@article{SchotterLeinengervonderMalsburg2017, author = {Schotter, Elizabeth Roye and Leinenger, Mallorie and von der Malsburg, Titus Raban}, title = {When your mind skips what your eyes fixate}, series = {Psychonomic bulletin \& review : a journal of the Psychonomic Society}, volume = {25}, journal = {Psychonomic bulletin \& review : a journal of the Psychonomic Society}, number = {5}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {1069-9384}, doi = {10.3758/s13423-017-1356-y}, pages = {1884 -- 1890}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The phenomenon of forced fixations suggests that readers sometimes fixate a word (due to oculomotor constraints) even though they intended to skip it (due to parafoveal cognitive-linguistic processing). We investigate whether this leads readers to look directly at a word but not pay attention to it. We used a gaze-contingent boundary paradigm to dissociate parafoveal and foveal information (e.g., the word phone changed to scarf once the reader's eyes moved to it) and asked questions about the sentence to determine which one the reader encoded. When the word was skipped or fixated only briefly (i.e., up to 100 ms) readers were more likely to report reading the parafoveal than the fixated word, suggesting that there are cases in which readers look directly at a word but their minds ignore it, leading to the illusion of reading something they did not fixate.}, language = {en} } @article{Miklashevsky2017, author = {Miklashevsky, Alex A.}, title = {О высоком и низком: пространственная семантика абстрактных и конкретных существительных}, series = {Tomsk state university journal}, journal = {Tomsk state university journal}, number = {424}, publisher = {Tomsk Stata Univ}, address = {Tomsk}, issn = {1561-7793}, doi = {10.17223/15617793/424/4}, pages = {26 -- 34}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Aim and material: In the present study, the data of the rating study presented earlier, where participants estimated the position of an object or phenomenon in vertical space by using the seven-point Likert scale, are used in order to systematically describe spatial information included in language units of different semantic categories. Background: The role of spatial semantics in language understanding is assumed by modern cognition theories and confirmed in experimental studies. Hypotheses: Based on conceptual metaphor theory, a number of hypotheses are proposed in the present study: different semantic categories of nouns (e.g., tools vs. animals vs. emotions etc.) should significantly differ in their spatial semantics as well; different semantic categories of abstract nouns (e.g., mental states vs. emotions vs. physical sensations) should also differ in their spatial semantics, as the latter is included in their conceptual structure; mental states and phenomena (e.g., imagination, thought or memory) should have higher values (i.e., be located higher in the virtual subjective space) than any other abstract concepts; emotional concepts (e.g., love, disgust or happiness) should be located higher than physical sensations (e.g., pain or softness); positive emotions (like joy or euphoria) should be located higher than negative ones (like feeling of guilt or disappointment). Methods: Statistical methods (parametric and non-parametric ones) are used in order to test the hypotheses. As additional cross-testing methods corpora data and expert assessment are included. Results: The results of the study confirmed all the hypotheses. A number of additional regularities were revealed: in general, abstract concepts get higher values on a scale, i.e., are located higher in the virtual subjective space than concrete ones; tool concepts are related more to the lower space, unlike sound concepts that are related to higher space. No difference was found between action concepts (like attack or running) and physical sensations. Discussion: The results obtained can also be explained in terms of other theories within the embodied cognition framework, as it is discussed in the conclusion (words as social tools by A. Borghi and F. Binkofski; ideas by G. Vigliocco and neurosemantic approach by F. Pulvermuller). The need in an integrative model and larger studies with other semantic categories is underlined.}, language = {ru} } @article{DasTaboada2017, author = {Das, Debopam and Taboada, Maite}, title = {Signalling of Coherence Relations in Discourse, Beyond Discourse Markers}, series = {Discourse processes : DP ; a multidisciplinary journal}, volume = {55}, journal = {Discourse processes : DP ; a multidisciplinary journal}, number = {8}, publisher = {Routledge, Taylor \& Francis Group}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {0163-853X}, doi = {10.1080/0163853X.2017.1379327}, pages = {743 -- 770}, year = {2017}, abstract = {We argue that coherence relations (relations between propositions, such as Concession or Purpose) are signalled more frequently and by more means than is generally believed. We examine how coherence relations in text are indicated by all possible textual signals, and whether every relation is signalled. To that end, we conducted a corpus study on the RST Discourse Treebank, a corpus of newspaper articles annotated for rhetorical (or coherence) relations. Results from our corpus study show that most relations in text (over 90\%) are signalled and also that most signalled relations (over 80\%) are indicated not only by discourse markers (and, but, if, since), but also by a wide variety of signals other than discourse markers, such as reference, lexical, semantic, syntactic and graphical features. These findings suggest that signalling of coherence relations is much more sophisticated than previously thought.