@unpublished{AbutalebiClahsen2015, author = {Abutalebi, Jubin and Clahsen, Harald}, title = {Bilingualism, cognition, and aging}, series = {Bilingualism : language and cognition.}, volume = {18}, journal = {Bilingualism : language and cognition.}, number = {1}, publisher = {Cambridge Univ. Press}, address = {New York}, issn = {1366-7289}, doi = {10.1017/S1366728914000741}, pages = {1 -- 2}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Extract: Topics in psycholinguistics and the neurocognition of language rarely attract the attention of journalists or the general public. One topic that has done so, however, is the potential benefits of bilingualism for general cognitive functioning and development, and as a precaution against cognitive decline in old age. Sensational claims have been made in the public domain, mostly by journalists and politicians. Recently (September 4, 2014) The Guardian reported that "learning a foreign language can increase the size of your brain", and Michael Gove, the UK's previous Education Secretary, noted in an interview with The Guardian (September 30, 2011) that "learning languages makes you smarter". The present issue of BLC addresses these topics by providing a state-of-the-art overview of theoretical and experimental research on the role of bilingualism for cognition in children and adults.}, language = {en} } @article{ArslanBastiaanseFelser2015, author = {Arslan, Se{\c{c}}kin and Bastiaanse, Roelien and Felser, Claudia}, title = {Looking at the evidence in visual world: eye-movements reveal how bilingual and monolingual Turkish speakers process grammatical evidentiality}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {6}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01387}, pages = {13}, year = {2015}, abstract = {This study presents pioneering data on how adult early bilinguals (heritage speakers) and late bilingual speakers of Turkish and German process grammatical evidentiality in a visual world setting in comparison to monolingual speakers of Turkish. Turkish marks evidentiality, the linguistic reference to information source, through inflectional affixes signaling either direct (-DI) or indirect (-mls) evidentiality. We conducted an eyetracking-during-listening experiment where participants were given access to visual 'evidence' supporting the use of either a direct or indirect evidential form. The behavioral results indicate that the monolingual Turkish speakers comprehended direct and indirect evidential scenarios equally well. In contrast, both late and early bilinguals were less accurate and slower to respond to direct than to indirect evidentials. The behavioral results were also reflected in the proportions of looks data. That is, both late and early bilinguals fixated less frequently on the target picture in the direct than in the indirect evidential condition while the monolinguals showed no difference between these conditions. Taken together, our results indicate reduced sensitivity to the semantic and pragmatic function of direct evidential forms in both late and early bilingual speakers, suggesting a simplification of the Turkish evidentiality system in Turkish heritage grammars. We discuss our findings with regard to theories of incomplete acquisition and first language attrition.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{BaerHenney2015, author = {Baer-Henney, Dinah}, title = {Learners' Little Helper}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {135}, year = {2015}, language = {en} } @article{BaerHenneyKueglervandeVijver2015, author = {Baer-Henney, Dinah and K{\"u}gler, Frank and van de Vijver, Ruben}, title = {The Interaction of Language-Specific and Universal Factors During the Acquisition of Morphophonemic Alternations With Exceptions}, series = {Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society}, volume = {39}, journal = {Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society}, number = {7}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0364-0213}, doi = {10.1111/cogs.12209}, pages = {1537 -- 1569}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Using the artificial language paradigm, we studied the acquisition of morphophonemic alternations with exceptions by 160 German adult learners. We tested the acquisition of two types of alternations in two regularity conditions while additionally varying length of training. In the first alternation, a vowel harmony, backness of the stem vowel determines backness of the suffix. This process is grounded in substance (phonetic motivation), and this universal phonetic factor bolsters learning a generalization. In the second alternation, tenseness of the stem vowel determines backness of the suffix vowel. This process is not based in substance, but it reflects a phonotactic property of German and our participants benefit from this language-specific factor. We found that learners use both cues, while substantive bias surfaces mainly in the most unstable situation. We show that language-specific and universal factors interact in learning.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Bosch2015, author = {Bosch, Sina}, title = {Morphosyntactic feature structure in the native and non-native mental lexicon}, pages = {VI, 166}, year = {2015}, language = {en} } @article{BrueningTran2015, author = {Bruening, Benjamin and Tran, Thuan}, title = {The nature of the passive, with an analysis of Vietnamese}, series = {Lingua : international review of general linguistics}, volume = {165}, journal = {Lingua : international review of general linguistics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0024-3841}, doi = {10.1016/j.lingua.2015.07.008}, pages = {133 -- 172}, year = {2015}, abstract = {We attempt to clarify a great deal of confusion in the literature on what a passive is, and what counts as a passive in different languages. We do this through a detailed investigation of what has been identified as a passive in