This innovative volume provides a state-of-the-art overview of the relationship between language ... more This innovative volume provides a state-of-the-art overview of the relationship between language and cognition with a focus on bilinguals. It brings together contributions from international leading figures in various disciplines and showcases contemporary research on the emerging area of bilingual cognition.
The first part of the volume discusses the relationship between language and cognition as studied in various disciplines, from psychology to philosophy to anthropology to linguistics, with chapters written by some of the major thinkers in each discipline. The second part concerns language and cognition in bilinguals. Following an introductory overview and contributions from established figures in the field, bilingual cognition researchers provide examples of their latest research on topics including time, space, motion, objects, and emotion. The third part discusses practical applications of the idea of bilingual cognition, such as marketing and translation.
The journal Writing Systems Research publishes empirical and theoretical studies on the acquisiti... more The journal Writing Systems Research publishes empirical and theoretical studies on the acquisition, processing, and analysis of writing systems in current use by single or multiple language users.
Summary:
This is the first book to treat the acquisition and use of a second language writing sys... more Summary: This is the first book to treat the acquisition and use of a second language writing system. Drawing from a variety of disciplines and writing systems, it investigates how people read, write and analyse a writing system that represents a second language
Review: All language teachers and researchers should read this introduction. It is refreshing to see both psychologists and linguists united in one volume. This volume models in impressive detail how language researchers and teachers can observe the interactions between writing systems and language learning. Margot Haynes, Delta College (Michigan), in Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 29(3)
The volume is an original and welcome addition to SLA and a valuable reference point for those interested in writing systems, biliteracy, and second and foreign language teaching. This book succeeds in presenting L2WS research as a fertile ground for multidisciplinary collaboration, open to investigations into a wide variety of bilingual situations and drawing on a range of research methods and theoretical perspectives from education, linguistics, sociology and psychology. One of the collection's key strengths is that all its papers have implications for second and foreign language teaching. The editors must be commended for bringing together high-quality state-of-the-art research in an emerging field. Emilia Djonov, Macquarie University, in Applied Linguistics 28:2
The book covers a wide range of interesting aspects of second language writing systems. This book is an important contribution to the emerging field of research in second language writing systems. Gunna Funder Hansen, Linguist List 16.2685
Research shows that the orthographic forms ('spellings') of second language (L2) words affect spe... more Research shows that the orthographic forms ('spellings') of second language (L2) words affect speech production in L2 speakers. The present study investigated whether English orthographic forms lead L2 speakers to produce English homophonic word pairs as phonological minimal pairs. Targets were 33 orthographic minimal pairs, that is to say homophonic words that would be pronounced as phonological minimal pairs if orthography affects pronunciation. Word pairs contained the same target sound spelled with one letter or two, such as the /n/ in finish and Finnish (both /ˈfɪnɪʃ/ in Standard British English). To test for effects of length and type of L2 exposure, we compared Italian instructed learners of English, Italian-English late bilinguals with lengthy naturalistic exposure, and English natives. A reading aloud task revealed that Italian speakers of English L2 produce two English homophonic words as a minimal pair distinguished by different consonant or vowel length, for instance producing the target /ˈfɪnɪʃ/ with a short [n] or a long [nː] to reflect the number of consonant letters in the spelling of the words finish and Finnish. Similar effects were found on the pronunciation of vowels, for instance in the orthographic pair scene-seen (both /siːn/). Naturalistic exposure did not reduce orthographic effects, as effects were found both in learners and in late bilinguals living in an English-speaking environment. It appears that the orthographic form of L2 words can result in the establishment of a phonological contrast that does not exist in the target language. Results have implications for models of L2 phonological development.
Calendar calculations – e.g., calculating the nth month after a certain month-are an important co... more Calendar calculations – e.g., calculating the nth month after a certain month-are an important component of temporal cognition, and can vary cross-linguistically. English speakers rely on a verbal list representation-processing system. Chinese speakers-whose calendar terms are numerically transparent-rely on a more efficient numerical system. Does knowing a numerically transparent calendar lexicon facilitate calendar calculations in an opaque second language? Late Chinese-English bilinguals and English native speakers performed a Month and a Weekday Calculation Task in English. Directionality (forward/backward) and boundary-crossing (within/across the year/week boundary) were manipulated. English speakers relied on verbal list processing, and were slower in backward than forward calculations. In spite of the English calendar system's opaqueness, bilinguals relied on numerical processing, were slower in across-than within-boundary trials, and under some conditions had faster RTs than the native speakers. Results have implications for research on temporal cognition, linguistic relativity and bilingual cognition.
