Maturational constraints on lexical acquisition in a second language

2013 ◽  
pp. 43-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Spadaro
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Lexical Acquisition

Frequency effects and second language lexical acquisition

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Crossley ◽  
Tom Salsbury ◽  
Ashley Titak ◽  
Danielle McNamara
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Word Frequency ◽  
Lexical Acquisition ◽  
Absolute Frequency ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Post Hoc ◽  
L1 And L2

Frequency effects in an L1 and L2 longitudinal corpus were investigated using Zipfian distribution analyses and linear curve estimations. The results demonstrated that the NS lexical input exhibited Zipfian distributions, but that the L2 lexical output did not match the NS Zipfian patterns. Word frequency analyses indicated that NS interlocutors modify their lexicon such that frequency scores decrease as a function of time that L2 learners have studied English. In contrast, the word frequency scores for the L2 output increased as a function of time. Post-hoc analyses indicated that differences in frequency scores between NS input and L2 output were best explained by the repetition of infrequent words, but not frequent words by L2 learners in the early stages of language acquisition. The results question absolute frequency interpretations of lexical acquisition for L2 learners and provide evidence for usage-based approaches for language learning.

Lexical Simplification in Second-Language Acquisition

1980 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Blum ◽  
E. Levenston
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Ongoing Study ◽  
Lexical Acquisition

The following paper is an account of empirical research in lexical acquisition, an ongoing study whose preliminary findings were reported at the Neuchâtel colloquium May 1976 (Levenston and Blum 1977). A discussion of the research methodology has also been published (Levenston and Blum 1978), as well as an attempt to link this work with studies of lexical simplification in other linguistic contexts (Blum and Levenston 1977). Before discussing in detail the current findings, it seems appropriate to summarize briefly the preceding research, of which they form an integral part.

Impact of Cyrillic on Native English Speakers’ Phono-lexical Acquisition of Russian

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 565-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Showalter
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Native Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Lexical Acquisition ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Pictures And Words ◽  
Lexical Learning

We investigated the influence of grapheme familiarity and native language grapheme–phoneme correspondences during second language lexical learning. Native English speakers learned Russian-like words via auditory presentations containing only familiar first language phones, pictured meanings, and exposure to either Cyrillic orthographic forms (Orthography condition) or the sequence <XXX> (No Orthography condition). Orthography participants saw three types of written forms: familiar-congruent (e.g., <KOM>-[kom]), familiar-incongruent (e.g., <PAT>-[rɑt]), and unfamiliar (e.g., <ФИЛ>-[fil]). At test, participants determined whether pictures and words matched according to what they saw during word learning. All participants performed near ceiling in all stimulus conditions, except for Orthography participants on words containing incongruent grapheme–phoneme correspondences. These results suggest that first language grapheme–phoneme correspondences can cause interference during second language phono-lexical acquisition. In addition, these results suggest that orthographic input effects are robust enough to interfere even when the input does not contain novel phones.

INTRODUCTION

1999 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjorie Wesche ◽  
T. Sima Paribakht
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Lexical Acquisition ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Lexical Development ◽  
Present Collection ◽  
Relative Neglect ◽  
L2 Vocabulary

In the 12 years since Studies in Second Language Acquisition published its first thematic collection on L2 lexical issues, “The use and acquisition of the second language lexicon,” edited by S. Gass (1987), the centrality of lexical development in second language acquisition has received ever increasing recognition from researchers (see, for example, volumes by Arnaud & Béjoint, 1992; Coady & Huckin, 1997; Haastrup, 1991; Haastrup & Viberg, 1998; Harley, 1995, 1996; Hatch & Brown, 1995; Huckin, Haynes, & Coady, 1993; Meara, 1992; Nation, 1990; Schmitt & McCarthy, 1997; Schreuder & Weltens, 1993; Tréville, 1993; Tréville & Duquette, 1996). The 1987 collection was a leading foray into new territory, following a period of relative neglect of the lexicon in SLA. The issues taken up by its authors were quite diverse, ranging from the organization and components of the L2 lexicon, to aspects of acquisition such as cross-linguistic influence, restructuring, and rate, to L2 lexical-use issues such as retrieval and access. Since that time, a large body of L2 research and theory has developed around these and other topics, and it has become possible to deal comprehensively with single core issues in L2 lexical acquisition from multiple perspectives. The current collection is one such attempt, offering a set of related papers on the topic of incidental L2 vocabulary acquisition. Unlike the 1987 collection, which argued for recognition of the importance of the lexicon in a field dominantly concerned with the acquisition of syntax, the authors of the present collection assume the central importance of lexical acquisition.

