Pub Date : 2023-09-14DOI: 10.3390/languages8030213
Pilar Pérez Cañizares
The airline industry is currently responsible for more than 2% of greenhouse gas emissions, making it a major contributor to climate change and global warming. The aim of this paper is to investigate how airlines in Spanish-speaking countries communicate their position on climate change in their corporate reports and whether this has changed over the last few years. To this end, a corpus of 51 corporate reports produced by 5 different airlines between 2003 and 2020 was designed. The reports were subjected to linguistic analysis using computer processing and corpus linguistic methods. The results show large differences between the airlines in the way they communicate their relationship with climate change and suggest the existence of two phases in terms of attention paid to the issue, with a turning point in 2015/2016. In general, climate change tends to be addressed through the reporting of specific data, with limited mention of possible consequences. References to climate change tend to appear in indexes, titles, headings or literal reproductions of reporting standards. This helps to give some prominence to the issue, although there is most frequently no positioning or appraisal of the issue.
{"title":"Climate Change Discourse of Spanish-Speaking Airlines in Corporate Reports","authors":"Pilar Pérez Cañizares","doi":"10.3390/languages8030213","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030213","url":null,"abstract":"The airline industry is currently responsible for more than 2% of greenhouse gas emissions, making it a major contributor to climate change and global warming. The aim of this paper is to investigate how airlines in Spanish-speaking countries communicate their position on climate change in their corporate reports and whether this has changed over the last few years. To this end, a corpus of 51 corporate reports produced by 5 different airlines between 2003 and 2020 was designed. The reports were subjected to linguistic analysis using computer processing and corpus linguistic methods. The results show large differences between the airlines in the way they communicate their relationship with climate change and suggest the existence of two phases in terms of attention paid to the issue, with a turning point in 2015/2016. In general, climate change tends to be addressed through the reporting of specific data, with limited mention of possible consequences. References to climate change tend to appear in indexes, titles, headings or literal reproductions of reporting standards. This helps to give some prominence to the issue, although there is most frequently no positioning or appraisal of the issue.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134911953","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 : 2023-09-14DOI: 10.3390/languages8030214
Laura Solano-Escobar, Alejandro Cuza
The present study examines the production and interpretation of infinitives among 26 Spanish heritage speakers born and raised in the US and 25 Spanish-dominant speakers from Mexico and Colombia. We tested participants’ knowledge of infinitives as subjects of the clause and as objects of a preposition via an elicited production task and a contextualized preference task. The results of both tasks showed less infinitive use by the HSs and overextension of the gerund in contexts where it is not required. The results showed that the gerund overextension was modulated by the syntactic context. There was significantly more use of the gerund as the subject of the clause in both production and interpretation and less use as the object of a preposition. Furthermore, the results showed a significant role for proficiency and language experience in the extent of grammatical reconfiguration. The higher the level of Spanish proficiency and the more exposure and use of Spanish, the more likely the participants were to produce and choose infinitives. Results are discussed along the lines of the activation approach.
{"title":"Infinitive vs. Gerund Use and Interpretation in Heritage Spanish","authors":"Laura Solano-Escobar, Alejandro Cuza","doi":"10.3390/languages8030214","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030214","url":null,"abstract":"The present study examines the production and interpretation of infinitives among 26 Spanish heritage speakers born and raised in the US and 25 Spanish-dominant speakers from Mexico and Colombia. We tested participants’ knowledge of infinitives as subjects of the clause and as objects of a preposition via an elicited production task and a contextualized preference task. The results of both tasks showed less infinitive use by the HSs and overextension of the gerund in contexts where it is not required. The results showed that the gerund overextension was modulated by the syntactic context. There was significantly more use of the gerund as the subject of the clause in both production and interpretation and less use as the object of a preposition. Furthermore, the results showed a significant role for proficiency and language experience in the extent of grammatical reconfiguration. The higher the level of Spanish proficiency and the more exposure and use of Spanish, the more likely the participants were to produce and choose infinitives. Results are discussed along the lines of the activation approach.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"51 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134911804","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 : 2023-09-14DOI: 10.3390/languages8030216
Alejandro E. Brice, Christina Salnaitis, Megan K. MacPherson
The study investigated word recognition during neural activation in monolinguals and bilinguals. We specifically examined word retrieval and blood-oxygenation changes in the prefrontal cortex during a code-mixed word recognition task. Participants completed a gating task incorporating monolingual sentences and Spanish-English code-mixed sentences while using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure blood-oxygenation changes. Word recognition contained four phonotactic conditions: (1) voiceless initial consonants, (2) voiced initial consonants, (3) CV-tense words, and (4) CV-lax words. Bilingual speakers had word-recognition capabilities similar to monolingual speakers even when identifying English words. Word recognition outcomes suggested that prefrontal cortex functioning is similar for early age of acquisition (AOA) bilinguals and monolinguals when identifying words in both code-mixed and monolingual sentences. Monolingual speakers experienced difficulty with English-voiced consonant sounds; while bilingual speakers experienced difficulties with English-lax vowels. Results suggest that localization of speech perception may be similar for both monolingual and bilingual populations, yet levels of activation differed. Our findings suggest that this parity is due to early age of acquisition (AoA) bilinguals finding a balance of language capabilities (i.e., native-like proficiency) and that in some instances the bilingual speakers processed language in the same areas dedicated to first language processing.
