Pub Date : 2025-09-18DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104038
Hwanmin Jung , Grace E. Oh , Jeong-Im Han
This study explored if and to what extent North Korean (NK) refugees living in Seoul, South Korea adjusted their pronunciation to the standard Seoul Korean (SK) dialect in an imitation task. To this end, NK and SK speakers participated in a word shadowing task to evaluate acoustic measures of phonetic convergence in vowels. The NK speakers, as a less prestigious group, showed more convergence to the SK model talker than SK speakers to the NK model talker, and convergence was greater in the vowels that could threaten the phonological contrast in SK. The social variables showed a tendency to have null and weak effects in demographic and situational variables, respectively, probably owing to the somewhat long residency of the NK participants. The present findings provide additional evidence that phonetic convergence is mediated by linguistic, and, to a lesser extent, social factors in cross-dialectal accommodation.
{"title":"Linguistic and social selectivity in phonetic imitation: Evidence from North Korean refugees in Seoul","authors":"Hwanmin Jung , Grace E. Oh , Jeong-Im Han","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104038","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104038","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explored if and to what extent North Korean (NK) refugees living in Seoul, South Korea adjusted their pronunciation to the standard Seoul Korean (SK) dialect in an imitation task. To this end, NK and SK speakers participated in a word shadowing task to evaluate acoustic measures of phonetic convergence in vowels. The NK speakers, as a less prestigious group, showed more convergence to the SK model talker than SK speakers to the NK model talker, and convergence was greater in the vowels that could threaten the phonological contrast in SK. The social variables showed a tendency to have null and weak effects in demographic and situational variables, respectively, probably owing to the somewhat long residency of the NK participants. The present findings provide additional evidence that phonetic convergence is mediated by linguistic, and, to a lesser extent, social factors in cross-dialectal accommodation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"327 ","pages":"Article 104038"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145100170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-11DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104036
Yinxia Wei, Xinyi Guo
With the previous predominance of a focus on forward transfer in motion event expressions, current research has overlooked the exploration of reverse transfer of third language (L3) regarding caused state change (CSC) events in the first language (L1). Based on an animated event description task, this study explores the reverse influence from L3 to L1 in CSC expressions, comparing 33 Mandarin–English learners with 66 Mandarin–English–Japanese learners of low and high proficiency. The findings reveal that: (1) All participant groups exhibited significant adherence to satellite-framed language (S-language) features in their lexicalization patterns, predominantly adopting causal compactness conceptual splicing patterns. (2) Both L3 (Japanese) typological features and proficiency exert inverse effects on L1 (Mandarin Chinese) CSC expressions. The former prompts Mandarin–English–Japanese learners to focus more on event results, and increased proficiency leads to reduced semantic fineness in result descriptions. (3) Cross-group comparisons of CSC events expression reflect the dynamic interplay between language systems. The similarities demonstrate the privileged role of L1, while the differences illustrate the reverse effects of Japanese typological features and proficiency.
