Brain potentials reveal differential processing of masculine and feminine grammatical gender in native Spanish speakers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne L. Beatty‐Martínez ◽  
Michelle R. Bruni ◽  
María Teresa Bajo ◽  
Paola E. Dussias
Keyword(s):  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Differential Processing

Transfer of Spanish grammatical gender to English: Evidence from immersed and non-immersed bilinguals

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 700-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUIS MORALES ◽  
DANIELA PAOLIERI ◽  
ROBERTO CUBELLI ◽  
M. TERESA BAJO
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Language Immersion ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Congruent Condition ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Transfer Effects ◽  
Spanish Translation ◽  
Word Task

In this study we explored whether native Spanish speakers’ knowledge of grammatical gender in their native language (L1) affects speech production in a second language (L2) which lacks this feature (English). We selected Spanish–English bilinguals for testing who were immersed in either an L1 or an L2 context. Using a picture–word task, participants had to name pictures in their L2 while ignoring distractor words that could be either gender-congruent or gender-incongruent according to the Spanish translation. Results revealed that non-immersed participants were slower naming the pictures in the congruent condition, suggesting that bilingual people are influenced by knowledge about gender in their native language, even when producing utterances in a language in which this information does not apply. However, no such influence was observed for immersed bilinguals, suggesting that immersion environment attenuates access to the native language. We interpret our results as evidence of transfer effects between languages with different lexical systems, which seem to depend on language immersion.

Role of English Fluency in Performance of Native Spanish-Speakers on the Trail-Making Test

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Suarez ◽  
Tamar H. Gollan ◽  
Lidia Artiola ◽  
Igor Grant ◽  
Robert Heaton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Trail Making Test ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Fluency ◽  
Trail Making

scholarly journals What is the source of L1 attrition? The effect of recent L1 re-exposure on Spanish speakers under L1 attrition

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 520-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
GLORIA CHAMORRO ◽  
ANTONELLA SORACE ◽  
PATRICK STURT
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Tracking Data ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Knowledge Representations ◽  
Permanent Change ◽  
L1 Attrition ◽  
Interface Structures

The recent hypothesis that L1 attrition affects the ability to process interface structures but not knowledge representations (Sorace, 2011) is tested by investigating the effects of recent L1 re-exposure on antecedent preferences for Spanish pronominal subjects, using offline judgements and online eye-tracking measures. Participants included a group of native Spanish speakers experiencing L1 attrition (‘attriters’), a second group of attriters exposed exclusively to Spanish before they were tested (‘re-exposed’), and a control group of Spanish monolinguals. The judgement data shows no significant differences between the groups. Moreover, the monolingual and re-exposed groups are not significantly different from each other in the eye-tracking data. The results of this novel manipulation indicate that attrition effects decrease due to L1 re-exposure, and that bilinguals are sensitive to input changes. Taken together, the findings suggest that attrition affects online sensitivity with interface structures rather than causing a permanent change in speakers’ L1 knowledge representations.

Identity Markers and L2 Pronunciation

1988 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Zuengler
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
American English ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
American Identity ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Sociolinguistic Variation ◽  
English Pronunciation ◽  
Identity Markers ◽  
Social Markers ◽  
Social Marking

This is a report of a study of social marking in second language pronunciation. In particular, it tested out Trudgill's (1981) suggestion that sounds that are most likely to undergo sociolinguistic variation, that is, that may become social markers, are those that Labov (1972a, 1972b), calls stereotypes. This study sought to determine whether there were certain aspects of English pronunciation that native Spanish speakers would, at some level of awareness, associate with American English/American identity. The speakers were asked to perform several tasks, including a mimic of an American speaking Spanish with an American accent (following Flege & Hammond, 1982). Among the results, speakers displayed a tacit awareness of English-Spanish sound distinctions (in particular, allophonic differences) in performing the mimic (supporting Flege & Hammond, 1982). Additionally, some of the alterations they were very conscious of held as stereotypes of American English. Support was found for Trudgill's (1981) suggestion.

scholarly journals Shrinking Your Deictic System: How Far Can You Go?

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mila Vulchanova ◽  
Pedro Guijarro-Fuentes ◽  
Jacqueline Collier ◽  
Valentin Vulchanov
Keyword(s):  
First Language ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Language Attrition ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Language Exposure ◽  
Open Question

Languages around the world differ in terms of the number of adnominal and pronominal demonstratives they require, as well as the factors that impact on their felicitous use. Given this cross-linguistic variation in deictic demonstrative terms, and the features that determine their felicitous use, an open question is how this is accommodated within bilingual cognition and language. In particular, we were interested in the extent to which bilingual language exposure and practice might alter the way in which a bilingual is using deictic demonstratives in their first language. Recent research on language attrition suggests that L2 learning selectively affects aspects of the native language, with some domains of language competence being more vulnerable than others. If demonstratives are basic, and acquired relatively early, they should be less susceptible to change and attrition. This was the hypothesis we went on to test in the current study. We tested two groups of native Spanish speakers, a control group living in Spain and an experimental group living in Norway using the (Spatial) Memory game paradigm. Contra to our expectations, the results indicate a significant difference between the two groups in use of deictic terms, indicative of a change in the preferred number of terms used. This suggests that deictic referential systems may change over time under pressure from bilingual language exposure.

scholarly journals Production and perception of English stops by native Spanish speakers

1987 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Emil Flege ◽  
Wieke Eefting
Keyword(s):  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers

The Acquisition of the English Auxiliary by Native Spanish Speakers

1975 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herlinda Cancino ◽  
Ellen J. Rosansky ◽  
John H. Schumann
Keyword(s):  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers

scholarly journals Anticipating Words and Their Gender: An Event-related Brain Potential Study of Semantic Integration, Gender Expectancy, and Gender Agreement in Spanish Sentence Reading

2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1272-1288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Y. Y. Wicha ◽  
Eva M. Moreno ◽  
Marta Kutas
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Semantic Integration ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Preceding Article ◽  
Sentence Reading ◽  
Sentence Meaning ◽  
And Gender

Recent studies indicate that the human brain attends to and uses grammatical gender cues during sentence comprehension. Here, we examine the nature and time course of the effect of gender on word-by-word sentence reading. Event related brain potentials were recorded to an article and noun, while native Spanish speakers read medium to high-constraint Spanish sentences for comprehension. The noun either fit the sentence meaning or not, and matched the preceding article in gender or not; in addition, the preceding article was either expected or unexpected based on prior sentence context. Semantically anomalous nouns elicited an N400. Gender disagreeing nouns elicited a posterior late positivity (P600), replicating previous findings for words. Gender agreement and semantic congruity interacted in both the N400 window—with a larger negativity frontally for double violations—and the P600 window—with a larger positivity for semantic anomalies, relative to the prestimulus baseline. Finally, unexpected articles elicited an enhanced positivity (500–700 msec post onset) relative to expected articles. Overall, our data indicate that readers anticipate and attend to the gender of both articles and nouns, and use gender in real time to maintain agreement and to build sentence meaning.

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