LanguagesPub Date : 2024-07-26DOI: 10.3390/languages9080259
N. Guzzo
{"title":"Plural Alternations and Word-Final Consonant Syllabification in Brazilian Veneto","authors":"N. Guzzo","doi":"10.3390/languages9080259","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9080259","url":null,"abstract":"In Brazilian Veneto (a heritage variety of Veneto spoken in several areas of Brazil), a stem alternation targets the plurals of masculine nominals ending in a consonant. While nominals with a word-final rhotic or nasal are pluralized by adding the masculine plural suffix /−i/ ([bi't∫̑er]→[bi't∫̑eri] ‘glass’), pluralization in nominals with a final lateral involves deletion of the consonant (e.g., [ni'sol]→[ni'soi] ‘bedsheet’). I argue that these differences stem from word-final laterals having a distinct representation from rhotics and nasals: while the latter are represented as codas, the former are represented as onsets of empty-headed syllables. Based on a corpus analysis, I show that (a) speakers’ productions of these plurals are stable, and (b) other patterns of pluralization (namely, in monosyllables and words with final stress on a CV syllable) are consistent with the proposal. In addition, the behaviour of laterals with respect to resyllabification, metaphony and intervocalic consonant deletion further suggest that laterals are represented as onsets word-finally.","PeriodicalId":510372,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"34 45","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141800481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LanguagesPub Date : 2024-07-26DOI: 10.3390/languages9080260
Hannes Kalisch, A. Salanova
{"title":"The Enlhet Revelative","authors":"Hannes Kalisch, A. Salanova","doi":"10.3390/languages9080260","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9080260","url":null,"abstract":"This paper describes the Enlhet revelative nooka’ and proposes a unified semantic analysis for it. Prima facie, nooka’ has evidential, mirative, and temporal nuances in its meaning. Against this, we establish that the core meaning of nooka’ is a change in epistemic state, and that the particle is not associated to specific sources of evidence nor to contradicting a previous expectation. The evidential properties of the particle arise from interactions between the time of the event and evidence acquisition time, while any mirative properties of nooka’ are occasional concomitants, but are not necessarily associated with the particle. We show how the evidence acquisition time implicit in nooka’ differs from the main narrative time. Our analysis characterizes nooka’ as a revelative, a category that has been identified in various other languages, but which is still poorly understood.","PeriodicalId":510372,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"59 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141799322","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LanguagesPub Date : 2024-07-25DOI: 10.3390/languages9080258
Antje Muntendam, M. C. P. Parafita Couto
{"title":"Code-Switching at the Interfaces","authors":"Antje Muntendam, M. C. P. Parafita Couto","doi":"10.3390/languages9080258","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9080258","url":null,"abstract":"One characteristic of multilingual speakers is that in everyday life, they may integrate elements from their languages in the same sentence or discourse, a practice known as code-switching. This paper examines code-switching at the interfaces, in particular as related to information structure. Despite the fact that a core question of modern linguistic theory is how syntactic and information-structural theories interact in accounting for licensing of different grammatical phenomena, there has been relatively little literature on code-switching and information structure. In this paper, we provide an overview of the available literature on code-switching across different language combinations, focusing in particular on subject pronoun–verb switches, ellipsis, light verbs, topic/focus particles, and code-switching between sign languages. We argue that the study of the interplay between information structure and code-switching sheds light on our understanding of multilingual grammars and language competence more generally. In this regard, we discuss theoretical and methodological considerations to guide future studies.","PeriodicalId":510372,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"59 17","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141805862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LanguagesPub Date : 2024-07-25DOI: 10.3390/languages9080257
Maelle Amand, Zakaria Touhami
{"title":"Could You Say [læp˺ tɒp˺]? Acquisition of Unreleased Stops by Advanced French Learners of English Using Spectrograms and Gestures","authors":"Maelle Amand, Zakaria Touhami","doi":"10.3390/languages9080257","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9080257","url":null,"abstract":"The present study analyses the production rates of stop-unrelease amongst advanced French learners of English before and after training. Although stop-unrelease may be regarded as a minor issue in English pronunciation teaching, it has received some attention in recent years. Earlier studies showed that amongst “phonetically naive English listeners”, the lack of release of /p/, /t/ and /k/ leads to lower identification scores. The present study analyses the speech of 31 French university students majoring in English to measure the efficiency of an awareness approach on the production of stop-unrelease. The experiment comprised three phases with a test and a control group. During Phase 1, both groups were asked to read pairs of words and sentences containing medial and final voiceless stops. We chose combinations of two identical stops (homorganic) or stops with different places of articulation (heterorganic), as well as stops in utterance-final position. Namely, wait for me at that table over there, that pan, or I like