TY - JOUR A1 - Clahsen, Harald A1 - Jessen, Anna T1 - Morphological generalization in bilingual language production BT - age of acquisition determines variability JF - Language acquisition : a journal of developmental linguistics N2 - Morphological variability in bilingual language production is widely attested. Producing inflected words has been found to be less reliable and consistent in bilinguals than in first-language (functionally monolingual) L1 speakers, even for bilingual speakers at advanced proficiency levels. The sources for these differences are not well understood. The current study presents a detailed investigation of morphological generalization processes in bilingual speakers' language production. We examined past participle formation of German using an elicited-production experiment containing nonce verbs with varying degrees of similarity to existing verbs testing a large group of bilingual Turkish/German speakers relative to L1 German speakers. We compared similarity-based lexical extensions with generalizations of morphological rules. The results show that rule-based generalizations are used less often and more variably within the bilingual group than within the L1 group. Our results also show a selective effect of age of acquisition on the bilingual speakers' morphological generalizations. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/10489223.2021.1910267 SN - 1048-9223 SN - 1532-7817 VL - 28 IS - 4 SP - 370 EP - 386 PB - Psychology Press, Taylor & Francis Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Felser, Claudia A1 - Jessen, Anna T1 - Correlative coordination and variable subject-verb agreement in German JF - Languages : open access journal N2 - Coordinated subjects often show variable number agreement with the finite verb, but linguistic approaches to this phenomenon have rarely been informed by systematically collected data. We report the results from three experiments investigating German speakers' agreement preferences with complex subjects joined by the correlative conjunctions sowohl horizontal ellipsis als auch ('both horizontal ellipsis and'), weder horizontal ellipsis noch ('neither horizontal ellipsis nor') or entweder horizontal ellipsis oder ('either horizontal ellipsis or'). We examine to what extent conjunction type and a conjunct's relative proximity to the verb affect the acceptability and processibility of singular vs. plural agreement. Experiment 1 was an untimed acceptability rating task, Experiment 2 a timed sentence completion task, and Experiment 3 was a self-paced reading task. Taken together, our results show that number agreement with correlative coordination in German is primarily determined by a default constraint triggering plural agreement, which interacts with linear order and semantic factors. Semantic differences between conjunctions only affected speakers' agreement preferences in the absence of processing pressure but not their initial agreement computation. The combined results from our offline and online experimental measures of German speakers' agreement preferences suggest that the constraints under investigation do not only differ in their relative weighting but also in their relative timing during agreement computation. KW - correlative coordination KW - subject– verb agreement KW - German Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/languages6020067 SN - 2226-471X VL - 6 IS - 2 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Clahsen, Harald A1 - Jessen, Anna T1 - Variability and its limits in bilingual word recognition BT - a morphological priming study JF - The mental lexicon N2 - This study examines the processing of morphologically complex words focusing on how morphological (in addition to orthographic and semantic) factors affect bilingual word recognition. We report findings from a large experimental study with groups of bilingual (Turkish/German) speakers using the visual masked-priming technique. We found morphologically mediated effects on the response speed and the inter-individual variability within the bilingual participant group. We conclude that the grammar (qua morphological parsing) not only enhances speed of processing in bilingual language processing but also yields more uniform performance and thereby constrains variability within a group of otherwise heterogeneous individuals. KW - German KW - inflection KW - morphology KW - L2 processing KW - masked priming Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1075/ml.20013.cla SN - 1871-1340 SN - 1871-1375 VL - 15 IS - 2 SP - 295 EP - 329 PB - John Benjamins Publishing Co. CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jessen, Anna A1 - Fleischhauer, Elisabeth A1 - Clahsen, Harald T1 - Morphological encoding in German children's language production BT - evidence from event-related brain potentials JF - Journal of child language N2 - This study reports developmental changes in morphological encoding across late childhood. We examined event-related brain potentials (ERPs) during the silent production of regularly vs. irregularly inflected verb forms (viz. -t vs. -n participles of German) in groups of eight- to ten-year-olds, eleven- to thirteen-year-olds, and adults. The adult data revealed an enhanced (right-frontal) negativity 300–450 ms after cue onset for the (silent) production of -t relative to -n past participle forms (e.g. geplant vs. gehauen ‘planned’ vs. ‘hit’). For the eleven- to thirteen-year-olds, the same enhanced negativity was found, with a more posterior distribution and a longer duration (=300–550 ms). The eight- to ten-year-olds also showed this negativity, again with a posterior distribution, but with a considerably delayed onset (800–1,000 ms). We suggest that this negativity reflects combinatorial processing required for producing -t participles in both children and adults and that the spatial and temporal modulations of this ERP effect across the three participant groups are due to developmental changes of the brain networks involved in processing morphologically complex words. