Pub Date : 2023-08-21DOI: 10.3389/flang.2023.1251498
Dieter Hillert
{"title":"On how “early syntax” came about","authors":"Dieter Hillert","doi":"10.3389/flang.2023.1251498","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/flang.2023.1251498","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":350337,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Language Sciences","volume":"75 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131581853","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}
Pub Date : 2023-08-14DOI: 10.3389/flang.2023.1199107
O. Ivanova, Israel Martínez-Nicolás, Elena García-Piñuela, J. J. Meilán
Many studies on syntax in dementia suggest that, despite syntactic simplification, speakers with Alzheimer's disease (AD) retain their basic grammatical abilities, being mainly affected in their comprehension and production of complex syntax. Moreover, there is no single position on the origin of syntactic decline in AD, which, according to some authors, can be linked to a lexical-semantic deficit or, according to others, to either cognitive or autonomous dysfunction.In this study, we apply the model of syntactic maturity to the analysis of oral speech production elicited by the Cookie-Theft description task. We assess a sample of 60 older adults (21 HC, 19 MCI, and 20 AD) through three indexes of syntactic maturity, measuring the proportion of sentences and clauses in discourse, their mean length, and the rate of their complexity.Our results show two important tendencies in AD: the preservation of general syntactic ability, as measured by the basic syntactic organization of speech, and the disturbance of the indexes of syntactic complexity, as measured by the overall length of utterances and their indexes of complexity.Although speakers with AD maintain the ability to construct grammatically acceptable sentences and produce a similar number of utterances to healthy aging speakers and speakers with MCI, the syntactic complexity of their discourse significantly changes. Importantly, such significant changes are already present at the MCI stage and are not conditioned by the lexical-semantic deficit itself. Our results may be particularly relevant to improving the detection of cognitive impairment and to theoretically discussing the relationships between language levels in aging speakers.
{"title":"Defying syntactic preservation in Alzheimer's disease: what type of impairment predicts syntactic change in dementia (if it does) and why?","authors":"O. Ivanova, Israel Martínez-Nicolás, Elena García-Piñuela, J. J. Meilán","doi":"10.3389/flang.2023.1199107","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/flang.2023.1199107","url":null,"abstract":"Many studies on syntax in dementia suggest that, despite syntactic simplification, speakers with Alzheimer's disease (AD) retain their basic grammatical abilities, being mainly affected in their comprehension and production of complex syntax. Moreover, there is no single position on the origin of syntactic decline in AD, which, according to some authors, can be linked to a lexical-semantic deficit or, according to others, to either cognitive or autonomous dysfunction.In this study, we apply the model of syntactic maturity to the analysis of oral speech production elicited by the Cookie-Theft description task. We assess a sample of 60 older adults (21 HC, 19 MCI, and 20 AD) through three indexes of syntactic maturity, measuring the proportion of sentences and clauses in discourse, their mean length, and the rate of their complexity.Our results show two important tendencies in AD: the preservation of general syntactic ability, as measured by the basic syntactic organization of speech, and the disturbance of the indexes of syntactic complexity, as measured by the overall length of utterances and their indexes of complexity.Although speakers with AD maintain the ability to construct grammatically acceptable sentences and produce a similar number of utterances to healthy aging speakers and speakers with MCI, the syntactic complexity of their discourse significantly changes. Importantly, such significant changes are already present at the MCI stage and are not conditioned by the lexical-semantic deficit itself. Our results may be particularly relevant to improving the detection of cognitive impairment and to theoretically discussing the relationships between language levels in aging speakers.","PeriodicalId":350337,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Language Sciences","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114369659","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}
Pub Date : 2023-08-09DOI: 10.3389/flang.2023.1217837
William Matchin
{"title":"Lexico-semantics obscures lexical syntax","authors":"William Matchin","doi":"10.3389/flang.2023.1217837","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/flang.2023.1217837","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":350337,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Language Sciences","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131623058","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}
Pub Date : 2023-06-22DOI: 10.3389/flang.2023.1139073
Yumeng Li, Chen Fan, Chang Liu, Xiaoqing Li
Predictive coding is considered to be an important mechanism for perceptual learning. Posterior prediction-error minimization can lead to higher rates of lasting changes in the representational hierarchy, and hence is likely to enhance the process of learning. In the field of speech processing, although considerable studies have demonstrated that a highly predictive sentence context can facilitate the perception of forthcoming word, it remains to be examined that how this type of predictability affects the perceptual learning of speech (especially degraded speech). The present study, therefore, aimed to examine whether and how the lexical predictability of spoken sentences modulates perceptual learning of speech embedded in noise, by using spoken sentences as training stimuli and strictly controlling the semantic-context constraint of these training sentences. The current study adopted a “pretest-training-posttest” procedure. Two groups of subjects participated in this perceptual learning study, with cognitive and language abilities matched across these two groups. For one group, the spoken sentences used for training all have a highly predictive semantic context; for another group, the training sentences all have a low predictive context. The results showed that both the reaction time and accuracy of the speech-in-noise intelligibility test were significantly improved in the post-training phase compared to the pre-training phase; moreover, the learning-related improvement was significantly enhanced in participants with weak-constraint sentences as training stimuli (compared to those with strong-constraint sentences as training stimuli). This enhancement effect of low lexical predictability on learning-related improvement supports a prediction-error based account of perceptual learning.