{"title":"Neural Activation in Bilinguals and Monolinguals Using a Word Identification Task","authors":"Alejandro E. Brice, Christina Salnaitis, Megan K. MacPherson","doi":"10.3390/languages8030216","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030216","url":null,"abstract":"The study investigated word recognition during neural activation in monolinguals and bilinguals. We specifically examined word retrieval and blood-oxygenation changes in the prefrontal cortex during a code-mixed word recognition task. Participants completed a gating task incorporating monolingual sentences and Spanish-English code-mixed sentences while using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure blood-oxygenation changes. Word recognition contained four phonotactic conditions: (1) voiceless initial consonants, (2) voiced initial consonants, (3) CV-tense words, and (4) CV-lax words. Bilingual speakers had word-recognition capabilities similar to monolingual speakers even when identifying English words. Word recognition outcomes suggested that prefrontal cortex functioning is similar for early age of acquisition (AOA) bilinguals and monolinguals when identifying words in both code-mixed and monolingual sentences. Monolingual speakers experienced difficulty with English-voiced consonant sounds; while bilingual speakers experienced difficulties with English-lax vowels. Results suggest that localization of speech perception may be similar for both monolingual and bilingual populations, yet levels of activation differed. Our findings suggest that this parity is due to early age of acquisition (AoA) bilinguals finding a balance of language capabilities (i.e., native-like proficiency) and that in some instances the bilingual speakers processed language in the same areas dedicated to first language processing.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"2013 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134915138","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 : 2023-09-14DOI: 10.3390/languages8030215
Eliecer Crespo-Fernández
In spite of the fact that taboos change over time, death is still a delicate and sensitive subject in today’s Western societies. Our unwillingness to talk openly about death and dying makes people resort to euphemism as a safe way to talk about human mortality and related matters. Following Steen’s Deliberate Metaphor Theory, this study discusses the role that euphemistic metaphors play on a sample of 174 gravestone inscriptions from the English Cemetery of Malaga, the oldest Protestant cemetery in Spain, and, at the same time, examines the social and cognitive aspects of metaphor in epitaph writing. The analysis carried out reveals that most of the 96 metaphorical items observed in the gravestone inscriptions present positive connotations. Indeed, the source domains of rest, peace, new life and journey offer an optimistic and comforting approach to death and dying, whereas the domains of loss and separation refer to the target domain of death in negative terms. All in all, the metaphors encountered in the epitaphs are deliberately used both to help the bereaved confront the loss of a loved one and pay tribute to the deceased.
