Direct and Indirect Treatment Effects in Multilingual People with Aphasia

Lerman, Aviva ProQuest Dissertations & Theses City University of 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Background: Successfully assessing and treating aphasia in multilingual people requires a detailed understanding of the mechanisms underlying language processing in the multilingual population, and the potential impairments to those mechanisms. The balance between spreading activation of language processes via treatment and controlling interference of competing items within the lexico-semantic networks appears to be a key factor in determining whether treatment effects generalise within and across languages in multilingual people with aphasia (Kiran, Sandberg, Gray, Ascenso, & Kester, 2013).This balance can be exploited through treatment, which, if carefully chosen, should maximise potential within- and cross-language generalisation. One treatment that has been shown to consistently result in within-language generalisation, to varying degrees, is Verb Network Strengthening Treatment (VNeST), in which thematic role assignment to given verbs is repeatedly trained, thus strengthening semantic verb networks (Edmonds, 2016). Due to the shared semantic network across languages of multilingual people (e.g., Paradis, 1993), VNeST should result in generalisation across languages of multilingual individuals with aphasia, in addition to within-language generalisation, especially when trained verbs share argument structure across languages, and when basic sentence structure is similar across languages. To date, conflicting evidence has been observed in multilingual individuals with aphasia regarding within-language and cross-language generalisation relative to the underlying and competing mechanisms of spreading activation and interference control.Aim: We investigated under which conditions generalisation is likely to occur in multilingual individuals with aphasia, using a treatment with high potential for generalisation (VNeST), in a language pair with overlapping basic word order and mostly overlapping verb argument structure. Furthermore, we investigated whether any treatment gains were maintained after treatment was discontinued.Method: Three multilingual participants with aphasia whose first-acquired language was English, and who all acquired Modern Hebrew in elementary school and reached moderate-high pre-stroke proficiency in adulthood, participated in this study. All participants received VNeST in each of their languages, in consecutive treatment blocks. English and Hebrew abilities were tested before and after each treatment block, and 4-5 weeks after treatment was discontinued, using a large battery of language tests that included comprehension and production tasks for single-words, sentences, oral connected speech and written narratives. Functional communication skills in each language were also assessed via questionnaire.Results: We found that direct treatment effects were measured in both languages, for all participants with moderate-severe aphasia in any given language, but not in mild aphasia. Within-language generalisation was also observed for all participants, but not equally for both languages. Rather, the amount and type of generalisation was qualified by order of acquisition, relative proficiencies, attrition, aphasia type and severity, and motivational factors. Cross-language generalisation was observed in each participant in one direction only, with contradictory patterns across participants. For two participants with pre-stroke high proficiency in both languages, we found support for the strong suppression of interference in the less impaired English during treatment of the more impaired Hebrew, resulting in either no cross-language generalisation to English, or a decrease in post-treatment English language performance, which we attribute to the involvement of damage to the language control network (Ansaldo & Saidi, 2014). Conversely, in the same two participants, cross-language generalisation was observed in the more impaired Hebrew after treatment in the less impaired English, likely due to a weak suppression of interference of the more impaired Hebrew, and therefore a stronger effect of spreading activation from treatment in English (Kiran et al., 2013). We observed the opposite pattern in a participant whose attrited Hebrew had never reached full proficiency pre-stroke, with treatment in his more impaired Hebrew demonstrating cross-language generalisation to his less impaired English. We attribute this to strong spreading activation of an attrited language, both generally through exposure as well as specifically through treatment. Conversely, a decrease in performance in the more impaired Hebrew after treatment in the less impaired English was attribute to rarely using Hebrew in the environment once treatment in English began, together with fluctuating motivation. Treatment gains began to decline for all participants after treatment was discontinued, with the most widespread decline in the least communicative participant, in his rarely-used language (Hebrew).Conclusion: Our study supports the competing mechanisms theory of Kiran et al. (2013), relative to factors such as order of acquisition, damage to the language control network, language of the environment, attrition, and motivational factors. Clinically, we found that VNeST is a valuable treatment option in multilingual participants with aphasia, resulting in direct treatment effects and within-language generalisation, including for a moderately proficient language that had undergone attrition for many years. Notably, we found that when treating a multilingual participant with aphasia in one language only, not only can cross-language generalisation occur or not occur, but treatment in one language can also result in a decrease in performance in the untreated language, especially if (a) the language control network is damaged, and (b) treatment is provided to the more impaired language only. Therefore, carefully monitoring language gains and losses throughout treatment is essential, in order to modify treatment plans as therapy progresses. Finally, it is necessary to consider a low dosage maintenance treatment plan relative to participants' language and communicative environment, so that treatment gains can be appropriately maintained allowing multilingual patients with aphasia to maximise their potential in each language.

