TY - JOUR A1 - Bosch, Sina A1 - De Cesare, Ilaria A1 - Demske, Ulrike A1 - Felser, Claudia T1 - Correction zu: Word-order variation and coherence in German infinitival complementation. - (The journal of comparative Germanic linguistics. - 26 (2023) 1) . - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10828-023-09140-8 JF - The journal of comparative Germanic linguistics Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10828-023-09143-5 SN - 1383-4924 SN - 1572-8552 VL - 26 IS - 1 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bosch, Sina A1 - De Cesare, Ilaria A1 - Demske, Ulrike A1 - Felser, Claudia T1 - Word-order variation and coherence in German infinitival complementation JF - The journal of comparative Germanic linguistics N2 - This study provides a synthesis of corpus-based and experimental investigations of word-order preferences in German infinitival complementation. We carried out a systematic analysis of present-day German corpora to establish frequency distributions of different word-order options: extraposition, intraposition, and 'third construction'. We then examined, firstly, whether and to what extent corpus frequencies and processing economy constraints can predict the acceptability of these three word-order variants, and whether subject raising and subject control verbs form clearly distinguishable subclasses of infinitive-embedding verbs in terms of their word-order behaviour. Secondly, our study looks into the issue of coherence by comparing acceptability ratings for monoclausal coherent and biclausal incoherent construals of intraposed infinitives, and by examining whether a biclausal incoherent analysis gives rise to local and/or global processing difficulty. Taken together, our results revealed that (i) whilst the extraposition pattern consistently wins out over all other word-order variants for control verbs, neither frequency nor processing-based approaches to word-order variation can account for the acceptability of low-frequency variants, (ii) there is considerable verb-specific variation regarding word-order preferences both between and within the two sets of raising and control verbs under investigation, and (iii) although monoclausal coherent intraposition is rated above biclausal incoherent intraposition, the latter is not any more difficult to process than the former. Our findings indicate that frequency of occurrence and processing-related constraints interact with idiosyncratic lexical properties of individual verbs in determining German speakers' structural preferences. KW - Syntactic variation KW - German KW - Infinitives KW - Corpus linguistics KW - Acceptability judgements KW - Self-paced reading Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10828-023-09140-8 SN - 1572-8552 VL - 26 IS - 1 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hollenstein, Nora A1 - Trondle, Marius A1 - Plomecka, Martyna A1 - Kiegeland, Samuel A1 - Ozyurt, Yilmazcan A1 - Jäger, Lena Ann A1 - Langer, Nicolas T1 - The ZuCo benchmark on cross-subject reading task classification with EEG and eye-tracking data JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - We present a new machine learning benchmark for reading task classification with the goal of advancing EEG and eye-tracking research at the intersection between computational language processing and cognitive neuroscience. The benchmark task consists of a cross-subject classification to distinguish between two reading paradigms: normal reading and task-specific reading. The data for the benchmark is based on the Zurich Cognitive Language Processing Corpus (ZuCo 2.0), which provides simultaneous eye-tracking and EEG signals from natural reading of English sentences. The training dataset is publicly available, and we present a newly recorded hidden testset. We provide multiple solid baseline methods for this task and discuss future improvements. We release our code and provide an easy-to-use interface to evaluate new approaches with an accompanying public leaderboard: . KW - reading task classification KW - eye-tracking KW - EEG KW - machine learning KW - reading research KW - cross-subject evaluation Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1028824 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 13 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stone, Kate A1 - Verissimo, Joao A1 - Schad, Daniel J. A1 - Oltrogge, Elise A1 - Vasishth, Shravan A1 - Lago, Sol T1 - The interaction of grammatically distinct agreement dependencies in predictive processing JF - Language, cognition and neuroscience N2 - Previous research has found that comprehenders sometimes predict information that is grammatically unlicensed by sentence constraints. An open question is why such grammatically unlicensed predictions occur. We examined the possibility that unlicensed predictions arise in situations of information conflict, for instance when comprehenders try to predict upcoming words while simultaneously building dependencies with previously encountered elements in memory. German possessive pronouns are a good testing ground for this hypothesis because they encode two grammatically distinct agreement dependencies: a retrospective one between the possessive and its previously mentioned referent, and a prospective one between the possessive and its following nominal head. In two visual world eye-tracking experiments, we estimated the onset of predictive effects in participants' fixations. The results showed that the retrospective dependency affected resolution of