{"title":"The reverse influence of L3 on the expressions of caused state change events in the L1 of Mandarin Chinese learners","authors":"Yinxia Wei, Xinyi Guo","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104036","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104036","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the previous predominance of a focus on forward transfer in motion event expressions, current research has overlooked the exploration of reverse transfer of third language (L3) regarding caused state change (CSC) events in the first language (L1). Based on an animated event description task, this study explores the reverse influence from L3 to L1 in CSC expressions, comparing 33 Mandarin–English learners with 66 Mandarin–English–Japanese learners of low and high proficiency. The findings reveal that: (1) All participant groups exhibited significant adherence to satellite-framed language (S-language) features in their lexicalization patterns, predominantly adopting causal compactness conceptual splicing patterns. (2) Both L3 (Japanese) typological features and proficiency exert inverse effects on L1 (Mandarin Chinese) CSC expressions. The former prompts Mandarin–English–Japanese learners to focus more on event results, and increased proficiency leads to reduced semantic fineness in result descriptions. (3) Cross-group comparisons of CSC events expression reflect the dynamic interplay between language systems. The similarities demonstrate the privileged role of L1, while the differences illustrate the reverse effects of Japanese typological features and proficiency.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"327 ","pages":"Article 104036"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145049854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-04DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104035
Fengming Liu , Xiaoying Liles
This exploratory study investigated regional variation in conventional expressions between two varieties of Mandarin, a pluricentric language, spoken in Mainland China and Taiwan. A timed aural-oral Discourse Completion Task was conducted, and over 9,000 oral responses were collected from 152 L1 speakers in Mainland China and Taiwan. This study adopted the Variational Pragmatics framework and conducted pragmatic analysis at three levels: speech act, pragmatic strategy, and the actional level, specifically focusing on the linguistic realizations of conventional expressions. The results showed that although conventional expressions embody high alignment in these two regions at the speech act level, regional variation was observed at the pragmatic strategy level, the actional level, and in some cases at both levels. At the pragmatic strategy level, speakers in the two regions used different semantic formulas, realized through distinct expressions, to perform the same speech act. At the actional level, while the distribution and production rates of conventional expressions were similar across the two regions, regional variation manifested in two ways: “variation across expressions” and “variation within expressions.” This study provides empirical data to the field of variational pragmatics by examining Mandarin varieties and sheds light on regional pragmatic similarities and differences between these intra-cultural varieties.
{"title":"Regional variation in conventional expressions: a comparative study of Mandarin in Mainland China and Taiwan","authors":"Fengming Liu , Xiaoying Liles","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104035","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104035","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This exploratory study investigated regional variation in conventional expressions between two varieties of Mandarin, a pluricentric language, spoken in Mainland China and Taiwan. A timed aural-oral Discourse Completion Task was conducted, and over 9,000 oral responses were collected from 152 L1 speakers in Mainland China and Taiwan. This study adopted the Variational Pragmatics framework and conducted pragmatic analysis at three levels: speech act, pragmatic strategy, and the actional level, specifically focusing on the linguistic realizations of conventional expressions. The results showed that although conventional expressions embody high alignment in these two regions at the speech act level, regional variation was observed at the pragmatic strategy level, the actional level, and in some cases at both levels. At the pragmatic strategy level, speakers in the two regions used different semantic formulas, realized through distinct expressions, to perform the same speech act. At the actional level, while the distribution and production rates of conventional expressions were similar across the two regions, regional variation manifested in two ways: “variation across expressions” and “variation within expressions.” This study provides empirical data to the field of variational pragmatics by examining Mandarin varieties and sheds light on regional pragmatic similarities and differences between these intra-cultural varieties.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"326 ","pages":"Article 104035"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144988251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-01DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104027
Lungguh A. Bangga
This paper focuses on the description of verbal groups in Sundanese, a Malayo-Polynesian language of West Java, Indonesia, from a Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) perspective. Verbal groups in Sundanese are described in relation to their functions in the clause, their interactions with other systemic options at group rank, and their morphology at word rank. It begins by reviewing relevant descriptions of Sundanese verbs. Drawing on SFL theory, verbal groups are then interpreted in relation to their co-textual (discourse semantics) and contextual (register and genre) features. In particular, the paper reveals the contribution of verbal groups to interpersonal and experiential meanings at clause rank. Interpersonally, verbal groups in Sundanese play a role in the negotiation of information and goods-and-services, realise the mood, modality and polarity systems implicated in the tenor of discourse within the context. Experientially, they contribute to the expression of different types of experience in ideational discourse semantics, providing resources for construing the events and states implicated in the field of discourse within context.