An experiment investigated whether Japanese speakers' categorisation of objects and substances as... more An experiment investigated whether Japanese speakers' categorisation of objects and substances as shape or material is influenced by acquiring English, based on Imai and Gentner (1997). Subjects were presented with an item such as a cork pyramid and asked to choose between two other items that matched it for shape (plastic pyramid) or for material (piece of cork). The hypotheses were that for simple objects the number of shape-based categorisations would increase according to experience of English and that the preference for shape and material-based categorisations of Japanese speakers of English would differ from monolingual speakers of both languages. Subjects were 18 adult Japanese users of English who had lived in English-speaking countries between 6 months and 3 years (short-stay group), and 18 who had lived in English-speaking countries for 3 years or more (long-stay group). Both groups achieved above criterion on an English vocabulary test. Results were: both groups preferred material responses for simple objects and substances but not for complex objects, in line with Japanese monolinguals, but the long-stay group showed more shape preference than the short-stay group and also were less different from Americans. These effects of acquiring a second language on categorisation have implications for conceptual representation and methodology.
This paper provides evidence that the second language orthographic input affects the mental repre... more This paper provides evidence that the second language orthographic input affects the mental representations of L2 phonology in instructed beginner L2 learners. Previous research has shown that orthographic representations affect monolinguals' performance in phonological awareness tasks; in instructed L2 learners such representations could also affect pronunciation. This study looked at the phonological representations of Chinese rimes in beginner learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language, using a phoneme counting task and a phoneme segmentation task. Results show that learners do not count or segment the main vowel in those syllables where it is not represented in the pinyin (romanisation) orthographic representations. It appears that the pinyin orthographic input is reinterpreted according to L1 phonology-orthography correspondences, and interacts with the phonological input in shaping the phonological representations of Chinese syllables in beginner learners. This explains previous findings that learners of Chinese do not pronounce the main vowel in these syllables. INTRODUCTION The role of the orthographic input in the acquisition of second language phonology has been hitherto almost completely neglected. On the one hand, research on monolingual speakers shows that their performance in phonological awareness tasks is affected by orthographic representations. On the other hand, research on second language (L2) learners shows that their L2 pronunciation is affected by L2 orthographic representations. Do L2 orthographic representations affect the mental representations of L2 phonology in L2 learners, such leading to non-target-like pronunciations? This paper looks at the effects of some orthographic conventions of the pinyin romanization system on the phonological representations of Chinese syllables in instructed beginner learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL). It is proposed that the non-target-like pronunciation of some syllables by CFL learners can be attributed to the effects of the pinyin orthographic representations on learners' L2 phonological representations.
Cross-linguistic research shows that some aspects of metalinguistic awareness are affected by cha... more Cross-linguistic research shows that some aspects of metalinguistic awareness are affected by characteristics of different writing systems. Users of writing systems that mark word boundaries (such as English) develop word awareness, while users of unspaced writing systems (such as Chinese) do not. Previous research showed that English-speaking users of Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) have higher levels of Chinese word awareness than Chinese monolingual speakers. The present study aimed at disentangling the effects of bilingualism/biliteracy and the effects of L1 writing system characteristics by comparing users of Chinese whose L1 writing system does or does not mark word boundaries. Three groups (Chinese, English-Chinese and Japanese-Chinese) performed two Chinese word segmentation tasks. Results showed significant differences among the groups in mean word lengths and mean level of intra-group agreement. The English group had higher intragroup agreement rates and shorter word lengths than the other two groups; the Japanese group had higher agreement rates than the Chinese group. It is argued that Chinese word awareness as revealed by word segmentation tasks is mostly affected by literacy in a writing system that marks word boundaries, but bilingualism and biliteracy also play a role.
This paper investigates whether bilinguals’ and monolinguals’ concepts
of entities differ when th... more This paper investigates whether bilinguals’ and monolinguals’ concepts of entities differ when the bilinguals’ two languages provide two different representations of the same entity. Previous research shows that speakers of languages that have a grammatical gender system think of objects as being masculine or feminine in line with the grammatical gender of the objects’ nouns. The present study investigates the effects of grammatical gender on concepts of objects in bilingual speakers of two languages that assign opposite gender to the same object. Italian-German bilingual children and Italian monolingual controls performed an on-line voice attribution task. All children were native speakers of Italian and living in Italy. Results show that Italian monolingual children attribute more female voices to objects whose noun is grammatically feminine in Italian. Monolinguals also show a preference for attributing voices consistently with Italian grammatical gender assignment. Italian-German bilingual children are not affected by Italian grammatical gender. It is argued that when the two languages of a bilingual represent a specific aspect of reality differently, the bilingual may develop different concepts from a monolingual. This is due to the knowledge of two specific languages rather than to bilingualism per se, and to linguistic rather than cultural factors.
