The role of prosody in English sentence disambiguation

2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (4) ◽  
pp. 2176-2176
Author(s):  
Taylor L. Miller
Keyword(s):  
English Sentence ◽  
Sentence Disambiguation

scholarly journals perception and comprehension of L2 English sentence types

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-98
Author(s):  
Matthew Patience ◽  
Laura Colantoni ◽  
Gabrielle Klassen ◽  
Malina Radu ◽  
Olga Tararova
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Linguistic Information ◽  
English Sentence ◽  
Mandarin Speakers ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Restricted Use ◽  
L2 Perception ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence ◽  
Echo Questions

L2 prosody is particularly difficult to acquire, because it requires an understanding of intonation, syntax, and pragmatics. For example, to acquire English sentence types, speakers must learn that statements (Ss) and absolute yes/no questions (AQs) are syntactically and prosodically marked, whereas the difference between Ss and declarative questions (DQs) is purely prosodic. Moreover, DQs can only occur in restricted contexts, such as to express surprise. In this paper, we examine the L2 perception and comprehension of English sentence types, by speakers of three typologically distinct L1s (Spanish, Mandarin, Inuktitut), with the goal of investigating the role of crosslinguistic influence (CLI). Spanish uses only intonation (a higher initial pitch accent and final rising boundary tone) to distinguish Ss from AQs and DQs, whereas in Mandarin, questions (AQs and DQs) can be syntactically identical to statements or marked by the lexical particle –ma. Mandarin also has a prosodic distinction between broad focus and echo questions (which are similar to English AQs and DQs). In contrast, Inuktitut has a very restricted use of pitch, and primarily marks questions morphologically. Learners of each L1 and English controls performed three tasks that varied in the amount of contextual and linguistic information available. Our results revealed evidence of both positive and negative CLI.  Inuktitut and Mandarin speakers demonstrated some tendencies to focus more on syntax than intonation. Moreover, the Mandarin speakers were the most successful at acquiring the pragmatic distinction between AQs and DQs, which we argue is due to a similar contrast in Mandarin.

scholarly journals Problems in Sentence Construction at HSSC Level in Pakistan

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 200
Author(s):  
Muhammad Din ◽  
Mamuna Ghani
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Achievement Test ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
English Sentence ◽  
School Certificate ◽  
Syntactic Skills ◽  
Sentence Construction

This study entitled “Problems in the Construction of Sentence at HSSC Level in Pakistan” strives to unearth the problems faced by the students in learning sentence structure through literature and the facts regarding the role of literature as a teaching tool in teaching English as a second/foreign language with reference to the construction of sentence at Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) level in Pakistan. This study also investigates how much the students learn English sentence structure through literature. To achieve the set objectives of this study, the researcher went for the quantitative research methodology. So, a questionnaire comprising of 30 items encompassing the different aspects of sentence structure was designed to collect data from 600 subjects (male/female) of HSSC (Higher Secondary School Certificate) level. The researcher has also conducted an achievement test so that a correlation might be drawn between their attitude towards “teaching English sentence structure through literature” and the score of their achievement test. The collected data were analyzed through software package (SPSS XX) which is commonly used in applied linguistics. The findings of this study explicitly reveal that the EFL learners remain unable to learn and develop both the contraction of sentence and syntactic skills when they are taught English through literature. This study recommends that the teaching of English should be application oriented and task-based strategies and activities should be resorted to by the FL educators. 

Processing transfer: Language-specific processing strategies as a source of interlanguage variation

1987 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 351-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Harrington
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Order Effects ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
English Sentence ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Simple Sentences