{"title":"Sundanese verbal groups: Towards a systemic functional linguistic description","authors":"Lungguh A. Bangga","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104027","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104027","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper focuses on the description of verbal groups in Sundanese, a Malayo-Polynesian language of West Java, Indonesia, from a Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) perspective. Verbal groups in Sundanese are described in relation to their functions in the clause, their interactions with other systemic options at group rank, and their morphology at word rank. It begins by reviewing relevant descriptions of Sundanese verbs. Drawing on SFL theory, verbal groups are then interpreted in relation to their co-textual (discourse semantics) and contextual (register and genre) features. In particular, the paper reveals the contribution of verbal groups to interpersonal and experiential meanings at clause rank. Interpersonally, verbal groups in Sundanese play a role in the negotiation of information and goods-and-services, realise the <span>mood, modality</span> and <span>polarity</span> systems implicated in the tenor of discourse within the context. Experientially, they contribute to the expression of different types of experience in ideational discourse semantics, providing resources for construing the events and states implicated in the field of discourse within context.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"326 ","pages":"Article 104027"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144922021","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-29DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104024
Chengwen Wang , Yu Wang , Miao Zhou , Endong Xun
The interaction between lexis and grammatical patterns, known as lexicogrammar, plays a crucial role in describing a word’s usage characteristics and profiles. Lexico-grammatical pattern extraction and further analysis are essential for understanding language features and usage characteristics, particularly in analyzing how words function within specific textual contexts. Given that verbs constitute the syntactic and semantic core of Chinese sentences, investigating verb patterns is crucial, as various grammatical elements frequently co-occur with verbs to form stable and high-frequency patterns, making such research both feasible and necessary for a comprehensive understanding of Chinese linguistic structures and meaning construction. Previous methods of pattern extraction largely rely on linear concordance analyses, which often fail to capture deeper structural relationships, resulting in inaccurate or misleading collocations. To overcome these limitations, this study introduces a chunk-based annotation approach using Chinese legal judgments as a representative case study. We developed a framework to segment predicate chunks into finer-grained sub-chunks, thereby enabling precise extraction of verb patterns. Employing collostructional analysis, we quantitatively assessed the association strength between verbs and their grammatical patterns and identified preferred verb patterns. The findings demonstrate a strong preference for pre-verbal patterns, aligning closely with genre-specific requirements for factual precision and contextual specificity in legal texts. Additionally, distinct pattern preferences emerge across various semantic verb categories (e.g., existential, saying, action), providing empirical insights into the syntactic and functional dimensions of Chinese verb usage. This research contributes to corpus-based studies on the interaction between lexical items and grammatical patterns, and deepens the understanding of the factors influencing verb usage in Chinese.
{"title":"Reframing Chinese verb patterns through a chunk-based approach: a case study of legal judgments","authors":"Chengwen Wang , Yu Wang , Miao Zhou , Endong Xun","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104024","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104024","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The interaction between lexis and grammatical patterns, known as lexicogrammar, plays a crucial role in describing a word’s usage characteristics and profiles. Lexico-grammatical pattern extraction and further analysis are essential for understanding language features and usage characteristics, particularly in analyzing how words function within specific textual contexts. Given that verbs constitute the syntactic and semantic core of Chinese sentences, investigating verb patterns is crucial, as various grammatical elements frequently co-occur with verbs to form stable and high-frequency patterns, making such research both feasible and necessary for a comprehensive understanding of Chinese linguistic structures and meaning construction. Previous methods of pattern extraction largely rely on linear concordance analyses, which often fail to capture deeper structural relationships, resulting in inaccurate or misleading collocations. To overcome these limitations, this study introduces a chunk-based annotation approach using Chinese legal judgments as a representative case study. We developed a framework to segment predicate chunks into finer-grained sub-chunks, thereby enabling precise extraction of verb patterns. Employing collostructional analysis, we quantitatively assessed the association strength between verbs and their grammatical patterns and identified preferred verb patterns. The findings demonstrate a strong preference for pre-verbal patterns, aligning closely with genre-specific requirements for factual precision and contextual specificity in legal texts. Additionally, distinct pattern preferences emerge across various semantic verb categories (e.g., existential, saying, action), providing empirical insights into the syntactic and functional dimensions of Chinese verb usage. This research contributes to corpus-based studies on the interaction between lexical items and grammatical patterns, and deepens the understanding of the factors influencing verb usage in Chinese.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"326 ","pages":"Article 104024"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144914005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-23DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104026
Laura Solano-Escobar
The present study examined the production of the subjunctive among 30 child heritage speakers, 30 monolingual children, 15 immigrant parents and 15 monolingual parents in two early acquired deontic predicates that differ in selection type (predicates of volition and reported commands, including querer “to want” and decir “to say/tell”). Additionally, it explored the role of chronological age, proficiency, language exposure and language use on the production of the subjunctive. The results obtained via a sentence completion task showed high rates of subjunctive use among the heritage children. Nonetheless, the heritage children differed from the other groups in the production of alternative responses. Results also showed a significant role of chronological age and proficiency in the probability of subjunctive use. The more proficient and the older the children were, the more they produced the subjunctive. Individual results showed variability in the children’s performance with some children exhibiting categorical use of the subjunctive and others showing variable use of it. The study argues for protracted development stemming from the interaction between age and proficiency. It also highlights the importance of considering individual variability in morphosyntactic acquisition, as such variability reflects the dynamic and individualized nature of bilingual development.