English is written with interword spacing, and eliminating it negatively affects English readers.... more English is written with interword spacing, and eliminating it negatively affects English readers. Chinese is written without interword spacing, and adding it does not facilitate Chinese readers. Pinyin (romanised Chinese) is written with interword spacing. This study investigated whether adding interword spacing facilitates reading in Chinese native readers and English readers of Chinese as a Second Language. Participants performed two sentence-picture verification tasks with sentences written with pinyin or hanzi (characters). Interword spacing facilitated pinyin reading in English readers but not in Chinese readers; it did not affect hanzi reading in either group. The effects of interword spacing on second language reading appear to be determined by characteristics of both readers’ first language writing system and the writing system being read.
It is generally assumed that speakers of grammatical gender languages consider grammatical gender... more It is generally assumed that speakers of grammatical gender languages consider grammatical gender arbitrary, but this assumption has never been tested. Research shows that the grammatical gender of nouns can affect perceptions of the masculinity or femininity of the noun's referent in speakers of languages with masculine or feminine noun classes. However, bilingualism facilitates the development of lexical arbitrariness awareness, and could therefore affect awareness of grammatical gender arbitrariness. This study then compared three groups of young adult speakers of a grammatical gender language: monolinguals, early bilinguals, and instructed second language learners. Participants evaluated the gender assignments of 25 nouns of entities (animals, abstract concepts, natural kinds, and artefacts), and answered open and closed questions about grammatical gender. Participants considered grammatical gender as semantically motivated and mostly related gender assignments to perceived masculine and feminine connotations of referents. Knowledge of an additional grammatical gender language was linked to increased awareness of the arbitrariness of first language gender assignments in both early bilinguals and later instructed learners. It is argued that grammatical gender awareness deserves further investigation. Knowing more than one grammatical gender language can increase awareness of grammatical gender arbitrariness. Implications are discussed for language teaching and language reform.
Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions This article reviews recent research on how speaki... more Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions This article reviews recent research on how speaking a language that marks gender gramatically might affect thinking, and on the relationship between grammatical gender knowledge of more than one language, and thinking, in both early and emergent bilinguals. Design/Methodology/Approach The paper provides a comprehensive review of previous research, as well as an introduction to, and an evaluation of, the articles in this special issue. Findings/Conclusions Several themes emerge in the research on grammatical gender and thinking in bilinguals. First, knowledge of more than one language could reduce the effects of grammatical gender on thinking. Second, these effects may depend on the combination of languages being acquired. Third, researchers are starting to identify other variables that might affect when and how grammatical gender influences thinking, including proficiency and the choice of tasks. Originality This manuscript synthesizes the previously scattered research on grammatical gender and thinking in bilinguals. Significance/Implications This is the first full-length overview paper about the relationship between grammatical gender and thinking in speakers of more than one language.
ABSTRACT Recently researchers have become increasingly interested in the influence of or-thograph... more ABSTRACT Recently researchers have become increasingly interested in the influence of or-thographic forms on second language (L2) phonology. Orthographic forms (or spellings) represent the sounds and words of a language in writing. L2 learn-ers, in particular those in instructed settings, are simultaneously exposed to the orthographic forms and the phonological forms of the target language. Recent investigations have indicated that orthographic input can affect learners' phono-logical development and word learning in their second language in various ways. The availability of L2 orthographic forms in the input to L2 learners can facilitate speech production, perception, and/or word form learning (Escudero, Hayes-Harb, & Mitterer, 2008; Showalter & Hayes-Harb, 2013). It can hinder targetlike acqui-sition (Bassetti, 2007; Hayes-Harb, Nicol, & Barker, 2010), or it can have mixed effects or no effect at all (Escudero & Wanrooij, 2010; Simon, Chamblessb, & Alvesc, 2010). It is rather surprising that systematic empirical research on orthographic effects on L2 phonology is a relatively recent enterprise, even though L2 teachers have long known that orthographic forms can affect pronunciation (e.g., Kenworthy, 1987). A few pioneering studies appeared in the late 1990s, most notably by Young-Scholten (1998, 2002; Young-Scholten, Akita, & Cross, 1999). However, widespread interest in orthographic effects on L2 phonology only emerged in the first decade of the 21st century. That is when sizable numbers of papers started
Interword spacing facilitates English native readers but not native readers of Chinese, a writing... more Interword spacing facilitates English native readers but not native readers of Chinese, a writing system that does not mark word boundaries. L1-English readers of Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) could then be facilitated if spacing is added between words in Chinese materials. However, previous studies produced inconsistent results. This study tested the hypothesis that interword spacing facilitates L1-English CSL readers. We used an online multiple-choice gap-filling task to test 12 English CSL readers and 12 Chinese natives reading a series of eight texts of suitable difficulty, written with or without interword spacing. The CSL readers read faster with interword spacing than without, while Chinese native readers were not affected. The interword spacing effect was negatively correlated with measures of reading proficiency. It is argued that interword spacing facilitates CSL readers reading materials of sufficient difficulty by facilitating their lexical parsing. Pedagogical implications are discussed.
