Syntactic Transfer Research Articles

Investigating Syntactic Transfer from English to Korean in Neural L2 Language Models

This paper investigates how the grammatical knowledge obtained in the initial language (English) of neural language models (LMs) influences the learning of grammatical structures in their second language (Korean). To achieve this objective, we conduct the now well- established experimental procedure, including (i) pre-training transformer-based GPT-2 LMs with Korean and English datasets, (ii) further fine-tuning them with a specific set of Korean data as L1 or L2, and (iii) evaluating them with the test data of KBLiMP while analyzing their linguistic generalization in L1 or L2. We have found negative transfer effects in the comparison between English as L1 and Korean as L2. Furthermore, in the trajectory analysis, the second language-learning LM has captured linguistic features of Korean including syntax, syntax-semantics interface, and morphology during the progressive training step. Our study of second language learning in LMs contributes to predicting potential syntactic challenges arising from the interference by the L1 language during the learning of Korean as a foreign language.

The cross-linguistic influence of L1 Korean and L2 English in L3 Spanish syntactic processing

This study investigates the effects of the previously acquired languages by Korean native speakers who learn Spanish as third language (L3), focused on the L3 syntactic processing of resultative predicate construction. The syntactic processing of resultative construction is very difficult for them and many Korean native speakers commit errors in its production. What is particularly noticeable in L3 productions is that resultative predicates are rarely used, whereas prepositional phrases or adverbs of -mente type are widely used. In the grammaticality judgment test and correction test performed in this study, it has been found that even learners who have good command of resultative predicate construction in L2 tend to rely more on L1 in L3 syntactic processing. Even though L3 is more similar to L2 and both of these languages are formally learned, the results show that L1 is preferred by Korean L3 learners as a source of syntactic transfer in the comprehension and production of Spanish resultative construction, which causes either positive transfer or negative transfer to L3.

Investigating syntactic transfer in second language learning of neural language models

Investigating syntactic transfer in second language learning of neural language models

Impact of Krio Language on the Use of English as a Foreign Language: A Case Study of Senior Secondary Schools Pupils in Sierra Leone

Krio, like other pidgin languages, borrows lexical items from other languages to a greater extent from the English Language. These words “borrowing” and “usage” have resulted in some similarities in the phonological, morphological and syntactic structures of both Languages. These two languages are so linguistically related that the usage differences between them can hardly be realized. As a result, users of both languages unconsciously use Krio lexemes and structures in place of English. This interlanguage phonological, lexical, and syntactic transfer has an enormous impact on the correct use of written and spoken English by senior secondary school pupils. This research is therefore intended to investigate the impact of Krio on the written and spoken English Language of senior secondary school pupils and will also provide recommendations to remedy the situation. This study is of immense relevance to teachers of English, curriculum planners, government, and other education stakeholders as it helps them to identify the extent to which Krio impacts the use of English among pupils. It, therefore, guides them to plan and provide appropriate strategies as solutions to remedy the situation. The study investigates the ways in which Krio impacts the teaching and learning of English in senior secondary school and the extent to which it is being used in schools by pupils and teachers. The study further provides strategies for assessment of the English Language teaching methods used by the teachers of English, and thus gives relevant conclusions and recommendations based on the findings of the study an assessment of the English Language teaching methods used by the teachers of English, and thus gives the relevant conclusion and recommendations based on the findings of the study with the help of well-structured questionnaires, focus group discussions, interviews and personal observations. Forty pupils and eight teachers of English were selected for the study, and the findings showed that pupils’ written and spoken English are marred by incorrect and substandard usage principally as a result of the impact of Krio on the use of the English Language.

An Event-Related Potentials Study on the Syntactic Transfer Effect of Late Language Learners.

This study explored the syntactic transfer effect of the non-local subject-verb agreement structure with plural head noun after two intensive phases of input training with event-related potentials (ERP). The non-local subject-verb agreement stimuli with the plural head nouns, which never appeared in training phases, were used for the stimuli. A total of 26 late L1-Chinese L2-English learners, who began to learn English after a critical period and participated in our previous experiments, were asked back to take part in this syntactic transfer experiment. Results indicated that a significant ERP component P600 occurred in the key region (the verb) of the sentences with syntactic violations in the experimental group, but none occurred in the control group. This demonstrated that there was a significant transfer effect of the input training. The possible theoretical explanation was provided and also the malleability of the late L2 learners was discussed.

