Truth-value judgments are one of the most common measures in experimental semantics and pragmatics, yet there is no standardized way to elicit such judgments. Despite anecdotal remarks on how proper choice of prompts or response options could help disentangle pragmatic from semantic effects, little is known regarding the relation between parameters of the task and what it actually measures. We tested a range of prompts and two response options for their sensitivity to truth of the target sentence, prior evidence, and the interaction between these two factors. We found that participants attribute high value to true statements, even when they are not backed by evidence. Moreover, our results confirm that prompts vary wildly in their sensitivity to pragmatic factors, and should allow researchers to make an informed choice depending on what they want to test. There was no difference between the results generated by the response options, although the Likert scale required fewer participants and may therefore be preferable. In addition, we discuss some theoretical consequences of our results for pragmatics, philosophy of language, and social psychology.
{"title":"The importance of being earnest: How truth and evidence affect participants’ judgments","authors":"Alexandre Cremers, Lea Fricke, Edgar Onea","doi":"10.5070/g6011172","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/g6011172","url":null,"abstract":"Truth-value judgments are one of the most common measures in experimental semantics and pragmatics, yet there is no standardized way to elicit such judgments. Despite anecdotal remarks on how proper choice of prompts or response options could help disentangle pragmatic from semantic effects, little is known regarding the relation between parameters of the task and what it actually measures. We tested a range of prompts and two response options for their sensitivity to truth of the target sentence, prior evidence, and the interaction between these two factors. We found that participants attribute high value to true statements, even when they are not backed by evidence. Moreover, our results confirm that prompts vary wildly in their sensitivity to pragmatic factors, and should allow researchers to make an informed choice depending on what they want to test. There was no difference between the results generated by the response options, although the Likert scale required fewer participants and may therefore be preferable. In addition, we discuss some theoretical consequences of our results for pragmatics, philosophy of language, and social psychology. ","PeriodicalId":164622,"journal":{"name":"Glossa Psycholinguistics","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121243260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Stephen Politzer-Ahles, Lei Pan, Jueyao Lin, K. Lee
The present study tested whether listeners hearing one form of a morpheme activate other forms of the same morpheme. Listeners performed lexical decisions while hearing Mandarin monosyllables; crucially, critical targets could be primed by related syllables that occurred 18–52 trials earlier (long-lag priming). The use of long-lag priming ensures that any facilitation effects are due to morphological relatedness and not to semantic or form relationships, which do not prime lexical decisions at long lags. Across three experiments (total N = 458), we consistently found that lexical decisions were primed when the same pronunciation of a morpheme occurred as prime and target (e.g., shiL – shiL) but were not primed when two different variants of the same morpheme occurred as prime and target (e.g., shiR – shiL, where both of these syllables are potential pronunciations of the same morpheme). In other words, we observed identity priming but not morphological priming, unlike other long-lag priming experiments, which almost invariably observe intramodal morphological priming if they test it. This surprising finding suggests that there are boundary conditions on the elicitation of long-lag morphological priming effects.
{"title":"Long-lag identity priming in the absence of long-lag morphological priming: evidence from Mandarin tone alternation","authors":"Stephen Politzer-Ahles, Lei Pan, Jueyao Lin, K. Lee","doi":"10.5070/g6011139","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/g6011139","url":null,"abstract":"The present study tested whether listeners hearing one form of a morpheme activate other forms of the same morpheme. Listeners performed lexical decisions while hearing Mandarin monosyllables; crucially, critical targets could be primed by related syllables that occurred 18–52 trials earlier (long-lag priming). The use of long-lag priming ensures that any facilitation effects are due to morphological relatedness and not to semantic or form relationships, which do not prime lexical decisions at long lags. Across three experiments (total N = 458), we consistently found that lexical decisions were primed when the same pronunciation of a morpheme occurred as prime and target (e.g., shiL – shiL) but were not primed when two different variants of the same morpheme occurred as prime and target (e.g., shiR – shiL, where both of these syllables are potential pronunciations of the same morpheme). In other words, we observed identity priming but not morphological priming, unlike other long-lag priming experiments, which almost invariably observe intramodal morphological priming if they test it. This surprising finding suggests that there are boundary conditions on the elicitation of long-lag morphological priming effects.","PeriodicalId":164622,"journal":{"name":"Glossa Psycholinguistics","volume":"214 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122372929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The illusory licensing of negative polarity items has been an insightful phenomenon for accounts of human sentence processing, as its extreme selectivity has proven problematic to explain in terms of parsing principles that underlie the establishment of other item-to-item dependencies. Using speeded acceptability judgments, I provide novel experimental evidence that the NPI illusion may be restricted to a particular type of NPI—illusory licensing was replicated for German jemals 'ever', but was not confirmed for the attenuating NPI so recht 'really'. I argue that this finding challenges all current accounts of the NPI illusion, and propose an explanation that purports an interaction between a scalar NPI licensing mechanism and scalar properties of the illusory licensing context as the source of the NPI illusion.