Second languages (L2s) are often learned through spoken and written input, and L2 orthographic fo... more Second languages (L2s) are often learned through spoken and written input, and L2 orthographic forms (spellings) can lead to non-native-like pronunciation. The present study investigated whether orthography can lead experienced learners of EnglishL2 to make a phonological contrast in their speech production that does not exist in English. Double consonants represent geminate (long) consonants in Italian but not in English. In Experiment 1, native English speakers and EnglishL2 speakers (Italians) were asked to read aloud English words spelled with a single or double target consonant letter, and consonant duration was compared. The EnglishL2 speakers produced the same consonant as shorter when it was spelled with a single letter, and longer when spelled with a double letter. Spelling did not affect consonant duration in native English speakers. In Experiment 2, effects of orthographic input were investigated by comparing two groups of EnglishL2 speakers (Italians) performing a delayed word repetition task with or without orthographic input; the same orthographic effects were found in both groups. These results provide arguably the first evidence that L2 orthographic forms can lead experienced L2 speakers to make a contrast in their L2 production that does not exist in the language. The effect arises because L2 speakers are affected by the interaction between the L2 orthographic form (number of letters), and their native orthography–phonology mappings, whereby double consonant letters represent geminate consonants. These results have important implications for future studies investigating the effects of orthography on native phonology and for L2 phonological development models.
This innovative volume provides a state-of-the-art overview of the relationship between language ... more This innovative volume provides a state-of-the-art overview of the relationship between language and cognition with a focus on bilinguals. It brings together contributions from international leading figures in various disciplines and showcases contemporary research on the emerging area of bilingual cognition.
The first part of the volume discusses the relationship between language and cognition as studied in various disciplines, from psychology to philosophy to anthropology to linguistics, with chapters written by some of the major thinkers in each discipline. The second part concerns language and cognition in bilinguals. Following an introductory overview and contributions from established figures in the field, bilingual cognition researchers provide examples of their latest research on topics including time, space, motion, objects, and emotion. The third part discusses practical applications of the idea of bilingual cognition, such as marketing and translation.
The journal Writing Systems Research publishes empirical and theoretical studies on the acquisiti... more The journal Writing Systems Research publishes empirical and theoretical studies on the acquisition, processing, and analysis of writing systems in current use by single or multiple language users.
Summary:
This is the first book to treat the acquisition and use of a second language writing sys... more Summary: This is the first book to treat the acquisition and use of a second language writing system. Drawing from a variety of disciplines and writing systems, it investigates how people read, write and analyse a writing system that represents a second language
Review: All language teachers and researchers should read this introduction. It is refreshing to see both psychologists and linguists united in one volume. This volume models in impressive detail how language researchers and teachers can observe the interactions between writing systems and language learning. Margot Haynes, Delta College (Michigan), in Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 29(3)
The volume is an original and welcome addition to SLA and a valuable reference point for those interested in writing systems, biliteracy, and second and foreign language teaching. This book succeeds in presenting L2WS research as a fertile ground for multidisciplinary collaboration, open to investigations into a wide variety of bilingual situations and drawing on a range of research methods and theoretical perspectives from education, linguistics, sociology and psychology. One of the collection's key strengths is that all its papers have implications for second and foreign language teaching. The editors must be commended for bringing together high-quality state-of-the-art research in an emerging field. Emilia Djonov, Macquarie University, in Applied Linguistics 28:2
The book covers a wide range of interesting aspects of second language writing systems. This book is an important contribution to the emerging field of research in second language writing systems. Gunna Funder Hansen, Linguist List 16.2685
Research shows that the orthographic forms ('spellings') of second language (L2) words affect spe... more Research shows that the orthographic forms ('spellings') of second language (L2) words affect speech production in L2 speakers. The present study investigated whether English orthographic forms lead L2 speakers to produce English homophonic word pairs as phonological minimal pairs. Targets were 33 orthographic minimal pairs, that is to say homophonic words that would be pronounced as phonological minimal pairs if orthography affects pronunciation. Word pairs contained the same target sound spelled with one letter or two, such as the /n/ in finish and Finnish (both /ˈfɪnɪʃ/ in Standard British English). To test for effects of length and type of L2 exposure, we compared Italian instructed learners of English, Italian-English late bilinguals with lengthy naturalistic exposure, and English natives. A reading aloud task revealed that Italian speakers of English L2 produce two English homophonic words as a minimal pair distinguished by different consonant or vowel length, for instance producing the target /ˈfɪnɪʃ/ with a short [n] or a long [nː] to reflect the number of consonant letters in the spelling of the words finish and Finnish. Similar effects were found on the pronunciation of vowels, for instance in the orthographic pair scene-seen (both /siːn/). Naturalistic exposure did not reduce orthographic effects, as effects were found both in learners and in late bilinguals living in an English-speaking environment. It appears that the orthographic form of L2 words can result in the establishment of a phonological contrast that does not exist in the target language. Results have implications for models of L2 phonological development.
