oral L1 Spanish descriptions of video clips projecting motion events with different degrees of endpoint orientation (see von Stutterheim, 2003). In addition, they took a grammaticality judgment test concerning verb and gender agreement, verbal clitics and aspectual contrasts. Compared with baseline data from monolingual Spanish speakers, the results on endpoint encoding show that the bilinguals mention the endpoints of motion events to a higher degree than the Spanish control group does. Moreover, it was shown that the weaker the bilinguals' discrimination of aspectual errors on the grammaticality judgment test, the more prone they were to encoding endpoints. This result consequently furthers the hypothesis about the interconnectedness between grammatical aspect and event conceptualization. The results were further interpreted as indicating that the bilinguals are influenced by the Swedish-like tendency to attend to the boundedness rather than the ongoingness of events.

Attitude of Scottish Residents Living in Southeastern Spain Toward Organ Donation

Background Southeastern Spain is a habitual area of residence for the native population of Scotland. Objective To assess the attitude toward donation in the immigrant population in our regional community who were born in Scotland and to analyze the variables that influence this attitude. Materials and methods A random sample was taken ( n = 350) of the population group born in Scotland and living in southeastern Spain. The instrument used to measure attitude was a previously validated questionnaire, which was self-administered and completed anonymously between December 2005 and March 2006. For a control group, we used a sample of the autochthonous population ( n = 2000). Statistical analysis included Student t test, the χ 2 test, Fisher exact test, and logistical regression analysis. Results The attitude toward donation was favorable among 73% of respondents ( n = 237), with 7% ( n = 22) against and 21% ( n = 68) undecided. The attitude was more favorable than among the Spanish control group (73% vs 63%; P = .002). The following variables were related to this attitude: an understanding of the concept of brain death ( P = .025); having discussed the matter within the family unit ( P < .001); a partner's attitude toward donation ( P < .001); being in favor of donating a family member's organs ( P < .001); attitude toward cremation ( P < .001); attitude toward autopsy ( P = .002); and concern about mutilation after donation ( P < .001). Conclusions The attitude of Scottish residents in southeastern Spain is more favorable than that of the Spanish population. It is mainly affected by factors related to the family and to the attitude toward manipulation of the cadaver.

Irish Residents in Southeastern Spain: In Search of Favorable Groups to Encourage Living Kidney Donation in Spain

Introduction There has been an increase in the population resident in southeast Spain originating from the British Isles, among them Irish citizens. Living kidney donation rates are currently low in Spain. In an attempt to increase these rates, a search is underway to find groups who are favorable toward this type of donation especially from those countries with high levels of living kidney donation. The objective of this study was to analyze the attitudes toward living kidney donation among the population group originating from Ireland (including Northern Ireland) and who live in southeast Spain. Materials and Methods A random sample ( n = 325) of the population in southeast Spain (Autonomous Community of Murcia) who were born in Ireland completed a validated questionnaire to measure attitudes. The questionniare was self-administered and was completed anonymously between November 2005 and March 2006. Spanish citizens from an urban and a rural area were used as control groups ( n = 500). Results The questionnaire completion rate was 81% ( n = 262) including 87% ( n = 229) of respondents in favor of living related donation and 13% ( n = 94) against it. The attitude was similar to that of the urban Spanish control group (87% vs 89%; P = .5832) and more favorable than that of the rural area (87% vs 29%; P < 0.001). With respect to living donation for monetary incentives, 7% ( n = 16) reported that they would donate an organ while alive for money, although this would depend on the quantity of money offered; 4% ( n = 10) would need to think about it; while the vast majority (81%; n = 212) would never donate an organ in life for money. The following variables influenced attitudes toward living kidney donation: respondent sex ( P = .023); previous experience with the donation and transplantation process ( P = .004); participation in prosocial activities ( P = .016); religion ( P = .003); partner’s attitude toward the matter ( P = .020); concern about “mutilation” after donation ( P < .001); and belief that living kidney donation is a risk for the patient ( P = .003). Conclusion Irish citizens living in southeast Spain showed a favorable attitude toward related living kidney donation. Therefore, they are a priority group to whom the option of living kidney donation should be offered when a kidney transplant is needed by an Irish person.

Environment–gene interaction in multiple sclerosis: Human herpesvirus 6 and MHC2TA

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disorder affecting the central nervous system, in which both genetic and environmental factors interact. Among these environmental contributors, herpesvirus has been proposed as an important etiologic factor. CIITA is a transcription factor controlling the expression of MHC class II genes, the main genetic determinants of MS susceptibility. This gene has been described as a target of the immunoevasive strategies, and it is therefore an attractive candidate gene to be at the genetic-viral crossroads. Two polymorphisms in MHC2TA gene (rs4,774G/C and rs3,087,456A/G) were studied in two groups: one in 22 multiple sclerosis patients with active human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6A) replication (HHV-6A-positive), and the other of 77 patients with no detectable HHV-6A active infection (HHV-6A-negative); a Spanish healthy control group (n = 520) was also included as external control. An association of the rs4,774C allele with the HHV-6A-positive group was found when compared with the HHV-6A-negative (47.7% vs 18.8%, p = 0.0001; odds ratio = 3.94) and also with the control group (47.7% vs 25.5%, p = 0.001, odds ratio = 2.67). No significant differences were observed between HHV-6A-negative subjects and healthy controls. Our data suggest that a strong gene-environment interaction occurs between HHV-6A active replication and MHC2TA rs4,774C or another polymorphism in tight linkage disequilibrium with it. Besides, this report indicates that when patients are grouped based upon a well-defined molecular event, complex diseases may reveal themselves as being constituted by distinct entities in which some genes may have a strong influence.

Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the self-perception profile for children.

Harter's Self-perception Profile for Children was designed to assess children's domain-specific judgments of their competence (scholastic, social, athletic, physical, and behavioral), as well as global self-worth. The psychometric properties and exploratory factor analysis of the profile for two Spanish samples of children (49% boys and 51% girls; M age=11.1 yr., SD=9.7), were examined (n=23 from an after-school social care center in an economically deprived neighborhood and n=120 from a private school mainly enrolling families of medium socioeconomic status). All attending children between 9 and 12 yr. old were included. Analysis showed sex differences, with girls scoring lower than boys on Athletic Competence and higher on Behavioral Conduct. Children from the economically deprived group had higher scores on Social Acceptance and lower scores on Physical Appearance. The cross-cultural analysis showed that the Spanish control group scored significantly higher than the original American control group on Global Self-worth. A Spanish validation with 9- to 12-yr.-olds clearly replicated the five-factor structure reported by Harter in 1985 and also replicated the results obtained in other European samples, showing reliable and valid psychometric properties.