Revisiting Turkish language policy in light of the actors' norms and identity model

Bingol, Yilmaz Indiana University 2002 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

This dissertation analyzes the language policy in Turkey and the political behavior of the proponents of the language reform, Kemalist modernists, as well as political behavior of the opposing groups, Turko-Islamic traditionalists. It also explores the causes of the language policy shifts in Turkey. This study focuses on the Republican era from the early 1920s to the present. Nevertheless, it also touches on the language situation before that time. It is hoped that this work will contribute to the existing literature on language policy in general and the Turkish case in particular in two fields: methodological and contextual. Methodologically this dissertation, unlike orthodox theories of the political science that perceive the state as a rational actor, holds that elements that influence states' behavior in international and domestic areas are to an important degree cultural, and not just material. In this regard, it is argued that the Turkish language policy has been shaped through the debate among Kemalists, Islamists, and Turkists over perceptions of norms and identity, rather than the Turkish state's rational interests. Contextually, considering the language policy shifts of the early 1980s from the Kemalist Westernism to Turko-Islamic traditionalism as a landmark evidence, it is argued that modernist efforts to transform the Turkish language have remained incomplete, and thus far from success. While acknowledging the present situation to be a catastrophe, it is suggested that the clash of norms and identities, lack of compromise, and mutual exclusion of the ‘others’ among the domestic actors, namely among Kemalist modernist purifiers and Turko-Islamic traditionalist simplifiers, have caused this catastrophic nature of the Turkish language. This contradicts the findings of most Turkish and Western scholars, who have argued that modernism had been successful in transforming Turkish society in general and its language in particular.

BELIEFS ABOUT LANGUAGE LEARNING AND LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGY USE IN AN EFL CONTEXT : A COMPARISON STUDY OFMONOLINGUAL KOREAN AND BILINGUAL KOREAN-CHINESE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