{"title":"The production of the subjunctive in child heritage Spanish: an examination of early acquired contexts","authors":"Laura Solano-Escobar","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104026","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104026","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The present study examined the production of the subjunctive among 30 child heritage speakers, 30 monolingual children, 15 immigrant parents and 15 monolingual parents in two early acquired deontic predicates that differ in selection type (predicates of volition and reported commands, including <em>querer</em> “to want” and <em>decir</em> “to say/tell”). Additionally, it explored the role of chronological age, proficiency, language exposure and language use on the production of the subjunctive. The results obtained via a sentence completion task showed high rates of subjunctive use among the heritage children. Nonetheless, the heritage children differed from the other groups in the production of alternative responses. Results also showed a significant role of chronological age and proficiency in the probability of subjunctive use. The more proficient and the older the children were, the more they produced the subjunctive. Individual results showed variability in the children’s performance with some children exhibiting categorical use of the subjunctive and others showing variable use of it. The study argues for protracted development stemming from the interaction between age and proficiency. It also highlights the importance of considering individual variability in morphosyntactic acquisition, as such variability reflects the dynamic and individualized nature of bilingual development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"326 ","pages":"Article 104026"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144891984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-22DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104025
Chuntao Liu
The correspondence patterns between phonological structures and ancestral languages are crucial criteria for determining the genetic classification of Chinese dialects. As a Mandarin dialect, Xiaoling Junhua has undergone changes in the initials [tʰ] and [x] due to contact with Hainan Min dialects. The original [x] initial splits by imitating the phonetic values of neighboring dialects, challenging the phonological structure. Consequently, the related phonemes in the initial system underwent reorganization and the reestablishment of contrast patterns, ultimately preserving the Mandarin phonological framework. The structural adjustments in Xiaoling Junhua were influenced by both internal and external factors. Internally, they were constrained by the phonological rules of Mandarin, while externally, the dialect’s relatively high social status and the speakers’ self-identity played a role. These dual factors prompted Xiaoling to maintain its Mandarin phonological structure, thereby ensuring the stability of its genetic classification.
