LinguaPub Date : 2025-02-17DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103899
Dandan Wu , Hui Li , Sheila Degotardi
{"title":"Spatial language production in Chinese preschoolers: Developmental patterns and associated predictors","authors":"Dandan Wu , Hui Li , Sheila Degotardi","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103899","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103899","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Research on Chinese spatial language production has primarily focused on task-based experiments, neglecting naturalistic contexts and family influences and causing limited ecological validity. To address this gap, this study investigated the developmental patterns and predictors of spatial language production among 192 Chinese preschoolers (ages 2;6 to 5;6) during a half-hour toy-play session. The children’s naturalistic utterances were analyzed using a five-domain coding system derived from the literature. First, the results indicated a significant age effect in spatial language production. Second, factors such as parent–child storytelling, talk duration, and the total number of utterances significantly predicted early spatial language production. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for understanding and fostering spatial language development in natural contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 103899"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143429049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2025-02-05DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103887
Giorgia Zorzi , Gro Hege Saltnes Urdal , Eli Raanes
{"title":"Understanding depiction in tactile Norwegian sign language interpreting","authors":"Giorgia Zorzi , Gro Hege Saltnes Urdal , Eli Raanes","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103887","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103887","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Interpreting settings involving tactile signed languages (TSLs) require the conveyance of information from visual and auditory channels into the tactile modality. A TSL is defined as a tactile adaptation of a visual signed language (SL), primarily used by deaf signers who experience vision loss later in life. In these adaptations, some signs are produced on the body of both interlocutors, creating a larger signing space that is more easily accessible through the tactile modality. We refer to TSL signs produced on the body of the interlocutor as “TSL haptices”. Moreover, one distinctive feature of visual SLs is depiction, where signs visually represent meaning by “demonstrating” a referent or event. Depiction also exists in TSLs, though its use has received limited study, particularly in the context of interpretation. As a result, this paper aims to: i) investigate how interpreters mediate depicting structures in interpreting settings involving Tactile Norwegian Sign Language (TNTS), ii) describe how depiction is expressed on the bodies of interpreters and deafblind individuals, and iii) provide a model that defines the various types of “haptices” found in TNTS interpreting.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"316 ","pages":"Article 103887"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143096738","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2025-02-04DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103884
Ruth Stern
{"title":"Non-canonical patterns of definiteness agreement in Hebrew","authors":"Ruth Stern","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103884","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103884","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines a non-canonical construction in Hebrew: a definite NP consisting of a head noun and an attributive adjective, where the head is not marked with a definite article but the adjective is. This construction deviates from the standard rules of Hebrew grammar, which require agreement in definiteness marking between the noun and its adjective. The analysis is based on a corpus of twelve Hebrew works from the Interim Period and addresses the construction in both Classical Hebrew and the Hebrew of the late Interim Period. The findings reveal that the transition from the former period, when Hebrew was a spoken language, to the latter, when it became predominantly a written language, influenced the distribution and underlying factors of this construction. Furthermore, the transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Era, two distinct periods within the Interim Period, significantly impacted the Hebrew language, fostering linguistic development and change, even before Hebrew regained its status as a spoken language. The study demonstrates how a single linguistic phenomenon can arise from diverse factors, reflecting the historical and cultural transformations that shaped Hebrew and its speakers over the centuries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"316 ","pages":"Article 103884"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143096737","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2025-02-04DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103896
Devyani Sharma
{"title":"L1 transfer and input demand in contact-driven syntactic change","authors":"Devyani Sharma","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103896","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103896","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Studies of New Englishes often examine contact-based change by comparing the two language systems involved, to see if feature <em>x</em> from the substrate language appears in the contact variety. In this article I show that this approach is incomplete. Looking across a bilingual cline of Indian English speakers, I show that only some substrate features have stabilized across the whole population, and that a different subset of the same features has stabilized in Singapore English. L1 transfer alone cannot account for this difference; it over-predicts change. I focus on a different hallmark of postcolonial Englishes—diminishing input from the original colonial English variety—and show the need for a further factor, input demand<em>:</em> the amount of input needed to acquire an L2 syntactic form given a specific L1. The relative strength of the two factors is then assessed in a four-way typology of syntactic changes. Both are instrumental in long-term stable outcomes, but substrate type appears to sometimes place hard limits on aspects of learnability regardless of input. The study demonstrates the importance of key constructs in Second Language Acquisition theory for the study of long-term contact-driven language change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"316 ","pages":"Article 103896"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143141057","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2025-02-01DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2024.103873