Vietnamese, sentences with the morphemes bi and duoc. We also compare these to Mandarin Chinese bei. We show that these morphemes are not passive at all: like English auxiliaries, they may occur with either an active complement or a passive one. We clarify this point and what it means to be a passive. Second, sentences with these morphemes and the corresponding sentences without them are truth-conditionally equivalent. We show that the extra meaning they convey is a type of projective, or not-at-issue, meaning that is separate from the at-issue content of the sentence. We provide a detailed syntactic and semantic analysis of Vietnamese, and give arguments for this analysis. We propose that there is no movement in Vietnamese, but there is in Chinese, and this difference accounts for differences between the two languages. We also clarify what agent-oriented adverbs of the 'deliberately' type show, and draw conclusions about English get passives and tough constructions. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{BuddPaulmannBarryetal.2015, author = {Budd, Mary-Jane and Paulmann, Silke and Barry, Christopher and Clahsen, Harald}, title = {Producing morphologically complex words: An ERP study with children and adults}, series = {Developmental cognitive neuroscience : a journal for cognitive, affective and social developmental neuroscience}, volume = {12}, journal = {Developmental cognitive neuroscience : a journal for cognitive, affective and social developmental neuroscience}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1878-9293}, doi = {10.1016/j.dcn.2014.11.002}, pages = {51 -- 60}, year = {2015}, abstract = {widely studied morphological phenomenon in psycholinguistic research is the plurals-inside-compounds effect in English, which is the avoidance of regular plural modifiers within compounds (e.g., *rats hunter). The current study employs event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to investigate the production of plurals-inside-compounds in children and adults. We specifically examined the ERP correlates of producing morphologically complex words in 8-year-olds, 12-year-olds and adults, by recording ERPs during the silent production of compounds with plural or singular modifiers. Results for both children and adults revealed a negativity in response to compounds produced from regular plural forms when compared to compounds formed from irregular plurals, indicating a highly specific brain response to a subtle linguistic contrast. Although children performed behaviourally with an adult-like pattern in the task, we found a broader distribution and a considerably later latency in children's brain potentials than in adults', indicating that even in late childhood the brain networks involved in language processing are subject to subtle developmental changes. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.}, language = {en} } @article{ClahsenGerthHeyeretal.2015, author = {Clahsen, Harald and Gerth, Sabrina and Heyer, Vera and Schott, Esther}, title = {Morphology constrains native and non-native word formation in different ways Evidence from plurals inside compounds}, series = {The mental lexicon}, volume = {10}, journal = {The mental lexicon}, number = {1}, publisher = {Benjamins}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {1871-1340}, doi = {10.1075/ml.10.1.03cla}, pages = {53 -- 87}, year = {2015}, abstract = {The role of morphological and syntactic information in non-native second language (L2) comprehension is controversial. Some have argued that late bilinguals rapidly integrate grammatical cues with other information sources during reading or listening in the same way as native speakers. Others claim that structural cues are underused in L2 processing. We examined different kinds of modifiers inside compounds (e.g. singulars vs. plurals, *rat eater vs. rats eater) with respect to this controversy which are subject to both structural and nonstructural constraints. Two offline and two online (eye-movement) experiments were performed examining the role of these constraints in spoken language comprehension of English and German, testing 77 advanced L2 learners. We also compared the L2 groups to corresponding groups of native speakers. Our results suggest that despite native-like sensitivity to the compounding constraints, late bilinguals rely more on non-structural constraints and are less able to revise their initial interpretations than L1 comprehenders.}, language = {en} } @article{CunningsPattersonFelser2015, author = {Cunnings, Ian and Patterson, Clare and Felser, Claudia}, title = {Structural constraints on pronoun binding and coreference: evidence from eye movements during reading}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {6}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00840}, pages = {18}, year = {2015}, abstract = {A number of recent studies have investigated how syntactic and non-syntactic constraints combine to cue memory retrieval during anaphora resolution. In this paper we investigate how syntactic constraints and gender congruence interact to guide memory retrieval during the resolution of subject pronouns. Subject pronouns are always technically ambiguous, and the application of syntactic constraints on their interpretation depends on properties of the antecedent that is to be retrieved. While pronouns can freely corefer with non-quantified referential antecedents, linking a pronoun to a quantified antecedent is only possible in certain syntactic configurations via variable binding. We report the results from a judgment task and three online reading comprehension experiments investigating pronoun resolution with quantified and non-quantified antecedents. Results from both the judgment task and participants' eye movements during reading indicate that comprehenders freely allow pronouns to corefer with non-quantified antecedents, but that retrieval of quantified antecedents is restricted to specific syntactic environments. We interpret our findings as indicating that syntactic constraints constitute highly weighted cues to memory retrieval during anaphora resolution.