{"title":"Lexical variation in NPI illusions – A case study of German jemals 'ever' and so recht 'really'","authors":"Juliane Schwab","doi":"10.5070/g6011106","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/g6011106","url":null,"abstract":"The illusory licensing of negative polarity items has been an insightful phenomenon for accounts of human sentence processing, as its extreme selectivity has proven problematic to explain in terms of parsing principles that underlie the establishment of other item-to-item dependencies. Using speeded acceptability judgments, I provide novel experimental evidence that the NPI illusion may be restricted to a particular type of NPI—illusory licensing was replicated for German jemals 'ever', but was not confirmed for the attenuating NPI so recht 'really'. I argue that this finding challenges all current accounts of the NPI illusion, and propose an explanation that purports an interaction between a scalar NPI licensing mechanism and scalar properties of the illusory licensing context as the source of the NPI illusion.","PeriodicalId":164622,"journal":{"name":"Glossa Psycholinguistics","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126684512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Prior research has shown that sentences with noncanonical argument order (e.g., patient-before- agent instead of agent-before-patient order) are associated with additional online processing difficulty, but that this difficulty can be alleviated if the discourse context licenses noncanonical order. Other studies demonstrated that noncanonical sentences are prone to misinterpretation effects: comprehenders sometimes seem to form interpretations with incorrect assignments of semantic roles to argument NPs. However, those studies tested noncanonical sentences in isolation. To further clarify the source of misinterpretation effects, we designed three experiments that investigated how discourse properties licensing noncanonical order affect online processing and final interpretation. All experiments tested unambiguous active declarative sentences in German with agentive verbs and two arguments, probing both online processing difficulty (using selfpaced reading) and accuracy of interpretation (using wh-comprehension questions). Besides word order (subject-before-object, SO vs. object-before-subject, OS), we varied the context preceding the target sentence (neutral context vs. context licensing OS, Experiment 1), the type of NP serving as object (definite vs. demonstrative NP, Experiment 2) and the type of question probing comprehension (two-argument vs. one-argument wh-questions, Experiment 3). Consistent with earlier findings, we observed that discourse properties licensing OS order facilitated online processing in early sentence regions. However, they did barely affect accuracy on comprehension questions, with accuracy instead being a function of word order and question type. Our results support models that explain misinterpretation effects in terms of task-specific retrieval processes. A retrieval mechanism capturing the effects of question type is proposed.
