The Learning of a Topic Noun Phrase in the Korean Narratives Spoken by Chinese and English Native Speakers: Ellipsis in Typologically Contrastive Languages and Cohesion

2021 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 315-349
Author(s):  
Jieun Kim
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Chinese And English

Abstractions and exemplars: The measure noun phrase alternation in German

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 729-771
Author(s):  
Roland Schäfer
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Experimental Validation ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Prototype Model ◽  
Weak Effect ◽  
Specific Measure ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Large Corpus

AbstractIn this paper, an alternation in German measure noun phrases is examined under a varying-abstraction perspective. In a specific measure NP construction, the embedded kind-denoting noun either agrees in case with the measure noun (eine Tasse guter Kaffee‘a cup of good coffee’) or it stands in the genitive (eine Tasse guten Kaffees). Each of the two alternants is syntactically similar to a non-alternating construction. I propose a prototype model which assigns a common prototypical meaning to each of the alternants and its corresponding non-alternating construction. Based on this, I argue that lexical, morphosyntactic, and stylistic features help to predict the choice of the alternant. A large corpus study is presented which supports this analysis. However, in addition to the prototype effects, an exemplar effect is also shown to influence the choice, namely the relative frequencies with which lemmas occur in the non-alternating constructions. I argue that allowing both prototype and exemplar effects is more adequate than following radical prototype or exemplar approaches. It is also verified in two experiments that the corpus-derived model corresponds to the behaviour of native speakers. The weak effect size of the experimental validation is discussed in the context of corpus-based cognitive linguistics and the validation of corpus-derived models.

scholarly journals Agrammatic Comprehension of Simple Active Sentences With Moved Constituents

2003 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naama Friedmann ◽  
Lewis P. Shapiro
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Movement Strategy ◽  
Conduction Aphasia ◽  
Basic Order ◽  
Active Sentence

This study examines agrammatic comprehension of object-subject-verb (OSV) and object-verb-subject (OVS) structures in Hebrew. These structures are syntactically identical to the basic order subject-verb-object (SVO) sentence except for the movement of the object to the beginning of the sentence, and thus enable empirical examination of syntactic movement in agrammatic comprehension. Seven individuals with agrammatism, 7 individuals with conduction aphasia, and 7 individuals without language impairment, all native speakers of Hebrew, performed a sentence-picture matching task. The task compared OSV and OVS sentences to SVO sentences and to subject and object relatives. Individuals with agrammatism performed more poorly than those in either of the other groups. Their comprehension of SVO sentences was significantly above chance, but comprehension of OSV and OVS sentences was at chance and was poorer than comprehension of SVO sentences. These results show that agrammatic comprehension of structures that involve movement of a noun phrase is impaired even when the structure is a simple active sentence, in line with the Trace Deletion Hypothesis (TDH; Y. Grodzinsky, 1990, 1995a, 2000). A modification is suggested to accommodate the TDH with the VP Internal Subject Hypothesis, according to which individuals with agrammatism use an "Avoid Movement" strategy in comprehension.

Gesture, verb aspect, and the nature of iconic imagery in natural discourse

Gesture ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan D. Duncan
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Visual Images ◽  
Language Differences ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Verb Aspect ◽  
Action Sequences ◽  
Natural Discourse ◽  
Abstract Level ◽  
Linguistic Analyses ◽  
Chinese And English