{"title":"The Death Taboo: Euphemism and Metaphor in Epitaphs from the English Cemetery of Malaga, Spain","authors":"Eliecer Crespo-Fernández","doi":"10.3390/languages8030215","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030215","url":null,"abstract":"In spite of the fact that taboos change over time, death is still a delicate and sensitive subject in today’s Western societies. Our unwillingness to talk openly about death and dying makes people resort to euphemism as a safe way to talk about human mortality and related matters. Following Steen’s Deliberate Metaphor Theory, this study discusses the role that euphemistic metaphors play on a sample of 174 gravestone inscriptions from the English Cemetery of Malaga, the oldest Protestant cemetery in Spain, and, at the same time, examines the social and cognitive aspects of metaphor in epitaph writing. The analysis carried out reveals that most of the 96 metaphorical items observed in the gravestone inscriptions present positive connotations. Indeed, the source domains of rest, peace, new life and journey offer an optimistic and comforting approach to death and dying, whereas the domains of loss and separation refer to the target domain of death in negative terms. All in all, the metaphors encountered in the epitaphs are deliberately used both to help the bereaved confront the loss of a loved one and pay tribute to the deceased.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134911795","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 : 2023-09-13DOI: 10.3390/languages8030212
Yangyu Xiao, Yuying Zhi
ChatGPT, a general-purpose intelligent chatbot developed by OpenAI, has introduced numerous opportunities and challenges in the field of language education. With its remarkable ability to generate diverse forms of text, answer questions, and provide translations within minutes, ChatGPT has become an influential tool in the era of advanced AI technology. However, to what extent ChatGPT can be used to assist students in completing language learning tasks remains largely unexplored. Against this background, this study aimed to investigate students’ experiences with ChatGPT and their perceptions of its role in language learning through a small-scale qualitative study. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with five students at a top-tier international university in China. Students’ responses revealed that ChatGPT has the potential to serve as a valuable learning partner and aid students in completing language-related tasks. Furthermore, participants exhibited critical judgment in evaluating the quality of ideas and outputs generated by ChatGPT, as well as the ability to modify prompts to maximize learning benefits. Such critical judgment offsets the potential threats to academic integrity posed by ChatGPT. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the potential of ChatGPT in language education by adding empirical evidence from students’ perspectives. This study supports the idea that ChatGPT can work as an effective tool for providing students with immediate feedback and personalized learning experiences. Such findings generate implications for future pedagogical practices in the new era by providing students with personalized guidance, designing technology-embedded language support, and developing students’ lifelong learning skills (e.g., autonomy and evaluative judgment) with the support of ChatGPT.
{"title":"An Exploratory Study of EFL Learners’ Use of ChatGPT for Language Learning Tasks: Experience and Perceptions","authors":"Yangyu Xiao, Yuying Zhi","doi":"10.3390/languages8030212","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030212","url":null,"abstract":"ChatGPT, a general-purpose intelligent chatbot developed by OpenAI, has introduced numerous opportunities and challenges in the field of language education. With its remarkable ability to generate diverse forms of text, answer questions, and provide translations within minutes, ChatGPT has become an influential tool in the era of advanced AI technology. However, to what extent ChatGPT can be used to assist students in completing language learning tasks remains largely unexplored. Against this background, this study aimed to investigate students’ experiences with ChatGPT and their perceptions of its role in language learning through a small-scale qualitative study. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with five students at a top-tier international university in China. Students’ responses revealed that ChatGPT has the potential to serve as a valuable learning partner and aid students in completing language-related tasks. Furthermore, participants exhibited critical judgment in evaluating the quality of ideas and outputs generated by ChatGPT, as well as the ability to modify prompts to maximize learning benefits. Such critical judgment offsets the potential threats to academic integrity posed by ChatGPT. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the potential of ChatGPT in language education by adding empirical evidence from students’ perspectives. This study supports the idea that ChatGPT can work as an effective tool for providing students with immediate feedback and personalized learning experiences. Such findings generate implications for future pedagogical practices in the new era by providing students with personalized guidance, designing technology-embedded language support, and developing students’ lifelong learning skills (e.g., autonomy and evaluative judgment) with the support of ChatGPT.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134990254","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 : 2023-09-11DOI: 10.3390/languages8030211
Barbara Muszyńska, Joanna Pfingsthorn, Tim Giesler
Developing intercultural competence (IC) through foreign language is believed to lead to rejecting prejudices and stereotypes and fostering bilingualism and biculturalism. Despite the growth of publications on technologies and IC, a significant gap exists between what is known (evidence) and what is done (practice) at the levels of decision making and course design. This scoping review, guided by the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines, is conducted to systematically map peer-reviewed literature, taking a longitudinal perspective to update the existing reviews, identify knowledge gaps, and provide a new conclusion to the topic investigated. A transparent, replicable review protocol was designed a priori. A formal Advisory Group was established to incorporate various perspectives and ensure the applicability of the review findings. The main findings suggest that the concept of IC is not uniformly defined across the studies examined, and the development and dynamic nature of the concept is not captured. Numerous studies rely on chosen aspects of the construct only. Still, most of them report largely positive findings concerning the development of IC in FL online learning environments. It is possible that this high number of positive findings includes some cases of type II error or false positives.