}, language = {en} } @misc{Demske2015, author = {Demske, Ulrike}, title = {Adverbial Clauses, Main Clause Phenomena, and the composition of the Left Periphery}, series = {Studies in language}, volume = {39}, journal = {Studies in language}, number = {1}, publisher = {Benjamins}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0378-4177}, doi = {10.1075/sl.39.1.09dem}, pages = {235 -- 243}, year = {2015}, language = {en} } @incollection{Ette2015, author = {Ette, Ottmar}, title = {Nanofilologia y teoria literaria}, series = {MicroBerl{\´i}n - de minificciones y microrrelatos}, booktitle = {MicroBerl{\´i}n - de minificciones y microrrelatos}, publisher = {Iberoamericana}, address = {Madrid}, isbn = {978-84-8489-929-7}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {51 -- 84}, year = {2015}, language = {en} } @article{FrankFrankZimmermann2015, author = {Frank, Ulrike and Frank, Katrin and Zimmermann, Heinrich}, title = {Effects of Respiratory Therapy (bagging) on Respiratory Function, Swallowing Frequency and Vigilance in Tracheotomized Patients in Early Neurorehabilitation}, series = {Pneumologie : Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Pneumologie und Beatmungsmedizin}, volume = {69}, journal = {Pneumologie : Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Pneumologie und Beatmungsmedizin}, number = {7}, publisher = {Thieme}, address = {Stuttgart}, issn = {0934-8387}, doi = {10.1055/s-0034-1392359}, pages = {394 -- 399}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Objective: Tracheotomized patients often suffer from impairments in mucociliary clearance and limited capacities for active expectoration of secretions. We investigated the effects of a specific respiratory intervention method (bagging) for tracheotomized patients on respiratory parameters (pO(2), pCO(2), SpO(2), respiratory rates), swallowing frequency, vigilance and secretion viscosity. Methods: The bagging method supports enforced mobilization and expectoration of secretions by application of a series of manual hyperinflations with a resuscitation bag during active inspiration and manual cough support on the chest. 30 tracheotomized neurological patients participated in a multiple-baseline study including a three-weeks intervention period and a follow-up measurement three weeks after termination of the treatment. Results: Most outcome parameters improved significantly during the intervention period: pO(2) (p<.01), SpO(2) (p<.01), respiratory rates (p<.01), swallowing rates (p<.01), and vigilance scores (p<.01). The quality of bronchial secretions improved in all participants. All effects were sustained up to the follow-up measurements. Conclusion: This preliminary data indicates positive effects for a respiratory intervention method (bagging) on respiratory function and additional respiration-related functions in tracheotomized neurological patients. This easy-to-learn and inexpensive method might expand the range of treatment options for tracheotomized and non-responsive patients.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Geckin2015, author = {Geckin, Vasfiye}, title = {The interpretation of logical connections by monolingual and bilingual children}, pages = {ix, 181}, year = {2015}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Gerth2015, author = {Gerth, Sabrina}, title = {Memory limitations in sentence comprehension}, isbn = {978-3-86956-321-3}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-71554}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {xviii, 157}, year = {2015}, abstract = {This dissertation addresses the question of how linguistic structures can be represented in working memory. We propose a memory-based computational model that derives offline and online complexity profiles in terms of a top-down parser for minimalist grammars (Stabler, 2011). The complexity metric reflects the amount of time an item is stored in memory. The presented architecture links grammatical representations stored in memory directly to the cognitive behavior by deriving predictions about sentence processing difficulty. Results from five different sentence comprehension experiments were used to evaluate the model's assumptions about memory limitations. The predictions of the complexity metric were compared to the locality (integration and storage) cost metric of Dependency Locality Theory (Gibson, 2000). Both metrics make comparable offline and online predictions for four of the five phenomena. The key difference between the two metrics is that the proposed complexity metric accounts for the structural complexity of intervening material. In contrast, DLT's integration cost metric considers the number of discourse referents, not the syntactic structural complexity. We conclude that the syntactic analysis plays a significant role in memory requirements of parsing. An incremental top-down parser based on a grammar formalism easily computes offline and online complexity profiles, which can be used to derive predictions about sentence processing difficulty.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Grubic2015, author = {Grubic, Mira}, title = {Focus and alternative sensitivity in Ngamo (West-Chadic)}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-81666}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, year = {2015}, abstract = {The main research question of this thesis concerns the relation between focus interpretation, focus realization, and association with focus in the West Chadic language Ngamo. Concerning the relation between focus realization and interpretation, this thesis contributes to the question, cross-linguistically, what factors influence a marked realization of the focus/background distinction. There is background-marking rather than focus-marking in Ngamo, and the background marker is related to the definite determiner in the language. Using original fieldwork data as a basis, a formal semantic analysis of the background marker as a definite determiner of situations is proposed. Concerning the relation between focus and association with focus, the thesis adds to the growing body of crosslinguistic evidence that not all so-called focus-sensitive operators always associate with focus. The thesis shows that while the exclusive particle yak('i) (= "only") in Ngamo conventionally associates with focus, the particles har('i) (= "even, as far as, until, already"), and ke('e) (= "also, and") do not. The thesis provides an analysis of these phenomena in a situation semantic framework.