TY - JOUR A1 - Langus, Alan A1 - Höhle, Barbara T1 - Object individuation and labelling in 6-month-old infants JF - Infant behavior & development N2 - The ability to determine how many objects are involved in physical events is fundamental for reasoning about the world that surrounds us. Previous studies suggest that infants can fail to individuate objects in ambiguous occlusion events until their first birthday and that learning words for the objects may play a crucial role in the development of this ability. The present eye-tracking study tested whether the classical object individuation experiments underestimate young infants’ ability to individuate objects and the role word learning plays in this process. Three groups of 6-month-old infants (N = 72) saw two opaque boxes side by side on the eye-tracker screen so that the content of the boxes was not visible. During a familiarization phase, two visually identical objects emerged sequentially from one box and two visually different objects from the other box. For one group of infants the familiarization was silent (Visual Only condition). For a second group of infants the objects were accompanied with nonsense words so that objects’ shape and linguistic labels indicated the same number of objects in the two boxes (Visual & Language condition). For the third group of infants, objects’ shape and linguistic labels were in conflict (Visual vs. Language condition). Following the familiarization, it was revealed that both boxes contained the same number of objects (e.g. one or two). In the Visual Only condition, infants looked longer to the box with incorrect number of objects at test, showing that they could individuate objects using visual cues alone. In the Visual & Language condition infants showed the same looking pattern. However, in the Visual vs Language condition infants looked longer to the box with incorrect number of objects according to linguistic labels. The results show that infants can individuate objects in a complex object individuation paradigm considerably earlier than previously thought and that linguistic cues enforce their own preference in object individuation. The results are consistent with the idea that when language and visual information are in conflict, language can exert an influence on how young infants reason about the visual world. KW - Object individuation KW - Object labelling KW - Cognitive development KW - Language KW - development Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2021.101627 SN - 0163-6383 SN - 1879-0453 VL - 65 PB - Elsevier CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jeong, Hye-In A1 - van den Hoven, Emiel A1 - Madec, Sylvain A1 - Bürki-Foschini, Audrey Damaris T1 - Behavioral and Brain Responses Highlight the Role of Usage in the Preparation of Multiword Utterances for Production JF - Journal of cognitive neuroscience N2 - Usage-based theories assume that all aspects of language processing are shaped by the distributional properties of the language. The frequency not only of words but also of larger chunks plays a major role in language processing. These theories predict that the frequency of phrases influences the time needed to prepare these phrases for production and their acoustic duration. By contrast, dominant psycholinguistic models of utterance production predict no such effects. In these models, the system keeps track of the frequency of individual words but not of co-occurrences. This study investigates the extent to which the frequency of phrases impacts naming latencies and acoustic duration with a balanced design, where the same words are recombined to build high- and low-frequency phrases. The brain signal of participants is recorded so as to obtain information on the electrophysiological bases and functional locus of frequency effects. Forty-seven participants named pictures using high- and low-frequency adjective-noun phrases. Naming latencies were shorter for high-frequency than low-frequency phrases. There was no evidence that phrase frequency impacted acoustic duration. The electrophysiological signal differed between high- and low-frequency phrases in time windows that do not overlap with conceptualization or articulation processes. These findings suggest that phrase frequency influences the preparation of phrases for production, irrespective of the lexical properties of the constituents, and that this effect originates at least partly when speakers access and encode linguistic representations. Moreover, this study provides information on how the brain signal recorded during the preparation of utterances changes with the frequency of word combinations. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01757 SN - 0898-929X SN - 1530-8898 VL - 33 IS - 11 SP - 2231 EP - 2264 PB - MIT Press CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gianelli, Claudia A1 - Marzocchi, Michele A1 - Borghi, Anna M. T1 - Grasping the Agent’s Perspective BT - a Kinematics Investigation of Linguistic Perspective in Italian and German JF - Frontiers in psychology KW - perspective taking KW - action KW - language comprehension KW - motor chains KW - motor system KW - motor resonance KW - pronouns KW - action verbs Y1 - 0107 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00042 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 8 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - GEN A1 - Felser, Claudia A1 - Phillips, Colin A1 - Wagers, Matthew T1 - Editorial: Encoding and Navigating Linguistic Representations in Memory T2 - Frontiers in psychology KW - sentence comprehension KW - encoding KW - memory retrieval KW - interference KW - anaphor resolution KW - agreement processing KW - filler-gap dependencies Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00164 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 8 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mucha, Anne T1 - Past interpretation and graded tense in Medumba JF - Natural language semantics : an international journal of semantics and its interfaces in grammar N2 - This paper provides a formal semantic analysis of past interpretation in Medumba (Grassfields Bantu), a graded tense language. Based on original fieldwork, the study explores the empirical behavior and meaning contribution of graded past morphemes in Medumba and relates these to the account of the phenomenon proposed in Cable (Nat Lang Semant 21:219-276, 2013) for GA (c) ky. Investigation reveals that the behavior of Medumba gradedness markers differs from that of their GA (c) ky counterparts in meaningful ways and, more broadly, discourages an analysis as presuppositional eventuality or reference time modifiers. Instead, the Medumba markers are most appropriately analyzed as quantificational tenses. It also turns out that Medumba, though belonging to the typological class of graded tense languages, shows intriguing similarities to genuinely tenseless languages in allowing for temporally unmarked sentences and exploiting aspectual and pragmatic cues for reference time resolution. The more general cross-linguistic implication of the study is that the set of languages often subsumed under the label "graded tense" does not in fact form a natural class and that more case-by-case research is needed to refine this category. KW - Graded tense KW - Past interpretation KW - Grassfields Bantu Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-016-9128-1 SN - 0925-854X SN - 1572-865X VL - 25 SP - 1 EP - 52 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht 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 - Wiese, Heike A1 - Mayr, Katharina A1 - Krämer, Philipp A1 - Seeger, Patrick A1 - Müller, Hans-Georg A1 - Mezger, Verena T1 - Changing teachers' attitudes towards linguistic diversity BT - effects of an anti-bias programme JF - International Journal of Applied Linguistics N2 - We discuss an intervention programme for kindergarten and school teachers' continuing education in Germany that targets biases against language outside a perceived monolingual ‘standard’ and its speakers. The programme combines anti-bias methods relating to linguistic diversity with objectives of raising critical language awareness. Evaluation through teachers' workshops in Berlin and Brandenburg points to positive and enduring attitudinal changes in participants, but not in control groups that did not attend workshops, and effects were independent of personal variables gender and teaching subject and only weakly associated with age. We relate these effects to such programme features as indirect and inclusive methods that foster active engagement, and the combination of ‘safer’ topics targeting attitudes towards linguistic structures with more challenging ones dealing with the discrimination of speakers. N2 - Der Beitrag diskutiert ein Interventionsprogramm fur die Weiterbildung von Lehrer/inne/n und Erzieher/inne/n, das Vorurteile gegenuber sprachlichen Praktiken au ss erhalb eines vermeintlichen monolingualen Standarddeutschen und seinen Sprecher/inne/n fokussiert (). Das Programm verbindet Anti-bias -Methoden zur sprachlichen Vielfalt mit solchen, die auf eine Verstarkung kritischer Sprachbewusstheit abheben. Die Evaluation der Materialien in Lehrerfortbildungen in Berlin und Brandenburg weist auf positive und anhaltende Einstellungsveranderungen bei den Teilnehmer/inne/n, aber nicht bei Mitgliedern einer Kontrollgruppe, die nicht an den Fortbildungen teilnahm; die Effekte waren unabhangig von den personenbezogen Variablen Geschlecht und Lehrfach und nur schwach mit Alter assoziiert. Wir diskutieren diese Effekte im Zusammenhang mit Eigenschaften des Programms wie der Verwendung indirekter und inklusiver Methoden, die eine aktive Auseinandersetzung fordern, und der Verbindung von weniger bedrohlichen Themen, die sich auf Einstellungen gegenuber sprachlichen Strukturen beziehen, mit solchen, die die Diskrimierung von Sprecher/inne/n behandeln und daher eine gro ss ere Herausforderung darstellen KW - anti-bias KW - critical language awareness KW - language and education in multilingual settings KW - language attitudes KW - linguistic discrimination Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12121 SN - 0802-6106 SN - 1473-4192 VL - 27 IS - 1 SP - 198 EP - 220 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Petrone, Caterina A1 - Truckenbrodt, Hubert A1 - Wellmann, Caroline A1 - Holzgrefe-Lang, Julia A1 - Wartenburger, Isabell A1 - Höhle, Barbara T1 - Prosodic boundary cues in German BT - evidence from the production and perception of bracketed lists JF - Journal of phonetics N2 - This study investigates prosodic phrasing of bracketed lists in German. We analyze variation in pauses, phrase-final lengthening and f0 in speech production and how these cues affect boundary perception. In line with the literature, it was found that pauses are often used to signal intonation phrase boundaries, while final lengthening and f0 are employed across different levels of the prosodic hierarchy. Deviations from expectations based on the standard syntax-prosody mapping are interpreted in terms of task-specific effects. That is, we argue that speakers add/delete prosodic boundaries to enhance the phonological contrast between different bracketings in the experimental task. In perception, three experiments were run, in which we tested only single cues (but temporally distributed at different locations of the sentences). Results from identification tasks and reaction time measurements indicate that pauses lead to a more abrupt shift in listeners׳ prosodic judgments, while f0 and final lengthening are exploited in a more gradient manner. Hence, pauses, final lengthening and f0 have an impact on boundary perception, though listeners show different sensitivity to the three acoustic cues. KW - Prosodic boundary KW - Phrase-final lengthening KW - Pause KW - f0 peaks KW - Production KW - Perception KW - German Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2017.01.002 SN - 0095-4470 VL - 61 SP - 71 EP - 92 PB - Elsevier CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jacob, Gunnar A1 - Katsika, Kalliopi A1 - Family, Neiloufar A1 - Allen, Shanley E. M. T1 - The role of constituent order and level of embedding in cross-linguistic structural priming JF - Bilingualism : language and cognition N2 - In two cross-linguistic