Hidehito Hoshi
{"title":"Four types of passives in Japanese and their cross-linguistic implications","authors":"Hidehito Hoshi","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2024.103873","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2024.103873","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines how the variety of so-called “passive constructions” can be viewed in terms of subject demotion and object promotion. I propose that four types of passives may logically exist due to possible combinations of the two independent operations: (i) both subject demotion and object promotion occur; (ii) only subject demotion occurs; (iii) only object promotion occurs; and (iv) neither subject demotion nor object promotion occurs but passive morphology is involved, demonstrating that they are all attested in Japanese. I argue that free Merge allows the Japanese passive morpheme (<em>r</em>)<em>are</em> to be externally merged with main V, little v, or [V-v] that is also created by External Merge, yielding V-(<em>r</em>)<em>are</em>, v-(<em>r</em>)<em>are</em>, and [V-v]-(<em>r</em>)<em>are</em>, respectively, with the result that the external θ-role is absorbed in V-(<em>r</em>)<em>are</em>, accusative Case is absorbed in v-(<em>r</em>)<em>are</em>, and both of them are absorbed in [V-v]-(<em>r</em>)<em>are</em>. I also show that (<em>r</em>)<em>are</em> can occur as a main verb, inducing neither subject demotion nor object promotion, but the passive sense may be expressed via assignment of an affectee θ-role to the surface subject. The analysis proposed here opens up new possibilities for unifying ways of generating the so-called non-canonical passives observed in various languages.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"315 ","pages":"Article 103873"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143156144","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2025-02-01DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103876
Norberto Jr. Cardenales Cardona, Rebecca Rico
{"title":"Linguistic factors that condition the velarization of word final /n/ in Puerto Rican Spanish","authors":"Norberto Jr. Cardenales Cardona, Rebecca Rico","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103876","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103876","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Caribbean has long been the subject of study for various dialect features. Many of these phenomena have been documented in Puerto Rico, including aspiration or deletion of /s/ velarization of /r/ postposition of the verb and velarization of word-final /n/. Although widely noted to be a feature of Puerto Rican Spanish, no recent quantitative study has been completed on the latter phenomenon. The current study measures the linguistic constraints that favor velarization of word-final /n/ in Puerto Rican Spanish. It empirically studies word-final /n/ velarization in this dialect with a Usage-Based Approach (UBA). A multivariate statistical analysis of linguistic factors is done using Rbrul on 988 tokens. The tokens were taken from a corpus of a recorded Puerto Rican radio program and analyzed in PRAAT. The study measures and weighs factors that favor word-final /n/ velarization, analyzing language-internal factors and no social factors. The results show the context that favors word-final /n/ velarization is the following segment and word stress. This result is situated using the framework of the exemplar model of language representation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"315 ","pages":"Article 103876"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143101136","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2025-02-01DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2024.103875
Tamara Marie Johnson
{"title":"Effects of frame-semantically (in)congruent food labels on taste in non-native English speakers","authors":"Tamara Marie Johnson","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2024.103875","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2024.103875","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Many studies have examined the non-native processing of formulaic versus non-formulaic language; however, this is the first study to investigate a related phenomenon: the non-native processing of frame-semantically congruent versus incongruent combinations of near-synonymic food labels and foods. Specifically, 254 European consumers participated in taste tests of store-bought potato chips and apples presented as novel products with fictitious, frame-semantically (in)congruent brand names containing the near-synonyms <em>crispy</em> and <em>crunchy</em>. Linear regression analyses revealed that the valence of consumers’ thoughts about foods remained unaffected by frame-semantic (in)congruence. In contrast, perceived taste was mediated by English dominance, producing a positive correlation in the frame-semantically congruent condition and a negative correlation in the frame-semantically incongruent condition. These results contrast with previous research on native speakers of English, suggesting that awareness of the distinct semantic frames of near-synonyms develops with increasing English dominance. Furthermore, they have real-world implications because English is often used to advertise food products, regardless of the dominant language(s) in a particular market.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"315 ","pages":"Article 103875"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143101135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2025-02-01DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2024.103874