}, language = {en} } @article{GueldemannZerbianZimmermann2015, author = {Gueldemann, Tom and Zerbian, Sabine and Zimmermann, Malte}, title = {Variation in information structure with special reference to Africa}, series = {Annual review of linguistics}, volume = {1}, journal = {Annual review of linguistics}, editor = {Liberman, M and Partee, BH}, publisher = {Annual Reviews}, address = {Palo Alto}, isbn = {978-0-8243-4201-2}, issn = {2333-9691}, doi = {10.1146/annurev-linguist-030514-125134}, pages = {155 -- 178}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Information structure has been one of the central topics of recent linguistic research. This review discusses a wide range of current approaches with particular reference to African languages, as these have been playing a crucial role in advancing our knowledge about the diversity of and recurring patterns in both meaning and form of information structural notions. We focus on cross-linguistic functional frameworks, the investigation of prosody, formal syntactic theories, and relevant effects of semantic interpretation. Information structure is a thriving research domain that promises to yield important advances in our general understanding of human language.}, language = {en} } @article{HaendlerKlieglAdani2015, author = {Haendler, Yair and Kliegl, Reinhold and Adani, Flavia}, title = {Discourse accessibility constraints in children's processing of object relative clauses}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {6}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00360}, pages = {17}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Children's poor performance on object relative clauses has been explained in terms of intervention locality. This approach predicts that object relatives with a full DP head and an embedded pronominal subject are easier than object relatives in which both the head noun and the embedded subject are full DPs. This prediction is shared by other accounts formulated to explain processing mechanisms. We conducted a visual-world study designed to test the off-line comprehension and on-line processing of object relatives in German-speaking 5-year-olds. Children were tested on three types of object relatives, all having a full DP head noun and differing with respect to the type of nominal phrase that appeared in the embedded subject position: another full DP, a 1st- or a 3rd-person pronoun. Grammatical skills and memory capacity were also assessed in order to see whether and how they affect children's performance. Most accurately processed were object relatives with 1st-person pronoun, independently of children's language and memory skills. Performance on object relatives with two full DPs was overall more accurate than on object relatives with 3rd-person pronoun. In the former condition, children with stronger grammatical skills accurately processed the structure and their memory abilities determined how fast they were; in the latter condition, children only processed accurately the structure if they were strong both in their grammatical skills and in their memory capacity. The results are discussed in the light of accounts that predict different pronoun effects like the ones we find, which depend on the referential properties of the pronouns. We then discuss which role language and memory abilities might have in processing object relatives with various embedded nominal phrases.}, language = {en} } @misc{HaendlerKlieglAdani2015, author = {Haendler, Yair and Kliegl, Reinhold and Adani, Flavia}, title = {Discourse accessibility constraints in children´s processing of object relative clauses}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-78694}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Children's poor performance on object relative clauses has been explained in terms of intervention locality. This approach predicts that object relatives with a full DP head and an embedded pronominal subject are easier than object relatives in which both the head noun and the embedded subject are full DPs. This prediction is shared by other accounts formulated to explain processing mechanisms. We conducted a visual-world study designed to test the off-line comprehension and on-line processing of object relatives in German-speaking 5-year-olds. Children were tested on three types of object relatives, all having a full DP head noun and differing with respect to the type of nominal phrase that appeared in the embedded subject position: another full DP, a 1st- or a 3rd-person pronoun. Grammatical skills and memory capacity were also assessed in order to see whether and how they affect children's performance. Most accurately processed were object relatives with 1st-person pronoun, independently of children's language and memory skills. Performance on object relatives with two full DPs was overall more accurate than on object relatives with 3rd-person pronoun. In the former condition, children with stronger grammatical skills accurately processed the structure and their memory abilities determined how fast they were; in the latter condition, children only processed accurately the structure if they were strong both in their grammatical skills and in their memory capacity. The results are discussed in the light of accounts that predict different pronoun effects like the ones we find, which depend on the referential properties of the pronouns. We then discuss which role language and memory abilities might have in processing object relatives with various embedded nominal phrases.