{"title":"Processing noncanonical sentences: effects of context on online processing and (mis)interpretation","authors":"M. Bader, Michael Meng","doi":"10.5070/g6011117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/g6011117","url":null,"abstract":"Prior research has shown that sentences with noncanonical argument order (e.g., patient-before- agent instead of agent-before-patient order) are associated with additional online processing difficulty, but that this difficulty can be alleviated if the discourse context licenses noncanonical order. Other studies demonstrated that noncanonical sentences are prone to misinterpretation effects: comprehenders sometimes seem to form interpretations with incorrect assignments of semantic roles to argument NPs. However, those studies tested noncanonical sentences in isolation. To further clarify the source of misinterpretation effects, we designed three experiments that investigated how discourse properties licensing noncanonical order affect online processing and final interpretation. All experiments tested unambiguous active declarative sentences in German with agentive verbs and two arguments, probing both online processing difficulty (using selfpaced reading) and accuracy of interpretation (using wh-comprehension questions). Besides word order (subject-before-object, SO vs. object-before-subject, OS), we varied the context preceding the target sentence (neutral context vs. context licensing OS, Experiment 1), the type of NP serving as object (definite vs. demonstrative NP, Experiment 2) and the type of question probing comprehension (two-argument vs. one-argument wh-questions, Experiment 3). Consistent with earlier findings, we observed that discourse properties licensing OS order facilitated online processing in early sentence regions. However, they did barely affect accuracy on comprehension questions, with accuracy instead being a function of word order and question type. Our results support models that explain misinterpretation effects in terms of task-specific retrieval processes. A retrieval mechanism capturing the effects of question type is proposed.","PeriodicalId":164622,"journal":{"name":"Glossa Psycholinguistics","volume":"69 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125876904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
When comprehenders predict a specific lexical noun in a highly constraining context, they also activate the grammatical features, such as gender, of that noun. Evidence for such lexically mediated prediction comes from ERP studies that show that comprehenders are surprised by adjectives and determiners that mismatch the features of a highly predictable noun. In this study, we investigated whether comprehenders can (i) predict an abstract noun phrase in an upcoming argument position (without pre-activating a specific lexical item) and (ii) assign morphosyntactic features to the head noun of that phrase. To do so we used the processing of Dutch cataphors as a test case. We tested whether seeing a cataphor in a preposed clause triggered a prediction of a feature-matching antecedent NP in main subject position. If comprehenders predicted a feature-matching subject, we reasoned that they should also expect an agreeing main verb, which comes before the subject because Dutch is a V2 language. A single-word prediction experiment showed that comprehenders expect a main verb matching the number of the cataphor. In a follow-up self-paced reading experiment, we found a number-mismatch effect if the V2 main verb did not agree with the cataphor. We take the results as evidence that comprehenders predicted a matching antecedent in subject position. We argue that the results are better explained as involving prediction of an abstract noun phrase marked for morphological features, rather than a specific lexical item.
{"title":"Abstract prediction of morphosyntactic features: Evidence from processing cataphors in Dutch","authors":"Anna Giskes, Dave Kush","doi":"10.5070/g6011152","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/g6011152","url":null,"abstract":"When comprehenders predict a specific lexical noun in a highly constraining context, they also activate the grammatical features, such as gender, of that noun. Evidence for such lexically mediated prediction comes from ERP studies that show that comprehenders are surprised by adjectives and determiners that mismatch the features of a highly predictable noun. In this study, we investigated whether comprehenders can (i) predict an abstract noun phrase in an upcoming argument position (without pre-activating a specific lexical item) and (ii) assign morphosyntactic features to the head noun of that phrase. To do so we used the processing of Dutch cataphors as a test case. We tested whether seeing a cataphor in a preposed clause triggered a prediction of a feature-matching antecedent NP in main subject position. If comprehenders predicted a feature-matching subject, we reasoned that they should also expect an agreeing main verb, which comes before the subject because Dutch is a V2 language. A single-word prediction experiment showed that comprehenders expect a main verb matching the number of the cataphor. In a follow-up self-paced reading experiment, we found a number-mismatch effect if the V2 main verb did not agree with the cataphor. We take the results as evidence that comprehenders predicted a matching antecedent in subject position. We argue that the results are better explained as involving prediction of an abstract noun phrase marked for morphological features, rather than a specific lexical item.","PeriodicalId":164622,"journal":{"name":"Glossa Psycholinguistics","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121811218","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rereading during sentence processing can be confirmatory, in which case it serves to increase readers' certainty in their current interpretation, or it can be revisionary, in which case it serves to correct a misinterpretation (Christianson, Luke, Hussey, & Wochna, 2017). The distinction is particularly relevant in garden-path sentences, which have been argued to trigger revisionary rereading (Frazier & Rayner, 1982). In two web-based experiments that compare garden-path sentences with other linguistic constructions, we investigate deliberate rereading in the recently-proposed bidirectional self-paced reading (BSPR) paradigm (Paape & Vasishth, 2022). Our results show evidence for selective rereading only in very difficult garden-path sentences. Additionally, our results suggest that conscious, selective rereading is confirmatory: Readers find garden-path sentences less rather than more acceptable after selective rereading, suggesting that they reread either to confirm their initial analysis or to confirm the perceived ungrammaticality of the sentence. We discuss the role of conscious awareness in dealing with different types of linguistic inconsistency.
