scholarly journals Feeling your neighbour: an experimental approach to the polysemy of tundma ‘to feel’ in Estonian

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-309
Author(s):  
MARIANN PROOS
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Sorting Task ◽  
Rating Task

ABSTRACTThis paper offers an experimental approach to the polysemy of the Estonian perception verb tundma ‘to feel’ from the perspective of the perception ➔ cognition metaphor. First, a sorting task is used to map how native speakers perceive the different senses of tundma ‘to feel’. The results show that cognition-related senses of tundma form the most distinct and coherent group. This set was researched further by means of a second experiment, a conceptual feature rating task. The aim of this task was to assess if the cognition-related meanings of tundma differ from other cognition verbs of Estonian (teadma ‘to know’, aru saama ‘to understand’) in that they are metaphorically linked to physical perception. It was predicted that native speakers use characteristics tied to the physical perception in the conceptualisation of the type of knowledge expressed by tundma. However, native speakers did not rate sentences with tundma as more physical than sentences with abstract cognition verbs. This result is indicative of the nature of the semantics of tundma being more varied than was first thought. It is argued that the semantics of tundma refer to it being a verb of general proximal perception.

Look before you move

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 396-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Leal
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Rating Task ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Visual Rating ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Left Dislocation ◽  
Clitic Left Dislocation ◽  
Discourse Interface

The present study examines whether, as proposed by the Interface Hypothesis (Sorace, 2011), the syntax-discourse interface is especially vulnerable to non-native optionality even at very advanced levels. I focus on the acquisition of Clitic Left Dislocation in Spanish (CLLD), a structure that involves both syntax and discourse, when it combines with other structures at the left periphery (iterative topics, Fronted Focus, and wh-constructions). CLLD is a realization of topicalization requiring the integration of syntactic and discourse knowledge. This study provides data from an audio-visual rating task completed by 120 learners of Spanish of different proficiency levels and 27 monolingual native speakers. Results showed evidence that the most advanced learners had acquired the restrictions of these structures in a native-like way and supports López’s (2009) syntactic analysis of CLLD, whereby CLLD is generated through movement so that the pragmatic features [+anaphor]/[+contrast] can be assigned to the dislocated element.

scholarly journals Hong Kong Women Project a Larger Body When Speaking to Attractive Men

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Lee ◽  
Eva Ng
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Young Female ◽  
The Body ◽  
Rating Task ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Acoustic Data ◽  
Facial Stimuli ◽  
Hong Kong Cantonese ◽  
Attractive Male

In this pilot study we investigated the vocal strategies of Cantonese women when addressing an attractive vs. unattractive male. We recruited 19 young female native speakers of Hong Kong Cantonese who completed an attractiveness rating task, followed by a speech production task where they were presented a subset of the same faces. By comparing the rating results and corresponding acoustic data of the facial stimuli, we found that when young Cantonese women spoke to an attractive male, they were less breathy, lower in fundamental frequency, and with denser formants, all of which are considered to project a larger body. Participants who were more satisfied with their own height used these vocal strategies more actively. These results are discussed in terms of the body size projection principle.

Processing Ergativity: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Evidence

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Zawiszewski
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Experimental Methods ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Insight Into

So far ergativity has been mostly studied from a language-theoretic perspective and the evidence on how it is processed and represented is rather scarce. In this paper I provide an insight into ergativity from an experimental approach. First, I present an overview of the experimental methods used to investigate ergativity (self-paced reading, event-related potentials and functional magnetic resonance imaging) and next I review studies that examined behavioral, electrophysiological and neuroanatomical correlates of ergativity in both native and non-native speakers, as well as those focused on the universality of processing strategies in ergative languages. Finally, I also review and discuss the experimental data from works that dealt with syntactic and semantic aspects of ergativity and discuss the implication of the results for future research.