홍경심 University of North Texas 2006 해외박사

본 연구의 목적은 단일 언어(Monolingual) 구사자인 한국 대학생과 이중언어(Bilingual) 구사자인 중국 조선족 대학생의 영어 학습에 대한 소신(Beliefs) 과 영어학습 전략(Language learning strategies)의 사용을 비교 분석하는데 있다. 또한 본 연구에서는 한국 대학생과 중국 조선족 대학생 학습자의 성별(Gender), 자가진단 영어 능숙도(Self-rated English proficiency), 전공(Academic major)이 그들의 영어 학습 소신과 전략 사용에 어떠한 영향을 미치는가를 비교 분석하였다. 본 연구를 위하여 428명의 한국대학생과 420명의 중국 조선족 대학생에게 설문지를 배포하여 실증 분석하였다. 본 연구를 위하여 영어 학습에 대한 소신 목록(Beliefs about Language Learning: BALLI, Horwitz, 1987), 영어학습 전략 목록(Strategy Inventory for Language Learning: SILL, Oxford, 1990), 개인 신상 설문지 (Background Information Questionnaire, Hong, 2005)를 이용하여 자료를 수집하였으며, 기술 통계(Descriptive statistics), 주성분분석(Principal-component Analysis), 요인 분석 (Factor Analysis), Pearson 상관분석(Pearson r correlation), 다변량분산분석(Multivariate Analysis of Variance: MANOVA), 사후다중비교(Scheffe post hoc test) 등 통계기법을 통하여 자료를 분석하였다. 본 연구분석 결과에서는 단일 언어 구사자인 한국 대학생과 이중언어 구사자인 중국 조선족 대학생의 영어 학습에 대한 소신 (Beliefs) 과 영어학습 전략(Language learning strategies)에 중요한 차이점이 있음을 나타났다. 단일언어 구사자인 한국대학생들은 보상전략(Compensation strategies)을 가장 많이 사용하였으며, 인지 전략(Cognitive strategies), 메타인지 전략(Metacognitive strategies), 암기 전략 (Memory strategies), 사회적/ 실용적 연습 전략 (Social and practical practice strategies), 감정전략(Affective strategies) 순으로 많이 사용 하는 것으로 나타났다. 이중언어 구사자인 중국 조선족 대학생들은 인지전략(Cognitive strategies), 메타인지 및 감정 전략(Metacognitive and affective strategies), 보충전략(Compensation strategies), 암기 전략(Memory strategies), 사회적 전략(Social strategies), 독립적인 연습 전략(Independent practice strategies) 순으로 많이 사용하는 것으로 보고 되었다. 연변지역 공립학교의 열악한 영어 학습 환경과 조선족 대학생들의 짧은 정규 영어 학습 기간에도 불구하고 이중언어 구사자인 중국 조선족 대학생들이 더 높은 영어 학습 전략 사용을 보여주었다. 한국 대학생과 중국 조선족 대학생 모두 영어학습을 하는데 강한 도구적 동기(Instrumental motivation)을 가지고 있으며, 조선족 대학생들은 정규 영어 학습(Formal learning)의 중요성에 대한 강한 소신을 가지고 있으며, 중국 조선족 대학생들은 한국 대학생들보다 원어민과 대화하는데 있어서 덜 두려워하는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 학습자의 영어학습에 관한 소신과 영어 학습전략 변수들과의 밀접한 상호 관계(Correlations)는 영어학습소신이 영어학습전략에 영향을 미친다는 것을 보여주었음을 의미한다. 학습자의 성별(Gender) 비교분석에서는 한국 대학생과 중국 조선족 대학생 모두 영어 학습에 관한 소신이나 학습전략 사용에 성별은 영향을 미치지 않는 반면 영어 능숙(Self-rated English proficiency)은 영어 학습에 관한 소신과 학습전략에 긍정적인 영향을 미친다는 것을 보여주었다. 단일언어 구사자와 이중언어 구사자의 전공별 비교분석에서는 이중언어구사자인 중국 조선족 인문대학과 공대 전공 학생들이 더 많은 전략을 사용하였고 정규영어학습의 중요성에 강한 소신을 가지고 있었다. 마지막으로 본 연구에서는 한국과 중국 연변지역의 지역적, 사회교육적 교육 환경 차이점에서 기인하는 한국 대학생과 중국 조선족 대학생들의 서로 다른 학습경험이 그들의 영어학습에 관한 소신과 영어학습의 전략 사용에 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. The current study was the first research attempt to investigate what monolingual Korean and bilingual Korean-Chinese university students believe about learning languages and what kind of language-learning strategies they use. This study has presented empirical evidence reflecting the interaction between learners’ beliefs about language learning and their selfreported use of learning strategies. Additionally, evidence of the relative influence of individual background variables (e.g., gender, academic major, and self-rated proficiency) on the frequency of strategy use and learners’ beliefs about language learning has been also provided. Several conclusions from the findings are discussed in the following section. First, monolingual Korean and bilingual Korean-Chinese EFL students employed a variety of language-learning strategies when learning English and reported similarities and differences in strategy use. Although the context for formal English education in the Yanbian Autonomous Prefecture (Korean-Chinese community) appears to be less favorable than that in Korea, bilingual Korean-Chinese students showed higher use of learning strategies than did monolingual Korean students, evidence of bilinguals’ greater potential ability to learn a new language or superior language learning abilities as previous studies presented (Nation & McLaughlin, 1986; Nayiak, et al., 1990; Thomas, 1988). At this point, although evidence of English proficiency (measured by standardized tests) of two groups is not available, higher selfreported proficiency of bilinguals was reported, which appear to support some evident of the assumption of bilingual superior ability to learn a new language. In addition, a comparison of the findings of previous studies revealed several similarities as well as some interesting differences in the responses to the SILL items between beliefs about language learning of the participants of the current study and those of ESL learners (Chang, 1990; Phillips, 1991; Osanai, 2000), FL learners (Oxford & Ehrman, 1995; Wharton, 2000), EFL learners (Al-Otabi, 2004; Bremner, 1998; Chang, 2003; Chou, 2002; Mullins, 1992; Nisbet, 2002; Wang, 1996; Yang, 1999), and other Korean learners (Kim, 2001; Lee, 1998; Park, 1997). Second, the