BERT syntactic transfer: A computational experiment on Italian, French and English languages

This paper investigates the ability of multilingual BERT (mBERT) language model to transfer syntactic knowledge cross-lingually, verifying if and to which extent syntactic dependency relationships learnt in a language are maintained in other languages. In detail, the main contributions of this paper are: (i) an analysis of the cross-lingual syntactic transfer capability of mBERT model; (ii) a detailed comparison of cross-language syntactic transfer among languages belonging to different branches of the Indo-European languages, namely English, Italian and French, which present very different syntactic constructions; (iii) a study on the transferability of a syntactic phenomenon peculiar of Italian language, namely the pronoun dropping (pro-drop), also known as omissibility of the subject. To this end, a structural probe devoted to reconstruct the dependency parse tree of a sentence has been exploited, representing the input sentences with the contextual embeddings from mBERT layers. The results of the experimental assessment have shown a transfer of syntactic knowledge of the mBERT model among these languages. Moreover, the behaviour of the probe in the transition from pro-drop to non-pro-drop languages and vice versa has proven to be more effective in case of languages sharing a common linguistic matrix. The possibility of transferring syntactical knowledge, especially in the case of specific phenomena, meets both a theoretical need and can have important practical implications in syntactic tasks, such as dependency parsing.

Cross-Linguistic Transfer and Language Proficiency in the Multilingual Education System of Burundi: What has the Existing Literature so far Discovered?

This paper discussed Cross-Linguistic Transfer (CLT) and Language Proficiency in multilingual education in general and highlighted samples of CLT in Burundi as the existing literature reveals. As there exist CLT on all linguistic levels, this discussion has provided examples of phonological (including phonetics), lexical and semantic, and syntactic transfer. It has been realized that there exist a limited number of publications related to CLT among languages studied in the multilingual education system of Burundi. Yet analyses of CLT would supply interesting samples of linguistic features that are likely to be transferred. This would be useful for both language curriculum designers and language policymakers in deciding which language features to supply in language curriculum materials. Furthermore, teachers would find ways of helping learners to improve their language proficiency based on samples of CLT analysis.

LEARNING CONDITION, LINGUISTIC COMPLEXITY, AND FIRST LANGUAGE TRANSFER IN SEMIARTIFICIAL LANGUAGE LEARNING

AbstractThis study explored the interaction between learning conditions, linguistic complexity, and first language (L1) syntactic transfer in semiartificial grammar learning by conceptually replicating and extending Tagarelli et al. (2016). We changed the L1 background, elicited production data during debriefing, and added a binary mixed-effects logistic regression analysis to compare variability at learner and item levels with group-level variation on exposure condition, linguistic complexity, and their interaction. Our results replicated those of the original study regarding the comparative efficacy of explicit instruction; however, we also found a condition × complexity interaction absent in the original study. Debriefing sentence-production data suggest that the changed L1-L2 typological distance may have leveled off the advantage of explicit instruction in the learning of the complex V2-VF structure. Finally, our mixed-effects modeling analysis revealed that variability at learner and item levels accounted for a larger proportion of the variance of the outcomes than all the predictors combined.

The Negative Influence of Chinese L1 on English L2 Writing

L1 is, generally, believed to affect the acquisition of second language negatively. Because there is likely to be a negative transfer form L1 to L2, when the learner lacks sufficient knowledge for communicating his or her ideas in L2 and then draw upon the L1. The transfer includes both positive and negative transfer. However, the role of L1 is more often viewed as negative, causing negative transfer that results in a variety of errors. Generally, English and Chinese do not have many of the shared syntactical features. Hence the syntactic transfer is predictable when using the L2. This may lead to such errors as those in the noun phrase, in the verb phrase and various omissions. This paper analyses those errors in English writing, which represent the negative syntactic transfer from Chinese to English. Moreover, it discusses in details the particular causes for that transfer and propose improving the awareness of the syntactic distinction between these two languages in Chinese students.