}, language = {en} } @article{AdaniStegenwallnerSchutzNiesel2017, author = {Adani, Flavia and Stegenwallner-Schutz, Maja Henny Katherine and Niesel, Talea}, title = {The Peaceful Co-existence of Input Frequency and Structural Intervention Effects on the Comprehension of Complex Sentences in German-Speaking Children}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {8}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01590}, pages = {11}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The predictions of two contrasting approaches to the acquisition of transitive relative clauses were tested within the same groups of German-speaking participants aged from 3 to 5 years old. The input frequency approach predicts that object relative clauses with inanimate heads (e.g., the pullover that the man is scratching) are comprehended earlier and more accurately than those with an animate head (e.g., the man that the boy is scratching). In contrast, the structural intervention approach predicts that object relative clauses with two full NP arguments mismatching in number (e.g., the man that the boys are scratching) are comprehended earlier and more accurately than those with number-matching NPs (e.g., the man that the boy is scratching). These approaches were tested in two steps. First, we ran a corpus analysis to ensure that object relative clauses with number-mismatching NPs are not more frequent than object relative clauses with number-matching NPs in child directed speech. Next, the comprehension of these structures was tested experimentally in 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds respectively by means of a color naming task. By comparing the predictions of the two approaches within the same participant groups, we were able to uncover that the effects predicted by the input frequency and by the structural intervention approaches co-exist and that they both influence the performance of children on transitive relative clauses, but in a manner that is modulated by age. These results reveal a sensitivity to animacy mismatch already being demonstrated by 3-year-olds and show that animacy is initially deployed more reliably than number to interpret relative clauses correctly. In all age groups, the animacy mismatch appears to explain the performance of children, thus, showing that the comprehension of frequent object relative clauses is enhanced compared to the other conditions. Starting with 4-year-olds but especially in 5-year-olds, the number mismatch supported comprehension-a facilitation that is unlikely to be driven by input frequency. Once children fine-tune their sensitivity to verb agreement information around the age of four, they are also able to deploy number marking to overcome the intervention effects. This study highlights the importance of testing experimentally contrasting theoretical approaches in order to characterize the multifaceted, developmental nature of language acquisition.}, language = {en} } @article{PattersonEsaulovaFelser2017, author = {Patterson, Clare and Esaulova, Yulia and Felser, Claudia}, title = {The impact of focus on pronoun resolution in native and non-native sentence comprehension}, series = {Second language research}, volume = {33}, journal = {Second language research}, publisher = {Sage Publ.}, address = {London}, issn = {0267-6583}, doi = {10.1177/0267658317697786}, pages = {403 -- 429}, year = {2017}, language = {en} } @article{ChladkovaHamannWilliamsetal.2017, author = {Chladkova, Katerina and Hamann, Silke and Williams, Daniel and Hellmuth, Sam}, title = {F2 slope as a Perceptual Cue for the Front-Back Contrast in Standard Southern British English}, series = {Language and speech}, volume = {60}, journal = {Language and speech}, publisher = {Sage Publ.}, address = {London}, issn = {0023-8309}, doi = {10.1177/0023830916650991}, pages = {377 -- 398}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Acoustic studies of several languages indicate that second-formant (F2) slopes in high vowels have opposing directions (independent of consonantal context): front [i.]-like vowels are produced with a rising F2 slope, whereas back [u.]-like vowels are produced with a falling F2 slope. The present study first reports acoustic measurements that confirm this pattern for the English variety of Standard Southern British English (SSBE), where /u./ has shifted from the back to the front area of the vowel space and is now realized with higher midpoint F2 values than several decades ago. Subsequently, we test whether the direction of F2 slope also serves as a reliable cue to the /i.// u./ contrast in perception. The findings show that F2 slope direction is used as a cue (additional to midpoint formant values) to distinguish /i./ from /u./by both young and older Standard Southern British English listeners: an otherwise ambiguous token is identified as /i./if it has a rising F2 slope and as /u./if it has a falling F2 slope. Furthermore, our results indicate that listeners generalize their reliance on F2 slope to other contrasts, namely /epsilon/-/./and /ae/-/./, even though F2 slope is not employed to differentiate these vowels in production. This suggests that in Standard Southern British English, a rising F2 seems to be perceptually associated with an abstract feature such as [+ front], whereas a falling F2 with an abstract feature such as [-front].