priming experiments with native German speakers of L2 English, we investigated the role of constituent order and level of embedding in cross-linguistic structural priming. In both experiments, significant priming effects emerged only if prime and target were similar with regard to constituent order and also situated on the same level of embedding. We discuss our results on the basis of two current theoretical accounts of cross-linguistic priming, and conclude that neither an account based on combinatorial nodes nor an account assuming that constituent order is directly responsible for the priming effect can fully explain our data pattern. We suggest an account that explains cross-linguistic priming through a hierarchical tree representation. This representation is computed during processing of the prime, and can influence the formulation of a target sentence only when the structural features specified in it are grammatically correct in the target sentence. KW - cross-linguistic structural priming KW - constituent order KW - level of embedding KW - hierarchical tree structures Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728916000717 SN - 1366-7289 SN - 1469-1841 VL - 20 SP - 269 EP - 282 PB - Cambridge Univ. Press CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Laurinaviehyute, Anna K. A1 - Chrabaszcz, Anna V. A1 - Farizova, Nina O. A1 - Tolkacheva, Valeria A. A1 - Dragoy, Olga V. T1 - Влияние сенсомоторных стереотипоВ на понимание пространстВенных конструкций BT - данные дВижений глаз BT - evidence from eye-tracking JF - Voprosy Jazykoznanij N2 - In an eye-tracking study we tested the hypothesis that comprehension is facilitated by a match between the order of the verb and its arguments in a sentence and the order of the actual sensorimotor interaction with these objects (for example, in the phrase put the bag into the box, the order of the arguments corresponds to the order of motor actions: take the bag, put it into the box) could facilitate comprehension of such constructions. We tested 40 native Russian speakers in a visual world sentence-picture matching task. In prepositional constructions, there was no difference between conditions that matched or mismatched sensorimotor stereotypes, whereas in instrumental constructions, sensorimotor stereotypes facilitated comprehension. T2 - The influence of sensorimotor stereotypes on thecomprehension of spatial constructions KW - embodied cognition KW - eye-tracking KW - language comprehension KW - reversible constructions KW - sensorimotor bias Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.31857/S0373658X0001002-1 SN - 0373-658X IS - 3 SP - 99 EP - 109 PB - Nauka CY - Moskva ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Szendrői, Kriszta A1 - Schumacher, Rebecca A1 - Fritzsche, Tom A1 - Höhle, Barbara T1 - Acquisition of quantifier raising of a universal across an existential BT - Evidence from German JF - Glossa : a journal of general linguistics N2 - Our paper reports an act out task with German 5- and 6-year olds and adults involving doubly-quantified sentences with a universal object and an existential subject. We found that 5- and 6-year olds allow inverse scope in such sentences, while adults do not. Our findings contribute to a growing body of research (e.g. Gualmini et al. 2008; Musolino 2009, etc.) showing that children are more flexible in their scopal considerations than initially proposed by the Isomorphism proposal (Lidz & Musolino 2002; Musolino & Lidz 2006). This result provides support for a theory of German, a “no quantifier raising”-language, in terms of soft violable constraints, or global economy terms (Bobaljik & Wurmbrand 2012), rather than in terms of hard inviolable constraints or rules (Frey 1993). Finally, the results are compatible with Reinhart’s (2004) hypothesis that children do not perform global interface economy considerations due to the increased processing associated with it. KW - quantifier raising KW - language development KW - inverse scope reading KW - German language KW - interface economy Y1 - 2017 SN - 2397-1835 VL - 2 PB - Open Library of Humanities CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie A1 - Bhatara, Anjali A1 - Höhle, Barbara T1 - Effects of musicality on the perception of rhythmic structure in speech JF - Laboratory phonology N2 - Language and music share many rhythmic properties, such as variations in intensity and duration leading to repeating patterns. Perception of rhythmic properties may rely on cognitive networks that are shared between the two domains. If so, then variability in speech rhythm perception may relate to individual differences in musicality. To examine this possibility, the present study focuses on rhythmic grouping, which is assumed to be guided by a domain-general principle, the Iambic/Trochaic law, stating that sounds alternating in intensity are grouped as strong-weak, and sounds alternating in duration are grouped as weak-strong. German listeners completed a grouping task: They heard streams of syllables alternating in intensity, duration, or neither, and had to indicate whether they perceived a strong-weak or weak-strong pattern. Moreover, their music perception abilities were measured, and they filled out a questionnaire reporting their productive musical experience. Results showed that better musical rhythm perception - ability was associated with more consistent rhythmic grouping of speech, while melody perception - ability and productive musical experience were not. This suggests shared cognitive procedures in the perception of rhythm in music and speech. Also, the results highlight the relevance of - considering individual differences in musicality when aiming to explain variability in prosody perception. KW - Musical ability KW - rhythm KW - grouping KW - Iambic/Trochaic law KW - speech KW - speech perception KW - musicality KW - prosody KW - domain-general KW - German Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5334/labphon.91 SN - 1868-6346 SN - 1868-6354 VL - 8 IS - 1 PB - Ubiquity Press CY - London ER - TY - THES A1 - Atasoy, Atilla T1 - Production, perception, and processing of focus in Turkish N2 - The main goal of this dissertation is to experimentally investigate how focus is realised, perceived, and processed by native Turkish speakers, independent of preconceived notions of positional restrictions. Crucially, there are various issues and scientific debates surrounding focus in the Turkish language in the existing literature (chapter 1). It is argued in this dissertation that two factors led to the stagnant literature on focus in Turkish: the lack of clearly defined, modern understandings of information structure and its fundamental notion of focus, and the ongoing and ill-defined debate surrounding the question of whether there is an immediately preverbal focus position in Turkish. These issues gave rise to specific research questions addressed across this dissertation. Specifically, we were interested in how the focus dimensions such as focus size (comparing narrow constituent and broad sentence focus), focus target (comparing narrow subject and narrow object focus), and focus type (comparing new-information and contrastive focus) affect Turkish focus realisation and, in turn, focus comprehension when speakers are provided syntactic freedom to position focus as they see fit. To provide data on these core goals, we presented three behavioural experiments based on a systematic framework of information structure and its notions (chapter 2): (i) a production task with trigger wh-questions and contextual animations manipulated to elicit the focus dimensions of interest (chapter 3), (ii) a timed acceptability judgment task in listening to the recorded answers in our production task (chapter 4), and (iii) a self-paced reading task to gather on-line processing data (chapter 5). Based on the results of the conducted experiments, multiple conclusions are made in this dissertation (chapter 6). Firstly, this dissertation demonstrated empirically that there is no focus position in Turkish, neither in the sense of a strict focus position language nor as a focally loaded position facilitating focus perception and/or processing. While focus is, in fact, syntactically variable in the Turkish preverbal area, this is a consequence of movement triggered by other IS aspects like topicalisation and backgrounding, and the observational markedness of narrow subject focus compared to narrow object focus. As for focus type in Turkish, this dimension is not associated with word order in production, perception, or processing. Significant acoustic correlates of focus size (broad sentence focus vs narrow constituent focus) and focus target (narrow subject focus vs narrow object focus) were observed in fundamental frequency and intensity, representing focal boost, (postfocal) deaccentuation, and the presence or absence of a phrase-final rise in the prenucleus, while the perceivability of these effects remains to be investigated. In contrast, no acoustic correlates of focus type in simple, three-word transitive structures were observed, with focus types being interchangeable in mismatched question-answer pairs. Overall, the findings of this dissertation highlight the need for experimental investigations regarding focus in Turkish, as theoretical predictions do not necessarily align with experimental data. As such, the fallacy of implying causation from correlation should be strictly kept in mind, especially when constructions coincide with canonical structures, such as the immediately preverbal position in narrow object foci. Finally, numerous open questions remain to be explored, especially as focus and word order in Turkish are multifaceted. As shown, givenness is a confounding factor when investigating focus types, while thematic role assignment potentially confounds word order preferences. Further research based on established, modern information structure frameworks is needed, with chapter 5 concluding with specific recommendations for such future research. N2 - Das Hauptziel dieser Dissertation war die experimentelle Untersuchung, wie Muttersprachler des Türkischen Fokus realisieren, wahrnehmen und sprachlich verarbeiten, unabhängig von vorgefassten Meinungen betreffend Positionsbeschränkungen. Entscheidend ist, dass es in der vorhandenen Literatur verschiedene Probleme und wissenschaftliche Debatten zum Thema Fokus in der türkischen Sprache gibt (Kapitel 1). In dieser Dissertation wird argumentiert, dass zwei Faktoren zu der stagnierenden Forschung zum Thema Fokus im Türkischen beitrugen: Das Fehlen eines klar definierten modernen Verständnisses der Informationsstruktur und ihres grundlegenden Begriffs von Fokus und die anhaltende und unklare Debatte um die Frage, ob es im Türkischen eine unmittelbar präverbale Fokusposition gibt. Diese Probleme führten zu den jeweiligen Forschungsfragen, die in dieser Dissertation behandelt wurden. Ausdrücklich lag das Interesse darauf, wie die Fokusdimensionen Fokusgröße, der Vergleich von schmalem Fokus (narrow focus) auf der Konstituente und breitem, projiziertem Fokus (broad focus) auf dem Satz, Fokusziel, der Vergleich von schmalem Subjektfokus und Objektfokus, und Fokustyp, der Vergleich von Fokus auf neuer Information (new-inforamtion focus) und Kontrastfokus, die Fokusrealisierung und -wahrnehmung im Türkischen beeinflussen, wenn den Sprechern syntaktische Freiheit gegeben wird Fokus nach Belieben im Satz zu positionieren. Basierend auf einen systematischen theoretischen Rahmen der Informationsstruktur und ihrer Begriffe (Kapitel 2), wurden drei Verhaltensexperimente in dieser Dissertation präsentiert, um Daten zu diesen Kernzielen vorzulegen: (i) ein Produktionsexperiment mit Fragen und kontextbezogenen Animationen als Trigger manipuliert, um die obengenannten Fokusdimensionen zu untersuchen, (ii) ein zeitlich gemessenes Akzeptanzexperiment (timed acceptability judgment task) beim Anhören der Antworten aufgezeichnet in unserem Produktionsexperiment und (iii) ein selbstbestimmtes Leseexperiment (self-paced reading task) zur Untersuchung der sprachlichen Verarbeitung (on-line language processing). Auf der Grundlage der Ergebnisse der durchgeführten Experimente werden in dieser Dissertation mehrere Schlussfolgerungen gezogen (Kapitel 6). Diese