Dongheng Yang , Ping Liu
{"title":"Utilizing AI to manage rapport: ERNIE Bot’s interpersonal strategies to respond to negative hotel reviews","authors":"Dongheng Yang , Ping Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2024.103874","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2024.103874","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Large language models have exhibited satisfactory performance in linguistic tasks pertaining to lexicon, grammar, and syntax. However, their pragmatic competence in user interactions remains underexplored. To address this research gap, the current study delves into the interpersonal dimension of pragmatic competence, specifically focusing on ERNIE Bot’s potential to manage rapport with reviewers in response to negative hotel reviews on TripAdvisor. A comparative approach is employed to analyze the rapport-managing moves in responses generated by ERNIE Bot versus those authored by human hotel managers. Our findings indicate that ERNIE Bot frequently employs rapport-enhancing moves to foster relationships. Specifically, we identify three key interpersonal strategies used by ERNIE Bot: specifying concerns, supporting emotions, and undertaking responsibility. The results suggest that ERNIE Bot demonstrates its pragmatic competence to promote positive rapport with reviewers. However, further training is necessary to align its responses more closely with hotels’ transactional objectives. Overall, this study provides insights into large language models’ linguistic potential in interpersonal contexts and offers practical recommendations for professionals considering the integration of AI-generated content into their operations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"315 ","pages":"Article 103874"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143101134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2025-01-31DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103888
Haotong Zhao, Zhaohong Wu
{"title":"Dashing is faster than lumbering by sound: Speed sound symbolism in English motion verbs","authors":"Haotong Zhao, Zhaohong Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103888","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.103888","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Psychological experiments have established sound symbolic associations between fast/slow speed and various phonemes or phonetic features in our perception. These associations were also occasionally attested cross-linguistically in words for “fast” and “slow”. This study aims to determine whether speed sound symbolism resides extensively in English motion verbs (e.g., <em>dash</em>, <em>lumber</em>), words presumed to be more likely to exhibit speed sound symbolism. A rating questionnaire was used to obtain each verb’s implied speed. An extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) model revealed that phoneme frequency alone can account for 14.36% of semantic variation along the speed dimension, which is a modest but genuine effect. Phonemes /m/, /ʃ/, /t͡ʃ/ and /ɑ/ emerged as important predictors of speed ratings, with /m/ and /ɑ/ associated with slowness while /ʃ/ and /t͡ʃ/ with fastness. Our findings provided further evidence for the existence of sound symbolism in natural languages. Moreover, the sound-and-meaning matching patterns in English generally agree with patterns identified by previous behavioral tasks, suggesting that the way our language is constructed is affected by, or at least coincides with, speakers’ perception of speech sounds. The possible mechanisms underlying speed sound symbolism and its implications on language evolution and the concept of phonestheme are also discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"316 ","pages":"Article 103888"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143097280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LinguaPub Date : 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2024.103868
Hayeun Jang
{"title":"How labial and alveolar consonants evoke the images of softness and cuteness?: Experiments with Korean speakers","authors":"Hayeun Jang","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2024.103868","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lingua.2024.103868","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The purpose of this study is to report on an experiment that examined how labial and alveolar consonants evoke images of softness and cuteness depending on their laryngeal features in Korean, and to discuss cross-linguistic similarities and differences in sound-symbolic associations. The main findings of the study were: 1) compared to alveolar consonants, labial consonants were more associated with images of softness and cuteness in Korean, as well as in Japanese and Chinese; 2) among both labial and alveolar consonants, lenis consonants were the most strongly associated with images of softness; 3) aspirated and tensed bilabial consonants evoked images of cuteness; and 4) among alveolar consonants, tensed alveolars are the most likely to evoke images of cuteness, while aspirated alveolars are the least likely to do so. The results suggest that 1) sound-symbolic associations of soft images are not always linked to those of cute images; and 2) the strength of sound-symbolic associations of consonants with the same place of articulation can differ depending on their laryngeal features. This study highlights the role of laryngeal features in sound symbolism and emphasizes the importance of cross-linguistic research in understanding both universal and language-specific aspects of sound symbolism.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"314 ","pages":"Article 103868"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143180582","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}