Linguistic analyses of Mandarin Chinese and English have detailed the differences between the two languages in terms of the devices each makes available for expressing distinctions in the temporal contouring of events — verb aspect and Aktionsart. In this study, adult native speakers of each language were shown a cartoon, a movie, or a series of short action sequences and then videotaped talking about what they had seen. Comparisons revealed systematic within-language covariation of choice of aspect and/or Aktionsart in speech with features of co-occurring iconic gestures. In both languages, the gestures that speakers produced in imperfective aspect-marked speech contexts were more likely to take longer to produce and were more complex than those in perfective aspect speech contexts. Further, imperfective-progressive aspect-marked spoken utterances regularly accompanied iconic gestures in which the speaker’s hands engaged in some kind of temporally-extended, repeating or‘agitated’ movements. Gestures sometimes incorporated this type of motion even when there was nothing corresponding to it in the visual stimulus; for example, when speakers described events of stasis. These facts suggest that such gestural agitation may derive from an abstract level of representation, perhaps linked to aspectual view itself. No significant between-language differences in aspect- or Aktionsart-related gesturing were observed. We conclude that gestural representations of witnessed events, when performed in conjunction with speech, are not simply derived from visual images, stored as perceived in the stimulus, and transposed as faithfully as possible to the hands and body of the speaker (cf. Hadar & Butterworth, 1997). Rather, such gestures are part of a linguistic-conceptual representation (McNeill & Duncan, 2000) in which verb aspect has a role. We further conclude that the noted differences between the systems for marking aspectual distinctions in spoken Mandarin and English are at a level of patterning that has little or no influence on speech-co-occurring imagistic thinking.

The effects of discourse processing with regard to syntactic and semantic cues: A competition model study

2004 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 587-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
I-RU SU
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Competition Model ◽  
English Sentence ◽  
Discourse Context ◽  
Semantic Cues ◽  
Model Study ◽  
Intended Interpretation ◽  
Chinese And English

Based on Bates and MacWhinney's competition model, the present study aims to examine the effects of discourse context on sentence interpretation. In my previous study it was found that both Chinese and English monolinguals paid less attention to context than to intrasentential cues that have been identified as the determinants for Chinese and English sentence processing. The conclusions obtained in that study have to be considered tentative because the contextual sentences were short and might not have been sufficiently biasing toward the intended interpretation. Hence, the present study was undertaken to further examine the context effects by elaborating the contents of the contextual sentences. The results show that English native speakers rely on discourse context in interpreting their native language to a greater extent than the previous research has suggested and that Chinese native speakers make use of context information to a greater degree than do their English counterparts.

Prosodic phrasing of relative clauses with two possible antecedents in Spanish: A comparison of Spanish native speakers and L1 Basque bilingual speakers

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene de la Cruz-Pavía ◽  
Gorka Elordieta
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Basque Country ◽  
First Language ◽  
Prosodic Phrasing ◽  
Length Effect ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Production Study ◽  
Prosodic Boundaries

AbstractThe present production study investigates the prosodic phrasing characteristic of sentences containing a relative clause with two possible noun phrase antecedents [Noun Phrase 1 Noun Phrase 2 Relative Clause] in the variety of Spanish spoken in the Basque Country. It aims to establish the default prosodic phrasing of these structures, as well as whether differences are found in phrasing between native and non-native speakers. Additionally, it examines the effect on prosodic phrasing of constituent length and familiarity with the sentences (skimming the sentences prior to reading them aloud). To do that, the productions of 8 Spanish monolinguals, 8 first language (L1) Spanish/second language (L2) Basque bilinguals, and 8 L1Basque/L2Spanish bilinguals are examined. A default phrasing consisting of the prevalence of a prosodic break after NP2 ([NP1 NP2/RC]) is obtained, and differences are found between the prosodic contours of native and non-native speakers. Additionally, a constituent length effect is found, with a higher frequency of prosodic boundaries after NP2 as RC length increases, as predicted by Fodor’s Same Size Sister Constraint. Last, familiarity with the sentences was found to increase the frequency of occurrence of the default phrasing.

scholarly journals Homophone auditory processing in cross-linguistic perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 529
Author(s):  
Youtao Lu ◽  
James L. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Intrinsic Properties ◽  
Native Japanese Speakers ◽  
Processing Abilities ◽  
Chinese And English

Previous studies reported conflicting results for the effects of homophony on visual word processing across languages. On finding significant differences in homophone density in Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and English, we conducted two experiments to compare native speakers’ competence in homophone auditory processing across these three languages. A lexical decision task showed that the effect of homophony on word processing in Japanese was significantly less detrimental than in Mandarin and English. A word-learning task showed that native Japanese speakers were the fastest in learning novel homophones. These results suggest that language-intrinsic properties influence corresponding language processing abilities of native speakers.