Dissertation hat zum einen empirisch nachgewiesen, dass es im Türkischen keine Fokusposition gibt, weder im Sinne einer strikten Fokusposition noch als fokal geladene Position, die die Fokuswahrnehmung und/oder -verarbeitung erleichtert. Während Fokus im türkischen präverbalen Bereich tatsächlich syntaktisch variabel ist, ist dies eine Folge syntaktischer Strategien anderer IS-Aspekte, wie etwa Topikalisierung und Hintergrundbildung (backgrounding), wie auch die additive Kennzeichnung schmaler Subjektfokusse im Vergleich zum Objektfokus. Was Fokustyp im Türkischen betrifft, ist diese Fokusdimension nicht mit Wortstellung in Produktion, Wahrnehmung oder Verarbeitung assoziiert. Signifikante akustische Korrelate der Fokusgröße (breiter Satzfokus vs. schmalen Konstituentenfokus) und Fokusziel (schmaler Subjektfokus vs. schmalen Objektfokus) in Grundfrequenz und Intensität in Form von Fokusverstärkung (focal boost), (postfokaler) Deakzentuierung und dem Vorhandensein oder Fehlen eines phrasenfinalen Anstiegs im Pränukleus wurden beobachtet, während die Wahrnehmbarkeit dieser Effekte noch zu untersuchen ist. Im Gegensatz dazu wurden keine akustischen Korrelate für Fokustyp in simplen transitiven Dreiwortstrukturen beobachtet, wobei Fokustypen in nicht übereinstimmenden Frage-Antwort-Paaren austauschbar waren. Insgesamt unterstreichen die oben skizzierten Ergebnisse dieser Dissertation die Notwendigkeit experimenteller Untersuchungen zu Fokus im Türkischen, da theoretische Vorhersagen nicht immer mit experimentellen Daten übereinstimmen. Der Trugschluss, dass Korrelation Kausalität impliziert, sollte strikt im Auge behalten werden, insbesondere wenn Konstruktionen mit kanonischen Strukturen übereinstimmen, wie etwa die unmittelbar präverbale Position in schmalen Objektfokussen. Schließlich sind noch zahlreiche offene Fragen zu klären, zumal Fokus und Wortstellung im Türkischen vielfältig sind. Wie in dieser Dissertation gezeigt wurde, ist Gegebenheit ein Störfaktor in der Untersuchung von Fokustypen. Ebenfalls ist zu vermuten, dass thematische Rollenzuweisung im Türkischen Präferenzen in Wortstellung hervorrufen können, die als Fokuseffekte fehlinterpretiert werden könnten. Weitere Forschung auf der Grundlage etablierter theoretischer Informationsstrukturrahmen ist erforderlich. Kapitel 5 schließt mit konkreten Empfehlungen für solche zukünftigen Untersuchungen ab. T2 - Produktion, Wahrnehmung und Verarbeitung von Fokus im Türkischen KW - focus KW - information structure KW - Turkish KW - focus realisation KW - Türkisch KW - Fokus KW - Fokusrealisierung KW - Informationsstruktur Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-548156 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heidler, Maria-Dorothea T1 - Kognitive Störungen bei Patienten mit Herzerkrankungen T1 - Cognitive Deficits in Patiens with Cardiac Disease BT - ein Überblick BT - an Overview JF - Zeitschrift für Neuropsychologie N2 - Patienten mit Herzerkrankung leiden unter zahlreichen kognitiven Defiziten, die mit steigendem Alter und der Schwere der kardialen Erkrankung zunehmen. Die Genese kognitiver Defizite und ihre Wechselwirkung mit Herzerkrankungen ist multifaktoriell, potenziell sind sie jedoch durch eine adäquate medizinische Behandlung der Herzerkrankung modifizierbar. Oft haben neuropsychologische Störungen wie beeinträchtigte Aufmerksamkeits-, Gedächtnis- oder Exekutivfunktionen nachhaltige Auswirkungen auf die Lebensqualität und auf das Outcome kardiologischer Rehabilitationsmaßnahmen und können Herzerkrankungen verschlimmern (bspw. durch die Aufrechterhaltung eines ungesunden Lebensstils oder unzureichende Medikamentenadhärenz). Ein routinemäßig angewandtes neuropsychologisches Screening könnte helfen, kognitiv beeinträchtigte Patienten zu identifizieren, um medizinische und rehabilitative Maßnahmen optimieren zu können. N2 - Cognitive deficits in patients with cardiac disease are common and independent of the type of heart disease present. They increase with severity of the cardiac illness and the patient’s age. The genesis of cognitive impairments and their interactions with cardiac disease is multifactorial, though cognitive deficits are potentially reversible if they receive adequate medical treatment. Yet cognitive impairments like attention deficits, memory disorders, or impairment of executive functions can lower quality of life and the outcome of cardiac rehabilitation programs. They can even aggravate cardiac disease, for example, because of an unhealthy lifestyle or insufficient medication adherence. Routinely applied neuropsychological cognitive screening could help to identify affected patients to adapt medical and rehabilitative treatment. KW - Heart failure KW - coronary heart disease KW - cardiac arrhythmia KW - heart surgery KW - Herzinsuffizienz KW - Koronare Herzkrankheit KW - Herzrhythmussörung KW - Herzoperation Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1024/1016-264X/a000193 SN - 1016-264X SN - 1664-2902 VL - 28 IS - 1 SP - 33 EP - 44 PB - Hogrefe CY - Bern ER - TY - THES A1 - Sotiropoulou, Stavroula T1 - Pleiotropy of phonetic indices in the expression of syllabic organization N2 - This dissertation is concerned with the relation between qualitative phonological organization in the form of syllabic structure and continuous phonetics, that is, the spatial and temporal dimensions of vocal tract action that express syllabic structure. The main claim of the dissertation is twofold. First, we argue that syllabic organization exerts multiple effects on the spatio-temporal properties of the segments that partake in that organization. That is, there is no unique or privileged exponent of syllabic organization. Rather, syllabic organization is expressed in a pleiotropy of phonetic indices. Second, we claim that a better understanding of the relation between qualitative phonological organization and continuous phonetics is reached when one considers how the string of segments (over which the nature of the phonological organization is assessed) responds to perturbations (scaling of phonetic variables) of localized properties (such as durations) within that string. Specifically, variation in phonetic variables and more specifically prosodic variation is a crucial key to understanding the nature of the link between (phonological) syllabic organization and the phonetic spatio-temporal manifestation of that organization. The effects of prosodic variation on segmental properties and on the overlap between the segments, we argue, offer the right pathway to discover patterns related to syllabic organization. In our approach, to uncover evidence for global organization, the sequence of segments partaking in that organization as well as properties of these segments or their relations with one another must be somehow locally varied. The consequences of such variation on the rest of the sequence can then be used to unveil the span of organization. When local perturbations to segments or relations between adjacent segments have effects that ripple through the rest of the sequence, this is evidence that organization is global. If instead local perturbations stay local with no consequences for the rest of the whole, this indicates that organization is local. N2 - Die vorliegende Dissertation befasst sich mit dem Verhältnis zwischen qualitativer Phonologie im Sinne silbischer Struktur und kontinuierlicher Phonetik im Sinne raum- und zeitbezogener Eigenschaften artikulatorischer Bewegungen, welche ebendiese Struktur ausdrücken. Die Dissertation stellt zwei Hauptthesen auf: Erstens behaupten wir, dass silbische Struktur verschiedene Auswirkungen auf die räumlichen und zeitlichen Eigenschaften der beteiligten Segmente hat. Das heißt, dass es keinen einzelnen ausgezeichneten Indikator für die silbische Struktur gibt, vielmehr muss diese durch mehrere verschiedene phonetischen Indexe beschrieben werden. Zweitens behaupten wir, dass man ein besseres Verständnis über den Zusammenhang von qualitativer phonologischer Struktur und kontinuierlicher Phonetik erhält, wenn man berücksichtigt, wie Abfolgen von Segmenten, welche die phonologische Struktur bestimmen, auf Perturbationen von lokalen phonetischen Eigenschaften reagieren. Die Variabilität phonetischer und insbesondere prosodischer Parameter spielt hierbei eine wesentliche Rolle. Wir behaupten, dass die Effekte prosodischer Variation der Eigenschaften einzelner Segmente und deren Überlappung einen geeigneten Weg zur Aufklärung silbisch-struktureller Muster aufzeigen. Wenn man Hinweise auf eine globale silbische Struktur herausarbeiten möchte, müssen folglich sowohl die Abfolge als auch die lokalen Eigenschaften der beteiligten Segmente variiert werden. Auswirkungen der Variationen können dann Auskunft über der Art und Gestalt der silbischen Struktur geben. Wenn lokale Perturbationen von Segmenten oder von Relationen zwischen benachbarten Segmenten die restliche Sequenz beeinflussen, ist dies als Hinweis auf eine globale Organisation zu bewerten. Wenn lokale Perturbationen hingegen lokal verbleiben ohne die restliche Sequenz zu beeinflussen, ist dies als Hinweis auf eine lokale Organisation zu bewerten. KW - Syllabic organization KW - inter-segmental coordination KW - obstruent-liquid clusters KW - prosodic modulation KW - compensatory effects KW - silbische Struktur KW - kompensatorischer Effekt KW - Koordination zwischen Segmenten KW - Obstruent-Liquide Konsonantencluster KW - prosodische Variation Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-546399 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krüger, K. R. A1 - Lukowiak, A. A1 - Sonntag, J. A1 - Warzecha, Saskia A1 - Stede, Manfred T1 - Classifying news versus opinions in newspapers BT - linguistic features for domain independence JF - Natural language engineering N2 - Newspaper text can be broadly divided in the classes ‘opinion’ (editorials, commentary, letters to the editor) and ‘neutral’ (reports). We describe a classification system for performing this separation, which uses a set of linguistically motivated features. Working with various English newspaper corpora, we demonstrate that it significantly outperforms bag-of-lemma and PoS-tag models. We conclude that the linguistic features constitute the best method for achieving robustness against change of newspaper or domain. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S1351324917000043 SN - 1351-3249 SN - 1469-8110 VL - 23 SP - 687 EP - 707 PB - Cambridge Univ. Press CY - Cambridge ER - TY - GEN A1 - McElvenny, James T1 - Otto Neuraths Isotype and C. K. Ogdens Basic English T2 - Diagrammatic Representation and Inference, Diagrams 2018 KW - Isotype KW - Vienna circle KW - Otto neurath KW - C. K. ogden KW - Basic English KW - Philosophy of language KW - Semiotics KW - International language Y1 - 2018 SN - 978-3-319-91376-6 SN - 978-3-319-91375-9 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91376-6 SN - 0302-9743 SN - 1611-3349 VL - 10871 SP - 800 EP - 802 PB - Springer CY - Cham ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Szendroi, Kriszta A1 - Bernard, Carline A1 - Berger, Frauke A1 - Gervain, Judit A1 - Höhle, Barbara T1 - Acquisition of prosodic focus marking by English, French, and German three-, four-, five- and six-year-olds JF - Journal of child language N2 - Previous research on young children's knowledge of prosodic focus marking has revealed an apparent paradox, with comprehension appearing to lag behind production. Comprehension of prosodic focus is difficult to study experimentally due to its subtle and ambiguous contribution to pragmatic meaning. We designed a novel comprehension task, which revealed that three- to six-year-old children show adult-like comprehension of the prosodic marking of subject and object focus. Our findings thus support the view that production does not precede comprehension in the acquisition of focus. We tested participants speaking English, German, and French. All three languages allow prosodic subject and object focus marking, but use additional syntactic marking to varying degrees (English: dispreferred; German: possible; French preferred). French participants produced fewer subject marked responses than English participants. We found no other cross-linguistic differences. Participants interpreted prosodic focus marking similarly and in an adult-like fashion in all three languages. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000917000071 SN - 0305-0009 SN - 1469-7602 VL - 45 IS - 1 SP - 219 EP - 241 PB - Cambridge Univ. Press CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Huckabee, Maggie-Lee A1 - McIntosh, Theresa A1 - Fuller, Laura A1 - Curry, Morgan A1 - Thomas, Paige A1 - Walshe, Margaret A1 - McCague, Ellen A1 - Battel, Irene A1 - Nogueira, Dalia A1 - Frank, Ulrike A1 - van den Engel-Hoek, Lenie A1 - Sella-Weiss, Oshrat T1 - The test of masticating and swallowing solids (TOMASS) BT - reliability, validity and international normative data JF - International Journal of language & communicaton disorders N2 - BackgroundClinical swallowing assessment is largely limited to qualitative assessment of behavioural observations. There are limited quantitative data that can be compared with a healthy population for identification of impairment. The Test of Masticating and Swallowing Solids (TOMASS) was developed as a quantitative assessment of solid bolus ingestion. AimsThis research programme investigated test development indices and established normative data for the TOMASS to support translation to clinical dysphagia assessment. Conclusions & ImplicationsThe TOMASS is presented as a valid, reliable and broadly normed clinical assessment of solid bolus ingestion. Clinical application may help identify dysphagic patients at bedside and provide a non-invasive, but sensitive, measure of functional change in swallowing. KW - deglutition KW - assessment KW - mastication KW - swallowing KW - timed KW - solid Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12332 SN - 1368-2822 SN - 1460-6984 VL - 53 IS - 1 SP - 144 EP - 156 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mätzig, Paul A1 - Vasishth, Shravan A1 - Engelmann, Felix A1 - Caplan, David A1 - Burchert, Frank T1 - A computational investigation of sources of variability in sentence comprehension difficulty in aphasia JF - Topics in cognitive science N2 - We present a computational evaluation of three hypotheses about sources of deficit in sentence comprehension in aphasia: slowed processing, intermittent deficiency, and resource reduction. The ACT-R based Lewis and Vasishth (2005) model is used to implement these three proposals. Slowed processing is implemented as slowed execution time of parse steps; intermittent deficiency as increased random noise in activation of elements in memory; and resource reduction as reduced spreading activation. As data, we considered subject vs. object relative sentences, presented in a self-paced listening modality to 56 individuals with aphasia (IWA) and 46 matched controls. The participants heard the sentences and carried out a picture verification task to decide on an interpretation of the sentence. These response accuracies are used to identify the best parameters (for each participant) that correspond to the three hypotheses mentioned above. We show that controls have more tightly clustered (less variable) parameter values than IWA; specifically, compared to controls, among IWA there are more individuals with slow parsing times, high noise, and low spreading activation. We find that (a) individual IWA show differential amounts of deficit along the three dimensions of slowed processing, intermittent deficiency, and resource reduction, (b) overall, there is evidence for all three sources of deficit playing a role, and (c) IWA have a more variable range of parameter values than controls. An important implication is that it may be meaningless to talk about sources of deficit with respect to an abstract verage IWA; the focus should be on the individual's differential degrees of deficit along different dimensions, and on understanding the causes of variability in deficit between participants. KW - Sentence comprehension KW - Aphasia KW - Computational modeling KW - Cue-based retrieval Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12323 SN - 1756-8757 SN - 1756-8765 VL - 10 IS - 1 SP - 161 EP - 174 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hanneforth, Thomas A1 - Maletti, Andreas A1 - Quernheim, Daniel T1 - Pushing for weighted tree automata BT - Dedicated to the memory of Zoltan Esik (1951-2016) JF - Logical Methods in Computer Science N2 - A weight normalization procedure, commonly called pushing, is introduced for weighted tree automata (wta) over commutative semifields. The normalization preserves the recognized weighted tree language even for nondeterministic wta, but it is most useful for bottom-up deterministic wta, where it can be used for minimization and equivalence testing. In both applications a careful selection of the weights to be redistributed followed by normalization allows a reduction of the general problem to the corresponding problem for bottom-up deterministic unweighted tree automata. This approach was already successfully used by Mohri and Eisner for the minimization of deterministic weighted string automata. Moreover, the new equivalence test for two wta M and M′ runs in time O((|M|+|M′|)⋅log(|Q|+|Q′|)), where Q and Q′ are the states of M and M′, respectively, which improves the previously best run-time O(|M|⋅|M′|). KW - pushing weighted tree automaton KW - minimization KW - equivalence testing Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.23638/LMCS-14(1:5)2018 SN - 1860-5974 VL - 14 IS - 1 PB - Logical Methods in Computer Science E V CY - Braunschweig ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fyndanis, Valantis A1 - Arfani, Dimitra A1 - Varlokosta, Spyridoula A1 - Burgio, Francesca A1 - Maculan, Anna A1 - Miceli, Gabriele A1 - Arcara, Giorgio A1 - Palla, Fabio A1 - Cagnin, Annachiara A1 - Papageorgiou, Sokratis G. A1 - Semenza, Carlo T1 - Morphosyntactic production in Greek- and Italian-speaking individuals with probable Alzheimer’s disease BT - evidence from subject–verb agreement, tense/time reference, and mood JF - Aphasiology : an international, interdisciplinary journal N2 - Background: In probable Alzheimer’s disease (AD), different memory systems, executive functioning, visuospatial recognition, and language are impaired. Regarding the latter, only a few studies have investigated morphosyntactic production thus far. Aims: This study, which is a follow-up on Fyndanis, V., Manouilidou, C., Koufou, E., Karampekios, S., and Tsapakis, E. M. (2013). Agrammatic patterns in Alzheimer's disease: Evidence from tense, agreement, and aspect. Aphasiology, 27, 178–200. doi:10.1080/02687038.2012.705814, investigates whether verb-related morphosyntactic production is (selectively) impaired in AD focusing on two highly inflected languages, Greek and Italian. The morphosyntactic phenomena explored are subject–verb Agreement, Tense/Time Reference, and Mood. Focusing on these phenomena allows us to investigate if recent hypotheses, originally developed in aphasia research, can also capture results related to AD. We tested the hypotheses discussed in Fyndanis, V., Manouilidou, C., Koufou, E., Karampekios, S., and Tsapakis, E. M. (2013). Agrammatic patterns in Alzheimer's disease: Evidence from tense, agreement, and aspect. Aphasiology, 27, 178–200. doi:10.1080/02687038.2012.705814, that is, the Interpretable Features’ Impairment Hypothesis (IFIH) (e.g., Fyndanis, V., Varlokosta, S., & Tsapkini, K. 2012. Agrammatic production: Interpretable features and selective impairment in verb inflection. Lingua, 122, 1134–1147. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2012.05.004) and the PAst DIscourse LInking Hypothesis (PADILIH; Bastiaanse, R., Bamyaci, E., Hsu, C., Lee, J., Yarbay Duman, T., & Thompson, C. K. 2011. Time reference in agrammatic aphasia: A cross-linguistic study. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 24, 652–673. doi:10.1016/j.jneuroling.2011.07.001). Methods & Procedures: Two sentence completion tasks testing the production of subject-verb Agreement, Tense/Time Reference, and Mood were administered to 16 Greek-speaking and 10 Italian-speaking individuals with mild-to-moderate AD, as well as to 16 Greek-speaking and 11 Italian-speaking neurologically intact individuals who were matched with the participants with AD on age and education. Mixed-effects models were fitted to the data. Outcomes & Results: At the group level, both the Greek and Italian participants with AD performed worse than the controls. Both AD groups revealed selective patterns of morphosyntactic production (Greek: Agreement/Mood > Time Reference; Italian: Agreement > Time Reference > Mood). Past Reference and Future Reference did not dissociate in either of the two AD groups. Nevertheless, in all four participants with AD who showed dissociations, Past Reference was more impaired than Future Reference. Conclusions: The results indicate that the production of verb-related morphosyntactic categories can be impaired in mild-to-moderate AD. The different patterns observed in the two languages are partly attributable to the different way these languages encode Mood. The group results (of both the Greek-and Italian-speaking participants with AD) do not lend support to the PADILIH, whereas only the results of the Italian AD group are fully consistent with the IFIH. However, the individual data are consistent with the PADILIH, and the IFIH is informed by the present data and modified accordingly so that it can capture cross-linguistic patterns of morphosyntactic impairment. KW - tense/time reference KW - mood Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2017.1358352 SN - 0268-7038 SN - 1464-5041 VL - 32 IS - 1 SP - 61 EP - 87 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bürki-Foschini, Audrey Damaris A1 - Viebahn, Malte Clemens A1 - Racine, Isabelle A1 - Mabut, Cassandre A1 - Spinelli, Elsa T1 - Intrinsic advantage for canonical forms in spoken word recognition BT - myth or reality? JF - Language, cognition and neuroscience N2 - In connected speech, many words are produced with a pronunciation that differs from the canonical form. How the speech recognition system deals with this variation is a fundamental issue in the language processing literature. The present study examines the roles of variant type, variant frequency, and context in the processing of French words with a canonical (schwa variant, e.g. semaine “week”) and a non-canonical pronunciation (no-schwa variant, s’maine). It asks whether the processing of canonical pronunciations is faster than the processing of non-canonical ones. Results of three lexical decision experiments reveal that more frequent variants are recognised more quickly, and that there is no advantage for canonical forms once variant frequency is accounted for. Two of these experiments further failed to find evidence that the context in which the words are presented modulate the effect of variant type. These findings are discussed in the light of spoken word recognition models. KW - Spoken word recognition KW - phonological variation KW - exposure frequency KW - French schwa KW - context Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2017.1388412 SN - 2327-3798 SN - 2327-3801 VL - 33 IS - 4 SP - 494 EP - 511 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zakariás, Lilla A1 - Keresztes, Attila A1 - Marton, Klara A1 - Wartenburger, Isabell T1 - Positive effects of a computerised working memory and executive function JF - Neuropsychological rehabilitation N2 - Aphasia, the language disorder following brain damage, is frequently accompanied by deficits of working memory (WM) and executive functions (EFs). Recent studies suggest that WM, together with certain EFs, can play a role in sentence comprehension in individuals with aphasia (IWA), and that WM can be enhanced with intensive practice. Our aim was to investigate whether a combined WM and EF training improves the understanding of spoken sentences in IWA. We used a pre-post-test case control design. Three individuals with chronic aphasia practised an adaptive training task (a modified n-back task) three to four times a week for a month. Their performance was assessed before and after the training on outcome measures related to WM and spoken sentence comprehension. One participant showed significant improvement on the training task, another showed a tendency for improvement, and both of them improved significantly in spoken sentence