{"title":"The modulating effect of lexical predictability on perceptual learning of degraded speech","authors":"Yumeng Li, Chen Fan, Chang Liu, Xiaoqing Li","doi":"10.3389/flang.2023.1139073","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/flang.2023.1139073","url":null,"abstract":"Predictive coding is considered to be an important mechanism for perceptual learning. Posterior prediction-error minimization can lead to higher rates of lasting changes in the representational hierarchy, and hence is likely to enhance the process of learning. In the field of speech processing, although considerable studies have demonstrated that a highly predictive sentence context can facilitate the perception of forthcoming word, it remains to be examined that how this type of predictability affects the perceptual learning of speech (especially degraded speech). The present study, therefore, aimed to examine whether and how the lexical predictability of spoken sentences modulates perceptual learning of speech embedded in noise, by using spoken sentences as training stimuli and strictly controlling the semantic-context constraint of these training sentences. The current study adopted a “pretest-training-posttest” procedure. Two groups of subjects participated in this perceptual learning study, with cognitive and language abilities matched across these two groups. For one group, the spoken sentences used for training all have a highly predictive semantic context; for another group, the training sentences all have a low predictive context. The results showed that both the reaction time and accuracy of the speech-in-noise intelligibility test were significantly improved in the post-training phase compared to the pre-training phase; moreover, the learning-related improvement was significantly enhanced in participants with weak-constraint sentences as training stimuli (compared to those with strong-constraint sentences as training stimuli). This enhancement effect of low lexical predictability on learning-related improvement supports a prediction-error based account of perceptual learning.","PeriodicalId":350337,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Language Sciences","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115849496","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}
Pub Date : 2023-06-22DOI: 10.3389/flang.2023.1175579
Willem S. van Boxtel, Brian Cox, Austin Keen, Jiyeon Lee
Background Grammatical encoding is impaired in many persons with aphasia (PWA), resulting in deficits in sentence production accuracies and underlying planning processes. However, relatively little is known on how these grammatical encoding deficits can be mediated in PWA. This study aimed to facilitate off-line (accuracy) and real-time (eye fixations) encoding of passive sentences through implicit structural priming, a tendency to better process a current sentence because of its grammatical similarity to a previously experienced (prime) sentence. Method Sixteen PWA and Sixteen age-matched controls completed an eyetracking-while-speaking task, where they described a target transitive picture preceded by a comprehension prime involving either an active or passive form. We measured immediate and cumulative priming effects on proportions of passives produced for the target pictures and proportions of eye fixations made to the theme actor in the target scene before speech onset of the sentence production. Results and conclusion Both PWA and controls produced cumulatively more passives as the experiment progressed despite an absence of immediate priming effects in PWA. Both groups also showed cumulative changes in the pre-speech eye fixations associated with passive productions, with this cumulative priming effect greater for the PWA group. These findings suggest that structural priming results in gradual adaptation of the grammatical encoding processes of PWA and that structural priming may be used as a treatment component for improving grammatical deficits in aphasia.