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000916000118 SN - 0305-0009 SN - 1469-7602 VL - 44 SP - 427 EP - 456 PB - Cambridge Univ. Press CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jessen, Anna A1 - Verissimo, João Marques A1 - Clahsen, Harald T1 - Variability and consistency in late bilinguals’ morphology BT - an ERP production study JF - The mental lexicon N2 - Speaking a late-learned second language (L2) is supposed to yield more variable and less consistent output than speaking one’s first language (L1), particularly with respect to reliably adhering to grammatical morphology. The current study investigates both internal processes involved in encoding morphologically complex words – by recording event-related brain potentials (ERPs) during participants’ silent productions – and the corresponding overt output. We specifically examined compounds with plural or singular modifiers in English. Thirty-one advanced L2 speakers of English (L1: German) were compared to a control group of 20 L1 English speakers from an earlier study. We found an enhanced (right-frontal) negativity during (silent) morphological encoding for compounds produced from regular plural forms relative to compounds formed from irregular plurals, replicating the ERP effect obtained for the L1 group. The L2 speakers’ overt productions, however, were significantly less consistent than those of the L1 speakers on the same task. We suggest that L2 speakers employ the same mechanisms for morphological encoding as L1 speakers, but with less reliance on grammatical constraints than L1 speakers. KW - event-related potentials (ERP) KW - plurals in compounds KW - morphological constraints KW - harmonic grammars KW - morphological processing Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1075/ml.18002.jes SN - 1871-1340 SN - 1871-1375 VL - 13 IS - 2 SP - 186 EP - 214 PB - John Benjamins Publishing Co. CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jessen, Anna A1 - Festman, Julia A1 - Boxell, Oliver A1 - Felser, Claudia T1 - Native and non-native speakers' brain responses to filled indirect Object Gaps JF - Journal of Psycholinguistic Research N2 - We examined native and non-native English speakers’ processing of indirect object wh-dependencies using a filled-gap paradigm while recording event-related potentials (ERPs). The non-native group was comprised of native German-speaking, proficient non-native speakers of English. Both participant groups showed evidence of linking fronted indirect objects to the subcategorizing verb when this was encountered, reflected in an N400 component. Evidence for continued filler activation beyond the verb was seen only in the non-native group, in the shape of a prolonged left-anterior negativity. Both participant groups showed sensitivity to filled indirect object gaps reflected in a P600 response, which was more pronounced and more globally distributed in our non-native group. Taken together, our results indicate that resolving indirect object dependencies is a two-step process in both native and non-native sentence comprehension, with greater processing cost incurred in non-native compared to native comprehension. KW - Sentence processing KW - Wh-movement KW - Filled gaps KW - ERPs Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-017-9496-9 SN - 0090-6905 SN - 1573-6555 VL - 46 SP - 1319 EP - 1338 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jessen, Anna A1 - Felser, Claudia T1 - Reanalysing object gaps during non-native sentence processing BT - Evidence from ERPs JF - Second language research N2 - The present study used event related potentials (ERPs) to investigate how native (L1) German-speaking second-language (L2) learners of English process sentences containing filler-gap dependencies such as Bill liked the house (women) that Bob built some ornaments for __ at his workplace. Using an experimental design which allowed us to dissociate filler integration from reanalysis effects, we found that fillers which were implausible as direct objects of the embedded verb (e.g. built the women) elicited similar brain responses (an N400) in L1 and L2 speakers when the verb was encountered. This confirms findings from behavioral and eye-movement studies indicating that both L1 and L2 speakers immediately try to integrate a filler with a potential lexical licensor. L1/L2 differences were observed when subsequent sentence material signaled that the direct-object analysis was in fact incorrect, however. We found reanalysis effects, in the shape of a P600 for sentences containing fillers that were plausible direct objects only for L2 speakers, but not for the L1 group. This supports previous findings suggesting that L2 comprehenders recover from an initially plausible first analysis less easily than L1 speakers. KW - English KW - ERPs KW - filler-gap dependency KW - L2 processing KW - reanalysis Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658317753030 SN - 0267-6583 SN - 1477-0326 VL - 35 IS - 2 SP - 285 EP - 299 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Clahsen, Harald A1 - Jessen, Anna T1 - Do bilingual children lag behind? BT - A study of morphological encoding using ERPs T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - The current study investigates how bilingual children encode and produce morphologically complex words. We employed a silent-production-plus-delayed-vocalization paradigm in which event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded during silent encoding of inflected words which were subsequently cued to be overtly produced. The bilingual children's spoken responses and their ERPs were compared to previous datasets from monolingual children on the same task. We found an enhanced negativity for regular relative to irregular forms during silent production in both bilingual children's languages, replicating the ERP effect previously obtained from monolingual children. Nevertheless, the bilingual children produced more morphological errors (viz. over-regularizations) than monolingual children. We conclude that mechanisms of morphological encoding (as measured by ERPs) are parallel for bilingual and monolingual children, and that the increased over-regularization rates are due to their reduced exposure to each of the two languages (relative to monolingual children). T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 682 KW - morphology KW - event-related brain potentials KW - bilingualism Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-469727 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 682 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Clahsen, Harald A1 - Jessen, Anna T1 - Do bilingual children lag behind? A study of morphological encoding using ERPs JF - Journal of child language N2 - The current study investigates how bilingual children encode and produce morphologically complex words. We employed a silent-production-plus-delayed-vocalization paradigm in which event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded during silent encoding of inflected words which were subsequently cued to be overtly produced. The bilingual children's spoken responses and their ERPs were compared to previous datasets from monolingual children on the same task. We found an enhanced negativity for regular relative to irregular forms during silent production in both bilingual children's languages, replicating the ERP effect previously obtained from monolingual children. Nevertheless, the bilingual children produced more morphological errors (viz. over-regularizations) than monolingual children. We conclude that mechanisms of morphological encoding (as measured by ERPs) are parallel for bilingual and monolingual children, and that the increased over-regularization rates are due to their reduced exposure to each of the two languages (relative to monolingual children). KW - morphology KW - event-related brain potentials KW - bilingualism Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000919000321 SN - 0305-0009 SN - 1469-7602 VL - 46 IS - 5 SP - 955 EP - 979 PB - Cambridge Univ. Press CY - New York ER -