comprehension. The third participant did not improve on the training task, however, she showed improvement on one measure of spoken sentence comprehension. Compared to controls, two individuals improved at least in one condition of the WM outcome measures. Thus, our results suggest that a combined WM and EF training can be beneficial for IWA. KW - Aphasia rehabilitation KW - transfer effect KW - updating training KW - interference control KW - sentence comprehension deficit Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/09602011.2016.1159579 SN - 0960-2011 SN - 1464-0694 VL - 28 IS - 3 SP - 369 EP - 386 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Selting, Margret T1 - For Charles Goodwin, Chuck JF - Co-operative engagements in intertwined semiosis: essays in honour of Charles Goodwin N2 - This appreciation will not be a testimonial to Chuck’s numerous publications and research achievements – I am sure that others will have a lot to say about those. Instead, I will say something about how I personally experienced and think of him, as a researcher personality, based on the limited time and the few occasions that we have had together. Y1 - 2018 SN - 978-9949-77-688-7 SN - 978-9949-77-689-4 SN - 1406-4278 VL - 19 SP - 361 EP - 362 PB - University of Tartu Press CY - Tartu ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Burmester, Juliane A1 - Sauermann, Antje A1 - Spalek, Katharina A1 - Wartenburger, Isabell T1 - Sensitivity to salience BT - linguistic vs. visual cues affect sentence processing and pronoun resolution JF - Language, cognition and neuroscience N2 - Sentence comprehension is optimised by indicating entities as salient through linguistic (i.e., information-structural) or visual means. We compare how salience of a depicted referent due to a linguistic (i.e., topic status) or visual cue (i.e., a virtual person's gaze shift) modulates sentence comprehension in German. We investigated processing of sentences with varying word order and pronoun resolution by means of self-paced reading and an antecedent choice task, respectively. Our results show that linguistic as well as visual salience cues immediately speeded up reading times of sentences mentioning the salient referent first. In contrast, for pronoun resolution, linguistic and visual cues modulated antecedent choice preferences less congruently. In sum, our findings speak in favour of a significant impact of linguistic and visual salience cues on sentence comprehension, substantiating that salient information delivered via language as well as the visual environment is integrated in the current mental representation of the discourse. KW - Topic status KW - eye gaze KW - visual context KW - reading times KW - antecedent choice Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2018.1428758 SN - 2327-3798 SN - 2327-3801 VL - 33 IS - 6 SP - 784 EP - 801 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hassler, Gerda T1 - Rezension zu: Bertrand, Aliènor: Condillac, philosopher of language? - Lyon: ENS Éditions, 2016. - ISBN 978-2-84788-811-9 JF - Historiographia Linguistica Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.00022.has SN - 0302-5160 SN - 1569-9781 VL - 45 IS - 1-2 SP - 225 EP - 234 PB - John Benjamins Publishing Co. CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gotzner, Nicole A1 - Mazzarella, Diana T1 - Face Management and Negative Strengthening BT - The Role of Power Relations, Social Distance, and Gender JF - Frontiers in psychology / Frontiers Research Foundation N2 - Negated gradable adjectives often convey an interpretation that is stronger than their literal meaning, which is referred to as ‘negative strengthening.’ For example, a sentence like ‘John is not kind’ may give rise to the inference that John is rather mean. Crucially, negation is more likely to be pragmatically strengthened in the case of positive adjectives (‘not kind’ to mean rather mean) than negative adjectives (‘not mean’ to mean rather kind). A classical explanation of this polarity asymmetry is based on politeness, specifically on the potential face threat of bare negative adjectives (Horn, 1989; Brown and Levinson, 1987). This paper presents the results of two experiments investigating the role of face management in negative strengthening. We show that negative strengthening of positive and negative adjectives interacts differently with the social variables of power, social distance, and gender. KW - conversational implicature KW - negation KW - politeness KW - social meaning KW - antonymy KW - adjectives Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.602977 SN - 1664-042X VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Arantzeta, Miren A1 - Webster, Janet A1 - Laka, Itziar A1 - Martinez-Zabaleta, Maite A1 - Howard, David T1 - What happens when they think they are right? BT - Error awareness analysis of sentence comprehension deficits in aphasia JF - Aphasiology : an international, interdisciplinary journal N2 - Background: Comprehension of non-canonical sentences is frequently characterised by chance level performance in people with aphasia (PWA). Chance level performance has been interpreted as guessing, but online data does not support this rendering. It is still not clear whether the incorrect sentence processing is guided by the compensatory strategies that PWA might employ to overcome linguistic difficulties.Aims: We aim to study to what extent people with non-fluent aphasia are aware of their sentence comprehension deficits.Methods & Procedures: This study combined offline and online data to investigate the effect of word order and error-awareness on sentence comprehension in a group of PWA and non-brain damaged (NBD) participants. The offline tasks involved auditory sentence picture-matching immediately followed by a confidence rating (CR). Participants were asked to judge the perceived correctness of their previous answer. Online data consisted of eye-tracking.Outcomes & Results: Replicating previous findings, PWA had significantly worse comprehension of Theme-Agent order compared to Agent-Theme order sentences. Controls showed ceiling level sentence comprehension. CR was a poor predictor of response accuracy in PWA, but moderate-good in NBD. A total of 6.8% of judgements were classified as guessing by PWA. Post hoc gaze data analysis indicated that CR was a predictor of the fixation pattern during the presentation of the linguistic stimuli.Conclusions: Results suggest that PWA were mostly unaware of their sentence comprehension errors and did not consciously employ strategies to compensate for their difficulties. KW - Aphasia KW - sentence comprehension KW - error awareness KW - eye-tracking KW - anosognosia Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2017.1423270 SN - 0268-7038 SN - 1464-5041 VL - 32 IS - 12 SP - 1418 EP - 1444 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - De Veaugh-Geiss, Joseph P. A1 - Toennis, Swantje A1 - Onea, Edgar A1 - Zimmermann, Malte T1 - That’s not quite it BT - an experimental investigation of (non‑)exhaustivity in clefts JF - Semantics and pragmatics N2 - We present a novel empirical study on German directly comparing the exhaustivity inference in es-clefts to exhaustivity inferences in definite pseudoclefts, exclusives, and plain intonational focus constructions. We employ mouse-driven verification/falsification tasks in an incremental information-retrieval paradigm across two experiments in order to assess the strength of exhaustivity in the four sentence types. The results are compatible with a parallel analysis of clefts and definite pseudoclefts, in line with previous claims in the literature (Percus 1997, Buring & Kriz 2013). In striking contrast with such proposals, in which the exhaustivity inference is conventionally coded in the cleft-structure in terms of maximality/homogeneity, our study found that the exhaustivity inference is not systematic or robust in es-clefts nor in definite pseudoclefts: Whereas some speakers treat both constructions as exhaustive, others treat both constructions as non-exhaustive. In order to account for this unexpected finding, we argue that the exhaustivity inference in both clefts and definite pseudoclefts-specifically those with the compound definite derjenige - is pragmatically derived from the anaphoric existence presupposition that is common to both constructions. KW - experimental study KW - exhaustivity KW - es-clefts KW - definite pseudoclefts KW - anaphoric existence presupposition Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.11.3 SN - 1937-8912 VL - 11 PB - Linguistic Society of America CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Georgi, Doreen T1 - Patterns of movement reflexes as the result of the order of merge and agree JF - Linguistic Inquiry N2 - In this article, I analyze patterns of reflexes of A-movement found within and across languages: reflexes may occur in all or none of the clauses of the dependency, in the clause where the dependency terminates, or solely in clauses where it does not terminate. I argue that the variation can best be captured by the variable timing of Agree and two subtypes of internal Merge (final vs. intermediate movement steps) triggered by a single head: early movement feeds Agree and gives rise to a reflex; late movement has the opposite effect. Since the subtypes of movement can apply at different points relative to Agree, reflexes may occur only in some clauses of the dependency. KW - movement reflexes KW - Agree KW - Merge KW - opacity KW - order of operations KW - optionality Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1162/LING_a_00255 SN - 0024-3892 SN - 1530-9150 VL - 48 IS - 4 SP - 585 EP - 626 PB - MIT Press CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bacskai-Atkari, Julia T1 - Marking Finiteness and Low Peripheries JF - Boundaries Crossed, at the Interfaces of Morphosyntax, Phonology, Pragmatics and Semantics N2 - The article takes up on the observations made byKenesei (1994) regarding the position of the Hungarian interrogative marker -e in the clause and its distribution across clause types. Specifically, there are three crucial points: (i) the marker -e is related to the CP-domain, where clause typing is encoded; (ii) -e is obligatory in embedded clauses and optional in main clauses; (iii) -e is licensed in finite clauses only. I argue that certain clause-typing properties are reflected in the Hungarian clause in a lower functional domain, FP. In particular, finiteness and the interrogative nature of the clause are encoded here, as also indicated by focussing in non-interrogative clauses and by constituent questions, respectively. The marker -e is base-generated in the F head, as opposed to a designated FocP or TP/IP, allowing it to fulfil its clause-typing functions. Base-generation is crucial (as opposed to lowering from C) since it is able to capture the relatedness between -e and finiteness: -e is specified as [fin] and while the FP may be generated to host focussed constituents (including wh-elements) in non-finite clauses, a lexically [fin] head cannot be inserted. KW - Clause typing KW - Finiteness KW - Focus KW - Functional left peripheries KW - Interrogatives KW - Polar questions Y1 - 2018 SN - 978-3-319-90710-9 SN - 978-3-319-90709-3 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90710-9_12 SN - 0924-4670 VL - 94 SP - 183 EP - 198 PB - Springer CY - Cham ER - TY - GEN A1 - Williams, Daniel A1 - Escudero, Paola A1 - Gafos, Adamantios I. T1 - Perceptual sensitivity to spectral change in Australian English close front vowels BT - an electroencephalographic investigation T2 - 19 th annual conference of the international speech communicaton association (INTERSPEECH 2018), VOLS 1-6: Speech research for emerging marjets in multilingual societies N2 - Speech scientists have long noted that the qualities of naturally-produced vowels do not remain constant over their durations regardless of being nominally "monophthongs" or "diphthongs". Recent acoustic corpora show that there are consistent patterns of first (F1) and second (F2) formant frequency change across different vowel categories. The three Australian English (AusE) close front vowels /i:, 1, i/ provide a striking example: while their midpoint or mean F1 and F2 frequencies are virtually identical, their