current study reported monolingual Korean and bilingual Korean-Chinese students reported holding various opinions about language learning. For instance, students from both groups held strong instrumental motivation for learning English, possibly, because of selfimposed or other-imposed pressures at home, students were motivated to learn English for academic purposes and better job opportunities more so than rather than the purpose of social interaction. This study found that not only learning context influenced beliefs of the students in this study but also societal trends in language learning regarding the advantages of English fluency. The difference in language use in daily life in two countries was also a factor that made differences in strategy use as well as beliefs of the students. For example, some degree of fluency in two languages (Korean and Chinese) for Korean-Chinese students is necessary for survival reasons in the community. Dual language acquisition at an early age is encouraged at all social, educational, and economic levels in the Korean-Chinese community. This may influence opinions of Korean-Chinese students concerning language learning. In addition, Horwitz’s (1987) argument for the significance of previous learning experiences on language learners’ is applicable here. The difference in learning experiences of the participants from different socioeducational learning setting between the two countries could likely have been one of the factors that affected beliefs of the students in the current study. In addition, the sacrifice that many students have made to come to America to study English and continue their education would leave no doubt as to the seriousness of these language learners’ desire to learn English. Furthermore, the participant in this study held not only similar but also different beliefs concerning language learning from those of American foreign language learners (Horwitz, 1988; Kern, 1995; Oh, 1996), ESL university students (Horwitz, 1987; Siebert, 2003), Taiwanese EFL university students (Yang, 1992), Korean EFL university students (Park, 1995; Truitt, 1995; Kim-Yoon, 2000), Turkish EFL university students (Kunt, 1997), and Lebanese EFL university students (Diab, 2000). Some of contrasting findings across the studies with learners in various learning and cultural contexts may support the argument that learners’ beliefs influenced by the different language learning contexts (ESL, EFL, or FL), educational or cultural background, and stages of language learning. Third, significant correlation between learners’ beliefs concerning language learning and their use of learning a strategy indicates that learners’ beliefs about language learning seem to relate to their use of learning strategies in parallel and inverse ways, all of which, however, are logical relationships. Beliefs of students from both groups concerning self-efficacy and confidence in learning English significantly correlated to most learning strategies. This indicates that the higher students’ feelings of efficacy and confidence in learning English, the higher the frequency of strategy use as well as a variety of strategy use. This is likely a reciprocal relationship, meaning that as ability grows, so does confidence and vice versa. Beliefs of monolinguals about motivation for and the nature of learning English were also significantly associated with their use of compensation strategies, while those of bilinguals had significant correlation with cognitive strategies. In addition, some beliefs of students in the present study also negatively affected the use of learning strategies, indicating that in some cases students’ beliefs may restrict the use of learning strategies (e.g., learners with strong beliefs in importance of formal learning are more likely not use social strategies). However, caution is needed when interpreting the relationship between learners’ beliefs about language learning and their use of learning strategies. Similar to findings reported in Yang (1992), a reciprocal correlation between learner’s beliefs and strategy use might exist instead of a causal relationship between them. In other words, it is possible that learners’ beliefs may cause their use of strategies, and that learners’ use of strategies may lead their use of learning strategies. Finally, the findings of the current study have served as a useful reminder that not only learners’ beliefs about language learning affect the use of learning strategies, but also individual background variables (e.g., academic major and self-rated English proficiency) influence frequency of use and choice of strategy and beliefs about language learning.