Studies on factors influencing syntactic transfer in L3 acquisition

This paper examines the factors influencing syntactical transfer in TLA. There are several factors that influence syntactic transfer in TLA: linguistic (such as typology); individual (such as learners’ “attention control” and age); psycho-linguistic (such as psychotypology and the learners’ awareness of cognates); and other factors (such as L2 type and amount of instruction). In summary, it was found that negative syntactic transfer from both L1 and L2 to L3 occurs when (a) languages are typologically dissimilar (b) learners’ “attention control ability” is low, and (c) L2 level of proficiency and exposure is advanced and L3 level of proficiency is low. In contrast, positive syntactic transfer from L1 and L2 to L3 occurs when (a) languages are typologically similar, (b) students perceive these languages as similar, and (c) L1 and L2 level of proficiency is high and L3 level of proficiency is low. Additionally, the learners’ age was found to potentially influence the language (L1 or L2) from which the transfer occurs into L3: L3 adult learners may count more on their L2 as a source of positive syntactic transfer into L3 whereas children may count more on their L1 as a source of positive syntactic transfer into L3. Finally, it was found that when L1, L2, and L3 are equally proximate, it is the L2 that has the primary influence on positive and negative syntactic transfer in TLA.

Cross linguistic influence in learning english as a third language: The case of L1 Arabic, L2 Turkish learners and their attitudes towards learning foreign languages

The study aims to reveal the attitudes of the participants (from L1 dominant setting and L2 dominant setting) towards learning foreign languages. After revealing the attitudes of the L3 learners, the study also aims at investigating the source of syntactic and lexical transfer: whether L1 or L2 in their writing assignments. The study also aims at investigating the source of syntactic and lexical transfer: whether L1 or L2 in their writing assignments. A mixed research approach was used in the current study to explore attitudes and origins of the syntactic and lexical transition of L1 Arabic L2 Turkish L3 to English language learners at the Uludag University School of Foreign Languages. An attitude questionnaire was implemented to get the quantitative data concerning the behavioural, cognitive, and emotional aspects of attitude of the learners towards foreign language learning. In addition to the attitude questionnaire, Think Aloud Protocols (TAPs) was administered in order to make the cognitive process observable. The participants of the current study consist of 23 L3 learners of English. The findings of the quantitative analyses showed statistically significant differences between the two groups attitudes. The students who are living in the dormitories of the university with their friends and using L2 dominantly in their daily lives showed significantly more positive attitudes than the other group. As for the source of transfer, the results showed that the participants displayed some syntactic transfers in their writing productions, but they could not be clearly defined as resulting from Turkish or Arabic because the transferred forms (for example absence of verb to be) were similar in both L1 and L2 of the participants.

Uncovering transfer effects of dominance and proficiency in L3 English acquisition using the visual moving window paradigm and grammaticality judgments

Abstract Using a novel combination of visual moving window paradigm and timed grammaticality judgment task, this study examines how third language (L3) learners (beginners and intermediate) with L2 German and different non-verb-second L1s process violated and non-violated main declarative sentences with fronted adverbials in L3 English. It examines the extent to which so far less-explored predictors (language dominance and proficiency) modulate non-facilitative word order transfer from the L2. Our results from experiment 1 corroborate existing (offline data) results (Angelovska, Tanja. 2017. (When) do L3 English learners transfer form L2 German? Evidence from spoken and written data by L1 Russian speakers. In Tanja Angelovska & Angela Hahn (eds.), L3 syntactic transfer: Models, new developments and implications (Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 5), 195–222. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins; Fallah, Nader & Ali Akbar Jabbari. 2018. L3 acquisition of English attributive adjectives dominant language of communication matters for syntactic cross-linguistic influence. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 8. 193–216) and are in support of a hybrid transfer suggesting that neither proficiency nor dominance plays a role in transfer selection. Results from experiment 2 reveal that L1-dominance was the determining key factor for accuracy performance for low proficiency L3 subjects but higher L3 proficiency tended to neutralize this strong influence - providing evidence for the Scalpel Model (Slabakova, Roumyana. 2017. The scalpel model of third language acquisition. International Journal of Bilingualism 21. 651–665). We explain the contradictory results from the two experiments as a function of task effects.