spectral change patterns distinctly differ. The results indicate that, despite the distinct patterns of spectral change of AusE /i:, i, la/ in production, its perceptual relevance is not uniform, but rather vowel-category dependent. KW - vowels KW - pre-attentive discrimination KW - speech perception KW - speech acoustics KW - English dialects Y1 - 2018 SN - 978-1-5108-7221-9 U6 - https://doi.org/10.21437/Interspeech.2018-2505 SN - 2308-457X SP - 1442 EP - 1446 PB - ISCA-International Speech Communication Association CY - Baixas ER - TY - GEN A1 - Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie A1 - Nixon, Jessie S. A1 - Lentz, Tomas O. A1 - Liu, Liquan A1 - van Ommen, Sandrien A1 - Coeltekin, Cagri A1 - van Rij, Jacolien T1 - Neural response development during distributional learning T2 - 19 th annual conference of the international speech communicaton association (INTERSPEECH 2018), VOLS 1-6: Speech research for emerging marjets in multilingual societies N2 - We investigated online electrophysiological components of distributional learning, specifically of tones by listeners of a non tonal language. German listeners were presented with a bimodal distribution of syllables with lexical tones from a synthesized continuum based on Cantonese level tones. Tones were presented in sets of four standards (within-category tokens) followed by a deviant (across-category token). Mismatch negativity (MMN) was measured. Earlier behavioral data showed that exposure to this bimodal distribution improved both categorical perception and perceptual acuity for level tones [I]. In the present study we present analyses of the electrophysiological response recorded during this exposure, i.e., the development of the MMN response during distributional learning. This development over time is analyzed using Generalized Additive Mixed Models and results showed that the MMN amplitude increased for both within and across-category tokens, reflecting higher perceptual acuity accompanying category formation. This is evidence that learners zooming in on phonological categories undergo neural changes associated with more accurate phonetic perception. KW - lexical tone KW - distributional learning KW - mismatch negativity KW - Generalized additive mixed-effects modeling Y1 - 2018 SN - 978-1-5108-7221-9 U6 - https://doi.org/10.21437/Interspeech.2018-2072 SN - 2308-457X SP - 1432 EP - 1436 PB - ISCA-International Speech Communication Association CY - Baixas ER - TY - GEN A1 - Hullebus, Marc Antony A1 - Tobin, Stephen J. A1 - Gafos, Adamantios I. T1 - Speaker-specific structure in German voiceless stop voice onset times T2 - 19th Annual confernce of the international speech communication association (INTERSPEECH 2018), VOLS 1-6: speech research for emerging markets in multilingual societies N2 - Voice onset time (VOT), a primary cue for voicing in many languages including English and German, is known to vary greatly between speakers, but also displays robust within-speaker consistencies, at least in English. The current analysis extends these findings to German. VOT measures were investigated from voiceless alveolar and velar stops in CV syllables cued by a visual prompt in a cue-distractor task. Comparably to English, a considerable portion of German VOT variability can be attributed to the syllable’s vowel length and the stop’s place of articulation. Individual differences in VOT still remain irrespective of speech rate. However, significant correlations across places of articulation and between speaker-specific mean VOTs and standard deviations indicate that talkers employ a relatively unified VOT profile across places of articulation. This could allow listeners to more efficiently adapt to speaker-specific realisations. KW - speech production KW - speech variability KW - voice onset time Y1 - 2018 SN - 978-1-5108-7221-9 U6 - https://doi.org/10.21437/Interspeech.2018-2288 SN - 2308-457X SP - 1403 EP - 1407 PB - ISCA-International Speech Communication Association CY - Baixas ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lisson, Paula A1 - Ballier, Nicolas T1 - Investigating Lexical Progression through Lexical Diversity Metrics in a Corpus of French L3 JF - Discours : revue de linguistique, psycholinguistique et informatique N2 - This article presents a corpus-based evaluation of 13 lexical diversity metrics as measures of longitudinal progression in written productions of learners of French as third language (L3). Our case study (24 learners, 3 productions per learner in the course of 3 months) deals with a semi-longitudinal corpus, where each of the productions is supposed to be more complex than the previous one. Random forests (Breiman, 2001; Hothorn et al., 2019) are used in order to see whether lexical diversity metric scores capture enough vocabulary diversity progression to predict the production wave. We report that lexical diversity metrics capture lexical progression through the three productions of each student. In particular, two metrics appear to be the most informative for lexical progression: Herdan’s C and Yule’s K. KW - lexical diversity KW - learner corpora KW - L3 French Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4000/discours.9950 SN - 1963-1723 IS - 23 PB - Université de Paris-Sorbonne, Maion Recherche CY - Paris ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stober, Sebastian A1 - Sternin, Avital T1 - Decoding music perception and imagination using deep-learning techniques JF - Signal processing and machine learning for brain-machine interfaces N2 - Deep learning is a sub-field of machine learning that has recently gained substantial popularity in various domains such as computer vision, automatic speech recognition, natural language processing, and bioinformatics. Deep-learning techniques are able to learn complex feature representations from raw signals and thus also have potential to improve signal processing in the context of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). However, they typically require large amounts of data for training - much more than what can often be provided with reasonable effort when working with brain activity recordings of any kind. In order to still leverage the power of deep-learning techniques with limited available data, special care needs to be taken when designing the BCI task, defining the structure of the deep model, and choosing the training method. This chapter presents example approaches for the specific scenario of music-based brain-computer interaction through electroencephalography - in the hope that these will prove to be valuable in different settings as well. We explain important decisions for the design of the BCI task and their impact on the models and training techniques that can be used. Furthermore, we present and compare various pre-training techniques that aim to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. Finally, we discuss approaches to interpret the trained models. Y1 - 2018 SN - 978-1-78561-399-9 SN - 978-1-78561-398-2 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1049/PBCE114E VL - 114 SP - 271 EP - 299 PB - Institution of Engineering and Technology CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fyndanis, Valantis A1 - Arcara, Giorgio A1 - Capasso, Rita A1 - Christidou, Paraskevi A1 - De Pellegrin, Serena A1 - Gandolfi, Marialuisa A1 - Messinis, Lambros A1 - Panagea, Evgenia A1 - Papathanasopoulos, Panagiotis A1 - Smania, Nicola A1 - Semenza, Carlo A1 - Miceli, Gabriele T1 - Time reference in nonfluent and fluent aphasia BT - a cross-linguistic test of the PAst Discourse Linking Hypothesis JF - Clinical linguistics & phonetics N2 - Recent studies by Bastiaanse and colleagues found that time reference is selectively impaired in people with nonfluent agrammatic aphasia, with reference to the past being more difficult to process than reference to the present or to the future. To account for this dissociation, they formulated the PAst DIscourse LInking Hypothesis (PADILIH), which posits that past reference is more demanding than present/future reference because it involves discourse linking. There is some evidence that this hypothesis can be applied to people with fluent aphasia as well. However, the existing evidence for the PADILIH is contradictory, and most of it has been provided by employing a test that predominantly taps retrieval processes, leaving largely unexplored the underlying ability to encode time reference-related prephonological features. Within a cross-linguistic approach, this study tests the PADILIH by means of a sentence completion task that 'equally' taps encoding and retrieval abilities. This study also investigates if the PADILIH’s scope can be extended to fluent aphasia. Greek- and Italian-speaking individuals with aphasia participated in the study. The Greek group consisted of both individuals with nonfluent agrammatic aphasia and individuals with fluent aphasia, who also presented signs of agrammatism. The Italian group consisted of individuals with agrammatic nonfluent aphasia only. The two Greek subgroups performed similarly. Neither language group of participants with aphasia exhibited a pattern of performance consistent with the predictions of the PADILIH. However, a double dissociation observed within the Greek group suggests a hypothesis that may reconcile the present results with the PADILIH. KW - Time reference KW - past reference KW - future reference KW - encoding KW - retrieval Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2018.1445291 SN - 0269-9206 SN - 1464-5076 VL - 32 IS - 9 SP - 823 EP - 843 PB - Taylor & Francis Group CY - Philadelphia ER - TY - THES A1 - Götz, Antonia T1 - Patterns of perceptual reorganization in infancy T1 - Muster der Wahrnehmungsorganisation im Säuglingsalter BT - decline, maintenance, and u shaped development BT - Abnahme, Aufrechterhaltung und U-Förmige Entwicklung N2 - Previous behavioral studies showed that perceptual changes in infancy can be observed in multiple patterns, namely decline (e.g., Mattock et al., 2008; Yeung et al., 2013), maintenance (e.g., Chen & Kager, 2016) and U-shaped development (Liu & Kager, 2014). This dissertation contributes further to the understanding of the developmental trajectory of phonological acquisition in infancy. The dissertation addresses the questions of how the perceptual sensitivity of lexical tones and vowels changes in infancy and how different experimental procedures contribute to our understanding. We used three experimental procedures to investigate German-learning infants’ discrimination abilities. In Studies 1 and 3 (Chapters 5 and 7) we used behavioral methods (habituation and familiarization procedures) and in Study 2 (Chapter 6) we measured neural correlates. Study 1 showed a U-shaped developmental pattern: 6- and 18-month-olds discriminated a lexical tone contrast, but not the 9-month-olds. In addition, we found an effect of experimental procedure: infants discriminated the tone contrast at 6 months in a habituation but not in a familiarization procedure. In Study 2, we observed mismatch responses (MMR) to a non-native tone contrast and a native-like vowel in 6- and 9-month-olds. In 6-month-olds, both contrasts elicited positive MMRs. At 9 months, the vowel contrast elicited an adult-like negative MMR, while the tone contrast elicited a positive MMR. Study 3 demonstrated a change in perceptual sensitivity to a vowel contrast between 6 and 9 months. In contrast to the 6-month-old infants, the 9-month-old infants discriminated the tested vowel contrast asymmetrically. We suggest that the shifts in perceptual sensitivity between 6 and 9 months are functional rather than perceptual. In the case of lexical tone discrimination, infants may have already learned by 9 months of age that pitch is not relevant at the lexical level in German, since the infants in Study 1 showed no perceptual sensitivity to the contrast tested. Nevertheless, the brain responded to the contrast, especially since pitch differences are also part of the German intonation system (Gussenhoven, 2004). The role of the intonation system in pitch discrimination could be supported by the recovery of behavioral discrimination at 18 months of age, as well as behavioral and neural discrimination in German-speaking adults. N2 - Frühere Verhaltensstudien haben gezeigt, dass