}, language = {en} } @article{PritschTelkemeyerMuehlenbecketal.2017, author = {Pritsch, Carla and Telkemeyer, Silke and M{\"u}hlenbeck, Cordelia and Liebal, Katja}, title = {Perception of facial expressions reveals selective affect-biased attention in humans and orangutans}, series = {Scientific reports}, volume = {7}, journal = {Scientific reports}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-017-07563-4}, pages = {3001 -- 3023}, year = {2017}, language = {en} } @article{Prieto2017, author = {Prieto, Julio}, title = {From blind shorthand}, series = {Cahiers de LIRICO}, journal = {Cahiers de LIRICO}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}t de Paris}, address = {Saint-Denis}, issn = {2263-2158}, doi = {10.4000/lirico.3807}, pages = {16}, year = {2017}, abstract = {This essay explores the poetics of obscurity that informs Luis Chitarroni's « unfinished novel » The No Variations. Focusing on the « reticent » erudition that distinguishes this text, my analysis examines its dialogue with the paradigm of Borges' erudition and narrative poetics, as well as with certain « counter-Borgesian » constellations in recent Argentine literature. My reading aims to show how Chitarroni's anti-novel reactivates a specific Argentinean tradition of productive illegibility while considering how it relates to the practices of « impediment » and « aesthetic reduction » that pervade modern art and literature.}, language = {en} } @article{WieseOncuBracker2017, author = {Wiese, Heike and Oncu, Mehmet Tahir and Bracker, Philip}, title = {Verb-third-position in Turkish-German Language Contact}, series = {Deutsche Sprache : ds ; Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Theorie, Praxis, Dokumentation}, volume = {45}, journal = {Deutsche Sprache : ds ; Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Theorie, Praxis, Dokumentation}, number = {1}, publisher = {Erich Schmidt}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {0340-9341}, pages = {31 -- 52}, year = {2017}, abstract = {In present-day German we find new word order options, particularly well-known from Turkish-German bilingual speakers in the contexts of new urban dialects, which allow violations of the canonical verb-second position in independent declarative clauses. In these cases, two positions are occupied in the forefield in front of the finite verb, usually by an adverbial and a subject, which identify, at the level of information structure, frame-setter and topic, respectively. Our study investigates the influence of verbal versus language -independent information-structural preferences for this linearisation, comparing Turkish-German multilingual speakers who have grown up in Germany with monolingual German and Turkish speakers. For tasks, in which grammatical restrictions were largely minimised, the results indicate a general tendency to place verbs in a position after the frame-setter and the topic; in addition, we found language-specific influences that distinguish Turkish-German and monolingual German speakers from monolingual Turkish ones. We interpret this as evidence for an information-structural motivation for verb-third, and for a clear dominance of German for Turkish-German speakers in Germany.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Schunack2017, author = {Schunack, Silke}, title = {Processing of non-canonical word orders in an L2}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-103750}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {xvii, 443 Seiten}, year = {2017}, abstract = {This thesis investigates the processing of non-canonical word orders and whether non-canonical orders involving object topicalizations, midfield scrambling and particle verbs are treated the same by native (L1) and non-native (L2) speakers. The two languages investigated are Norwegian and German. 32 L1 Norwegian and 32 L1 German advanced learners of Norwegian were tested in two experiments on object topicalization in Norwegian. The results from the online self-paced reading task and the offline agent identification task show that both groups are able to identify the non-canonical word order and show a facilitatory effect of animate subjects in their reanalysis. Similarly high error rates in the agent identification task suggest that globally unambiguous object topicalizations are a challenging structure for L1 and L2 speakers alike. The same participants were also tested in two experiments on particle placement in Norwegian, again using a self-paced reading task, this time combined with an acceptability rating task. In the acceptability rating L1 and L2 speakers show the same preference for the verb-adjacent placement of the particle over the non-adjacent placement after the direct object. However, this preference for adjacency is only found in the L1 group during online processing, whereas the L2 group shows no preference for either order. Another set of experiments tested 33 L1 German and 39 L1 Slavic advanced learners of German on object scrambling in ditransitive clauses in German. Non-native speakers accept both object orders and show neither a preference for either order nor a processing advantage for the canonical order. The L1 group, in contrast, shows a small, but significant preference for the canonical dative-first order in the judgment and the reading task. The same participants were also tested in two experiments on the application of the split rule in German particle verbs. Advanced L2 speakers of German are able to identify particle verbs and can apply the split rule in V2 contexts in an acceptability judgment task in the same way as L1 speakers. However, unlike the L1 group, the L2 group is not sensitive to the grammaticality manipulation during online processing. They seem to be sensitive to the additional lexical information provided by the particle, but are unable to relate the split particle to the preceding verb and recognize the ungrammaticality in non-V2 contexts. Taken together, my findings suggest that non-canonical word orders are not per se more difficult to identify for L2 speakers than L1 speakers and can trigger the same reanalysis processes as in L1 speakers. I argue that L2 speakers' ability to identify a non-canonical word order depends on how the non-canonicity is signaled (case marking vs. surface word order), on the constituents involved (identical vs. different word types), and on the impact of the word order change on sentence meaning. Non-canonical word orders that are signaled by morphological case marking and cause no change to the sentence's content are hard to detect for L2 speakers.}, language = {en} }