Dhi-English: Influence of Dhivehi language features on the English narratives of Maldivian ESL learners

This qualitative descriptive study explored the influence of Dhivehi, the first language (L1) of the Maldivian students on learning English, their second language (L2). The questions raised in this paper enabled to identify morphological, lexical and syntactic transfer errors present in the narratives written by thirty-three students at secondary level from three schools in Male’, the capital of the Maldives. Transfer Analysis was used to analyze errors present in the English nar-ratives written by Maldivian ESL (English as a Second Language) learners. The analysis uncov-ered negative transfer of Dhivehi linguistic features in their written English at morphological, lexical, as well as syntactic levels. The findings provide invaluable pedagogical implications for second language learning in the Maldivian context. Thus, it is recommended that ESL teachers as well as curriculum developers in the Maldives take into consideration the possibility of the influence of students’ mother tongue or Dhivehi linguistic features on the process of learning English.

Word Reordering for Translation into Korean Sign Language Using Syntactically-guided Classification

Machine translation aims to break the language barrier that prevents communication with others and increase access to information. Deaf people face huge language barriers in their daily lives, including access to digital and spoken information. There are very few digital resources for sign language processing. In this article, we present a transfer-based machine translation system for translating Korean-to-Korean Sign Language (KSL) glosses, mainly composed of (1) dictionary-based lexical transfer and (2) a hybrid syntactic transfer based on a data-driven model. In particular, we formulate complicated word reordering problems in syntactic transfer as multi-class classification tasks and propose “syntactically guided” data-driven syntactic transfer. The core part of our study is a neural classification model for reordering order-important constituent pairs with a reordering task that is newly designed for Korean-to-KSL translation. The experiment results evaluated on news transcript data show that the proposed system achieves a BLEU score of 0.512 and a RIBES score of 0.425, significantly improving upon the baseline system performance.

Evidence for syntactic feature transfer between two languages

In this commentary, I would like to support Goad and White’s (2019, henceforth G&W) claim that the morphosyntactic feature system in the L2 does not have to be defective due to certain syntactic features not being activated in the L1. I will base my point on the example of grammatical gender. Moreover, I would like to stress the importance of developing processing models for lexico-syntactic features in bilingual speakers. Processing models may be able to account for why L2 learners behave in a particular way. For instance, G&W (p. 791) refer to a study by Goad et al. (2011), suggesting that “beginners fl uctuate between deletion of the plural and resorting to the structure for verbal in fl ection”. However, they do not provide an answer as to why L2 learners behave in that way. In other words, a processing account is missing. A comprehensive (neuro-)cognitive model of grammatical feature representation and processing may help understand error patterns in L2 production.

Telicity and mode of merge in L2 acquisition of resultatives

ABSTRACTResultative constructions show a wide range of cross-linguistic variation, which may pose nontrivial challenges to L2 learners. This study investigates how syntactic and semantic differences between L1 and L2 affect L2 acquisition of resultatives. In particular, we investigate how L1-Korean learners project the syntax and semantics of L2-English resultative constructions. Two different experiments are presented. The first is a comprehension test that employs an acceptability judgment task and an elicited choice task, and the second is a production test using an elicited writing task. Our experimental results consistently show that Korean learners project English resultatives with adjunct structures and interpret them as atelic events, in sharp contrast to native speakers of English. This finding is in line with previous studies in demonstrating that L1 syntax plays a crucial role in projecting L2 syntax. More importantly, this study provides novel evidence that L1 semantics (i.e., telicity) crucially influences L2 acquisition, in tandem with (but over and above) L1 syntax. The study’s results imply that a proper theory of L2 acquisition of resultatives must consider not only syntactic transfer effects but also subtle semantic differences between L1 and L2.