Wahrnehmungsveränderungen im Säuglingsalter in verschiedenen Mustern beobachtet werden können, nämlich Rückgang (z. B. Mattock et al., 2008; Yeung et al., 2013), Aufrechterhaltung (z. B. Chen & Kager, 2016) und U-förmige Entwicklung (Liu & Kager, 2014). Diese Dissertation leistet einen weiteren Beitrag zum Verständnis des Entwicklungsverlaufs des phonologischen Erwerbs im Säuglingsalter und befasst sich mit den Fragen, wie sich die Wahrnehmungssensitivität von lexikalischen Tönen und Vokalen im Säuglingsalter verändert und wie verschiedene experimentelle Verfahren zu unserem Verständnis beitragen. Wir haben drei experimentelle Verfahren verwendet, um die Diskriminationsfähigkeiten von Deutsch lernenden Säuglingen zu untersuchen. In den Studien 1 und 3 (Kapitel 5 und 7) verwendeten wir Verhaltensmethoden (Habituierungs- und Familiarisierungsverfahren) und in Studie 2 (Kapitel 6) maßen wir neuronale Korrelate. Studie 1 zeigten ein U-förmiges Entwicklungsmuster: mit 6 und 18 Monaten unterschieden Kinder einen lexikalischen Tonkontrast, aber nicht mit 9 Monaten. Darüber hinaus fanden wir einen Effekt des experimentellen Verfahrens: Säuglinge unterschieden einen lexikalischen Tonkontrast mit 6 Monaten in einem Habituierungs-, aber nicht in einem Familiarisierungsverfahren. In Studie 2 beobachteten wir mismatch responses (MMR) auf einen nicht-muttersprachlichen Tonkontrast und auf einen muttersprachlichen Vokal bei 6 und 9 Monate alten Säuglingen. Die 6 Monate alten Säuglingen zeigten positive MMRs für beide Kontraste. Mit 9 Monaten löste der Tonkontrast eine positive MMR aus, während der Vokalkontrast eine erwachsenenähnliche negative MMR hervorrief. Studie 3 zeigte eine Veränderung der Wahrnehmungsempfindlichkeit für einen Vokalkontrast zwischen 6 und 9 Monaten. Im Gegensatz zu den 6 Monate alten Säuglingen unterschieden die 9 Monate alten Säuglinge den getesteten Vokalkontrast asymmetrisch. Wir vermuten, dass die Verschiebungen in der Wahrnehmungsempfindlichkeit zwischen 6 und 9 Monaten vielmehr funktionell als wahrnehmungsbezogen sind. Im Fall der lexikalischen Tonunterscheidung haben die Säuglinge im Alter von 9 Monaten möglicherweise bereits gelernt, dass die Tonhöhe auf der lexikalischen Ebene im Deutschen nicht relevant ist, da die Säuglinge in Studie 1 keine Wahrnehmungssensitivität für den getesteten Kontrast zeigten. Dennoch reagierte das Gehirn auf den Kontrast, zumal Tonhöhenunterschiede auch Teil des deutschen Intonationssystems sind (Gussenhoven, 2004). Die Rolle des Intonationssystems bei der Tonhöhendiskriminierung könnte durch die Wiederherstellung der Verhaltensdiskriminierung im Alter von 18 Monaten sowie durch die Verhaltens- und neuronale Diskriminierung bei deutschsprachigen Erwachsenen untermauert werden. KW - perceptual reorganization KW - infancy KW - lexical tones KW - vowels KW - experimental procedure KW - perzeptuelle Reorganisation KW - Säuglingsalter KW - lexikalische Töne KW - Vokale KW - experimentelle Verfahren Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-536185 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Omane, Paul Okyere A1 - Höhle, Barbara T1 - Acquiring Syntactic Variability: The Production of Wh-Questions in Children and Adults Speaking Akan T2 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - This paper investigates the predictions of the Derivational Complexity Hypothesis by studying the acquisition of wh-questions in 4- and 5-year-old Akan-speaking children in an experimental approach using an elicited production and an elicited imitation task. Akan has two types of wh-question structures (wh-in-situ and wh-ex-situ questions), which allows an investigation of children’s acquisition of these two question structures and their preferences for one or the other. Our results show that adults prefer to use wh-ex-situ questions over wh-in-situ questions. The results from the children show that both age groups have the two question structures in their linguistic repertoire. However, they differ in their preferences in usage in the elicited production task: while the 5-year-olds preferred the wh-in-situ structure over the wh-ex-situ structure, the 4-year-olds showed a selective preference for the wh-in-situ structure in who-questions. These findings suggest a developmental change in wh-question preferences in Akan-learning children between 4 and 5 years of age with a so far unobserved u-shaped developmental pattern. In the elicited imitation task, all groups showed a strong tendency to maintain the structure of in-situ and ex-situ questions in repeating grammatical questions. When repairing ungrammatical ex-situ questions, structural changes to grammatical in-situ questions were hardly observed but the insertion of missing morphemes while keeping the ex-situ structure. Together, our findings provide only partial support for the Derivational Complexity Hypothesis. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 738 KW - Akan KW - wh-questions KW - wh-in-situ KW - wh-ex-situ KW - derivational complexity KW - language acquisition Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-536867 SN - 1866-8364 SP - 1 EP - 15 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Omane, Paul Okyere A1 - Höhle, Barbara T1 - Acquiring syntactic variability BT - The production of Wh-questions in children and adults speaking Akan JF - Frontiers in communication N2 - This paper investigates the predictions of the Derivational Complexity Hypothesis by studying the acquisition of wh-questions in 4- and 5-year-old Akan-speaking children in an experimental approach using an elicited production and an elicited imitation task. Akan has two types of wh-question structures (wh-in-situ and wh-ex-situ questions), which allows an investigation of children’s acquisition of these two question structures and their preferences for one or the other. Our results show that adults prefer to use wh-ex-situ questions over wh-in-situ questions. The results from the children show that both age groups have the two question structures in their linguistic repertoire. However, they differ in their preferences in usage in the elicited production task: while the 5-year-olds preferred the wh-in-situ structure over the wh-ex-situ structure, the 4-year-olds showed a selective preference for the wh-in-situ structure in who-questions. These findings suggest a developmental change in wh-question preferences in Akan-learning children between 4 and 5 years of age with a so far unobserved u-shaped developmental pattern. In the elicited imitation task, all groups showed a strong tendency to maintain the structure of in-situ and ex-situ questions in repeating grammatical questions. When repairing ungrammatical ex-situ questions, structural changes to grammatical in-situ questions were hardly observed but the insertion of missing morphemes while keeping the ex-situ structure. Together, our findings provide only partial support for the Derivational Complexity Hypothesis. KW - Akan KW - wh-questions KW - wh-in-situ KW - wh-ex-situ KW - derivational complexity KW - language acquisition Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.604951 SN - 2297-900X VL - 2021 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fargier, Raphael A1 - Bürki-Foschini, Audrey Damaris A1 - Pinet, Svetlana A1 - Alario, F. -Xavier A1 - Laganaro, Marina T1 - Word onset phonetic properties and motor artifacts in speech production EEG recordings JF - Psychophysiology : journal of the Society for Psychophysiological Research N2 - Electrophysiological research using verbal response paradigms faces the problem of muscle artifacts that occur during speech production or in the period preceding articulation. In this context, this paper has two related aims. The first is to show how the nature of the first phoneme influences the alignment of the ERPs. The second is to further characterize the EEG signal around the onset of articulation, both in temporal and frequency domains. Participants were asked to name aloud pictures of common objects. We applied microstate analyses and time-frequency transformations of ERPs locked to vocal onset to compare the EEG signal between voiced and unvoiced labial plosive word onset consonants. We found a delay of about 40 ms in the set of stable topographic patterns for /b/ relative to /p/ onset words. A similar shift was observed in the power increase of gamma oscillations (30-50 Hz), which had an earlier onset for /p/ trials (similar to 150 ms before vocal onset). This 40-ms shift is consistent with the length of the voiced proportion of the acoustic signal prior to the release of the closure in the vocal responses. These results demonstrate that phonetic features are an important parameter affecting response-locked ERPs, and hence that the onset of the acoustic energy may not be an optimal trigger for synchronizing the EEG activity to the response in vocal paradigms. The indexes explored in this study provide a step forward in the characterization of muscle-related artifacts in electrophysiological studies of speech and language production. KW - EEG KW - motor artifact KW - phonetics KW - picture naming KW - speech production Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.12982 SN - 0048-5772 SN - 1469-8986 VL - 55 IS - 2 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Holzgrefe-Lang, Julia A1 - Wellmann, Caroline A1 - Höhle, Barbara A1 - Wartenburger, Isabell T1 - Infants’ Processing of Prosodic Cues BT - Electrophysiological Evidence for Boundary Perception beyond Pause Detection JF - Language and speech N2 - Infants as young as six months are sensitive to prosodic phrase boundaries marked by three acoustic cues: pitch change, final lengthening, and pause. Behavioral studies suggest that a language-specific weighting of these cues develops during the first year of life; recent work on German revealed that eight-month-olds, unlike six-month-olds, are capable of perceiving a prosodic boundary on the basis of pitch change and final lengthening only. The present study uses Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) to investigate the neuro-cognitive development of prosodic cue perception in German-learning infants. In adults’ ERPs, prosodic boundary perception is clearly reflected by the so-called Closure Positive Shift (CPS). To date, there is mixed evidence on whether an infant CPS exists that signals early prosodic cue perception, or whether the CPS emerges only later—the latter implying that infantile brain responses to prosodic boundaries reflect acoustic, low-level pause detection. We presented six- and eight-month-olds with stimuli containing either no boundary cues, only a pitch cue, or a combination of both pitch change and final lengthening. For both age groups, responses to the former two conditions did not differ, while brain responses to prosodic boundaries cued by pitch change and final lengthening showed a positivity that we interpret as a CPS-like infant ERP component. This hints at an early sensitivity to prosodic boundaries that cannot exclusively be based on pause detection. Instead, infants’ brain responses indicate an early ability to exploit subtle, relational prosodic cues in speech perception—presumably even earlier than could be concluded from previous behavioral results. KW - Language acquisition KW - speech perception KW - event-related potentials KW - prosody processing KW - prosodic boundary cues Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0023830917730590 SN - 0023-8309 SN - 1756-6053 VL - 61 IS - 1 SP - 153 EP - 169 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chen, Aoju A1 - Höhle, Barbara T1 - Four- to five-year-old' use of word order and prosody in focus marking in Dutch JF - Linguistics Vanguard N2 - This study investigated Dutch-speaking four- to five-year-olds’ use of word order and prosody in distinguishing focus types (broad focus, narrow focus, and contrastive narrow focus) via an interactive answer-reconstruction game. We have found an overall preference for the unmarked word order SVO and no evidence for the use of OVS to distinguish focus types. But the children used pitch and duration in the subject-nouns to distinguish focus types in SVO sentences. These findings show that Dutch-speaking four- to five-year-olds differ from their German- and Finnish-speaking