{"title":"Conscious rereading is confirmatory: Evidence from bidirectional self-paced\u0000 reading","authors":"Dario Paape, S. Vasishth","doi":"10.5070/g6011182","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/g6011182","url":null,"abstract":"Rereading during sentence processing can be confirmatory, in which case it serves to\u0000 increase readers' certainty in their current interpretation, or it can be\u0000 revisionary, in which case it serves to correct a misinterpretation (Christianson,\u0000 Luke, Hussey, & Wochna, 2017). The distinction is particularly relevant in\u0000 garden-path sentences, which have been argued to trigger revisionary rereading\u0000 (Frazier & Rayner, 1982). In two web-based experiments that compare\u0000 garden-path sentences with other linguistic constructions, we investigate deliberate\u0000 rereading in the recently-proposed bidirectional self-paced reading (BSPR) paradigm\u0000 (Paape & Vasishth, 2022). Our results show evidence for selective rereading\u0000 only in very difficult garden-path sentences. Additionally, our results suggest that\u0000 conscious, selective rereading is confirmatory: Readers find garden-path sentences\u0000 less rather than more acceptable after selective rereading, suggesting that they\u0000 reread either to confirm their initial analysis or to confirm the perceived\u0000 ungrammaticality of the sentence. We discuss the role of conscious awareness in\u0000 dealing with different types of linguistic inconsistency.","PeriodicalId":164622,"journal":{"name":"Glossa Psycholinguistics","volume":"33 8","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121017809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In English, it is possible for a morphologically singular collective noun like ``government'' to control both singular (syntactic) agreement and plural (semantic) agreement in the same sentence (e.g. The government has praised themselves). It has been claimed that sentences with the opposite pattern of agreeing elements are ungrammatical (e.g. *The government have praised itself), and there is a corresponding asymmetry in corpus frequencies of these two configurations. Across two acceptability judgement experiments, we show that the acceptability contrast is affected by the relative order of the two agreeing elements, with degraded acceptability in the case where the first agreeing element shows plural agreement and the second shows singular agreement, relative to the opposite configuration. This pattern is found both when the agreeing verb precedes the reflexive, and when the reflexive precedes the verb. Overall, the results suggest that the initial formation of a semantic agreement dependency between an agreement target and a collective controller makes subsequent morpho-syntactic agreement with the same controller less accessible. We argue that any theoretical account of these results would require an important role for incremental processing.