ABSTRACTA sentence interpretation experiment based on the functionalist Competition Model of speech processing (Bates & MacWhinney, 1982) was administered to three groups of university-age English L1, Japanese ESL, and Japanese L1 subjects (n = 12 per group) in an attempt to elicit evidence for (1) processing strategies characteristic of the Japanese and English L1 groups and, (2) transfer/influence of Japanese L1 strategies on the English sentence interpretations of the Japanese ESL group. Subjects selected the subject/actor of simple sentences incorporating word order, animacy, and stress cues in random converging and competing orders. The English L1 and ESL groups were tested on English sentences and the Japanese L1 group tested on Japanese sentences. The Japanese L1 interpretations were most heavily influenced by animacy cues, while the English L1 group showed a higher overall sensitivity to word order manipulations. The ESL group resembled the Japanese L1 group in reliance on animacy cues, with the exception of allowing inanimate nouns to act as subjects. While the ESL group showed greater sensitivity to word order effects than the Japanese L1 group, no “second-noun” strategy (i.e., systematically interpreting the NNV and VNN orders as left- and right-dislocated SOV and VOS orders) was evident.Although the findings were generally consistent with previous research, the presence of contrasting response patterns in the English L1 group suggests caution in attempting to typify languages on the basis of processing strategies drawn from probablistic tendencies evident in grouped data, and leaves open the role of such processing strategy typologies as a potential source of variation in inter-language.

scholarly journals The application of ergative verbs to avoid accusations in the translation of Chinese editorials into English

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-32
Author(s):  
Dahui Dong ◽  
Mu-Li Yang
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
Source Text ◽  
English Sentence ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
English Translations ◽  
The Media ◽  
Intransitive Verbs

Abstract The use of ergative verbs results in the agent being backgrounded in an English sentence, and it is often used in the media together with other means such as the use of intransitive verbs, passives, and nominalized nouns to achieve the pragmatic purpose of accusation avoidance. A great deal of research has been done on the role of ergative verbs in media discourse in English as well as the acquisition of ergative verbs by learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). However, it remains unclear how EFL Chinese learners of advanced levels of competence, such as postgraduates of translation majors and professional translators, use ergative verbs when translating newspaper editorials from Chinese into English. Nor is it clear whether learners have acquired the requisite knowledge of ergative verbs in order to use them effectively so as to avoid blaming the agent of an action or process in translation. This study recruited 30 native Chinese-speaking translators who fell into three categories: undergraduate translators, graduate translators, and professional translators. A small parallel translation corpus was built, which consisted of 150 English translations of 5 Chinese editorials produced by the translators. Accusation-avoidance expressions in the source text and their translations were then extracted and input into an SPSS spreadsheet. The results show that the use of ergative verbs in translations by undergraduate translators is significantly higher than in translations by graduate and professional translators in terms of quantity. The results of the study may be useful for translation teaching and learning.

Role of dactinomycin in the improved survival of children with Wilms' tumor

JAMA ◽  
1966 ◽  
Vol 195 (12) ◽  
pp. 1005-1009 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Fernbach
Keyword(s):  
Wilms Tumor

Role of the allergist in diagnosis and management of patients with uveitis

JAMA ◽  
1966 ◽  
Vol 195 (3) ◽  
pp. 167-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. E. Van Metre
Keyword(s):  
Diagnosis And Management

The power of norms to sway fused group members

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winnifred R. Louis ◽  
Craig McGarty ◽  
Emma F. Thomas ◽  
Catherine E. Amiot ◽  
Fathali M. Moghaddam
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Anthropology ◽  
Normative Systems ◽  
Violent Extremism ◽  
Identity Fusion ◽  
Group Members

AbstractWhitehouse adapts insights from evolutionary anthropology to interpret extreme self-sacrifice through the concept of identity fusion. The model neglects the role of normative systems in shaping behaviors, especially in relation to violent extremism. In peaceful groups, increasing fusion will actually decrease extremism. Groups collectively appraise threats and opportunities, actively debate action options, and rarely choose violence toward self or others.

Elaborating the role of reflection and individual differences in the study of folk-economic beliefs

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Arceneaux
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
History Of ◽  
Economic Beliefs

AbstractIntuitions guide decision-making, and looking to the evolutionary history of humans illuminates why some behavioral responses are more intuitive than others. Yet a place remains for cognitive processes to second-guess intuitive responses – that is, to be reflective – and individual differences abound in automatic, intuitive processing as well.

The role of affect in feelings of obligation

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefen Beeler-Duden ◽  
Meltem Yucel ◽  
Amrisha Vaish
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotions ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Sense Of Obligation

Abstract Tomasello offers a compelling account of the emergence of humans’ sense of obligation. We suggest that more needs to be said about the role of affect in the creation of obligations. We also argue that positive emotions such as gratitude evolved to encourage individuals to fulfill cooperative obligations without the negative quality that Tomasello proposes is inherent in obligations.

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