Recognizing sarcasm without language

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry S. Cheang ◽  
Marc D. Pell
Keyword(s):  
Native Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Communicative Intent ◽  
Speaker Intentions

The goal of the present research was to determine whether certain speaker intentions conveyed through prosody in an unfamiliar language can be accurately recognized. English and Cantonese utterances expressing sarcasm, sincerity, humorous irony, or neutrality through prosody were presented to English and Cantonese listeners unfamiliar with the other language. Listeners identified the communicative intent of utterances in both languages in a crossed design. Participants successfully identified sarcasm spoken in their native language but identified sarcasm at near-chance levels in the unfamiliar language. Both groups were relatively more successful at recognizing the other attitudes when listening to the unfamiliar language (in addition to the native language). Our data suggest that while sarcastic utterances in Cantonese and English share certain acoustic features, these cues are insufficient to recognize sarcasm between languages; rather, this ability depends on (native) language experience.

scholarly journals Learning two languages from birth shapes pre-attentive processing of vowel categories: Electrophysiological correlates of vowel discrimination in monolinguals and simultaneous bilinguals

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 526-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
MONIKA MOLNAR ◽  
LINDA POLKA ◽  
SHARI BAUM ◽  
KARSTEN STEINHAUER
Keyword(s):  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Native Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
Canadian English ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Vowel Perception ◽  
Canadian French ◽  
Language Context ◽  
Vowel Categories

Using event-related brain potentials (ERPs), we measured pre-attentive processing involved in native vowel perception as reflected by the mismatch negativity (MMN) in monolingual and simultaneous bilingual (SB) users of Canadian English and Canadian French in response to various pairings of four vowels: English /u/, French /u/, French /y/, and a control /y/. The monolingual listeners exhibited a discrimination pattern that was shaped by their native language experience. The SB listeners, on the other hand, exhibited a MMN pattern that was distinct from both monolingual listener groups, suggesting that the SB pre-attentive system is tuned to access sub-phonemic detail with respect to both input languages, including detail that is not readily accessed by either of their monolingual peers. Additionally, simultaneous bilinguals exhibited sensitivity to language context generated by the standard vowel in the MMN paradigm. The automatic access to fine phonetic detail may aid SB listeners to rapidly adjust their perception to the variable listening conditions that they frequently encounter.

Monolingual and bilingual infants' word segmentation abilities in an inter-mixed dual-language task

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriel John Orena ◽  
Linda Polka
Keyword(s):  
Target Word ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Dual Language ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Close Relation ◽  
Word Segmentation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Native Languages

Previous studies show that young monolingual infants use language-specific cues to segment words in their native language. Here, we asked whether 8 and 10-month-old infants (N = 84) have the capacity to segment words in a bilingual context. Infants heard an English-French mixed passage that contained one target word in each language, and were then tested on their recognition of the two target words. The English-monolingual and French-monolingual infants showed evidence of segmentation in their native language, but not in the other unfamiliar language. As a group, the English-French bilingual infants segmented in both of their native languages; however, closer examination suggest that language mixing affects word segmentation capabilities. Taken together, these results indicate a close relation between early language experience and speech processing.

scholarly journals Identification of Triphthongs in Pakistani English

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 184
Author(s):  
Mahwish Farooq ◽  
Asim Mahmood
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Anechoic Chamber ◽  
The Other ◽  
Second Step ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Acoustic Behavior ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Experimental Approaches

The present research deals with the identification of triphthongs in Pakistani English (PakE). A triphthong is the combination of three different vowels. There are five triphthongs in English (Roach, 2009) but those are absent in PakE due to the language variation phenomenon. As, we know that every language has a different lingual approach than the other therefore, if we find any similarity that is just a matter of chance and coincidence nothing else. So, in the current research, it is proposed that the native language, Urdu would affect standard pronunciation or RP in Pakistan. For the confirmation of this hypothesis, two experimental approaches are selected for the identification of triphthongs and their acoustic behavior in PakE. Therefore, sixty Pakistani speakers have been selected as a population of the research. Afterwards their speech has been recorded and analyzed in anechoic chamber. In the first step, the auditory approach has selected which reported varied vocalic segments by using syllable count method. In the second step, for knowing the acoustic behavior, the identified segments have been further investigated in PRAAT software. Then, data analysis and results have confirmed that Urdu influences and transforms the acoustic features of PakE. It is also confirmed that PakE has two triphthongs; (i) /ʊae/ (at word final position) and (ii) /ʊaɪ/ (at word medial position) which are not the part of RP phonetic inventory.

scholarly journals The relevance of first language attrition to theories of bilingual development

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 637-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika S. Schmid ◽  
Barbara Köpke
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
The Other ◽  
Language Attrition ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
First Language Attrition ◽  
Bilingual Development