Calendar calculations – e.g., calculating the nth month after a certain month-are an important co... more Calendar calculations – e.g., calculating the nth month after a certain month-are an important component of temporal cognition, and can vary cross-linguistically. English speakers rely on a verbal list representation-processing system. Chinese speakers-whose calendar terms are numerically transparent-rely on a more efficient numerical system. Does knowing a numerically transparent calendar lexicon facilitate calendar calculations in an opaque second language? Late Chinese-English bilinguals and English native speakers performed a Month and a Weekday Calculation Task in English. Directionality (forward/backward) and boundary-crossing (within/across the year/week boundary) were manipulated. English speakers relied on verbal list processing, and were slower in backward than forward calculations. In spite of the English calendar system's opaqueness, bilinguals relied on numerical processing, were slower in across-than within-boundary trials, and under some conditions had faster RTs than the native speakers. Results have implications for research on temporal cognition, linguistic relativity and bilingual cognition.
An experiment investigated whether Japanese speakers' categorisation of objects and substances as... more An experiment investigated whether Japanese speakers' categorisation of objects and substances as shape or material is influenced by acquiring English, based on Imai and Gentner (1997). Subjects were presented with an item such as a cork pyramid and asked to choose between two other items that matched it for shape (plastic pyramid) or for material (piece of cork). The hypotheses were that for simple objects the number of shape-based categorisations would increase according to experience of English and that the preference for shape and material-based categorisations of Japanese speakers of English would differ from monolingual speakers of both languages. Subjects were 18 adult Japanese users of English who had lived in English-speaking countries between 6 months and 3 years (short-stay group), and 18 who had lived in English-speaking countries for 3 years or more (long-stay group). Both groups achieved above criterion on an English vocabulary test. Results were: both groups preferred material responses for simple objects and substances but not for complex objects, in line with Japanese monolinguals, but the long-stay group showed more shape preference than the short-stay group and also were less different from Americans. These effects of acquiring a second language on categorisation have implications for conceptual representation and methodology.
This paper provides evidence that the second language orthographic input affects the mental repre... more This paper provides evidence that the second language orthographic input affects the mental representations of L2 phonology in instructed beginner L2 learners. Previous research has shown that orthographic representations affect monolinguals' performance in phonological awareness tasks; in instructed L2 learners such representations could also affect pronunciation. This study looked at the phonological representations of Chinese rimes in beginner learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language, using a phoneme counting task and a phoneme segmentation task. Results show that learners do not count or segment the main vowel in those syllables where it is not represented in the pinyin (romanisation) orthographic representations. It appears that the pinyin orthographic input is reinterpreted according to L1 phonology-orthography correspondences, and interacts with the phonological input in shaping the phonological representations of Chinese syllables in beginner learners. This explains previous findings that learners of Chinese do not pronounce the main vowel in these syllables. INTRODUCTION The role of the orthographic input in the acquisition of second language phonology has been hitherto almost completely neglected. On the one hand, research on monolingual speakers shows that their performance in phonological awareness tasks is affected by orthographic representations. On the other hand, research on second language (L2) learners shows that their L2 pronunciation is affected by L2 orthographic representations. Do L2 orthographic representations affect the mental representations of L2 phonology in L2 learners, such leading to non-target-like pronunciations? This paper looks at the effects of some orthographic conventions of the pinyin romanization system on the phonological representations of Chinese syllables in instructed beginner learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL). It is proposed that the non-target-like pronunciation of some syllables by CFL learners can be attributed to the effects of the pinyin orthographic representations on learners' L2 phonological representations.