A reference grammar of Ayutla Mixe (Tukyo'm ayuujk)

Romero-Mendez, Rodrigo State University of New York at Buffalo 2009 해외공개박사

This dissertation is a reference grammar of Ayutla Mixe, a Mixe-Zoque language spoken in Southern Mexico. More particularly this dissertation describes the language spoken in San Pedro y San Pablo Ayutla Mixes, an indigenous community located in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. This dissertation covers different topics in the phonology, morphology and syntax of the language. In the introductory chapters, I offer a brief description of the Mixe culture and the location of Ayutla, and discuss the classification of Ayutla Mixe within the Mixe-Zoque family. I also situate the present grammar in terms of its relevance to the descriptions of other Mixe-Zoque languages: within the whole family, this is the fourth grammar that is available to the general public and the first grammar of any of the Mixe languages of Oaxaca. Ayutla Mixe is a polysynthetic language with head marking and an inverse system. Ayutla Mixe has a fairly rich morphology, although most of the morphology has its locus on the verb. The language allows serial verb constructions, and, in addition to incorporation of arguments, it also allows the incorporation of non-arguments, including adjectives and obliques. In terms of its phonology, Ayutla Mixe has seven vowels: /a, e, i, gamma, u, [barred i], Λ/. In addition, it has seven types of complex nuclei: V, VV, Vh, VVh, V?, V?V, V?Vh. All the vowels also undergo metaphony due to a palatal glide at the end of the syllable. The language does not contrast between voiced and voiceless consonants, although voicing occurs as the result of phonological processes. All consonants have a fortis and a lenis realization, and this phenomenon interacts with the length of the nucleus. The verb morphology is rather complex in Ayutla Mixe, and a good description and understanding of the morphology is necessary to comprehend several syntactic phenomena that have morphological correlates. In the verb, there is only one slot for person markers. The agreement, however, is not in terms of grammatical relations but in terms of an animacy hierarchy. In other words, Ayutla Mixe has an inverse system that interacts with the person markers. In this language, all verbs are treated as either independent or dependent. The marking of a verb as independent or as dependent is triggered by the presence of certain words (such as aspectual or temporal particles, locative adverbials, and conjunctions, among others) in the clause. This difference in marking has nothing to do with subordination, as a matrix verb can be marked as dependent and a verb in a subordinate clause can be marked as independent. The language has two sets of inflectional morphemes (person prefixes and aspect-mood suffixes): one when the verb is conjugated as independent and one when the verb is conjugated as dependent. Ayutla Mixe allows more than one root in the verb stem. There are two cases of this: core serial verb constructions and noun incorporation. In core serialization, there are two or more verb roots, some of them with clear lexical content, some of them with more grammatical function (such as phase verbs). In incorporation, a noun appears as part of the verb stem. Usually, the noun could be considered as a semantic argument of the verb, but in some other cases it does not seem to act as a semantic argument. Finally, in other cases Ayutla Mixe allows a non-nominal element, such as an adjective, to be part of the verbal morphology. Ayutla Mixe has a rich morphology for coding spatial relations. Most of its spatial morphemes appear as part of the verbal morphology. Interestingly, there is a special class of bound morphemes that can either appear in the verb as prefixes or can be the head of locative phrases. These morphemes are historically related to nouns that denote body parts but synchronically must be considered an independent class of morphemes. In the noun phrase, the plural marker is restricted to a very small group of nouns, all of which refer to humans. Also, the absence of plural marking does not entail singularity with respect to nominal number. Ayutla Mixe has several mechanisms for changing the valence of the verb: two causative morphemes (one of them is also used in passive constructions) and different types of applicatives. Most of the morphemes that behave like applicatives are better described as modifying the semantic structure of the verb and very often, though not always, the syntactic structure as well. Interestingly, the true applicative is not formally marked by affixation but by apophony, i.e. by changes in the verb stem. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).