that truck. In Phase 2, one group watched an explanatory video to increase awareness on stop-unrelease in English before reading Phase 1 words and sentences a second time. The remaining group was the control group and did not receive any training. Among the participants, 17 read a French text containing pairs of stops in similar positions to those in the English one, which served as an L1 baseline. In total, six students continued until Phase 3 (reading the same stimuli a month later; three in the control group and three in the test group). The results showed that sentence-final stops were overwhelmingly released (above 90%) in both English and French in Phase 1. Training had a significant impact on sentence-final stop-unrelease (p < 0.001), which rose from 9.65% to 72.2%. Progress was also visible in other contexts as in heterorganic pairs of stops. Based on these results, we strongly recommend the combined use of spectrograms and gestures to raise awareness in a classroom or for online learning so as to reach multiple learner profiles and further increase efficiency in pronunciation learning.","PeriodicalId":510372,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"49 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141805676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LanguagesPub Date : 2024-07-23DOI: 10.3390/languages9080256
Christina Clasmeier, Tanja Anstatt
{"title":"“How Often Do You Encounter the Verb Obnaruzhit’?” Subjective Frequency of Russian Verbs in Heritage Speakers and Other Types of Russian–German Bilinguals","authors":"Christina Clasmeier, Tanja Anstatt","doi":"10.3390/languages9080256","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9080256","url":null,"abstract":"The literature shows that word frequency data obtained from corpora (corpus frequency, CF) and L1 speaker estimation (subjective frequency, SF) are substantially correlated. However, little is known about languages other than English and the frequency estimation of different types of bilingual speakers. We address both issues and compare the correlation coefficients of the CF and SF for 49 Russian verbs as well as SF data between four groups of Russian speakers: monolinguals (MOs), late bilinguals (LBs), heritage speakers (HSs), and foreign language learners (FLs). We gained SF data from a frequency estimation study with 447 participants and found that despite the reduced exposure to Russian in the three bilingual groups, their SF data were correlated with the CF at the same level (moderately) as the monolinguals’ SF. Interestingly, the correlations between the SF of the MOs, LBs, and HSs were very high, indicating that the SF is extremely stable over different speaker groups and that HSs do not differ from other L1 speakers in this respect. Furthermore, in absolute terms, HSs judged the verbs consistently lower than LBs and MOs, demonstrating that speakers have a finely adjusted ability to estimate the frequency with which they encounter words. The learners, on the other hand, were a clearly distinguished group, with only moderate correlations with all groups of L1 speakers.","PeriodicalId":510372,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"111 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141811819","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LanguagesPub Date : 2024-07-22DOI: 10.3390/languages9070255
Samantha Link
{"title":"Correspondence of Consonant Clustering with Particular Vowels in German Dialects","authors":"Samantha Link","doi":"10.3390/languages9070255","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9070255","url":null,"abstract":"Recent work found a correspondence between consonant clustering probability in monosyllabic lexemes and the three vowel types, short and long monophthong and diphthong, in German dialects. Furthermore, that correspondence was found to be bound to a North–South divide. This paper explores the preferences in consonant clustering of particular vowels by analyzing the PhonD2-Corpus, a large database of phonotactic and morphological information. The clustering probability of the diphthongs is positively correlated with frequency while the other vowels showed particular preferences that are not positively correlated with frequency. However, all of them are determined by a threefold pattern: short monophthongs prefer coda clusters, diphthongs onset clusters and long monophthong are balanced. Furthermore, it was found that this threefold pattern seems to have evolved from an originally twofold pattern (short monophthong prefers coda clusters and long monophthong and diphthong prefer onset clusters) in Middle High and Low German. This result is then further considered under the aspect of the compensation of the syllable weight and moraicity. Furthermore, some interesting parallels with the syllable vs. word-language typology framework are noted.","PeriodicalId":510372,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"69 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141817794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LanguagesPub Date : 2024-07-21DOI: 10.3390/languages9070254
Renata Enghels, Marlies Jansegers, Tom Bossuyt
{"title":"Introduction to the Special Issue Grammaticalization across Languages, Levels, and Frameworks","authors":"Renata Enghels, Marlies Jansegers, Tom Bossuyt","doi":"10.3390/languages9070254","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9070254","url":null,"abstract":"Over the last few decades, we have witnessed a proliferation in studies on phenomena such as grammaticalization (cf [...]","PeriodicalId":510372,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"83 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141819233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LanguagesPub Date : 2024-07-19DOI: 10.3390/languages9070253
Cathy Cohen, Romane Demazel, A. Witko