{"title":"Planning sentence production in aphasia: evidence from structural priming and eye-tracking","authors":"Willem S. van Boxtel, Brian Cox, Austin Keen, Jiyeon Lee","doi":"10.3389/flang.2023.1175579","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/flang.2023.1175579","url":null,"abstract":"Background Grammatical encoding is impaired in many persons with aphasia (PWA), resulting in deficits in sentence production accuracies and underlying planning processes. However, relatively little is known on how these grammatical encoding deficits can be mediated in PWA. This study aimed to facilitate off-line (accuracy) and real-time (eye fixations) encoding of passive sentences through implicit structural priming, a tendency to better process a current sentence because of its grammatical similarity to a previously experienced (prime) sentence. Method Sixteen PWA and Sixteen age-matched controls completed an eyetracking-while-speaking task, where they described a target transitive picture preceded by a comprehension prime involving either an active or passive form. We measured immediate and cumulative priming effects on proportions of passives produced for the target pictures and proportions of eye fixations made to the theme actor in the target scene before speech onset of the sentence production. Results and conclusion Both PWA and controls produced cumulatively more passives as the experiment progressed despite an absence of immediate priming effects in PWA. Both groups also showed cumulative changes in the pre-speech eye fixations associated with passive productions, with this cumulative priming effect greater for the PWA group. These findings suggest that structural priming results in gradual adaptation of the grammatical encoding processes of PWA and that structural priming may be used as a treatment component for improving grammatical deficits in aphasia.","PeriodicalId":350337,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Language Sciences","volume":"58 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114536785","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}
Pub Date : 2023-06-19DOI: 10.3389/flang.2023.1174855
Elvis Nizigama, A. Fazilatfar, A. Jabbari
This study investigated the motivation of Burundi junior secondary school students learning simultaneously three foreign languages: French, English, and Kiswahili. A 65-item questionnaire was employed to sample the views of 348 (grade 7 through 9) learners from state schools. Using L2 motivational self system developed by Dörnyei as the main theoretical framework, this study specifically explored temporal changes in L2 motivation of the participants over the 3-year period across the three target languages. The results indicated that there were significant differences in most of the measured motivational scales across the three languages with ninth grade students scoring significantly lower than their peers from lower school grades. Moreover, the results revealed that L2 learning experience and ideal L2 self were the two variables that, respectively, predicted most the students' intended effort to learn each language. One school grade-related difference was that international posture appeared as a significant factor among seventh grade students in relation to French learning and among ninth grade pupils regarding English learning. Another finding, which was unexpected, was that English (L3) appeared to be the most popular foreign language among these students. In the light of the results, pedagogical implications are discussed based on the socio-educational context of Burundi.
{"title":"Junior secondary school students' motivation for learning multiple foreign languages in Burundi: a cross-sectional study","authors":"Elvis Nizigama, A. Fazilatfar, A. Jabbari","doi":"10.3389/flang.2023.1174855","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/flang.2023.1174855","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigated the motivation of Burundi junior secondary school students learning simultaneously three foreign languages: French, English, and Kiswahili. A 65-item questionnaire was employed to sample the views of 348 (grade 7 through 9) learners from state schools. Using L2 motivational self system developed by Dörnyei as the main theoretical framework, this study specifically explored temporal changes in L2 motivation of the participants over the 3-year period across the three target languages. The results indicated that there were significant differences in most of the measured motivational scales across the three languages with ninth grade students scoring significantly lower than their peers from lower school grades. Moreover, the results revealed that L2 learning experience and ideal L2 self were the two variables that, respectively, predicted most the students' intended effort to learn each language. One school grade-related difference was that international posture appeared as a significant factor among seventh grade students in relation to French learning and among ninth grade pupils regarding English learning. Another finding, which was unexpected, was that English (L3) appeared to be the most popular foreign language among these students. In the light of the results, pedagogical implications are discussed based on the socio-educational context of Burundi.","PeriodicalId":350337,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Language Sciences","volume":"63 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129861630","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}
Pub Date : 2023-06-09DOI: 10.3389/flang.2023.1138749
Koki Yamaguchi, Shinri Ohta
Introduction Theoretical linguistics has proposed different types of empty categories (ECs), i.e., unpronounced words with syntactic characteristics. ECs are a key to elucidating the computational system of syntax, algorithms of language processing, and their neural implementation. Here we examined the distinction between raising and control sentences in Japanese and whether ECs are psychologically real. Methods We recruited 254 native speakers of Japanese in the present internet-based experiment. We used a self-paced reading and a probe recognition priming technique. To investigate whether raising and control sentences have different ECs (i.e., Copy and PRO) and whether these ECs cause a reactivation effect, behavioral data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models. Results We found two striking results. First, we demonstrate that the reading times of raising and control sentences in Japanese were better explained by the linear mixed-effects model considering the differences of ECs, i.e., Copy and PRO. Secondly, we found a significant reactivation effect for raising and control sentences, which have ECs, and reflexive sentences without ECs. These results indicate that ECs are processed similarly to reflexive pronouns (e.g., himself ). Discussion Based on these results, we conclude that raising and control sentences in Japanese have different ECs, i.e., Copy and PRO, and that ECs have psychological reality. Our results demonstrate that behavioral experiment based on theoretical linguistics, which is the first step for developing linking hypotheses connecting theoretical linguistics and experimental neuroscience, is indeed necessary for testing hypotheses proposed in theoretical linguistics.