the prospective dependency by shifting the onset of predictive effects. We attribute this effect to an interaction between predictive and memory retrieval processes. KW - sentence processing KW - visual world eye-tracking KW - prediction KW - gender KW - agreement KW - German Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2021.1921816 SN - 2327-3798 SN - 2327-3801 VL - 36 IS - 9 SP - 1159 EP - 1179 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmandt, Silvana A1 - Nazzi, Thierry A1 - New, Boris T1 - Consonant, vowel and lexical neighbourhood processing during word recognition: new evidence using the sandwich priming technique JF - Language, cognition and neuroscience N2 - Studies on French adults using a written lexical decision task with masked priming, in which targets were more primed by consonant- (jalu-JOLI) than vowel-related (vobi-JOLI) primes, support the proposal that consonants have more weight than vowels in lexical processing. This study examines the phonological and/or lexical nature of this consonant bias (C-bias), using a sandwich priming task in which a brief presentation of the target (pre-prime) precedes the prime-target sequence, a manipulation blocking lexical neighbourhood effects. Results from three experiments (varying pre-prime/prime durations) show consistent C-priming and no significant V-priming at earlier and later processing stages (50 or 66 ms primes). Yet, a joint analysis reveals a small V-priming, while confirming a significant consonant advantage. This demonstrates the contribution of the phonological level to the C-bias. Second, differences in performance comparing the classic versus sandwich priming task also establish a contribution of lexical neighbourhood inhibition effects to the C-bias. KW - consonants and vowels KW - phonological and lexical processing KW - visual word recognition KW - consonant bias KW - sandwich priming paradigm Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2022.2046115 SN - 2327-3798 SN - 2327-3801 VL - 37 IS - 9 SP - 1115 EP - 1130 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wiese, Heike A1 - Alexiadou, Artemis A1 - Allen, Shanley A1 - Bunk, Oliver A1 - Gagarina, Natalia A1 - Iefremenko, Kateryna A1 - Martynova, Maria A1 - Pashkova, Tatiana A1 - Rizou, Vicky A1 - Schroeder, Christoph A1 - Shadrova, Anna A1 - Szucsich, Luka A1 - Tracy, Rosemarie A1 - Tsehaye, Wintai A1 - Zerbian, Sabine A1 - Zuban, Yulia T1 - Heritage speakers as part of the native language continuum JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - We argue for a perspective on bilingual heritage speakers as native speakers of both their languages and present results from a large-scale, cross-linguistic study that took such a perspective and approached bilinguals and monolinguals on equal grounds. We targeted comparable language use in bilingual and monolingual speakers, crucially covering broader repertoires than just formal language. A main database was the open-access RUEG corpus, which covers comparable informal vs. formal and spoken vs. written productions by adolescent and adult bilinguals with heritage-Greek, -Russian, and -Turkish in Germany and the United States and with heritage-German in the United States, and matching data from monolinguals in Germany, the United States, Greece, Russia, and Turkey. Our main results lie in three areas. (1) We found non-canonical patterns not only in bilingual, but also in monolingual speakers, including patterns that have so far been considered absent from native grammars, in domains of morphology, syntax, intonation, and pragmatics. (2) We found a degree of lexical and morphosyntactic inter-speaker variability in monolinguals that was sometimes higher than that of bilinguals, further challenging the model of the streamlined native speaker. (3) In majority language use, non-canonical patterns were dominant in spoken and/or informal registers, and this was true for monolinguals and bilinguals. In some cases, bilingual speakers were leading quantitatively. In heritage settings where the language was not part of formal schooling, we found tendencies of register leveling, presumably due to the fact that speakers had limited access to formal registers of the heritage language. Our findings thus indicate possible quantitative differences and different register distributions rather than distinct grammatical patterns in bilingual and monolingual speakers. This supports the integration of heritage speakers into the native-speaker continuum. Approaching heritage speakers from this perspective helps us to better understand the empirical data and can shed light on language variation and change in native grammars. Furthermore, our findings for monolinguals lead us to reconsider the state-of-the art on majority languages, given recurring evidence for non-canonical patterns that deviate from what has been assumed in the literature so far, and might have been attributed to bilingualism had we not included informal and spoken registers in monolinguals and bilinguals alike. KW - heritage speakers KW - registers KW - participles KW - word order KW - bare NPs KW - boundary tone KW - referent introduction KW - relative clause formation Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.717973 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 12 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Conrad, Markus A1 - Ullrich, Susann A1 - Schmidtke, David S. A1 - Kotz, Sonja A. T1 - ERPs reveal an iconic relation between sublexical phonology and affective meaning JF - Cognition : international journal of cognitive science N2 - Classical linguistic theory assumes that formal aspects, like sound, are not internally related to the meaning of words. However, recent research suggests language might code affective meaning such as threat and alert sublexically. Positing affective phonological iconicity as a systematic organization principle of the German lexicon, we calculated sublexical affective values for sub-syllabic phonological word segments from a large-scale affective lexical German database by averaging valence and arousal ratings of all words any phonological segment appears in. We tested word stimuli with either consistent or inconsistent mappings between lexical affective meaning and sublexical affective values (negative-valence/high-arousal vs. neutral-valence/lowarousal) in an EEG visual-lexical-decision task. A mismatch between sublexical and lexical affective values elicited an increased N400 response. These results reveal that systematic affective phonological iconicity - extracted from the lexicon - impacts the extraction of lexical word meaning during reading. KW - Sound symbolism KW - Visual word recognition KW - Phonological iconicity KW - Affective meaning KW - N400 KW - ERPs Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105182 SN - 0010-0277 SN - 1873-7838 VL - 226 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Tatjana A1 - Brandt, Lasse A1 - de la Fuente, Marie A1 - Nenchev, Ivan T1 - Stimulus data and experimental design for a self-paced reading study on emoji-word substitutions JF - Data in Brief N2 - This data paper presents the experimental design and stimuli from an online self-paced reading study on the processing of emojis substituting lexically ambiguous nouns. We recorded reading times for the target ambiguous nouns and for emojis depicting either the intended target referent or a contextually inappropriate homophonous noun. Furthermore, we recorded comprehension accuracy, demographics and a self-assessment of the participants' emoji usage frequency. The data includes all stimuli used, the raw data, the full JavaScript code for the online experiment, as well as Python and R code for the data analysis. We believe that our dataset may give important insights related to the comprehension mechanisms involved in the cognitive processing of emojis. For interpretation and discussion of the experiment, please see the original article entitled "The processing of emoji-word substitutions: A self-paced-reading study". KW - Emojis KW - Self-paced reading KW - Lexical ambiguity KW - Homonymy KW - Processing Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2022.108399 SN - 2352-3409 VL - 43 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bade, Nadine A1 - Picat, Leo A1 - Chung, WooJin A1 - Mascarenhas, Salvador T1 - Alternatives and attention in language and reasoning: A reply to Mascarenhas & Picat (2019) JF - Semantics and Pragmatics N2 - In this paper, we employ an experimental paradigm using insights from the psychology of reasoning to investigate the question whether certain modals generate and draw attention to alternatives. The article extends and builds on the methodology and findings of Mascarenhas & Picat (2019). Based on experimental results, they argue that the English epistemic modal might raises alternatives. We apply the same methodology to the English modal allowed to to test different hypotheses regarding the involvement of alternatives in deontic modality. We find commonalities and differences between the two modals we tested. We discuss theoretical consequences for existing semantic analyses of these modals, and argue that reasoning tasks can serve as a diagnostic tool to discover which natural language expressions involve alternatives. KW - reasoning KW - modals KW - alternatives Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.15.2 SN - 1937-8912 VL - 15 PB - Linguistic Society of America CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bürki, Audrey A1 - Alario, F-Xavier A1 - Vasishth, Shravan T1 - When words collide: Bayesian meta-analyses of distractor and target properties in the picture-word interference paradigm JF - Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology N2 - In the picture-word interference paradigm, participants name pictures while ignoring a written or spoken distractor word. Naming times to the pictures are slowed down by the presence of the distractor word. The present study investigates in detail the impact of distractor and target word properties on picture naming times, building on the seminal study by Miozzo and Caramazza. We report the results of several Bayesian meta-analyses based on 26 datasets. These analyses provide estimates of effect sizes and their precision for several variables and their interactions. They show the reliability of the distractor frequency effect on picture naming latencies (latencies decrease as the frequency of the distractor increases) and demonstrate for the first time the impact of distractor length, with longer naming latencies for trials with longer distractors. Moreover, distractor frequency interacts with target word frequency to predict picture naming latencies. The methodological and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. KW - Picture-word interference KW - Bayesian meta-analysis KW - distractor frequency Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218221114644 SN - 1747-0218 SN - 1747-0226 VL - 76 IS - 6 SP - 1410 EP - 1430 PB - Sage Publications CY - London ER -