Cross-linguistic research shows that some aspects of metalinguistic awareness are affected by cha... more Cross-linguistic research shows that some aspects of metalinguistic awareness are affected by characteristics of different writing systems. Users of writing systems that mark word boundaries (such as English) develop word awareness, while users of unspaced writing systems (such as Chinese) do not. Previous research showed that English-speaking users of Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) have higher levels of Chinese word awareness than Chinese monolingual speakers. The present study aimed at disentangling the effects of bilingualism/biliteracy and the effects of L1 writing system characteristics by comparing users of Chinese whose L1 writing system does or does not mark word boundaries. Three groups (Chinese, English-Chinese and Japanese-Chinese) performed two Chinese word segmentation tasks. Results showed significant differences among the groups in mean word lengths and mean level of intra-group agreement. The English group had higher intragroup agreement rates and shorter word lengths than the other two groups; the Japanese group had higher agreement rates than the Chinese group. It is argued that Chinese word awareness as revealed by word segmentation tasks is mostly affected by literacy in a writing system that marks word boundaries, but bilingualism and biliteracy also play a role.
This paper investigates whether bilinguals’ and monolinguals’ concepts
of entities differ when th... more This paper investigates whether bilinguals’ and monolinguals’ concepts of entities differ when the bilinguals’ two languages provide two different representations of the same entity. Previous research shows that speakers of languages that have a grammatical gender system think of objects as being masculine or feminine in line with the grammatical gender of the objects’ nouns. The present study investigates the effects of grammatical gender on concepts of objects in bilingual speakers of two languages that assign opposite gender to the same object. Italian-German bilingual children and Italian monolingual controls performed an on-line voice attribution task. All children were native speakers of Italian and living in Italy. Results show that Italian monolingual children attribute more female voices to objects whose noun is grammatically feminine in Italian. Monolinguals also show a preference for attributing voices consistently with Italian grammatical gender assignment. Italian-German bilingual children are not affected by Italian grammatical gender. It is argued that when the two languages of a bilingual represent a specific aspect of reality differently, the bilingual may develop different concepts from a monolingual. This is due to the knowledge of two specific languages rather than to bilingualism per se, and to linguistic rather than cultural factors.
English is written with interword spacing, and eliminating it negatively affects English readers.... more English is written with interword spacing, and eliminating it negatively affects English readers. Chinese is written without interword spacing, and adding it does not facilitate Chinese readers. Pinyin (romanised Chinese) is written with interword spacing. This study investigated whether adding interword spacing facilitates reading in Chinese native readers and English readers of Chinese as a Second Language. Participants performed two sentence-picture verification tasks with sentences written with pinyin or hanzi (characters). Interword spacing facilitated pinyin reading in English readers but not in Chinese readers; it did not affect hanzi reading in either group. The effects of interword spacing on second language reading appear to be determined by characteristics of both readers’ first language writing system and the writing system being read.
It is generally assumed that speakers of grammatical gender languages consider grammatical gender... more It is generally assumed that speakers of grammatical gender languages consider grammatical gender arbitrary, but this assumption has never been tested. Research shows that the grammatical gender of nouns can affect perceptions of the masculinity or femininity of the noun's referent in speakers of languages with masculine or feminine noun classes. However, bilingualism facilitates the development of lexical arbitrariness awareness, and could therefore affect awareness of grammatical gender arbitrariness. This study then compared three groups of young adult speakers of a grammatical gender language: monolinguals, early bilinguals, and instructed second language learners. Participants evaluated the gender assignments of 25 nouns of entities (animals, abstract concepts, natural kinds, and artefacts), and answered open and closed questions about grammatical gender. Participants considered grammatical gender as semantically motivated and mostly related gender assignments to perceived masculine and feminine connotations of referents. Knowledge of an additional grammatical gender language was linked to increased awareness of the arbitrariness of first language gender assignments in both early bilinguals and later instructed learners. It is argued that grammatical gender awareness deserves further investigation. Knowing more than one grammatical gender language can increase awareness of grammatical gender arbitrariness. Implications are discussed for language teaching and language reform.
Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions This article reviews recent research on how speaki... more Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions This article reviews recent research on how speaking a language that marks gender gramatically might affect thinking, and on the relationship between grammatical gender knowledge of more than one language, and thinking, in both early and emergent bilinguals. Design/Methodology/Approach The paper provides a comprehensive review of previous research, as well as an introduction to, and an evaluation of, the articles in this special issue. Findings/Conclusions Several themes emerge in the research on grammatical gender and thinking in bilinguals. First, knowledge of more than one language could reduce the effects of grammatical gender on thinking. Second, these effects may depend on the combination of languages being acquired. Third, researchers are starting to identify other variables that might affect when and how grammatical gender influences thinking, including proficiency and the choice of tasks. Originality This manuscript synthesizes the previously scattered research on grammatical gender and thinking in bilinguals. Significance/Implications This is the first full-length overview paper about the relationship between grammatical gender and thinking in speakers of more than one language.