scholarly journals Effects of sentence writing in second language lexical acquisition

2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 303-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Barcroft
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Target Word ◽  
Word Production ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Lexical Acquisition ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
New Words ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
L2 Spanish

This study compared the effects of writing new words in sentences with word picture repetition learning alone. Second language (L2) Spanish learners attempted to learn 24 new Spanish words in one of two conditions while viewing word picture pairs. In Experiment 1, in the no sentence writing condition, the participants viewed 4 repetitions of each word for 6 seconds each. In the sentence writing condition, they viewed 1 repetition of each word for 48 seconds and were asked to write the word in a Spanish sentence. In Experiment 2, the participants were shown one repetition of each word for 24 seconds in both the sentence writing and no sentence writing conditions. Immediate and delayed posttests on productive vocabulary knowledge were administered in both experiments. Scores were submitted to analyses of variance. Condition and time were independent variables. Target word production was scored based on syllables and whole words produced. Results of both experiments indicated strong negative effects for the sentence writing conditions, suggesting that sentence writing can inhibit word form learning during the initial stages of L2 lexical acquisition.

Lexical Acquisition and the Structure of the Mental Lexicon

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eve V. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Target Word ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Semantic Relations ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Lexical Acquisition ◽  
New Words ◽  
Speech Stream ◽  
Second Language Speakers ◽  
Children First

The words and word-parts children acquire at different stages offer insights into how the mental lexicon might be organized. Children first identify ‘words,’ recurring sequences of sounds, in the speech stream, attach some meaning to them, and, later, analyze such words further into parts, namely stems and affixes. These are the elements they store in memory in order to recognize them on subsequent occasions. They also serve as target models when children try to produce those words themselves. When they coin words, they make use of bare stems, combine certain stems with each other, and sometimes add affixes as well. The options they choose depend on how much they need to add to coin a new word, which familiar elements they can draw on, and how productive that option is in the language. Children’s uses of stems and affixes in coining new words also reveal that they must be relying on one representation in comprehension and a different representation in production. For comprehension, they need to store information about the acoustic properties of a word, taking into account different occasions, different speakers, and different dialects, not to mention second-language speakers. For production, they need to work out which articulatory plan to follow in order to reproduce the target word. And they take time to get their production of a word aligned with the representation they have stored for comprehension. In fact, there is a general asymmetry here, with comprehension being ahead of production for children, and also being far more extensive than production, for both children and adults. Finally, as children add more words to their repertoires, they organize and reorganize their vocabulary into semantic domains. In doing this, they make use of pragmatic directions from adults that help them link related words through a variety of semantic relations.

scholarly journals Third language acquisition: why it is interesting to generative linguists

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan-kit Ingrid Leung
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Lexical Acquisition ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Third Language ◽  
Third Language Acquisition ◽  
L3 Acquisition

The present article reviews three collections of papers edited by Cenoz and colleagues on the topic of third language (L3) acquisition from perspectives including psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and education. Our focus is on psycholinguistics, in particular, lexical acquisition studies, and with particular reference to two central notions in the study of L3, namely, language-selectiveness and cross-linguistic influence. The article also discusses expansion of the study of L3 acquisition into the Universal Grammar/Second Language Acquisition (UG/SLA) paradigm, and closes by looking at future directions for the L3 field.

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