}, language = {en} } @article{HaendlerKlieglAdani2015, author = {Haendler, Yair and Kliegl, Reinhold and Adani, Flavia}, title = {Discourse accessibility constraints in children´s processing of object relative clauses}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {6}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, number = {860}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00860}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Children's poor performance on object relative clauses has been explained in terms of intervention locality. This approach predicts that object relatives with a full DP head and an embedded pronominal subject are easier than object relatives in which both the head noun and the embedded subject are full DPs. This prediction is shared by other accounts formulated to explain processing mechanisms. We conducted a visual-world study designed to test the off-line comprehension and on-line processing of object relatives in German-speaking 5-year-olds. Children were tested on three types of object relatives, all having a full DP head noun and differing with respect to the type of nominal phrase that appeared in the embedded subject position: another full DP, a 1st- or a 3rd-person pronoun. Grammatical skills and memory capacity were also assessed in order to see whether and how they affect children's performance. Most accurately processed were object relatives with 1st-person pronoun, independently of children's language and memory skills. Performance on object relatives with two full DPs was overall more accurate than on object relatives with 3rd-person pronoun. In the former condition, children with stronger grammatical skills accurately processed the structure and their memory abilities determined how fast they were; in the latter condition, children only processed accurately the structure if they were strong both in their grammatical skills and in their memory capacity. The results are discussed in the light of accounts that predict different pronoun effects like the ones we find, which depend on the referential properties of the pronouns. We then discuss which role language and memory abilities might have in processing object relatives with various embedded nominal phrases.}, language = {en} } @article{HanneBurchertDeBleseretal.2015, author = {Hanne, Sandra and Burchert, Frank and De Bleser, Ria and Vasishth, Shravan}, title = {Sentence comprehension and morphological cues in aphasia: What eye-tracking reveals about integration and prediction}, series = {Journal of neurolinguistics : an international journal for the study of brain function in language behavior and experience}, volume = {34}, journal = {Journal of neurolinguistics : an international journal for the study of brain function in language behavior and experience}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0911-6044}, doi = {10.1016/j.jneuroling.2014.12.003}, pages = {83 -- 111}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Comprehension of non-canonical sentences can be difficult for individuals with aphasia (IWA). It is still unclear to which extent morphological cues like case marking or verb inflection may influence IWA's performance or even help to override deficits in sentence comprehension. Until now, studies have mainly used offline methods to draw inferences about syntactic deficits and, so far, only a few studies have looked at online syntactic processing in aphasia. We investigated sentence processing in German-speaking IWA by combining an offline (sentence-picture matching) and an online (eye-tracking in the visual-world paradigm) method. Our goal was to determine whether IWA are capable of using inflectional morphology (number-agreement markers on verbs and case markers in noun phrases) as a cue to sentence interpretation. We report results of two visual-world experiments using German reversible SVO and OVS sentences. In each study, there were eight IWA and 20 age-matched controls. Experiment 1 targeted the role of unambiguous case morphology, while Experiment 2 looked at processing of number-agreement cues at the verb in caseambiguous sentences. IWA showed deficits in using both types of morphological markers as a cue to non-canonical sentence interpretation and the results indicate that in aphasia, processing of case-marking cues is more vulnerable as compared to verbagreement morphology. We ascribe this finding to the higher cue reliability of agreement cues, which renders them more resistant against impairments in aphasia. However, the online data revealed that IWA are in principle capable of successfully computing morphological cues, but the integration of morphological information is delayed as compared to age-matched controls. Furthermore, we found striking differences between controls and IWA regarding subject-before-object parsing predictions. While in case-unambiguous sentences IWA showed evidence for early subjectbefore-object parsing commitments, they exhibited no straightforward subject-first prediction in case-ambiguous sentences, although controls did so for ambiguous structures. IWA delayed their parsing decisions in case-ambiguous sentences until unambiguous morphological information, such as a subject-verbnumber-agreement cue, was available. We attribute the results for IWA to deficits in predictive processes based on morphosyntactic cues during sentence comprehension. The results indicate that IWA adopt a wait-and-see strategy and initiate prediction of upcoming syntactic structure only when unambiguous case or agreement cues are available. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} }