Structural priming of code-switches in non-shared-word-order utterances: The effect of lexical repetition (original) (raw)
Related papers
Two languages, one effect: structural priming in spontaneous code-switching
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2016
We investigate here the contribution of code-switching and structural priming to variable expression of the Spanish first person singular subject pronoun in the New Mexican bilingual community. Comparisons with both Spanish and English benchmarks indicate no convergence of Spanish toward English grammar, including in the presence of code-switching, where the linguistic conditioning of variant selection remains unaltered. We find a language-internal and cross-language priming effect, albeit of differing strength, such that speakers’ preceding coreferential Spanish and English) subject pronouns favor subsequent pronouns, whereas unexpressed subjects tend to be followed by unexpressed subjects. Given the rarity of unexpressed subjects in English, in the presence of code-switching fewer tokens occur with unexpressed primes. Thus, code-switching has no intrinsic effect. Instead, it results in associated shifts in the distribution of contextual features relevant to priming, contrary to the convergence-via-code-switching hypothesis and in accordance with the contextual distribution-via-code-switching hypothesis, which we put forward here.
Frontiers in Psychology
Despite a wealth of studies on effects of switch locations in code-switching (CS), we know relatively little about how structural factors such as switch location and extralinguistic factors such as directionality preferences may jointly modulate CS (cf., Stell and Yapko,2015). Previous findings in the nominal domain suggest that within-constituent switching (within the noun phrase) may be easier to process than between-constituent switching (a structural effect), and that there may also be directionality effects with switches preferred only in one language direction (an extra-linguistic effect). In this study we examine a different domain, namely how VP-external (preverbal) vs. VP-internal (postverbal) switch location and switch directionality affects the processing of Papiamentu–Dutch mixed subject-verb-object (SVO) sentences. We manipulated switch location (preverbal/postverbal), and directionality of switch (PD/DP) and tested 50 Papiamentu–Dutch bilinguals on an auditory sentence...
Shared information structure: Evidence from cross-linguistic priming
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2012
This study asked whether bilinguals construct a language-independent level of information structure for the sentences that they produce. It reports an experiment in which a Polish-English bilingual and a confederate of the experimenter took turns to describe pictures to each other and to find those pictures in an array. The confederate produced a Polish active, passive, or conjoined noun phrase, or an active sentence with object-verb-subject order (OVS sentence). The participant responded in English, and tended to produce a passive sentence more often after a passive or an OVS sentence than after a conjoined noun phrase or active sentence. Passives and OVS sentences are syntactically unrelated but share information structure, in that both assign emphasis to the patient. We therefore argued that bilinguals construct a language-independent level of information structure during speech.
Language Switching in the Production of Phrases
The language switching task has provided a useful insight into how bilinguals produce language. So far, however, the studies using this method have been limited to lexical access. The present study provides empirical evidence on language switching in the production of simple grammar structures. In the reported experiment, Polish-English unbalanced bilinguals switched between their L1 and L2 while describing pictures of ongoing and completed actions with simple SV progressive and perfective phrases. The results show asymmetrical switching costs for progressive phrases and symmetrical switching costs with reversed dominance for perfective phrases. These findings parallel those obtained in tasks requiring the production of single words, although the present study is the first in which the same bilingual participants display different patterns of switching costs depending on the characteristics of utterances they produce. These results can be explained using recently developed models of bilingual language control.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 2002
In the current study, the authors used an immediate repetition paradigm with pictures to observe whether repetition enhances word production in bilinguals. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to name pictures that were named previously in the same language (Spanish-Spanish or English-English) or in the opposite language (Spanish-English or English-Spanish). Results revealed a repetition effect both within languages and between languages. Furthermore, there was an asymmetry within language, with repetition priming being larger in Spanish than in English. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that lag interacted with language for both within-and between-language priming. However, lag resulted in a decrease in the asymmetry for within-but not between-language priming. The results are consistent with the view that within-and between-language repetition priming are mediated by different mechanisms.
Lexical activation of cross-language syntactic priming
Bilingualism, 2006
Cross-language (L1-to-L2) syntactic priming is the repetition of utterance structure from one language to another independently of meaning and has motivated models of language-shared representations of L1-L2 equivalent structures (Salamoura and Williams, submitted; Schoonbaert, Hartsuiker and Pickering, submitted). These models assume that the phenomenon is the result of residual activation of syntactic features encoding verb structural preferences and they, therefore, predict its initiation by a single verb prime (cf. Pickering and Branigan, 1998, for L1). This prediction was confirmed in a sentence completion task where we obtained syntactic priming from L1 Dutch to L2 English with Prepositional Object (PO) and Double Object (DO) datives upon presentation of single Dutch verbs that take either PO or DO only.