{"title":"Dissociating the processing of empty categories in raising and control sentences: a self-paced reading study in Japanese","authors":"Koki Yamaguchi, Shinri Ohta","doi":"10.3389/flang.2023.1138749","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/flang.2023.1138749","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction Theoretical linguistics has proposed different types of empty categories (ECs), i.e., unpronounced words with syntactic characteristics. ECs are a key to elucidating the computational system of syntax, algorithms of language processing, and their neural implementation. Here we examined the distinction between raising and control sentences in Japanese and whether ECs are psychologically real. Methods We recruited 254 native speakers of Japanese in the present internet-based experiment. We used a self-paced reading and a probe recognition priming technique. To investigate whether raising and control sentences have different ECs (i.e., Copy and PRO) and whether these ECs cause a reactivation effect, behavioral data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models. Results We found two striking results. First, we demonstrate that the reading times of raising and control sentences in Japanese were better explained by the linear mixed-effects model considering the differences of ECs, i.e., Copy and PRO. Secondly, we found a significant reactivation effect for raising and control sentences, which have ECs, and reflexive sentences without ECs. These results indicate that ECs are processed similarly to reflexive pronouns (e.g., himself ). Discussion Based on these results, we conclude that raising and control sentences in Japanese have different ECs, i.e., Copy and PRO, and that ECs have psychological reality. Our results demonstrate that behavioral experiment based on theoretical linguistics, which is the first step for developing linking hypotheses connecting theoretical linguistics and experimental neuroscience, is indeed necessary for testing hypotheses proposed in theoretical linguistics.","PeriodicalId":350337,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Language Sciences","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127876225","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}
Pub Date : 2023-06-05DOI: 10.3389/flang.2023.1163547
M. Ivanova, I. Pappas
Stroke causes a disruption in blood flow to the brain that can lead to profound language impairments. Understanding the mechanisms of language recovery after stroke is crucial for the prognosis and effective rehabilitation of people with aphasia. While the role of injured brain structures and disruptions in functional connectivity have been extensively explored, the relationship between neurovascular measures and language recovery in both early and later stages has not received sufficient attention in the field. Fully functioning healthy brain tissue requires oxygen and nutrients to be delivered promptly via its blood supply. Persistent decreases in blood flow after a stroke to the remaining non-lesioned tissue have been shown to contribute to poor language recovery. The goal of the current paper is to critically examine stroke studies looking at the relationship between different neurovascular measures and language deficits and mechanisms of language recovery via changes in neurovascular metrics. Measures of perfusion or cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) provide complementary approaches to understanding neurovascular mechanisms post stroke by capturing both cerebral metabolic demands and mechanical vascular properties. While CBF measures indicate the amount of blood delivered to a certain region and serve as a proxy for metabolic demands of that area, CVR indices reflect the ability of the vasculature to recruit blood flow in response to a shortage of oxygen, such as when one is holding their breath. Increases in CBF during recovery beyond the site of the lesion have been shown to promote language gains. Similarly, CVR changes, when collateral vessels are recruited to help reorganize the flow of blood in hypoperfused regions, have been related to functional recovery post stroke. In the current review, we highlight the main findings in the literature investigating neurovascular changes in stroke recovery with a particular emphasis on how language abilities can be affected by changes in CBF and CVR. We conclude by summarizing existing methodological challenges and knowledge gaps that need to be addressed in future work in this area, outlining a promising avenue of research.
