Word boundaries in L2 speech: Evidence from Polish learners of English

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
English Word ◽  
Word Boundary ◽  
Integrity Constraint ◽  
Word Boundaries ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Cross Language

Acoustic and perceptual studies investgate B2-level Polish learners’ acquisition of second language (L2) English word-boundaries involving word-initial vowels. In production, participants were less likely to produce glottalization of phrase-medial initial vowels in L2 English than in first language (L1) Polish. Perception studies employing word monitoring and word counting tasks found that glottalization of word-initial vowels had a negligible impact on the processing of L2 word boundaries. Taken together, these experiments suggest that B2-level learners are relatively successful in acquiring word-boundary linking processes that are for the most part absent from L1 Polish, and challenge the notion of an L2 ‘Word Integrity’ constraint. The cross-language interactions observed in these experiments are compatible with the claim that the realization of word-initial vowels is governed by a representational parameter, which may be derived in the Onset Prominence framework.

Activation of L1 orthography in L2 word reading: Constraints from language and writing system

2020 ◽  
pp. 026765832092776
Author(s):  
Lin Chen ◽  
Charles A Perfetti ◽  
Xiaoping Fang ◽  
Li-Yun Chang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
First Language ◽  
English Word ◽  
Writing System ◽  
Writing Systems ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
Co Activation ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
Color Judgment

When reading in a second language, a reader’s first language may be involved. For word reading, the question is how and at what level: lexical, pre-lexical, or both. In three experiments, we employed an implicit reading task (color judgment) and an explicit reading task (word naming) to test whether a Chinese meaning equivalent character and its sub-character orthography are activated when first language (L1) Chinese speakers read second language (L2) English words. Because Chinese and English have different spoken and written forms, any cross language effects cannot arise from shared written and spoken forms. Importantly, the experiments provide a comparison with single language experiments within Chinese, which show cross-writing system activation when words are presented in alphabetic Pinyin, leading to activation of the corresponding character and also its sub-character (radical) components. In the present experiments, Chinese–English bilinguals first silently read or made a meaning judgment on an English word. Immediately following, they judged the color of a character (Experiments 1A and 1B) or named it (Experiment 2). Four conditions varied the relation between the character that is the meaning equivalent of the English word and the following character presented for naming or color judgment. The experiments provide evidence that the Chinese meaning equivalent character is activated during the reading of the L2 English. In contrast to the within-Chinese results, the activation of Chinese characters did not extend to the sub-character level. This pattern held for both implicit reading (color judgment) and explicit reading (naming) tasks, indicating that for unrelated languages with writing systems, L1 activation during L2 reading occurs for the specific orthographic L1 form (a single character), mediated by meaning. We conclude that differences in writing systems do not block cross-language co-activation, but that differences in languages limit co-activation to the lexical level.

The L2 perception of initial English /h/ and /ɹ/ by Brazilian Portuguese learners of English

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-180
Author(s):  
Denise Osborne
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Discrimination Test ◽  
Identification Test ◽  
L2 Perception ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
Language Assimilation

This study investigates how speakers who speak Brazilian Portuguese as their first language and English as their second language perceive the English phonemes /h/ and /ɹ/, and how they and monolingual Brazilian Portuguese speakers map these phonemes onto Portuguese sound categories. Participants took part in three experiments: an AXB discrimination test, an identification test, and a cross-language assimilation test, which was also taken by monolinguals. Lower and higher proficiency groups were able to hear the distinction acoustically, but only the higher proficiency group used the distinction to identify English words. Monolingual Brazilian Portuguese speakers and the higher proficiency group assimilated English /h/ primarily to Portuguese /h/. However, the phonological environment had an effect for monolinguals, but not for the higher proficiency group. The lower proficiency group, which one might expect to fall in between these two groups, showed a failure to assimilate English sounds to the Portuguese categories.