scholarly journals Adjektiva dalam Bahasa Maanyan (The Adjective in Maanyan Language)

JALABAHASA ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Kity Karenisa
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Morphological Characteristic ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Morphological Features ◽  
Austronesian Languages ◽  
Syntactic Behavior

Berdasarkan pengamatan terhadap adjektiva dalam bahasa Maanyan, terutama pada ciri morfologisnya, perilaku adjektiva dalam bahasa Maanyan berbeda dengan perilaku adjektiva bahasa Austronesia pada umumnya. Kategori sintaksis kalimat yang berbeda mensyaratkan bentuk adjektiva yang berbeda, yaitu dengan pemarkah adjektiva {ma-} ataupun tanpa pemarkah. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui ciri adjektiva dalam bahasa Maanyan berdasarkan ciri morfologis, perilaku sintaksis, dan perilaku semantisnya. Data dalam penelitian ini dikumpulkan oleh peneliti dari bahasa yang dikuasainya sebagai penutur asli bahasa Maanyan, kemudian dikonfirmasi dengan penutur asli lainnya. Berdasarkan analisis diperoleh simpulan bahwa adjektiva dalam bahasa Maanyan dapat dikenali dari ciri bentuk atau ciri morfologis yang berupa monomorfemis dan polimorfemis, dari perilaku sintaksis, yaitu sebagai atribut dalam frasa nomina, dan dari perilaku semantis dengan makna yang mengikutinya. Based on the observation on adjective in Maanyan language, especially in morphological features, adjective behavior in Maanyan language is different from the adjective behavior in other Austronesian languages in general. Different categories of syntactic sentences require different forms of adjectives: with the adjective marker {ma-} or without the marker. This study aims to determine the characteristics of adjectives in Maanyan language based on morphological characteristics, syntactic behavior, and semantic behavior. The data in this study were collected by researcher native speakers of Maanyan language and then confirmed to other native speakers. Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that the adjective in Maanyan language can be recognized by the morphological characteristic of monomorphemic and polymorphemic, from its syntactic behavior, ie as attributes in the noun phrase, and from its semantic behavior to the meaning that follows. 

ANAPHORA RESOLUTION IN L2 ENGLISH

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 971-998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Contemori ◽  
Ohood Asiri ◽  
Elva Deida Perea Irigoyen
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Anaphora Resolution ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Pronoun Resolution ◽  
Previous Evidence ◽  
Preceding Context ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractWe test the interpretation of pronominal forms in L2 speakers of English whose L1 is Spanish. Previous research on learners of nonnull subject languages has shown conflicting results. The aim of the present study is to reconcile previous evidence and shed light on the factors that determine learners’ difficulty to interpret pronominal forms in the L2. In six comprehension experiments, we found that intermediate L2 speakers did not show increased difficulty compared to native speakers in integrating multiple sources of information (syntactic, discourse, pragmatic) to resolve ambiguous pronouns in intrasentential anaphora and cataphora conditions. However, we also found that when two referents with equal prominence are introduced using a conjoined noun phrase in the preceding context, the learner’s performance is significantly different than the performance of the native speakers, both in intrasentential and intersentential anaphora. We suggest that L2 speakers may encounter difficulties evaluating the salience of the antecedents during pronoun resolution.

Transfer of sentence processing strategies: A comparison of L2 learners of Chinese and English

2001 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
I-RU SU
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Developmental Change ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Processing Level ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Chinese And English

A sentence interpretation experiment based on Bates and MacWhinney's Competition Model was administered to L2 learners of English and Chinese at three different stages of learning. The main purposes of the research were (a) to examine how transfer patterns at the sentence processing level change as a function of proficiency and (b) to investigate whether or how transfer patterns found in Chinese EFL learners (i.e., native speakers of a semantics-based language learning a syntax-centered target language) differ from those found in English CFL learners (i.e., native speakers of a syntax-based language acquiring a semantics-centered one). The results show that transfer patterns do vary as a function of proficiency, and that Chinese EFL learners and English CFL learners display somewhat different patterns of developmental change in sentence processing transfer.

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