Language attitudes : an empirical investigation among primary school students in South Korea

최진숙 Macquarie University 2001 해외박사

The Korean government's English-in-education policy that Korean primary school children in grade 3 were to learn English as a compulsory subject from 1997 has raised an issue that language learning at an early age can affect the children's sense of national identity. This study examines Korean children's language attitudes as a reflection of a sense of national identity. In attempting to investigate the issues concerned, three hypotheses were made: first, English language learning may develop favorable attitudes towards English; second, English language learning may be related to the children' sense of national identity and third, the degree of exposure to English may operate as a major factor in determining such attitudes. Three hundred and sixty one primary school students, seven parents and three teachers participated in this study. Data collection has been carried out quantitatively and qualitatively with a variety of instruments: Language Attitude Questionnaire, English Proficiency Test, National Identity Perception Questionnaire, Parents Group Interview, Children Group Interview, Teachers Group Interview and In-depth Interviews. The overall results on quantitative and qualitative surveys suggest that the Korean children have a favorable attitude towards English and English speakers and that this attitude is closely related to the degree of exposure to English language. Nevertheless, this study concludes that early English learning probably does not significantly affect the sense of national identity, as it is evident that their favoritism for English was separated from the sense of national identity and most subjects had a strong perception of the importance of their own language and culture.

AlterNations: Performing Indonesian communicability

Vourloumis, Hypatia New York University 2007 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

"AlterNations: Performing Indonesian Communicability" argues that the heterogeneous plurality of the term "nation" is revealed through the certain ways a singular national language comes to be performed. By utilizing the term "alter-nations" this thesis demonstrates that performance is the condition of possibility for communicability and brings to the fore marginalized voices that destabilize the Indonesian national languages' totalizing intentions. The Indonesian national language is an invented language, an institutional political project that is disseminated throughout the vast archipelagic nation in order to practically achieve the Indonesian nation-state's ideology "Unity in Diversity." The process of promoting a standard and fixing a fragmented national space through an artificial unitary language inevitably produces tensions between the state and the ways in which Indonesian is expressed by its speakers and writers. This dissertation critically engages with varying performances of the Indonesian national language arguing that the paralinguistic features of language, such as sound and gesture, manifest the polyvocal dissonances that the state slogan "Unity in Diversity" silences. The dissertation's introduction elaborates on the notion of "alter-nations" in relation to the Indonesian archipelagic landscape and the event of a national language. The first chapter looks at the process of fixing a national Indonesian language in dialogue with counter-public literary performances tracing the historical movement of language as it culminates in the 1998 revolution. The following chapters critically engage with specific Indonesian performances of paralanguage namely through feminist and queer interventions and counter-poetics. Finally, the epilogue visits the realm of aphasia and draws on Paolo Virno's A Grammar of the Multitude in order to further theorize the relationship between politics and language, unity and diversity, and the performance of communicability.

Heritage and second language learners of Spanish: The roles of task complexity and inhibitory control

Torres, Julio R Georgetown University 2013 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Scholars in language education have called for a research agenda that examines how heritage language (HL) learners re-learn their family language since their experience learning the heritage language differs from that of second language (L2) learners. This dissertation study explores how increasing cognitive demands on tasks, as predicted by the Cognition Hypothesis, may have an impact on the development of the Spanish present subjunctive in adjectival relative clauses in both HL and L2 learner populations, and how individual differences in inhibitory control may mediate learning outcomes. The study also examines how prior language experience across different contexts shapes inhibitory control abilities. Participants in simple and complex conditions were engaged in a one-way computerized language-learning (CALL) task manipulated differentially by intentional reasoning demands in the complex task. A subset of the participants also completed a stimulated recall session. Following a split-block design, participants completed three versions of an oral and written production task (pretest, immediate and delayed posttests) as measures of learning outcomes. Also, results from an <italic>ANT</italic> or Attentional Network Task were analyzed to gauge inhibitory control ability. Overall, and contrary to expected, participants in both experimental conditions performed similarly on the oral production task. However, the learners in the simple condition demonstrated larger net gains and superior performance on the delayed posttest for the written production task, possibly due to how learners allocated their overt attention during task completion as stimulated recall episodes suggest. HL learners in the simple condition benefitted most from the treatment task. In line with previous literature, HLs were significantly faster at suppressing distracting information during the first block event on the ANT; they also lacked explicit knowledge of the target form, whereas L2 learners verbalized being more aware of the target form as a result of task completion. These findings have implications for task-based approaches for HL development and how different bilingual experiences may lead to various learning and cognitive outcomes.