在英语中，一个形态上为单数的集体名词，如“government”，可以在同一个句子中同时控制单数(句法)和复数(语义)的一致(例如:the government has表扬他们自己)。有人声称，具有相反模式的同意元素的句子是不符合语法的(例如*政府表扬自己)，并且这两种结构的语料库频率也存在相应的不对称。在两个可接受性判断实验中，我们发现可接受性对比受到两个同意元素的相对顺序的影响，相对于相反的配置，在第一个同意元素显示复数一致而第二个同意元素显示单数一致的情况下，可接受性降低。当表示同意的动词在反身动词前面，以及反身动词在动词前面时，都可以发现这种模式。总体而言，结果表明，在协议目标和集体控制器之间最初形成的语义协议依赖使得与同一控制器的后续形态语法协议更难以实现。我们认为，对这些结果的任何理论解释都需要增量处理的重要作用。
{"title":"Syntactic and semantic mismatches in English number agreement","authors":"P. Sturt","doi":"10.5070/g6011159","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/g6011159","url":null,"abstract":"In English, it is possible for a morphologically singular collective noun like ``government'' to control both singular (syntactic) agreement and plural (semantic) agreement in the same sentence (e.g. The government has praised themselves). It has been claimed that sentences with the opposite pattern of agreeing elements are ungrammatical (e.g. *The government have praised itself), and there is a corresponding asymmetry in corpus frequencies of these two configurations. Across two acceptability judgement experiments, we show that the acceptability contrast is affected by the relative order of the two agreeing elements, with degraded acceptability in the case where the first agreeing element shows plural agreement and the second shows singular agreement, relative to the opposite configuration. This pattern is found both when the agreeing verb precedes the reflexive, and when the reflexive precedes the verb. Overall, the results suggest that the initial formation of a semantic agreement dependency between an agreement target and a collective controller makes subsequent morpho-syntactic agreement with the same controller less accessible. We argue that any theoretical account of these results would require an important role for incremental processing. ","PeriodicalId":164622,"journal":{"name":"Glossa Psycholinguistics","volume":"145 2","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134427233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In two experiments we investigated the comprehension of pronoun forms in Chamorro, a verb-initial Austronesian language that does not distinguish morphologically between reflexive anaphors and pronominals. In Experiment 1, on object pronouns, we found that comprehenders had a preference for reflexive interpretations despite the fact that the pronoun form was not morphologically marked as reflexive. In Experiment 2, on possessor pronouns, we found that this preference was much weaker. We conclude that when a morphological distinction between reflexive anaphors and pronominals is absent, comprehenders do prefer to assign reflexive interpretations. However, this pressure is defeasible and moderated by morphosyntactic and semantic factors, such as the competition between null and overt pronoun forms and the verb’s argument structure.
{"title":"Processing reflexive pronouns when they don’t announce themselves","authors":"M. Wagers, Manuel F. Borja, Sandra Chung","doi":"10.5070/g601174","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/g601174","url":null,"abstract":"In two experiments we investigated the comprehension of pronoun forms in Chamorro, a verb-initial Austronesian language that does not distinguish morphologically between reflexive anaphors and pronominals. In Experiment 1, on object pronouns, we found that comprehenders had a preference for reflexive interpretations despite the fact that the pronoun form was not morphologically marked as reflexive. In Experiment 2, on possessor pronouns, we found that this preference was much weaker. We conclude that when a morphological distinction between reflexive anaphors and pronominals is absent, comprehenders do prefer to assign reflexive interpretations. However, this pressure is defeasible and moderated by morphosyntactic and semantic factors, such as the competition between null and overt pronoun forms and the verb’s argument structure.","PeriodicalId":164622,"journal":{"name":"Glossa Psycholinguistics","volume":"72 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126397804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Vishakha Shukla, Madeleine Long, Paula Rubio-Fernández
We investigated the effect of optionality on the acquisition of new/given markers, with a special focus on grammaticalization as a stage of optional use of the emerging form. To this end, we conducted a narrative-elicitation task with 5-year-old children and adults across four typologically-distinct languages with different new/given markers: English, Hindi, Mandinka and Spanish. Our starting assumption was that the Hindi numeral ‘ek’ (one) is developing into an indefinite article, which should delay children’s acquisition because of its optional use to introduce discourse referents. Supporting the Optionality Hypothesis, Experiment 1 revealed that obligatory markers are acquired earlier than optional markers. Experiment 2 focused on Hindi and showed that 10-year-old children’s use of ‘ek’ to introduce discourse characters was higher than 5-year-olds’ and comparable to adults’, replicating this pattern of results in two different cities in Northern India. Lastly, a follow-up study showed that Mandinka-speaking children and adults made use of all available discourse markers when tested on a familiar story, rather than with pictorial prompts, highlighting the importance of using culturally-appropriate methods of narrative elicitation in cross-linguistic research. We conclude by discussing the implications of article grammaticalization for common ground management in a speech community.