ABSTRACT Recently researchers have become increasingly interested in the influence of or-thograph... more ABSTRACT Recently researchers have become increasingly interested in the influence of or-thographic forms on second language (L2) phonology. Orthographic forms (or spellings) represent the sounds and words of a language in writing. L2 learn-ers, in particular those in instructed settings, are simultaneously exposed to the orthographic forms and the phonological forms of the target language. Recent investigations have indicated that orthographic input can affect learners' phono-logical development and word learning in their second language in various ways. The availability of L2 orthographic forms in the input to L2 learners can facilitate speech production, perception, and/or word form learning (Escudero, Hayes-Harb, & Mitterer, 2008; Showalter & Hayes-Harb, 2013). It can hinder targetlike acqui-sition (Bassetti, 2007; Hayes-Harb, Nicol, & Barker, 2010), or it can have mixed effects or no effect at all (Escudero & Wanrooij, 2010; Simon, Chamblessb, & Alvesc, 2010). It is rather surprising that systematic empirical research on orthographic effects on L2 phonology is a relatively recent enterprise, even though L2 teachers have long known that orthographic forms can affect pronunciation (e.g., Kenworthy, 1987). A few pioneering studies appeared in the late 1990s, most notably by Young-Scholten (1998, 2002; Young-Scholten, Akita, & Cross, 1999). However, widespread interest in orthographic effects on L2 phonology only emerged in the first decade of the 21st century. That is when sizable numbers of papers started
Interword spacing facilitates English native readers but not native readers of Chinese, a writing... more Interword spacing facilitates English native readers but not native readers of Chinese, a writing system that does not mark word boundaries. L1-English readers of Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) could then be facilitated if spacing is added between words in Chinese materials. However, previous studies produced inconsistent results. This study tested the hypothesis that interword spacing facilitates L1-English CSL readers. We used an online multiple-choice gap-filling task to test 12 English CSL readers and 12 Chinese natives reading a series of eight texts of suitable difficulty, written with or without interword spacing. The CSL readers read faster with interword spacing than without, while Chinese native readers were not affected. The interword spacing effect was negatively correlated with measures of reading proficiency. It is argued that interword spacing facilitates CSL readers reading materials of sufficient difficulty by facilitating their lexical parsing. Pedagogical implications are discussed.
Second languages (L2s) are often learned through spoken and written input, and L2 orthographic fo... more Second languages (L2s) are often learned through spoken and written input, and L2 orthographic forms (spellings) can lead to non-native-like pronunciation. The present study investigated whether orthography can lead experienced learners of EnglishL2 to make a phonological contrast in their speech production that does not exist in English. Double consonants represent geminate (long) consonants in Italian but not in English. In Experiment 1, native English speakers and EnglishL2 speakers (Italians) were asked to read aloud English words spelled with a single or double target consonant letter, and consonant duration was compared. The EnglishL2 speakers produced the same consonant as shorter when it was spelled with a single letter, and longer when spelled with a double letter. Spelling did not affect consonant duration in native English speakers. In Experiment 2, effects of orthographic input were investigated by comparing two groups of EnglishL2 speakers (Italians) performing a delayed word repetition task with or without orthographic input; the same orthographic effects were found in both groups. These results provide arguably the first evidence that L2 orthographic forms can lead experienced L2 speakers to make a contrast in their L2 production that does not exist in the language. The effect arises because L2 speakers are affected by the interaction between the L2 orthographic form (number of letters), and their native orthography–phonology mappings, whereby double consonant letters represent geminate consonants. These results have important implications for future studies investigating the effects of orthography on native phonology and for L2 phonological development models.
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The first part of the volume discusses the relationship between language and cognition as studied in various disciplines, from psychology to philosophy to anthropology to linguistics, with chapters written by some of the major thinkers in each discipline. The second part concerns language and cognition in bilinguals. Following an introductory overview and contributions from established figures in the field, bilingual cognition researchers provide examples of their latest research on topics including time, space, motion, objects, and emotion. The third part discusses practical applications of the idea of bilingual cognition, such as marketing and translation.
This is the first book to treat the acquisition and use of a second language writing system. Drawing from a variety of disciplines and writing systems, it investigates how people read, write and analyse a writing system that represents a second language
Review:
All language teachers and researchers should read this introduction. It is refreshing to see both psychologists and linguists united in one volume. This volume models in impressive detail how language researchers and teachers can observe the interactions between writing systems and language learning.