The influence of native language skills on foreign language learning: Phonological, orthographic, and semantic contributions

Gilligan, Gerianne Muldoon University of Florida 2004 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

The primary goal of this study was to examine how native language skills influence foreign language learning. Additional goals included determining which native language skills are most predictive of foreign language learning and investigating whether spelling, vocabulary, and rapid automatized naming skills transfer between native and foreign languages. These relationships were explored for a range of learning abilities. Sixty-five college students enrolled in a first-semester German course participated in the study. Specific English language skills were measured to determine the degree to which native language skills were predictive of proficiency in the acquisition of specific skills in German. The independent variables were select phonological, orthographic, semantic, and rapid naming skills in English (native language) and the dependent variables were select German orthographic, semantic, and rapid naming skills. Of the four primary predictor variables of English phonological skills, English spelling, English vocabulary, and English rapid automatized naming, English spelling was the best predictor of acquisition of select basic German skills (German composite score). Several interactions among the predictor variables also made significant contributions to the German composite score. English phonological skills of varying levels of difficulty were examined. The phonological tasks that involved elements of orthographic and/or semantic processing (e.g., spelling clues) were more strongly associated with the German composite score than were the simpler English phonological tasks. Cross-language transfer of spelling and vocabulary skills between English and German was also demonstrated in this study. Data from this study (1) provide support for the Linguistic Coding Differences Hypothesis, which states that native language skills influence foreign language learning; (2) underscore the predictive power of phonologically-based skills; and (3) demonstrate cross-language transfer of specific skills.

Subject expression in Minorcan Spanish: Consequences of contact with Catalan

de Prada Perez, Ana The Pennsylvania State University 2009 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

This dissertation project examines bilingual speech, specifically subject expression in Catalan-Spanish bilinguals in Minorca, Spain. Syntactic-theoretical treatments of subject expression abound, most concerned with the formal features that license null subjects. Thus, cross-linguistic differences between null subject languages and non-null subject languages have been attributed to the features of functional projections such as Agr and Tns. While null subjects are licensed by properties of the 'core' or narrow syntax of null subject languages, the appearance of overt subjects in such languages is constrained by the informational context. Thus, in contrast to null subjects, the expression of overt subjects in null subject languages is regulated by properties of the 'peripheral' grammar, specifically, the area where the syntax interfaces with the discourse/pragmatics. The works of Antonella Sorace and her colleagues indicate that while the core syntax remains unchanged in language contact situations, the peripheral grammars (i.e., the syntax interfaces with other modules) are susceptible to inter-lingual effects. For instance, while Spanish-English bilinguals accept null subjects in Spanish (and reject them in English), they demonstrate the emergence of pragmatically-infelicitous overt pronominal subjects in Spanish. The use of pragmatically-infelicitous overt pronominal subjects in Spanish has been interpreted in two manners: one view identifies this pattern with a simplification process or strategy of cognitive economy attendant to bilingual speech (Sorace 2004); the second view describes it as a convergent outcome, rendering the contact languages more alike (Bullock & Toribio 2004, Toribio 2004). These two approaches make distinct predictions for outcomes in situations of contact between two null subject languages. The simplification approach predicts an increase in overt subjects, as a consequence of a universal process that allows for bilinguals to compensate for the increased processing load of articulating different types of information (syntactic and discursive). In contrast, a convergence account would predict an intermediate rate of overt subjects between the rates observed in the two languages in contact. This dissertation project expands on previous research by examining Spanish in contact with Catalan in Minorca. The project examines variation between null subject languages, by reference to data from two very closely related languages, and it explores bilingual outcomes, by comparing monolingual and bilingual Spanish data. The aim is to examine the role of language-internal and language-external factors in the emergence of contact-induced forms. To that end, naturalistic Spanish language samples were collected from twelve monolingual Spanish speakers, eleven Spanish L1 bilinguals, and twelve Catalan L1 bilinguals, who were recorded in Spanish; in addition, naturalistic Catalan data were gathered from twelve Catalan-dominant speakers (as there are no monolingual Catalan speakers). All language samples were recorded during an interview in which participants reported on their language history, participated in an ethnolinguistic survey, and responded to questions on language attitudes and ideologies. The recordings ranged from 49.40 minutes (4,369 words) to 99.70 minutes (11,399 words). Data were transcribed and the first 300 relevant tokens produced by each participant were coded and submitted to statistical analysis using Goldvarb X (Sankoff, Tagliamonte & Smith 2006). Apart from the overall rate of subject expression, eleven language-internal variables were considered in the distribution of null, overt pronominal, and overt lexical subjects: person and number, discourse function, distance from previous mention, focus, co-referentiality, clause type, animacy, semantic and syntactic verb type, tense continuity, and verb form ambiguity. In addition, seven language-external variables were considered: age, gender, place of residence, first language, second language proficiency, and first and second language use. Results indicate that overall rates of overt pronominal subjects are not significantly different in Spanish and Catalan (10.6% and 11.9%). The bilinguals rates in overt pronominal subjects are not significantly different from those in monolingual Spanish (12.8% in the Spanish L1 and 12.6% in the Catalan L1 bilinguals), as predicted by Bullock & Toribio (2004) and Toribio (2004). However, multivariate regressional analyses reveal differences in constraint ranking between Spanish and Catalan. Interestingly, the bilinguals mostly display intermediate positions, i.e., convergent outcomes. Evidence of a bilingual continuum, where the Catalan L1 bilinguals are closer to the Catalan data than the Spanish L1 bilinguals, is also present in the patterns of subject expression, instantiated in constraint ranking differences. Apart from the effect found for L1, proficiency was also returned as significant. Catalan L1 speakers with higher proficiency in Spanish and Spanish L1 speakers with higher proficiency in Catalan display more monolingual-like patterns than those who exhibit more disparate proficiencies across their two languages. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).