Effects of first language processes and representations on second language perception: The case of vowel epenthesis by Japanese speakers

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Nomura ◽  
Keiichi Ishikawa
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
First Language ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
English Word ◽  
Consonant Cluster ◽  
Test Items ◽  
Vowel Epenthesis ◽  
Japanese Speakers ◽  
Language Perception

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: Japanese speakers are known to perceive “illusory vowels” within consonant clusters illicit in their language. The present study examines how this perceptual vowel epenthesis is affected by first language (L1) processes (restoration of vowels devoiced through Japanese high vowel devoicing), L1 representations (loanword representations in Japanese speakers’ lexicons), and proficiency in English. Design/methodology/approach: The participants judged the presence or absence of a mora (e.g., ム /mu/) in an auditorily presented English word (e.g., homesick). The 40 test items contained a heterosyllabic consonant cluster with four different voicing patterns to examine whether the vowel restoration process is related to vowel epenthesis. Twenty of the test items are frequently used as loanwords in Japanese, meaning that they are stored in the L1 lexicon with a vowel inserted inside the consonant cluster (e.g., /hoomusikku/). The other 20 are low-frequency items that are virtually nonwords for the non-native participants. Data and analysis: The vowel epenthesis rates and reaction times (RTs) were obtained from 14 introductory learners, 15 intermediate learners, and 19 native speakers. Findings/conclusions: The results show the main effects of Voice, Loanword Representation, and Proficiency, as well as the interaction among the three factors. Negative correlations between vowel epenthesis rates and RTs were also observed for the learners. The results indicate differential effects of vowel restoration and loanwords on perceptual epenthesis by learners of different proficiency levels. Originality: The present study was one of the first attempts to test the relation between proficiency and perceptual vowel epenthesis using real English words. Significance/implications: The findings demonstrate the robustness of L1 processes and representations in second language perception while substantiating the existing argument for early vowel epenthesis. They also raise questions regarding the effects of training and the role of native speaker input.

FORM–MEANING MAPPING IN VOCABULARY ACQUISITION IN A SECOND LANGUAGE

2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 617-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Vocabulary Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Semantic Relatedness ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
English Word ◽  
Nonnative English Speakers ◽  
Semantic Judgment

The mapping of lexical form to meaning is an important part of vocabulary acquisition in a second language (L2). This study examines the proposition that L2 lexical forms are often mapped to the existing semantic content of their first language (L1) translations rather than to new semantic specifications of their own. Native and nonnative English speakers were asked to perform two semantic judgment tasks in which they had to determine the degree of semantic relatedness of English word pairs (experiment 1) or to decide whether two English words were related in meaning (experiment 2). The nonnative speakers, but not the native speakers, were found to provide higher rating scores on or responded faster to L2 word pairs sharing the same L1 translations than to L2 word pairs that do not. The finding is interpreted as strong evidence in support of the presence of L1 semantic content in L2 lexical entries.

Evidence for long-term cross-language repetition priming in low fluency Chinese–English bilinguals

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
LI LI ◽  
LEI MO ◽  
RUIMING WANG ◽  
XUEYING LUO ◽  
ZHE CHEN
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Implicit Memory ◽  
Explicit Memory ◽  
Repetition Priming ◽  
First Language ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Lexical Representation ◽  
Priming Paradigm ◽  
Cross Language

Previous studies have found that proficiency in a second language affects how the meanings of words are accessed. Support for this hypothesis is based on data from explicit memory tasks with bilingual participants who know two languages that are relatively similar phonologically and orthographically (e.g., Dutch–English, French–English). The present study tested this hypothesis with Chinese–English bilinguals using an implicit memory task – the cross-language repetition priming paradigm. Consistent with the result of Zeelenberg, R. and Pecher, D. (2003), we obtained reliable effects of long-term cross-language repetition priming using a conceptual implicit memory task. Overall, the four experiments support the Revised Hierarchical Model as they demonstrate that low fluency bilinguals can only access the conceptual representation of the second language via the lexical representation of the first language.

scholarly journals A Procedure for Determining Japanese Loanword Status for English Words

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-79
Author(s):  
David Allen ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Efficient Method ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
English Word ◽  
Frequency Data ◽  
Huge Number ◽  
L2 Vocabulary ◽  
Learning And Instruction