{"title":"The motivations and limits of Mandarin contact-induced evolution: A case study of Xiaoling Junhua in contact with Min dialects in Hainan","authors":"Chuntao Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104025","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104025","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The correspondence patterns between phonological structures and ancestral languages are crucial criteria for determining the genetic classification of Chinese dialects. As a Mandarin dialect, Xiaoling Junhua has undergone changes in the initials [tʰ] and [x] due to contact with Hainan Min dialects. The original [x] initial splits by imitating the phonetic values of neighboring dialects, challenging the phonological structure. Consequently, the related phonemes in the initial system underwent reorganization and the reestablishment of contrast patterns, ultimately preserving the Mandarin phonological framework. The structural adjustments in Xiaoling Junhua were influenced by both internal and external factors. Internally, they were constrained by the phonological rules of Mandarin, while externally, the dialect’s relatively high social status and the speakers’ self-identity played a role. These dual factors prompted Xiaoling to maintain its Mandarin phonological structure, thereby ensuring the stability of its genetic classification.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"326 ","pages":"Article 104025"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144888807","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-12DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104023
Gong Cheng , Hai Xu , Xian Zhang
Recent findings on English L1 speakers’ visual recognition of noun-noun compounds suggest that competitive mechanisms are triggered by potential conceptual relations associated with these compounds. While relation-based semantic composition in compound processing has been found in English L2 speakers (specifically Chinese speakers), the role of relational competition remains unclear. This study employed a lexical decision task manipulating word type and relational competition to examine the processing of noun-noun compounds among 60 Chinese EFL learners at intermediate and advanced proficiency levels. Results indicate that processing speed was influenced by the conceptual relations involved in compound processing. Moreover, processing speed was closely linked to the degree of relational competition, with stronger competition leading to longer response times. In addition, English proficiency significantly influenced processing efficiency, as higher-proficiency learners responded more quickly. Furthermore, qualitative differences between the two proficiency groups emerged when both relational competition and compound frequency were considered.
{"title":"Examining the role of relational competition and English proficiency in noun-noun compound recognition among Chinese EFL learners","authors":"Gong Cheng , Hai Xu , Xian Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104023","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104023","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recent findings on English L1 speakers’ visual recognition of noun-noun compounds suggest that competitive mechanisms are triggered by potential conceptual relations associated with these compounds. While relation-based semantic composition in compound processing has been found in English L2 speakers (specifically Chinese speakers), the role of relational competition remains unclear. This study employed a lexical decision task manipulating word type and relational competition to examine the processing of noun-noun compounds among 60 Chinese EFL learners at intermediate and advanced proficiency levels. Results indicate that processing speed was influenced by the conceptual relations involved in compound processing. Moreover, processing speed was closely linked to the degree of relational competition, with stronger competition leading to longer response times. In addition, English proficiency significantly influenced processing efficiency, as higher-proficiency learners responded more quickly. Furthermore, qualitative differences between the two proficiency groups emerged when both relational competition and compound frequency were considered.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"326 ","pages":"Article 104023"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144827038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper reports on an empirical investigation of regional pragmatic variation in the use of conventional expressions in Spanish at three sites: two in Spain (in the Barcelona and Extremadura areas) and one on the US-Mexico border (El Paso/Ciudad Juárez). Conventional expressions are multi-morphemic expressions and one type of pragmalinguistic resource. They are inherently social in nature and characterize language use within speech communities. Conventional expressions are associated with specific pragmatic situations and are the preferred expression of L1 speakers in those contexts. Data were elicited via computer-delivered oral production tasks from 107 L1 speakers of Spanish in the Barcelona (N = 38), Extremadura (N = 33), and El Paso/Ciudad Juárez (N = 36) areas. The tasks were regionally adapted so that speakers would feel that they were speaking to interlocutors from their respective speech communities. Conventional expressions were identified as occurring in at least 50% of the responses in any one community. Speakers in some sites used more conventional expressions than others. Some situations elicited the same expressions at all three sites, some show agreement at two sites, and some yield a different expression from each site. The sites show substantial overlap in expressions, although not in contexts of use (exhibiting variety-preferential variation rather than variety-specific variation).