Grammatical encoding in bilingual language production: A focus on code switching
In this study, I report three experiments that examined whether words from one language of bilinguals can use the syntactic features form the other language, and how such syntactic co-activation might influence syntactic processing. In other words, I examined whether there are any cases in which an inherent syntactic feature a lexical item is inhibited and the syntactic feature that belongs to the other language is used, instead. In the non-switch condition in Experiments 1 and 2, Persian-English bilinguals described pictures using an adjective-noun string from the same language requested. In the switch condition, they used a noun and an adjective from the other language. In the switch condition in Experiment 3, participants used only the adjective of a noun phrase from the other language. The results showed that bilinguals may inhibit the activation of a word’s syntactic feature and use the syntactic property from the other language, instead (e.g., pirāhane (shirt-N) black). As the combinatorial node (the node that specifies different kinds of syntactic structures in which a word can be used) of a used adjective retains activation at least temporarily, bilinguals are more likely to use the same combinatorial node even with an adjective from the other language. Cross-language syntactic interference increased in the switch conditions. Moreover, more inappropriate responses were observed when switching from bilinguals’ L2 to L1. The results also revealed that different experimental contexts may lead to different patterns of the control mechanism. The results will be interpreted in terms of Hartsuiker and Pickering’s (2008) model of syntactic representation.
Cross-linguistic structural priming in multilinguals: Further evidence for shared syntax
Journal of Memory and Language, 2016
Four cross-linguistic structural priming experiments with multilinguals investigated whether syntactic representations for different languages are shared or separate and whether such representations in the first language are stored in a fundamentally different way from those in later acquired languages. The experiments tested whether structural priming within a language differs from priming between languages and whether priming between a first and second language differs from priming between two different second languages. Experiment 1 tested priming of relative clause attachment from Dutch (the subjects' first language), French, or English (two second languages) to Dutch. Experiments 2 and 3 were similar but had respectively French and English as the target language. Experiment 4 tested dative priming from Dutch, English, and German (another second language) to English. Structural priming was always as strong within-as between-languages and priming between a first and a second language was always as strong as priming between two second languages. These findings support accounts that assume syntax is shared across languages.
Journal of Memory and Language, 2010
In four experiments, we investigated the role of shared word order and alignment with a dialogue partner in the production of code-switched sentences. In Experiments 1 and 2, Dutch–English bilinguals code-switched in describing pictures while being cued with word orders that are either shared or not shared between Dutch and English. In Experiments 3 and 4, the same task was embedded in a confederate-scripted dialogue situation, and the confederate’s use of word order and sentence position of switching was manipulated. We found that participants had a clear preference for using the shared word order when they switched languages, but also aligned their word order choices and code-switching patterns with the confederate. These findings demonstrate how the integration of languages in sentence production depends on processes of syntactic co-activation between languages and on processes of alignment between dialogue partners, and extend the notion of interactive alignment to bilingual speech and code-switching.
Journal of Memory and Language, 2007
To what extent do bilinguals have a single, integrated representation of syntactic information? According to . Is syntax separate or shared between languages? Cross-linguistic syntactic priming in Spanish-English bilinguals. Psychological Science, 15, 409-414.], bilinguals represent syntactic information in terms of links between lexical representations and combinatorial nodes that specify syntactic structure, in a single cross-linguistic network. We describe predictions of this account and test them in two pairs of syntactic priming experiments with Dutch-English bilinguals. In Experiments 1 and 2, we tested priming in English (L2) production. Experiment 1 showed priming within English, and found that this priming was boosted by lexical repetition. Experiment 2 showed priming from Dutch to English, and found that this priming was boosted when prime and target used translation-equivalent verbs. However, this boost was weaker than the lexical boost in Experiment 1. In Experiments 3 and 4, we tested priming in Dutch (L1) production. Experiment 3 showed priming within Dutch, again boosted by lexical repetition. Experiment 4 showed priming from English to Dutch, but found no boost when prime and target were translation-equivalent verbs. We interpret these results in terms of an integrated model of lexical-syntactic representation.