peers, who show evidence of varying choice of word order to mark specific focus types, and use prosody to distinguish focus types in subject and object nouns in both SVO and OVS sentences. These comparisons suggest that typological differences in the relative importance between word order and prosody can lead to differences in children’s use of word order and prosody in unmarked and marked word orders. A more equal role of word order and prosody in the ambient language can stimulate more extensive use of prosody in the marked word order, whereas a more limited role of word order can restrict the use of prosody in the unmarked word order. KW - information structure KW - Dutch-speaking children KW - word order KW - prosody KW - focus Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2016-0101 SN - 2199-174X VL - 4 PB - De Gruyter CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Huttenlauch, Clara A1 - Feldhausen, Ingo A1 - Braun, Bettina T1 - The purpose shapes the vocative BT - prosodic realisation of Colombian Spanish vocatives JF - Journal of the International Phonetic Association N2 - The question of whether intonation contours directly signal meaning is an old one. We revisit this question using vocatives in Colombian Spanish (Bogotá). We recorded speakers' productions in three pragmatic conditions – greeting, confirmation-seeking, and reprimand – and compared proper names (vocatives) to situation-specific one-word utterances, such as ¡Hola! ‘Hello’ (non-vocatives). Intonational analyses showed no direct one-to-one correspondence between the pragmatic conditions and intonation contours: (a) for vocatives, e.g. a rising–falling contour occurred in both greetings and reprimands; and (b) for non-vocatives, e.g. a step-down contour (a.k.a. calling contour) occurred in both greeting and confirmation-seeking conditions. Looking beyond intonation to consider other phonetic variables – spectral tilt, duration, alignment of tonal targets, f0-range, f0-slope – the results showed that the intonation contours that occurred in more than one pragmatic condition differed in phonetic realisation, e.g. rising–falling vocatives showed differences in f0-range of the rise and spectral tilt. However, the corresponding non-vocatives did not show the same differences. Furthermore, vocatives in greeting contexts were realised differently from non-vocatives in greeting contexts. In sum, the pragmatic condition affects the prosodic realisation of (non-)vocatives, but the relationship is complex. The results are discussed in the light of prosodic constructions, leading to the conclusion that the prosodic realisation of vocatives and non-vocatives in Bogotá Colombian Spanish cannot be easily modelled by prosodic constructions. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100317000597 SN - 0025-1003 SN - 1475-3502 VL - 48 IS - 1 SP - 33 EP - 56 PB - Cambridge Univ. Press CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - van der Kant, Anne A1 - Biro, Szilvia A1 - Levelt, Claartje A1 - Huijbregts, Stephan T1 - Negative affect is related to reduced differential neural responses to social and non-social stimuli in 5-to-8-month-old infants BT - a functional near-infrared spectroscopy-study JF - Developmental cognitive neuroscience : a journal for cognitive, affective and social developmental neuroscience N2 - Both social perception and temperament in young infants have been related to social functioning later in life. Previous functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) data (Lloyd-Fox et al., 2009) showed larger blood-oxygenation changes for social compared to non-social stimuli in the posterior temporal cortex of five-month-old infants. We sought to replicate and extend these findings by using fNIRS to study the neural basis of social perception in relation to infant temperament (Negative Affect) in 37 five-to-eight-month-old infants. Infants watched short videos displaying either hand and facial movements of female actors (social dynamic condition) or moving toys and machinery (non-social dynamic condition), while fNIRS data were collected over temporal brain regions. Negative Affect was measured using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire. Results showed significantly larger blood-oxygenation changes in the right posterior-temporal region in the social compared to the non-social condition. Furthermore, this differential activation was smaller in infants showing higher Negative Affect. Our results replicate those of Lloyd-Fox et al. and confirmed that five-to-eight-month-old infants show cortical specialization for social perception. Furthermore, the decreased cortical sensitivity to social stimuli in infants showing high Negative Affect may be an early biomarker for later difficulties in social interaction. KW - Functional near-infrared spectroscopy KW - fNIRS KW - Social perception KW - Infants KW - Temperament KW - Negative affect Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2017.12.003 SN - 1878-9293 SN - 1878-9307 VL - 30 SP - 23 EP - 30 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fernandez, Leigh A1 - Höhle, Barbara A1 - Brock, Jon A1 - Nickels, Lyndsey T1 - Investigating auditory processing of syntactic gaps with L2 speakers using pupillometry JF - Second language research N2 - According to the Shallow Structure Hypothesis (SSH), second language (L2) speakers, unlike native speakers, build shallow syntactic representations during sentence processing. In order to test the SSH, this study investigated the processing of a syntactic movement in both native speakers of English and proficient late L2 speakers of English using pupillometry to measure processing cost. Of particular interest were constructions where movement resulted in an intermediate gap between clauses. Pupil diameter was recorded during auditory presentation of complex syntactic constructions. Two factors were manipulated: syntactic movement (such that some conditions contained movement while others did not), as well as syntactic movement type (either causing an intermediate gap or not). Grammaticality judgments revealed no differences between the two groups, suggesting both were capable of comprehending these constructions. Pupil change slope measurements revealed a potential sensitivity to intermediate gaps for only native speakers, however, both native and late L2 speakers showed similar facilitation during processing of the second gap site. Acoustic analysis revealed potential acoustic cues that may have facilitated the processing of these constructions. This suggests that, contrary to the predictions of the SSH, late L2 speakers are capable of constructing rich syntactic representations during the processing of intermediate gap constructions in spoken language. KW - filler gap dependency KW - intermediate gap KW - L2 sentence processing KW - pupillometry KW - shallow structure hypothesis Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658317722386 SN - 0267-6583 SN - 1477-0326 VL - 34 IS - 2 SP - 201 EP - 227 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nicenboim, Bruno A1 - Vasishth, Shravan T1 - Models of retrieval in sentence comprehension BT - a computational evaluation using Bayesian hierarchical modeling JF - Journal of memory and language N2 - Research on similarity-based interference has provided extensive evidence that the formation of dependencies between non-adjacent words relies on a cue-based retrieval mechanism. There are two different models that can account for one of the main predictions of interference, i.e., a slowdown at a retrieval site, when several items share a feature associated with a retrieval cue: Lewis and Vasishth’s (2005) activation-based model and McElree’s (2000) direct-access model. Even though these two models have been used almost interchangeably, they are based on different assumptions and predict differences in the relationship between reading times and response accuracy. The activation-based model follows the assumptions of the ACT-R framework, and its retrieval process behaves as a lognormal race between accumulators of evidence with a single variance. Under this model, accuracy of the retrieval is determined by the winner of the race and retrieval time by its rate of accumulation. In contrast, the direct-access model assumes a model of memory where only the probability of retrieval can be affected, while the retrieval time is drawn from the same distribution; in this model, differences in latencies are a by-product of the possibility of backtracking and repairing incorrect retrievals. We implemented both models in a Bayesian hierarchical framework in order to evaluate them and compare them. The data show that correct retrievals take longer than incorrect ones, and this pattern is better fit under the direct-access model than under the activation-based model. This finding does not rule out the possibility that retrieval may be behaving as a race model with assumptions that follow less closely the ones from the ACT-R framework. By introducing a modification of the activation model, i.e., by assuming that the accumulation of evidence for retrieval of incorrect items is not only slower but noisier (i.e., different variances for the correct and incorrect items), the model can provide a fit as good as the one of the direct-access model. This first ever computational evaluation of alternative accounts of retrieval processes in sentence processing opens the way for a broader investigation of theories of dependency completion. KW - Cognitive modeling KW - Sentence processing KW - Working memory KW - Cue-based retrieval KW - Similarity-based interference KW - Bayesian hierarchical modeling Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2017.08.004 SN - 0749-596X SN - 1096-0821 VL - 99 SP - 1 EP - 34 PB - Elsevier CY - San Diego ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bosch, Sina A1 - Leminen, Alina T1 - ERP priming studies of bilingual language processing JF - Bilingualism : language and cognition. N2 - The aim of this review is to provide a selective overview of priming studies which have employed the event-related brain potential (ERP) technique in order to investigate bilingual language processing. The priming technique can reveal an implicit memory effect in which exposure to one stimulus influences the processing of another stimulus. Behavioral approaches, such as measuring reaction times, may not always be enough for providing a full view on the exact mechanisms and the time-course of language comprehension. Instead, ERPs have a time-resolution of a millisecond and hence they offer a precise temporal overview of the underlying neural processes involved in language processing. In our review, we summarize experimental research that has combined priming with ERP measurements, thus creating a valuable tool for examining the neurophysiological correlates of language processing in the bilingual brain. KW - event-related brain potentials KW - priming KW - bilinguals Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728917000700 SN - 1366-7289 SN - 1469-1841 VL - 21 IS - 3 SP - 462 EP - 470 PB - Cambridge Univ. Press CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fyndanis, Valantis A1 - Arcara, Giorgio A1 - Christidou, Paraskevi A1 - Caplan, David T1 - Morphosyntactic production and verbal working memory BT - evidence from greek aphasia and healthy aging JF - Journal of speech, language, and hearing research N2 - Method: A sentence completion task testing production of subject-verb agreement, tense/time reference, and aspect in local and nonlocal conditions and two verbal WM tasks were administered to 8 Greek-speaking persons with agrammatic aphasia (PWA) and 103 healthy participants. Results: The 3 morphosyntactic categories dissociated in both groups (agreement > tense > aspect). A significant interaction emerged in both groups between the 3 morphosyntactic categories and WM. There was no main effect of locality in either of the 2 groups. At the individual level, all 8 PWA exhibited dissociations between agreement, tense, and aspect, and effects of locality were contradictory. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_JSLHR-L-17-0103 SN - 1092-4388 SN - 1558-9102 VL - 61 IS - 5 SP - 1171 EP - 1187 PB - American Speech-Language-Hearing Assoc. CY - Rockville ER -