{"title":"The Role of Online Learning Environments in the Enhancement of Language Learners’ Intercultural Competence: A Scoping Review of Studies Published between 2015 and 2022","authors":"Barbara Muszyńska, Joanna Pfingsthorn, Tim Giesler","doi":"10.3390/languages8030211","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030211","url":null,"abstract":"Developing intercultural competence (IC) through foreign language is believed to lead to rejecting prejudices and stereotypes and fostering bilingualism and biculturalism. Despite the growth of publications on technologies and IC, a significant gap exists between what is known (evidence) and what is done (practice) at the levels of decision making and course design. This scoping review, guided by the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines, is conducted to systematically map peer-reviewed literature, taking a longitudinal perspective to update the existing reviews, identify knowledge gaps, and provide a new conclusion to the topic investigated. A transparent, replicable review protocol was designed a priori. A formal Advisory Group was established to incorporate various perspectives and ensure the applicability of the review findings. The main findings suggest that the concept of IC is not uniformly defined across the studies examined, and the development and dynamic nature of the concept is not captured. Numerous studies rely on chosen aspects of the construct only. Still, most of them report largely positive findings concerning the development of IC in FL online learning environments. It is possible that this high number of positive findings includes some cases of type II error or false positives.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135979600","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 : 2023-09-08DOI: 10.3390/languages8030210
Steve Oswald
It can be argued that linguistic aspects of argumentation have attracted scholarly attention ever since the foundation of rhetoric, which originally developed as the study of means of persuasion, and thus, to a fair extent, that linguistics plays an important role in the study of argumentation at large [...]
{"title":"The Pragmatics and Argumentation Interface","authors":"Steve Oswald","doi":"10.3390/languages8030210","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030210","url":null,"abstract":"It can be argued that linguistic aspects of argumentation have attracted scholarly attention ever since the foundation of rhetoric, which originally developed as the study of means of persuasion, and thus, to a fair extent, that linguistics plays an important role in the study of argumentation at large [...]","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46968351","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 : 2023-09-05DOI: 10.3390/languages8030209
Alexis Zhou, Daniel J. Olson
The production of L2 lexical tone has proven difficult for learners of tonal languages, leading to the testing of different tone training techniques. To test the validity of these techniques, it is first necessary to capture the differences between L1 and L2 tone datasets. The current study explores three analyses designed to compare L1 and L2 tone: (1) using a single deviation score, (2) using deviation score calculations for specific regions of tone productions, and (3) applying a complexity-invariant distance measure to the two time series datasets. These three analyses were tested using datasets sampled from a previous study testing the effects of a visual feedback paradigm on the production of L2 Mandarin tone. Results suggest the first two analyses, although useful for providing an overall evaluation of how L2 speakers’ pretest versus posttest productions compare to L1 speakers, lose critical information about tone, namely pitch height, contour, and the timing of the production. The third analysis, applying the complexity-invariant distance measure to the datasets, can provide the pertinent information lost from the first two analyses in a more robust manner.
{"title":"Quantitative Methods for Analyzing Second Language Lexical Tone Production","authors":"Alexis Zhou, Daniel J. Olson","doi":"10.3390/languages8030209","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030209","url":null,"abstract":"The production of L2 lexical tone has proven difficult for learners of tonal languages, leading to the testing of different tone training techniques. To test the validity of these techniques, it is first necessary to capture the differences between L1 and L2 tone datasets. The current study explores three analyses designed to compare L1 and L2 tone: (1) using a single deviation score, (2) using deviation score calculations for specific regions of tone productions, and (3) applying a complexity-invariant distance measure to the two time series datasets. These three analyses were tested using datasets sampled from a previous study testing the effects of a visual feedback paradigm on the production of L2 Mandarin tone. Results suggest the first two analyses, although useful for providing an overall evaluation of how L2 speakers’ pretest versus posttest productions compare to L1 speakers, lose critical information about tone, namely pitch height, contour, and the timing of the production. The third analysis, applying the complexity-invariant distance measure to the datasets, can provide the pertinent information lost from the first two analyses in a more robust manner.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41619000","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 : 2023-09-04DOI: 10.3390/languages8030208
Keith Allan
The taboo exploitation examined in this essay is swearing. Swearing intersects in complex ways with the giving and taking of pleasure and concomitantly coping with pain or, conversely, craving to inflict pain. Swearing is normally restricted to colloquial styles because it is commonly perceived to breach the rules of courtesy by offending against standards of good taste and good manners. The breaking of this taboo is an emotional release. Swearing has a special place in our neural anatomy, perhaps accounting for: (a) its effectiveness displaying pleasure and managing pain or the hypoalgesia and other physiological effects in laboratory studies; (b) for the tendency of any disparaging denotation or connotation to dominate the interpretation of the immediate context. I recognize five frequently synchronous functions for swearing from the utterer’s as well as the audience point of view: (i) The expletive function, often marking attitude to what is said. (ii) Abuse, insult, banter. (iii) Spicing up the message. (iv) Expression of social solidarity. (v) The discourse function. There is an additional from an audience point of view: (vi) Characterizing an individual’s behavior. For every function, the degree of pleasure and/or pain and the kind of taboo exploitation is assessed.