{"title":"Understanding recovery of language after stroke: insights from neurovascular MRI studies","authors":"M. Ivanova, I. Pappas","doi":"10.3389/flang.2023.1163547","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/flang.2023.1163547","url":null,"abstract":"Stroke causes a disruption in blood flow to the brain that can lead to profound language impairments. Understanding the mechanisms of language recovery after stroke is crucial for the prognosis and effective rehabilitation of people with aphasia. While the role of injured brain structures and disruptions in functional connectivity have been extensively explored, the relationship between neurovascular measures and language recovery in both early and later stages has not received sufficient attention in the field. Fully functioning healthy brain tissue requires oxygen and nutrients to be delivered promptly via its blood supply. Persistent decreases in blood flow after a stroke to the remaining non-lesioned tissue have been shown to contribute to poor language recovery. The goal of the current paper is to critically examine stroke studies looking at the relationship between different neurovascular measures and language deficits and mechanisms of language recovery via changes in neurovascular metrics. Measures of perfusion or cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) provide complementary approaches to understanding neurovascular mechanisms post stroke by capturing both cerebral metabolic demands and mechanical vascular properties. While CBF measures indicate the amount of blood delivered to a certain region and serve as a proxy for metabolic demands of that area, CVR indices reflect the ability of the vasculature to recruit blood flow in response to a shortage of oxygen, such as when one is holding their breath. Increases in CBF during recovery beyond the site of the lesion have been shown to promote language gains. Similarly, CVR changes, when collateral vessels are recruited to help reorganize the flow of blood in hypoperfused regions, have been related to functional recovery post stroke. In the current review, we highlight the main findings in the literature investigating neurovascular changes in stroke recovery with a particular emphasis on how language abilities can be affected by changes in CBF and CVR. We conclude by summarizing existing methodological challenges and knowledge gaps that need to be addressed in future work in this area, outlining a promising avenue of research.","PeriodicalId":350337,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Language Sciences","volume":"58 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115176848","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}
Pub Date : 2023-05-25DOI: 10.3389/flang.2023.1119026
Wendy Whitehead Martelle, Yasuhiro Shirai
Introduction Numerous studies have been conducted regarding the second language acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. A prevailing principle in this area is the Aspect Hypothesis, which predicts that learners are influenced by lexical aspect when applying tense- aspect markers (specifically, that learners will associate perfective/past markers with telic verbs and imperfective/past markers with atelic verbs). The Aspect Hypothesis has been widely tested in the acquisition of English, several Romance languages, Japanese, and Chinese. However, few studies have explored the second language acquisition of aspect in Slavic languages, which tend to have morphologically rich and complex tense-aspect systems. Additionally, few studies address the potential impact of task modality (for example, written vs. oral tasks) on the production of aspect. Methods The present study addresses these gaps by investigating how second language learners of Russian at varying proficiency levels use aspectual markers in the past tense when producing oral and written narratives. Data from written narratives (N = 42) and oral narratives (N = 42) were analyzed for lexical aspect and tense-aspect marking. Results The results indicate that the Aspect Hypothesis is supported to varying degrees depending on the task: the activity involving lower planning levels (oral narratives) was more supportive of the Aspect Hypothesis, compared to the written narrative task, which involves a higher level of planning. However, the results also show that the aspectual production of beginning-level Russian learners is not consistent with certain predictions of the Aspect Hypothesis. Discussion The study concludes by discussing the role of instruction and the L1 as possible explanations for this inconsistency.