Fatal mistake, awful mistake, or extreme mistake? Frequency effects on off-line/on-line collocational processing

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUHAD SONBUL
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Rating Task ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
First Pass ◽  
Total Reading Time ◽  
On Line ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This study explored whether native speakers of English and non-natives are sensitive to corpus-derived frequency of synonymous adjective-noun collocations (e.g., fatal mistake, awful mistake, and extreme mistake) and whether level of proficiency can influence this sensitivity. Both off-line (typicality rating task) and on-line (eye-movement) measures were employed. Off-line results showed that both natives and non-natives were sensitive to collocational frequency with clearer effects for non-natives as their proficiency increased. On-line, however, proficiency had no effect on sensitivity to frequency; both natives and non-natives showed early sensitivity to collocational frequency (first pass reading time). This on-line sensitivity disappeared later in processing for both groups (total reading time and fixation count). Results are discussed in light of usage-based theories of language acquisition and processing.

scholarly journals Generating Topic Headings During Reading of Screen-Based Text Facilitates Learning of Structural Knowledge and Impairs Learning of Lower-Level Knowledge

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy B. Clariana ◽  
Anthony W. Marker
Keyword(s):  
Recall Test ◽  
Cued Recall ◽  
Structural Knowledge ◽  
Sorting Task ◽  
Factual Knowledge ◽  
Rating Task ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Linear And Nonlinear ◽  
Pathfinder Network ◽  
Task Measure

This investigation considers the effects of learner-generated headings on memory. Participants ( N = 63) completed a computer-based lesson with or without learner-generated text topic headings. Posttests included a cued recall test of factual knowledge and a sorting task measure of structural knowledge. A significant disordinal interaction was observed with the no headings group performing better on the cued recall test and worse on the structural knowledge sorting task. In addition, a measure of structural knowledge using a list-wise rating task was field trialed. The two structural knowledge tasks were analyzed using a Pathfinder network scoring technique that measured both linear and nonlinear text subtopic organization. The sorting and rating tasks were differentially sensitive to participants' linear and nonlinear knowledge organization. Unexpectedly, the sorting and rating posttest tasks improved cued recall posttest scores. The implications of the results for measuring structural knowledge are considered and suggestions for further studies are presented.

Perception of Word-level Prominence in Free Word Order Language Discourse

2019 ◽  
pp. 002383091988408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Luchkina ◽  
Jennifer S. Cole
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Read Aloud ◽  
Rating Task ◽  
Narrative Texts ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Order Language ◽  
Russian Speaker ◽  
Free Word

This study examines the contribution of constituent order, prosody, and information structure to the perception of word-level prominence in Russian, a free word order language. Prominence perception is investigated through the analysis of prominence ratings of nominal words in two published narrative texts. Word-level perceived prominence ratings were obtained from linguistically naïve native speakers of Russian in two tasks: a silent prominence rating task of the read text passages, and an auditory prominence rating task of the same texts as read aloud by a native Russian speaker. Analyses of the prominence ratings reveal a greater likelihood of perceived prominence for words introducing discourse-new referents, as well as words occurring in a non-canonical sentence position, and featuring acoustic-prosodic enhancement. The results show that prosody and word order vary probabilistically in relation to information structure in read-aloud narrative, suggesting a complex interaction of prosody, word order, and information structure underlying the perception of prominence.

scholarly journals On the interpretation of possessives in Czech: An experimental approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-126
Author(s):  
Barbara Mertins
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Complex Task ◽  
Questionnaire Data ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Target Source

This paper presents first findings from an offline study of Czech native speakers’ use and interpretation of reflexive and non-reflexive possessive pronouns. The study is part of a larger possessive project outlined by Fabricius-Hansen et al. (2017), leaning on the comprehension experiment presented in Pitz et al. (2017). The study encompasses questionnaire data collected from 259 informants who were tested under four different conditions on two competing pronouns: the reflexive possessive (svůj) and the 3rd person non-reflexive possessive (jeho). The results revealed that Czech native speakers show a strong uncertainty when interpreting constructions with a cataphoric non-reflexive possessive. This shows that even for native speakers, the establishment of the anaphoric and cataphoric relations under certain syntactic conditions is a challenging and highly complex task. With these results, several hypotheses are formulated in various target-source-language pairs concerning the processing of reflexive and non-reflexive possessives in L2.