{"title":"The Pleasure and Pain in Taboo Exploitation","authors":"Keith Allan","doi":"10.3390/languages8030208","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030208","url":null,"abstract":"The taboo exploitation examined in this essay is swearing. Swearing intersects in complex ways with the giving and taking of pleasure and concomitantly coping with pain or, conversely, craving to inflict pain. Swearing is normally restricted to colloquial styles because it is commonly perceived to breach the rules of courtesy by offending against standards of good taste and good manners. The breaking of this taboo is an emotional release. Swearing has a special place in our neural anatomy, perhaps accounting for: (a) its effectiveness displaying pleasure and managing pain or the hypoalgesia and other physiological effects in laboratory studies; (b) for the tendency of any disparaging denotation or connotation to dominate the interpretation of the immediate context. I recognize five frequently synchronous functions for swearing from the utterer’s as well as the audience point of view: (i) The expletive function, often marking attitude to what is said. (ii) Abuse, insult, banter. (iii) Spicing up the message. (iv) Expression of social solidarity. (v) The discourse function. There is an additional from an audience point of view: (vi) Characterizing an individual’s behavior. For every function, the degree of pleasure and/or pain and the kind of taboo exploitation is assessed.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41552507","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 : 2023-09-02DOI: 10.3390/languages8030207
E. Kaan
According to certain approaches to adaptation, readers and listeners quickly adjust their processing of sentences to match properties of recently encountered sentences. The present preregistered study used ERP (event-related brain potentials) to investigate how and when readers change their processing in response to recent exposure to sentences of a particular structure. We presented English speakers (n = 36) with three virtual blocks of English sentences with and-coordination ambiguities. In the first and third block, the ambiguity was always resolved towards a noun phrase (NP-) coordination; in the second block, the structure was always a clausal (S-) coordination. We manipulated the plausibility of the critical noun after the conjunct. N400 and P600 plausibility effects were probed to see to what extent the reader preferred an NP- coordination or expected the sentence to continue differently. Our results suggest that readers change their processing as a function of recent exposure but that they do not immediately adapt to the target structure. Furthermore, we observed substantial individual variation in the type and change in response over the course of the study. The idea that structural adaptation is immediate and a direct reflection of the properties of the recent context therefore needs to be fine-tuned.
{"title":"Investigating Adaptation to And-Coordination in English: An ERP Study","authors":"E. Kaan","doi":"10.3390/languages8030207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030207","url":null,"abstract":"According to certain approaches to adaptation, readers and listeners quickly adjust their processing of sentences to match properties of recently encountered sentences. The present preregistered study used ERP (event-related brain potentials) to investigate how and when readers change their processing in response to recent exposure to sentences of a particular structure. We presented English speakers (n = 36) with three virtual blocks of English sentences with and-coordination ambiguities. In the first and third block, the ambiguity was always resolved towards a noun phrase (NP-) coordination; in the second block, the structure was always a clausal (S-) coordination. We manipulated the plausibility of the critical noun after the conjunct. N400 and P600 plausibility effects were probed to see to what extent the reader preferred an NP- coordination or expected the sentence to continue differently. Our results suggest that readers change their processing as a function of recent exposure but that they do not immediately adapt to the target structure. Furthermore, we observed substantial individual variation in the type and change in response over the course of the study. The idea that structural adaptation is immediate and a direct reflection of the properties of the recent context therefore needs to be fine-tuned.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47007139","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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