{"title":"The Aspect Hypothesis and L2 Russian","authors":"Wendy Whitehead Martelle, Yasuhiro Shirai","doi":"10.3389/flang.2023.1119026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/flang.2023.1119026","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction Numerous studies have been conducted regarding the second language acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. A prevailing principle in this area is the Aspect Hypothesis, which predicts that learners are influenced by lexical aspect when applying tense- aspect markers (specifically, that learners will associate perfective/past markers with telic verbs and imperfective/past markers with atelic verbs). The Aspect Hypothesis has been widely tested in the acquisition of English, several Romance languages, Japanese, and Chinese. However, few studies have explored the second language acquisition of aspect in Slavic languages, which tend to have morphologically rich and complex tense-aspect systems. Additionally, few studies address the potential impact of task modality (for example, written vs. oral tasks) on the production of aspect. Methods The present study addresses these gaps by investigating how second language learners of Russian at varying proficiency levels use aspectual markers in the past tense when producing oral and written narratives. Data from written narratives (N = 42) and oral narratives (N = 42) were analyzed for lexical aspect and tense-aspect marking. Results The results indicate that the Aspect Hypothesis is supported to varying degrees depending on the task: the activity involving lower planning levels (oral narratives) was more supportive of the Aspect Hypothesis, compared to the written narrative task, which involves a higher level of planning. However, the results also show that the aspectual production of beginning-level Russian learners is not consistent with certain predictions of the Aspect Hypothesis. Discussion The study concludes by discussing the role of instruction and the L1 as possible explanations for this inconsistency.","PeriodicalId":350337,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Language Sciences","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114802872","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}
Pub Date : 2023-05-25DOI: 10.3389/flang.2023.1176233
Brennan Gonering, D. Corina
Theoretical accounts of syntax are broadly divided into lexicalist or construction-based viewpoints, where lexicalist traditions argue that a great deal of syntactic information is stored in lexical representations, while construction-based views argue for separate representations of multiword syntactic structures. Moreover, a strict autonomy between syntactic and semantic processing has been posited based on the grammatical well-formedness of non-sense sentences such as This round table is square. In this paper, we provide an overview of these competing conceptions of syntactic structure and the role of syntax in grammar. We review converging neuroimaging, electrophysiological, behavioral, electrocorticographic, and computational modeling evidence that challenge these views. In particular, we show that a temporal lobe ventral stream is crucial in processing phrases involving nouns and attributive adjectives, while a dorsal stream involving left parietal regions, including the angular gyrus, is crucial in processing constructions involving verbs and relational adjectives. We additionally support this interpretation by examining divergent pathways in the visual system for processing object information and event/spatial information, on the basis of integration across visual and auditory modalities. Our interpretation suggests that combinatorial operations which combine words into phrases cannot be isolated to a single anatomical location, as has been previously proposed—instead, it is an instantiation of a more general neural computation, one that is implemented across various brain regions and can be utilized in service of constructing linguistic phrases. Based on this orientation, we explore how abstract syntactic constructions, such as the transitive construction, both mirror and could emerge from semantics. These abstract construction representations are argued to be distinct from, and stored in regions functionally downstream from, lexical representations of verbs. Comprehension therefore involves the integration of both representations via feedforward and feedback connections. We implicate the IFG in communicating across the language network, including correctly integrating nominal phrases with the overall event representation and serving as one interface between processing streams. Overall, this approach accords more generally with conceptions of the development of cognitive systematicity, and further draws attention to a potential role for the medial temporal lobe in syntactic behaviors, often overlooked in current neurofunctional accounts of syntactic processing.
语法的理论解释大致分为基于词汇主义和基于结构的观点，其中词汇主义传统认为大量的句法信息存储在词汇表征中，而基于结构的观点认为多词句法结构的单独表征。此外，基于“This round table is square”等无意义句子的语法结构良好性，提出了句法和语义处理之间的严格自治。在本文中，我们概述了这些相互竞争的句法结构概念以及句法在语法中的作用。我们回顾了神经成像、电生理、行为、皮质电图和计算模型证据，这些证据挑战了这些观点。特别是，我们发现颞叶腹侧流在处理涉及名词和定语形容词的短语时至关重要，而涉及左顶叶区域(包括角回)的背侧流在处理涉及动词和关系形容词的结构时至关重要。此外，我们在视觉和听觉模式整合的基础上，通过检查视觉系统中处理物体信息和事件/空间信息的不同途径，支持了这一解释。我们的解释表明，将单词组合成短语的组合操作不能像之前提出的那样孤立于单个解剖位置，相反，它是一个更一般的神经计算的实例，它在不同的大脑区域中实现，可以用于构建语言短语。基于这一方向，我们探讨了抽象的句法结构，如及物结构，是如何从语义中反映和产生的。这些抽象的结构表征被认为与动词的词汇表征不同，并存储在功能上位于动词词汇表征下游的区域中。因此，理解涉及到通过前馈和反馈连接对两种表征的整合。我们将IFG用于跨语言网络的通信，包括将名称短语与整个事件表示正确集成，并作为处理流之间的接口。总的来说，这种方法更普遍地符合认知系统性发展的概念，并进一步引起人们对内侧颞叶在句法行为中的潜在作用的关注，这在当前的句法处理的神经功能描述中经常被忽视。
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