{"title":"Exploring the Interplay of Language Exposure, Language Skills and Language and Cultural Identity Construction in French-English Bilingual Adolescents: A Longitudinal Case Study","authors":"Cathy Cohen, Romane Demazel, A. Witko","doi":"10.3390/languages9070253","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9070253","url":null,"abstract":"This study explores dual language acquisition according to three interrelated factors which have been found to account for individual differences in bilingual development. These are child-internal, proximal and distal factors. This five-year longitudinal case study investigates the complex interplay between language exposure, language skills and language and cultural identity construction in three French-English bilingual adolescents (from age 10 to 14), from three different home language backgrounds (French dominant; English dominant; both French and English), attending the same bilingual programme in France. Data were collected annually. Parent questionnaires provided information on the children’s exposure to French and English from birth, within the family and in school and other social environments. Semi-structured interviews with the children explored their current language exposure and their language practices with close family and friends, and in language-based activities, such as reading. Language skills were assessed in both languages through (1) a narrative task evaluating lexical diversity and grammatical accuracy, and (2) a standard receptive vocabulary task. Identity construction was explored through semi-structured interviews and a language portrait activity. Our findings showed, first, that higher exposure to a language at home and school did not necessarily align with higher level skills in that language. High-level skills were also observed in the language where exposure was quantitatively lower, but qualitatively rich. Secondly, despite higher exposure to one language, children sometimes identified more with the language and culture they were exposed to less. We highlight the importance of exploring children’s exposure and language biographies in depth to distinguish the sources and types of exposure received from birth. We also show the impact of children’s agency on their language investment and language development.","PeriodicalId":510372,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"111 43","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141822674","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LanguagesPub Date : 2024-07-17DOI: 10.3390/languages9070252
Stephen J. Cowley
{"title":"Made in Languaging; Ecolinguistic Expertise","authors":"Stephen J. Cowley","doi":"10.3390/languages9070252","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9070252","url":null,"abstract":"Made in languaging aims to help ecolinguists with recrafting ideation and human practices. Inspired by Alexander and Stibbe, I turn to how ecolinguistic expertise can favour life-sustaining relations. In approaching normative goals, I start with how knowledge is made, self-sustains and is disseminated. Ecolinguistic analysis of languages, discourse and narratives can thus be enriched by tracing how practices inform languaging. In turning to epistemic agency, I emphasise the following: (1) building corpora popularia, organised bodies, in order to enhance life-sustaining relations; (2) illuminating life from the inside; and (3) developing bioecological awareness. I contend that, while all living beings use coordinative activities to bring forth what appears to us, humans also use wording types and practices. As we use the already known, languaging enables subjecthood, a person’s little worlds, and a group’s common realities. Hence, what appears as (and to) experience is made in languaging. When linked to normative concerns, the resulting middle worlds also offer means of putting knowledge to work. As in social epistemology, one might regard ‘wealth and well-being’ as a marker of public good. Yet, critical work shows, appeal to these values is anthropomorphic. In order to encompass nonhumans and the biogenic, one can reject market orientatation by tracing languaging, and knowing, back to living. In showing benefits of so doing, I contrast two evolving wording types. The case of growthism, I suggest, attests to praxis and contrasts starkly with the ideational value of life-sustaining relations. Yet, in both cases, languaging meshes practices, happenings and the effects of action. The move shows how one can challenge the hypostatisation of ideology by pursuing how epistemic agency can contribute to the future of evolution.","PeriodicalId":510372,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":" 47","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141829774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LanguagesPub Date : 2024-06-04DOI: 10.3390/languages9060207
Xinyi Gao
{"title":"The Dative Markers and Their Developments in Hunan Sinitic Languages","authors":"Xinyi Gao","doi":"10.3390/languages9060207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9060207","url":null,"abstract":"This study is based on a sample of 30 Sinitic languages spoken in the Hunan Province. Its first objective is to explore the types of dative markers, comparing the form of the dative with allative, passive, benefactive, and differential object markers in these languages. Five patterns are identified: (I) DAT = ALL (II) DAT = GIVE = OM ≠ PASS; (III) DAT = GIVE = OM = PASS; (VI) DAT = GIVE = PASS ≠ OM; (V) DAT = BEN. Then, we reveal three main possible grammaticalization pathways that motivate the five synchronic patterns: (a) Allative > Dative; (b) (TAKE >) GIVE > Dative; (c) Benefactive > Dative. It concerns two distinct developments for the second pathway. Based on the areal distribution of the various types of dative markers, we can observe how the dative markers are developed in Hunan Sinitic languages.","PeriodicalId":510372,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"5 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141267241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}