{"title":"Children’s acquisition of new/given markers in English, Hindi, Mandinka and Spanish: Exploring the effect of optionality during grammaticalization","authors":"Vishakha Shukla, Madeleine Long, Paula Rubio-Fernández","doi":"10.5070/g6011120","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/g6011120","url":null,"abstract":"We investigated the effect of optionality on the acquisition of new/given markers, with a special focus on grammaticalization as a stage of optional use of the emerging form. To this end, we conducted a narrative-elicitation task with 5-year-old children and adults across four typologically-distinct languages with different new/given markers: English, Hindi, Mandinka and Spanish. Our starting assumption was that the Hindi numeral ‘ek’ (one) is developing into an indefinite article, which should delay children’s acquisition because of its optional use to introduce discourse referents. Supporting the Optionality Hypothesis, Experiment 1 revealed that obligatory markers are acquired earlier than optional markers. Experiment 2 focused on Hindi and showed that 10-year-old children’s use of ‘ek’ to introduce discourse characters was higher than 5-year-olds’ and comparable to adults’, replicating this pattern of results in two different cities in Northern India. Lastly, a follow-up study showed that Mandinka-speaking children and adults made use of all available discourse markers when tested on a familiar story, rather than with pictorial prompts, highlighting the importance of using culturally-appropriate methods of narrative elicitation in cross-linguistic research. We conclude by discussing the implications of article grammaticalization for common ground management in a speech community.","PeriodicalId":164622,"journal":{"name":"Glossa Psycholinguistics","volume":"61 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126547945","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
N. Rivera-Vera, Sible Andringa, Edmundo Kronmüller, P. Monaghan, J. Rispens
Word learning is guided by the statistical co-occurrence between spoken words and potential referents, through which learners gradually map labels to objects across situations. Given that word learning does not occur in a vacuum, rather in a communicative context, it is relevant to evaluate the role that speakers play. Because we do not evaluate the information provided by every person equally, it is reasonable to think that someone who makes lexical errors is not a reliable speaker from whom to learn new words. The current study focuses on speaker reliability in adult cross-situational word learning (CSWL). In two experiments we investigated the extent to which adults attend to the reliability of the speaker and how this affects word learning in a CSWL task. We varied the consistency with which a speaker mapped novel words to familiar objects. We hypothesized (1) that the speakers’ reliability would be judged differently depending on their past object-labeling accuracy, and (2) that new words would be more difficult to learn when presented by an unreliable speaker. Experiment 1 shows that the unreliable speaker was assessed as less reliable, compared to the reliable speaker, but this effect disappeared in Experiment 2, when participants were taught new words by two speakers, a reliable and an unreliable one. Furthermore, we found no evidence to support the hypothesis that being exposed to an unreliable speaker impairs CSWL in adults. We discuss the relevance of these findings and the importance of further research on the role of speaker reliability in CSWL.
{"title":"The effect of speaker reliability on adult cross-situational word learning","authors":"N. Rivera-Vera, Sible Andringa, Edmundo Kronmüller, P. Monaghan, J. Rispens","doi":"10.5070/g601113","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/g601113","url":null,"abstract":"Word learning is guided by the statistical co-occurrence between spoken words and potential referents, through which learners gradually map labels to objects across situations. Given that word learning does not occur in a vacuum, rather in a communicative context, it is relevant to evaluate the role that speakers play. Because we do not evaluate the information provided by every person equally, it is reasonable to think that someone who makes lexical errors is not a reliable speaker from whom to learn new words. The current study focuses on speaker reliability in adult cross-situational word learning (CSWL). In two experiments we investigated the extent to which adults attend to the reliability of the speaker and how this affects word learning in a CSWL task. We varied the consistency with which a speaker mapped novel words to familiar objects. We hypothesized (1) that the speakers’ reliability would be judged differently depending on their past object-labeling accuracy, and (2) that new words would be more difficult to learn when presented by an unreliable speaker. Experiment 1 shows that the unreliable speaker was assessed as less reliable, compared to the reliable speaker, but this effect disappeared in Experiment 2, when participants were taught new words by two speakers, a reliable and an unreliable one. Furthermore, we found no evidence to support the hypothesis that being exposed to an unreliable speaker impairs CSWL in adults. We discuss the relevance of these findings and the importance of further research on the role of speaker reliability in CSWL.","PeriodicalId":164622,"journal":{"name":"Glossa Psycholinguistics","volume":"106 11","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"120968824","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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