Contact-induced variation in Transylvanian Saxon verb clusters

This article illustrates two-verb clusters in Viscri Saxon, a dialect of Transylvanian Saxon (TrSax) spoken in Viscri, Romania, along with Romanian and Standard German. The orders found in Viscri Saxon verb clusters are encountered in West Germanic varieties related to TrSax (e.g. Moselle Franconian, Luxembourgish), but the distributions differ from the ones discussed in other varieties (Dubenion-Smith 2010, Wurmbrand 2017). I argue that word-order variation in Viscri Saxon is the result of syntactic transfer from Standard German, and show that there is flexible distribution between possible word orders. Furthermore, speakers with different linguistic profiles use the available constructions to different degrees, thus illustrating the roles of German and Romanian in the progression of contact-induced changes in Viscri Saxon.

Semantic and syntactic transfer of fitness landscape models to the analysis of collective and public decision making processes

textabstractWe set out to develop a method and research technique that could unite both modelling and case-based observations in order to analyse collective decision-making processes. Following Abbott’s (2001) recommendation regarding social processes, we have defined collective decision-making as an uninterrupted and non-directional process that is structured in sequences or lineages of events. To structure these processes, we re-modelled the basic components of Kauffman’s (1993) NK-model. We converted N to ‘problem and solution definitions’ (PSDs) and K to ‘connectedness’ between actors (c_score). An important modification is that we consider NK to be a dependent configuration; i.e., K entails both content and process. Fitness is defined as the probability of an actor achieving (elements of) its PSD as a result of its adaptive moves in relation to the adaptive moves of others. The model is put to the test in four different studies: (1) 20 years of decision-making in planning, building and servicing HSL-Zuid high-speed railways in the Netherlands; (2) the strategic search process of villages and cantons in the Gotthard region of Switzerland; (3) the redevelopment of a football stadium and the surrounding area in south Rotterdam, the Netherlands; and (4) the rise and fall of the Airport RailLink in Bangkok, Thailand. From these studies, we derived six archetypes in collection decision-making, subdivided into actor archetypes and interaction archetypes. For the actor archetypes, behavioural consistency is not just a trait for the actor but also affects the space of possibilities and/or behaviours of other actors. The interactions of individual actors combine to produce self-propagating dynamics that drive the further evolution of the collective decision-making process. The fitness field model enables researchers to investigate the various dimensions of the collective decision-making process – ranging from individual strategies and actions to variation, selection and retention of contents, from interactions to fitness gains and losses, and back again.

Latin students’ bottom-up and top-down strategies for reading Latin literature and the impact of cross-linguistic influence

AbstractIn an attempt to apply modern foreign language research and theory to the instruction of classical languages, this article describes the qualitative phase of a research study (Boyd, R. M. 2016.High school students’ comprehension strategies for reading Latin literature. Washington, D.C.: George Washington University doctoral dissertation.) on Latin reading comprehension strategies. First, there is a discussion of the linguistic factors that affect native English language readers of Latin, including cross-linguistic influence and negative syntactic transfer. Second, there is a review of the relevant literature on second language reading comprehension strategies, derived from empirically-tested reading strategies reported in modern second language research journals and described anecdotally in classics journals. Finally, there is a thorough description of the semi-structured interview that was conducted with twelve high school students to gather the Latin reading strategies they used during an authentic classroom reading comprehension assessment. Results showed that Latin students overall demonstrated a preference for bottom-up strategies when reading Latin, with limited transfer of top-down strategies due to insufficient Latin language proficiency. Students imposed English language patterns onto Latin texts, and negative English syntactic transfer hindered Latin reading comprehension.

Hindi to Punjabi machine translation system based on statistical approach

Machine Translation problem is an open area of research. It is a challenge to build a domain independent, effective and efficient MT System. The major approaches to machine translation encountered in literature are Word-for-Word Translation, Syntactic Transfer, Semantic Transfer, Interlingua Approach, Example Based Translation, and Statistical Approach to Translation. The existing Hindi to Punjabi MT systems have been developed using rule bases approach and word-for-word translation approach. The present paper is an attempt to study the Architecture of Hindi to Punjabi MT System based on Statistical Approach.