Abstract Research on second language acquisition and bilingual development strongly suggests that when a previously monolingual speaker becomes multilingual, the different languages do not exist in isolation: they are closely linked, dependent on each other, and there is constant interaction between these different knowledge systems. Theoretical frameworks of bilingual development acknowledge this insofar as they usually draw heavily on evidence of how the native language influences subsequent languages, and how and to what degree this influence can eventually be overcome. The fact that such crosslinguistic transfer is not a one-way street, and that the native language is similarly influenced by later learned languages, on the other hand, is often disregarded. We review the evidence on how later learned languages can re-shape the L1 in the immediate and the longer term and demonstrate how such phenomena may be used to inform, challenge and validate theoretical approaches of bilingual development.

scholarly journals Perception of musical melody and rhythm as influenced by native language experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 147 (5) ◽  
pp. EL385-EL390
Author(s):  
Linjun Zhang ◽  
Songcheng Xie ◽  
Yu Li ◽  
Hua Shu ◽  
Yang Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Native Language ◽  
Language Experience

Newborns Crying in Different Contexts: Discrete or Graded Signals?

1998 ◽  
Vol 86 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1123-1140 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Lenti Boero ◽  
C. Bianchi ◽  
C. Volpe ◽  
A. Marcello ◽  
C. Lenti
Keyword(s):  
Time Window ◽  
Interesting Property ◽  
The Other ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Acoustic Parameters ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Context Type ◽  
Normal Human ◽  
Individual Specificity

The aim of this study was to investigate whether human infants' cries show individually and contextually discriminable acoustic parameters. 20 full-term normal human newborns (aged 1 to 4 days) had their cries recorded during routine blood withdrawal (pain context) 30 min. before a scheduled feeding (hunger context) and when subjected to kinetic stimuli during neurological examination (manipulation context). Type of cries, melodic contours, F0 parameters, but not the “macro” trend of the start of the fundamental frequency, indicated a difference in pain cries in the other two contexts. All the acoustic features considered showed an individual specificity. The peak frequencies of voiceless or partially voiced wails had the interesting property of being optimised as long distance signals. We hypothesised that this feature of infants' cries may have evolved in a time window when the infants were left in collective nurseries and not carried on the mothers' backs as maintained by the traditional view.

Gamer emotions in laughter

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-318
Author(s):  
Minako O’Hagan ◽  
Marian Flanagan
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Native Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Cultural Stereotypes ◽  
Emotional Function ◽  
The Us ◽  
Casual Game ◽  
Oriented Approach

Abstract This study is motivated by the assumption that today’s function-oriented game localisation approach has room for improvement by incorporating an affect-oriented approach. It draws on the concept of “affective framing” in a game with humour as “emotionally competent stimuli”. Laughter as emotion data were collected from German, Japanese and Irish participants playing in their native language relevant versions of the US-origin casual game Plants vs. Zombies. This small-scale empirical study, combined with gamer interviews and gameplay trajectory, reveal evidence of specific functions of gamer emotions across all three groups, most often as a relief during game play, facilitating the gamer’s ability to retain engagement by accessing the emotional function of humour. The data suggest that affective framing through humour that is made culturally relevant is deemed more important for the German group than the other groups. This group negatively perceived cultural stereotypes in the game, whereas the Irish group perceived cultural associations positively. The focus on user emotions brings the neglected affective dimension to the fore and towards affect-oriented game localisation as interdisciplinary research.

scholarly journals The effect of native-language experience on the sensory-obligatory components, the P1–N1–P2 and the T-complex

2013 ◽  
Vol 1522 ◽  
pp. 31-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Wagner ◽  
Valerie L. Shafer ◽  
Brett Martin ◽  
Mitchell Steinschneider
Keyword(s):  
Native Language ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
T Complex

Second language proficiency differences in the learning of semantically-equivalent bilingual sentences

1987 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Y. Opoku
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Transfer Of Learning ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Transfer Task ◽  
The Other ◽  
Second Language Proficiency ◽  
Different Levels

ABSTRACTThree groups of subjects who used English as a second language and who were considered to be at different levels of proficiency in English participated in a study of transfer of learning from English to Yoruba, their native language, and from Yoruba to English. It was predicted that total transfer from one language to the other would decrease with increasing proficiency in English and that transfer from Yoruba to English would be higher than from English to Yoruba at lower levels of proficiency in English. Findings showed rather that total transfer increased with increasing proficiency in English and that transfer from English to Yoruba was higher than from Yoruba to English for all groups. It is concluded that on a verbal transfer task, bilinguals show development from independent to interdependent language systems with increasing proficiency in a second language.

Prior language experience and language anxiety as predictors for non-native language commercial website use intention

2008 ◽  
Vol 66 (9) ◽  
pp. 678-687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui-Jen Yang ◽  
Wen-Yu Tsao ◽  
Yun-Long Lay ◽  
Minder Chen ◽  
YiChing Liou
Keyword(s):  
Native Language ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Website Use
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