Functional and Anatomical Adaptations in Multilingual Language Users

Ciochina, Ludmila University of California, Davis ProQuest Dissertat 2021 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Language is a quintessentially human trait. Many decades of neurolinguistic research provided evidence of neural structures which specialize in complex linguistic and cognitive processes supporting human communications. Because the world is multilingual, (Crystal, 2010; de Bot, 2019) a prominent question related to brain processes supporting language is whether the neural representation of language changes as a function of the number of languages one knows. This study attempts to depict a more comprehensive picture of brain plasticity in multilinguals, by integrating behavioral with functional, structural, and diffusion MRI data. The questions investigated stem from newer dual-stream models of language processing that frame brain architecture, supporting language function in terms of a language network (Friederici & Gierhan, 2013; Hickok & Poeppel, 2007b). Based on this framework, language representation for multilinguals compared to monolinguals is investigated within brain regions specialized for language processing (a.k.a. core language nodes; Fedorenko & Thompson-schill, 2014), and regions of domain-generality, associated with language control. Three main findings surface from this investigation. First, monolinguals and highly proficient multilinguals similarly recruit core language brain regions during the processing of native and second languages. These same regions show similar restructuring patterns in grey matter structure and white matter connectivity. Second, compared to monolinguals, highly proficient multilingual speakers show stronger reliance on the cingulo-striatal subnetwork (Dosenbach et al., 2008; Wu et al., 2021) of the cognitive control system, during language comprehension. Decreases in grey matter thickness and volume, along with changes in white matter integrity within this subnetwork, accompany changes in the responsiveness of these regions during language tasks. Finally, contrary to predictions of recent models of bilingual language inhibition and control (Green, 1986, 1998), multilinguals show different patterns of language activation and inhibition. Additionally, these seem to be modulated by language dominance. The implications of these findings on current neurolinguistic theory and models of language processing in speakers of multiple languages (Abutalebi & Green, 2016; Green & Abutalebi, 2013; Grundy et al., 2017; Pliatsikas, 2020) are discussed.