Margot Haynes, Delta College (Michigan), in Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 29(3)
The volume is an original and welcome addition to SLA and a valuable reference point for those interested in writing systems, biliteracy, and second and foreign language teaching. This book succeeds in presenting L2WS research as a fertile ground for multidisciplinary collaboration, open to investigations into a wide variety of bilingual situations and drawing on a range of research methods and theoretical perspectives from education, linguistics, sociology and psychology. One of the collection's key strengths is that all its papers have implications for second and foreign language teaching. The editors must be commended for bringing together high-quality state-of-the-art research in an emerging field.
Emilia Djonov, Macquarie University, in Applied Linguistics 28:2
The book covers a wide range of interesting aspects of second language writing systems. This book is an important contribution to the emerging field of research in second language writing systems.
Gunna Funder Hansen, Linguist List 16.2685
of entities differ when the bilinguals’ two languages provide two different
representations of the same entity. Previous research shows that speakers
of languages that have a grammatical gender system think of objects as
being masculine or feminine in line with the grammatical gender of the
objects’ nouns. The present study investigates the effects of grammatical
gender on concepts of objects in bilingual speakers of two languages
that assign opposite gender to the same object. Italian-German bilingual
children and Italian monolingual controls performed an on-line voice
attribution task. All children were native speakers of Italian and living
in Italy. Results show that Italian monolingual children attribute more
female voices to objects whose noun is grammatically feminine in Italian.
Monolinguals also show a preference for attributing voices consistently
with Italian grammatical gender assignment. Italian-German bilingual
children are not affected by Italian grammatical gender. It is argued that when the two languages of a bilingual represent a specific aspect of reality differently, the bilingual may develop different concepts from a monolingual. This is due to the knowledge of two specific languages rather than to bilingualism per se, and to linguistic rather than cultural factors.
The first part of the volume discusses the relationship between language and cognition as studied in various disciplines, from psychology to philosophy to anthropology to linguistics, with chapters written by some of the major thinkers in each discipline. The second part concerns language and cognition in bilinguals. Following an introductory overview and contributions from established figures in the field, bilingual cognition researchers provide examples of their latest research on topics including time, space, motion, objects, and emotion. The third part discusses practical applications of the idea of bilingual cognition, such as marketing and translation.
This is the first book to treat the acquisition and use of a second language writing system. Drawing from a variety of disciplines and writing systems, it investigates how people read, write and analyse a writing system that represents a second language
Review:
All language teachers and researchers should read this introduction. It is refreshing to see both psychologists and linguists united in one volume. This volume models in impressive detail how language researchers and teachers can observe the interactions between writing systems and language learning.
Margot Haynes, Delta College (Michigan), in Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 29(3)
The volume is an original and welcome addition to SLA and a valuable reference point for those interested in writing systems, biliteracy, and second and foreign language teaching. This book succeeds in presenting L2WS research as a fertile ground for multidisciplinary collaboration, open to investigations into a wide variety of bilingual situations and drawing on a range of research methods and theoretical perspectives from education, linguistics, sociology and psychology. One of the collection's key strengths is that all its papers have implications for second and foreign language teaching. The editors must be commended for bringing together high-quality state-of-the-art research in an emerging field.
Emilia Djonov, Macquarie University, in Applied Linguistics 28:2
The book covers a wide range of interesting aspects of second language writing systems. This book is an important contribution to the emerging field of research in second language writing systems.
Gunna Funder Hansen, Linguist List 16.2685
of entities differ when the bilinguals’ two languages provide two different
representations of the same entity. Previous research shows that speakers
of languages that have a grammatical gender system think of objects as
being masculine or feminine in line with the grammatical gender of the
objects’ nouns. The present study investigates the effects of grammatical
gender on concepts of objects in bilingual speakers of two languages
that assign opposite gender to the same object. Italian-German bilingual
children and Italian monolingual controls performed an on-line voice
attribution task. All children were native speakers of Italian and living
in Italy. Results show that Italian monolingual children attribute more
female voices to objects whose noun is grammatically feminine in Italian.
Monolinguals also show a preference for attributing voices consistently
with Italian grammatical gender assignment. Italian-German bilingual
children are not affected by Italian grammatical gender. It is argued that when the two languages of a bilingual represent a specific aspect of reality differently, the bilingual may develop different concepts from a monolingual. This is due to the knowledge of two specific languages rather than to bilingualism per se, and to linguistic rather than cultural factors.