Cross-linguistic influence (CLI) and typological similarity are key features in multilingual language processing. Here, we study whether CLI effects in language production are more pronounced in... Show moreCross-linguistic influence (CLI) and typological similarity are key features in multilingual language processing. Here, we study whether CLI effects in language production are more pronounced in typologically similar vs. dissimilar languages in late language learners. In a picture-naming task, we manipulated gender congruency and cognate status as indices for CLI in a group of Italian learners of Spanish and a group of German learners of Spanish. Further, we explored modulations of P300 amplitudes indexing inhibitory control. Behaviourally, we observed effects of CLI, but not of typological similarity. At the neural level, P300 amplitudes were modulated by CLI effects. However, we did not find evidence for a typological similarity effect on P300 amplitudes. Therefore, our results suggest a limited role of typological similarity. This study has crucial implications for nonnative language production mechanisms in light of the similarity between the native and the non-native language. Show less
Two methods are commonly used to elicit production data for prosody research. The first, in which participants read out a series of written sentences, gives good control over what data are elicited... Show moreTwo methods are commonly used to elicit production data for prosody research. The first, in which participants read out a series of written sentences, gives good control over what data are elicited. The second, in which participants perform a task designed to elicit the speech of interest (e.g., a Referential Communication Task), is suitable for studying speech in context. However, certain research topics require the combination of these qualities. We developed an elicitation paradigm, Scripted Simulated Dialogue, that (a) gives precise control over the data that are elicited and (b) is suitable for studying speech in context. In addition, it allows the researcher to control or manipulate the preceding discourse, whereas a Referential Communication Task provides discourse that may be analysed afterwards. The paradigm simulates a series of short dialogues, in which the participant reads her text from a screen and the ‘interlocutor’ is a recorded voice. The participants are not made aware of which speech turn in the dialogue contains the target sentence. We illustrate how Scripted Simulated Dialogue may be used to manipulate the context and make the E-Prime script available to other researchers. Show less
Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn, S.; Pablos Robles, L.; Schiller, N.O. 2021
Characterising the time course of non-native language production is critical in understanding the mechanisms behind successful communication. Yet, little is known about the modulating role of cross... Show moreCharacterising the time course of non-native language production is critical in understanding the mechanisms behind successful communication. Yet, little is known about the modulating role of cross-linguistic influence (CLI) on the temporal unfolding of non-native production and the locus of target language selection. In this study, we explored CLI effects on non-native noun phrase production with behavioural and neural methods. We were particularly interested in the modulation of the P300 as an index for inhibitory control, and the N400 as an index for co-activation and CLI. German late learners of Spanish overtly named pictures while their EEG was monitored. Our results indicate traceable CLI effects at the behavioural and neural level in both early and late production stages. This suggests that speakers faced competition between the target and non-target language until advanced production stages. Our findings add important behavioural and neural evidence to the underpinnings of non-native production processes, in particular for late learners. Show less
Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn, S.; Pablos Robles, L.; Schiller, N.O. 2021
Abstract: While switching costs in production have been explained in terms of top-down cognitive control, researchers do not agree whether switching costs in comprehension should be interpreted in... Show moreAbstract: While switching costs in production have been explained in terms of top-down cognitive control, researchers do not agree whether switching costs in comprehension should be interpreted in the same way. Within the BIA + model, it has been claimed that the comprehension of code-switches can be explained sufficiently in terms of bottom-up activation of lexical representations. In the current electrophysiological study, L1 speakers of Dutch with high proficiency in L2 English (n = 63) completed a Flanker task in which they intermittently read sentences with or without an alternational code-switch. With this ‘conflict-adaptation’ paradigm we examined whether reading a code-switch engages cognitive control that influences performance on a subsequent Flanker trial. Half of the participants were presented with Dutch sentences and Dutch to English code-switches, while the other half were presented with English sentences and English to Dutch code-switches. On the P300 component, we found a traditional Flanker effect, with larger amplitudes for congruent than for incongruent trials. The effect was modulated by a preceding code-switch and the direction of this modulation depended on the switching direction: the Flanker effect was smaller after a code-switch from L1 to L2 than after a monolingual L1 sentence, but larger after a code-switch from L2 to L1 than after a monolingual L2 sentence. This suggests that the L1 needs to be inhibited when reading a code-switch to the L2, while inhibition needs to be released upon encountering a code-switch from L2 to L1. These results thus show that reading code-switched sentences engages a domain-general cognitive control mechanism external to the lexicon. Show less
Mandarin wh-words such as shénme are wh-indeterminates, which can have interrogative interpretations (‘what’) or non-interrogative interpretations (i.e., ‘something’), depending on the context and... Show moreMandarin wh-words such as shénme are wh-indeterminates, which can have interrogative interpretations (‘what’) or non-interrogative interpretations (i.e., ‘something’), depending on the context and licensors. For example, when diǎnr (‘a little’) appears right in front of a wh-word, the string can have either a wh-question or a declarative interpretation (henceforth, wh-declarative). Yang (2018) carried out a production study and the results showed that wh-questions and wh-declaratives have different prosodic properties. To investigate whether and when listeners make use of prosody to anticipate the clause type (i.e., question vs. declarative), we conducted a sentence perception study and an audio-gating experiment. Results of the perception study and the gating experiment show that (1) Participants can make use of prosody to differentiate the two clause types; (2) Starting from the onset of the first word of the target sentence (wh-question/wh-declarative), participants already demonstrate a preference for the clause type that was intended by the speaker. The current study also sheds light on the clausal typing mechanism in Mandarin (e.g., how to mark a clause as a wh-question) by providing evidence of the role of prosody in marking clause types in Mandarin. Show less
This Event-related Potential (ERP) study examines the licensing of NPIs in Dutch in a grammatical configuration where the NPI linearly precedes its licensor. It investigates how the addition of... Show moreThis Event-related Potential (ERP) study examines the licensing of NPIs in Dutch in a grammatical configuration where the NPI linearly precedes its licensor. It investigates how the addition of modifiers at two different structural positions in the sentence affects differently the process of actively searching for an upcoming licensor. We measured the ERPs elicited at the licensor position by comparing conditions with modifiers at two different structural positions, with a control condition where no modifier was added, where all the tested conditions were grammatical. In addition, we examined whether adding different number of modifiers at the two structural positions affects the processing of the licensor differently. Our results show that there is a central anterior negativity elicited at the licensor in conditions with modifiers at the structural position where a licensor could occur in comparison to the control condition without modifiers. Further, there is an amplitude difference shown for the central anterior negativity when these conditions differ in the number of modifiers. In comparison, an ERP component with a reduced amplitude was elicited at the licensor for conditions with modifiers at a structural position where the licensor cannot occur, when compared with the control condition. We suggest that our results show evidence that the parser is sensitive to structural relations in the on-line licensing of NPIs. Show less
Pablos Robles, L.; Doetjes, J.; Cheng, Lisa L.-S. 2018