Experimental Determination of the Effective Resolution Limit in Thick Specimens at High Voltages

1975 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 664-665
Author(s):  
Mircea Fotino
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Chromatic Aberration ◽  
Resolving Power ◽  
Biological Research ◽  
Specimen Thickness ◽  
Resolution Limit ◽  
High Voltage Electron Microscopy ◽  
Voltage Electron ◽  
Resolution Level

The use of thick specimens (0.5 μm to 5.0 μm or more) is one of the most resourceful applications of high-voltage electron microscopy in biological research. However, the energy loss experienced by the electron beam in the specimen results in chromatic aberration and thus in a deterioration of the effective resolving power. This sets a limit to the maximum usable specimen thickness when investigating structures requiring a certain resolution level.An experimental approach is here described in which the deterioration of the resolving power as a function of specimen thickness is determined. In a manner similar to the Rayleigh criterion in which two image points are considered resolved at the resolution limit when their profiles overlap such that the minimum of one coincides with the maximum of the other, the resolution attainable in thick sections can be measured by the distance from minimum to maximum (or, equivalently, from 10% to 90% maximum) of the broadened profile of a well-defined step-like object placed on the specimen.

Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Naturalness in Speakers of Varying Gender Identities

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
pp. 2054-2069
Author(s):  
Brandon Merritt ◽  
Tessa Bent
Keyword(s):  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Identification Accuracy ◽  
Rating Task ◽  
Gender Identification ◽  
Identification Task ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Perceptual Evaluation ◽  
Speech Training ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Speech Naturalness

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate how speech naturalness relates to masculinity–femininity and gender identification (accuracy and reaction time) for cisgender male and female speakers as well as transmasculine and transfeminine speakers. Method Stimuli included spontaneous speech samples from 20 speakers who are transgender (10 transmasculine and 10 transfeminine) and 20 speakers who are cisgender (10 male and 10 female). Fifty-two listeners completed three tasks: a two-alternative forced-choice gender identification task, a speech naturalness rating task, and a masculinity/femininity rating task. Results Transfeminine and transmasculine speakers were rated as significantly less natural sounding than cisgender speakers. Speakers rated as less natural took longer to identify and were identified less accurately in the gender identification task; furthermore, they were rated as less prototypically masculine/feminine. Conclusions Perceptual speech naturalness for both transfeminine and transmasculine speakers is strongly associated with gender cues in spontaneous speech. Training to align a speaker's voice with their gender identity may concurrently improve perceptual speech naturalness. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12543158

Partner-Specific Communication Deficits in Individuals With Alzheimer's Disease

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Eun Jin Paek ◽  
Si On Yoon
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Sorting Task ◽  
Audience Design ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
Design Skills ◽  
Referential Expressions

Purpose Speakers adjust referential expressions to the listeners' knowledge while communicating, a phenomenon called “audience design.” While individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show difficulties in discourse production, it is unclear whether they exhibit preserved partner-specific audience design. The current study examined if individuals with AD demonstrate partner-specific audience design skills. Method Ten adults with mild-to-moderate AD and 12 healthy older adults performed a referential communication task with two experimenters (E1 and E2). At first, E1 and participants completed an image-sorting task, allowing them to establish shared labels. Then, during testing, both experimenters were present in the room, and participants described images to either E1 or E2 (randomly alternating). Analyses focused on the number of words participants used to describe each image and whether they reused shared labels. Results During testing, participants in both groups produced shorter descriptions when describing familiar images versus new images, demonstrating their ability to learn novel knowledge. When they described familiar images, healthy older adults modified their expressions depending on the current partner's knowledge, producing shorter expressions and more established labels for the knowledgeable partner (E1) versus the naïve partner (E2), but individuals with AD were less likely to do so. Conclusions The current study revealed that both individuals with AD and the control participants were able to acquire novel knowledge, but individuals with AD tended not to flexibly adjust expressions depending on the partner's knowledge state. Conversational inefficiency and difficulties observed in AD may, in part, stem from disrupted audience design skills.

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