Japanese loanwords are mainly derived from English. These loanwords provide a considerable first-language (L1) resource that may assist in second-language (L2) vocabulary learning and instruction. However, given the huge number of loanwords, it is often difficult to determine whether an English word has a loanword equivalent and whether the loanword is likely to be widely known among the Japanese. This article demonstrates an efficient method of answering these two questions. The method employs corpus frequency data from the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese, from which the existence and frequency of loanwords in Japanese can be determined. Following the guidelines presented herein, researchers will be able to use data from the corpus themselves to check cognate frequency, thereby determining the cognate status of items used in research.

scholarly journals Perception of Allophonic Cues to English Word Boundaries by Polish Learners: Approximant Devoicing in English

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arkadiusz Rojczyk ◽  
Geoffrey Schwartz ◽  
Anna Balas
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Times ◽  
English Word ◽  
Word Boundary ◽  
Chance Level ◽  
Limited Knowledge ◽  
Word Boundaries ◽  
Boundary Location ◽  
Sonorant Voicing

The study investigates the perception of devoicing of English /w, r, j, l/ after /p, t, k/ as a word-boundary cue by Polish listeners. Polish does not devoice sonorants following voiceless stops in word-initial positions. As a result, Polish learners are not made sensitive to sonorant devoicing as a segmentation cue. Higher-proficiency and lower-proficiency Polish learners of English participated in the task in which they recognised phrases such as buy train vs. bite rain or pie plot vs. pipe lot. The analysis of accuracy scores revealed that successful segmentation was only above chance level, indicating that sonorant voicing/devoicing cue was largely unattended to in identifying the boundary location. Moreover, higher proficiency did not lead to more successful segmentation. The analysis of reaction times showed an unclear pattern in which higher-proficiency listeners segmented the test phrases faster but not more accurately than lower-proficiency listeners. Finally, #CS sequences were recognised more accurately than C#S sequences, which was taken to suggest that the listeners may have had some limited knowledge that devoiced sonorants appear only in word-initial positions, but they treated voiced sonorants as equal candidates for word-final and word-initial positions.

The reduced embodiment of a second language

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Tal Norman ◽  
Orna Peleg
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
First Language ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Substantial Evidence ◽  
Preceding Sentence ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
L1 And L2

Abstract Substantial evidence indicates that first language (L1) comprehension involves embodied visual simulations. The present study tested the assumption that a formally learned second language (L2), which is less related to real-life experiences, is processed in a less embodied manner relative to a naturally acquired L1. To this end, bilingual participants completed the same task in their L1 and L2. In the task, they read sentences and decided immediately after each sentence whether a pictured object had been mentioned in the preceding sentence. Responses were significantly faster when the shape of the object in the picture matched rather than mismatched the sentence-implied shape, but only in the L1, and only when the L1 block was performed before the L2 block. These findings suggest that embodied visual simulations are reduced in a formally learned L2 and may be subjected to cross-language influences.

Making sense of polysemy relations in first and second language speakers of English

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 400-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott A Crossley ◽  
Stephen Skalicky
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Target Word ◽  
First Language ◽  
English Word ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Second Language Speakers ◽  
Lexical Relations ◽  
Subsequent Target

The aim of this study is to compare priming effects for polysemous word senses among English first language (L1) and advanced second language (L2) speakers in order to better understand the development of the mental lexicon. Using polysemy values from WordNet, a lexical decision task was designed with three different target word conditions: dominant polysemy (i.e., closely related senses), subordinate polysemy (i.e., distantly related senses), and unrelated words. Participants first saw a prime word and then selected whether a subsequent target word was a valid English word or not. For example, SURVEY was followed by STUDY (dominant polsysemy) or VIEW (subordinate polysemy) or FLASH (unrelated) or SMOO (nonword). Forty-one L1 speakers and 45 advanced L2 speakers each completed 120 decisions. Results from linear mixed effects models suggest dominant senses were responded to significantly faster than unrelated senses ( t = −3.119, p = .002, marginal R2 = .066) for L1 participants, but there were no other significant differences among word conditions. No significant priming effects were found for L2 participants. These results suggest that, unlike other lexical relations, advanced L2 speakers do not form similar connections in the bilingual lexicon when compared to L1 speakers.

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