{"title":"Regional pragmatic variation in the use of conventional expressions at three Spanish-speaking sites","authors":"Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig , Llorenç Comajoan-Colomé , Sabrina Mossman , Enrique Rodríguez Sánchez","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104021","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104021","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper reports on an empirical investigation of regional pragmatic variation in the use of conventional expressions in Spanish at three sites: two in Spain (in the Barcelona and Extremadura areas) and one on the US-Mexico border (El Paso/Ciudad Juárez). Conventional expressions are multi-morphemic expressions and one type of pragmalinguistic resource. They are inherently social in nature and characterize language use within speech communities. Conventional expressions are associated with specific pragmatic situations and are the preferred expression of L1 speakers in those contexts. Data were elicited via computer-delivered oral production tasks from 107 L1 speakers of Spanish in the Barcelona (N = 38), Extremadura (N = 33), and El Paso/Ciudad Juárez (N = 36) areas. The tasks were regionally adapted so that speakers would feel that they were speaking to interlocutors from their respective speech communities. Conventional expressions were identified as occurring in at least 50% of the responses in any one community. Speakers in some sites used more conventional expressions than others. Some situations elicited the same expressions at all three sites, some show agreement at two sites, and some yield a different expression from each site. The sites show substantial overlap in expressions, although not in contexts of use (exhibiting <em>variety-preferential variation</em> rather than <em>variety-specific variation</em>).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"326 ","pages":"Article 104021"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144779920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-31DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104019
Veronica D’Alesio , Anna Teresa Porrini , Matteo Greco , Andrea Moro
This work aims to investigate the elaboration of (nominal) copular sentences in three different experimental paradigms involving a reading task: an acceptability judgment, a self-paced reading and an eye-tracking experiment. Nominal copular sentences (NCs), such as [DP1 The picture of the wall] is [DP2 the cause of the riot], represent a challenging phenomenon for, at least, two reasons: (i) they can be distinguished in two subtypes, namely canonical and inverse NCs, related to the different order of the DPs (respectively, [DPsubjectis DPpredicate] in canonical form vs. [DPpredicateis DPsubject] in inverse form); (ii) these two subtypes are associated with one and the same type of string [DP is DP], although their underlying structure is completely different. Our results show that no differences emerge in the off-line paradigm, i.e. in the acceptability judgments. On the other hand, the self paced-reading task and the eye-tracking experiments show an asymmetry between these two types of NCs, with higher processing costs for inverse NCs. More specifically, the DPsubject is looked at more often and for longer times in inverse NCs. Moreover, when comparing the DPsubject to the DPpredicate in postverbal position in the eye-tracking experiment, sentence structure resulted as a good predictor for total reading time and regression path duration, even after taking into account the length and frequency of the words used. These results strongly support the hypothesis that syntactic structure is a primary factor in generating a different reading pattern between the same string of lexical types of items.
{"title":"An investigation of nominal copular sentences in three reading paradigms: Acceptability judgments, self-paced reading, and eye-tracking","authors":"Veronica D’Alesio , Anna Teresa Porrini , Matteo Greco , Andrea Moro","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104019","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104019","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This work aims to investigate the elaboration of (nominal) copular sentences in three different experimental paradigms involving a reading task: an acceptability judgment, a self-paced reading and an eye-tracking experiment. Nominal copular sentences (NCs), such as <em>[<sub>DP1</sub> The picture of the wall] is [<sub>DP2</sub> the cause of the riot],</em> represent a challenging phenomenon for, at least, two reasons: (i) they can be distinguished in two subtypes, namely <em>canonical</em> and <em>inverse</em> NCs, related to the different order of the DPs (respectively, [DP<sub>subject</sub> <em>is DP</em><sub>predicate</sub>] in canonical form vs. [DP<sub>predicate</sub> <em>is DP</em><sub>subject</sub>] in inverse form); (ii) these two subtypes are associated with one and the same type of string [DP is DP], although their underlying structure is completely different. Our results show that no differences emerge in the off-line paradigm, i.e. in the acceptability judgments. On the other hand, the self paced-reading task and the eye-tracking experiments show an asymmetry between these two types of NCs, with higher processing costs for inverse NCs. More specifically, the DP<sub>subject</sub> is looked at more often and for longer times in inverse NCs. Moreover, when comparing the DP<sub>subject</sub> to the DP<sub>predicate</sub> in postverbal position in the eye-tracking experiment, sentence structure resulted as a good predictor for total reading time and regression path duration, even after taking into account the length and frequency of the words used. These results strongly support the hypothesis that syntactic structure is a primary factor in generating a different reading pattern between the same string of lexical types of items.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"326 ","pages":"Article 104019"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144749758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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