Frontiers in language sciences最新文献

{"title":"Spoken sentence comprehension in Mandarin-English bilinguals: a case against the universal processing advantage of subject-relatives.","authors":"Preeti Rishi, Yusheng Wang, Tracy Love, Henrike K Blumenfeld","doi":"10.3389/flang.2025.1703230","DOIUrl":"10.3389/flang.2025.1703230","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>This study investigates sentence comprehension in Mandarin-English bilinguals, focusing on whether the widely reported, yet contested, subject-relative processing advantage extends to bilingual speakers. We evaluate which theoretical accounts, based on syntactic structure and canonicity, best explain cross-linguistic patterns of sentence processing.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Using a sentence-picture matching task, we examined the comprehension of canonical (e.g., actives) and non-canonical (e.g., passives) sentence structures in English and Mandarin for bilingual speakers of varying ages and Mandarin and English proficiency levels across two separate studies (<i>n</i> = 18 and <i>n</i> = 35).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In English, bilingual participants exhibited a robust canonical sentence advantage across studies, with better comprehension of subject-relative over object-relative sentences and active over passive sentences, mirroring monolingual processing patterns. However, in Mandarin, comprehension patterns were less robust and more variable. While subject-relative and object-relative comprehension did not significantly differ at the group level, passive vs. active sentences consistently posed greater difficulty and increased performance variability across both studies, particularly among lower-performing individuals.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>These results suggest that sentence comprehension is shaped by language-specific constraints rather than a universal subject-relative advantage. Findings align with unified theoretical accounts that incorporate canonicity-based and structural factors, including word order, syntactic structure, and experience-, usage-, and frequency-based influences. Our results highlight the complex interplay between the aforementioned factors that differ across languages, with implications for both theoretical linguistics and clinical applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":520217,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in language sciences","volume":"4 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12900535/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146204640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Co-Registration of EEG and Eye-Tracking in Psycholinguistics and Bilingualism Research.","authors":"Cristina López-Rojas, Concepción Soto, Ashley Chung-Fat-Yim, Viorica Marian","doi":"10.3389/flang.2026.1750939","DOIUrl":"10.3389/flang.2026.1750939","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Eye-tracking and electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings provide a window into the human mind. Combining both methods through co-registration offers a powerful and innovative approach for examining how cognitive and neural processes unfold in real time. While both EEG and eye-tracking have independently advanced our understanding of bilingual language processing, co-registration research in the field of bilingualism remains scarce. Given the potential of co-registration methodology to integrate multiple sources of information, this article provides a theoretically and empirically informed perspective on how it can be applied to bilingualism research. Drawing on findings from EEG and eye-tracking studies on bilingual language processing, as well as co-registration research in reading, we identify key areas of bilingualism, such as crosslinguistic activation and inference revision, where co-registration can help address existing gaps. We also discuss several methodological challenges associated with co-registration and offer practical recommendations for its effective implementation in future studies. We conclude that co-registration can move research on bilingual language processing towards a more integrated perspective, one that better captures the dynamic interplay between language and cognition.</p>","PeriodicalId":520217,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in language sciences","volume":"5 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13148255/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147848873","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editorial: Revisiting a 150-year-old conundrum on the role of Broca's area in language processing: embracing expected and unexpected results.","authors":"Maria V Ivanova, Stephanie Kathleen Riès, Anais Llorens","doi":"10.3389/flang.2025.1608928","DOIUrl":"10.3389/flang.2025.1608928","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":520217,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in language sciences","volume":"4 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12928380/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147286895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The neuroanatomy of Broca's aphasia.","authors":"Alexis L Pracar, Nicoletta Biondo, Nina F Dronkers, Maria V Ivanova","doi":"10.3389/flang.2025.1496209","DOIUrl":"10.3389/flang.2025.1496209","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Broca's aphasia, a condition characterized by nonfluent speech and difficulty with language production, results from focal brain damage and is most often caused by stroke. Although traditionally linked to lesions in Broca's area (Brodmann areas 44 and 45 in the left inferior frontal gyrus), recent evidence suggests that the neuroanatomy of Broca's aphasia is far more complex, implicating a broader network of cortical and subcortical regions. This study aimed to delineate the specific cortical and white matter features that, when damaged, lead to persistent Broca's aphasia.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>39 chronic cases of Broca's aphasia and 41 cases of stroke survivors whose language functions returned to within normal limits (WNL) were included. Lesion analyses and disconnection mapping were conducted using the Brainnetome Atlas and the Lesion Quantification Toolkit (LQT).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Results highlighted the critical role of the left insula, particularly its hypergranular and dorsal granular regions, which showed 99.2% and 93.6% lesion overlap, respectively, in Broca's aphasia cases. These regions, along with portions of the motor cortex and the parietal and temporal lobes, contribute to speech production and language processing. Importantly, the traditionally defined Broca's area showed minimal overlap, challenging the conventional understanding of its role in chronic Broca's aphasia. In addition to cortical regions, white matter tract analysis revealed complete disconnection of key pathways, including the arcuate fasciculus, extreme capsule, and middle longitudinal fasciculus. The corticospinal tract and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF) were also heavily disrupted, suggesting that damage to both cortical areas and their structural connections contributes to the hallmark symptoms of Broca's aphasia.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>These findings emphasize the distributed nature of the neural network underlying Broca's aphasia, extending beyond traditional Broca's area to include multiple cortical regions and their associated white matter tracts. The study provides new insights into the structural basis of language impairment, offering a more nuanced understanding of Broca's aphasia.</p>","PeriodicalId":520217,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in language sciences","volume":"4 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12928379/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147286930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rate of speech affects the comprehension of pronouns in children with developmental language disorder.","authors":"Noelle Abbott, Ignatius Nip, Tracy Love","doi":"10.3389/flang.2024.1394742","DOIUrl":"10.3389/flang.2024.1394742","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examined whether children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) have knowledge of binding principles (i.e., linking pronouns to their structurally licensed antecedent) during real-time sentence processing (cross-modal priming, real-time) and overt comprehension (sentence-picture matching, interpretative) and whether rate of speech impacted access to that knowledge. Fourteen children with DLD participated in two experiments, with sentences presented auditorily at either a regular or slow speech rate. Sentences were matched except to contain a pronoun, reflexive, or noun phrase (control) in the same syntactic position. Experiment (1) used a cross-modal picture priming paradigm to test real-time pronoun-antecedent linking abilities at both rates of speech. Children were instructed to make a binary decision during the uninterrupted auditory presentation of a sentence to a visually presented image (of the antecedent) at the offset of a pronoun, a reflexive, or a control noun. Response times between conditions (e.g., pronoun vs. control noun) were compared to determine whether participants showed evidence of facilitative priming (faster response times in the pronoun than control noun condition) at either speech rate. Experiment (2) used an auditory sentence-picture-matching task to test final comprehension of similar sentences containing a pronoun or reflexive. Accuracy was compared across both speech rates. For Experiment (1), children with DLD did not show evidence of real-time pronoun-antecedent priming at the regular speech rate. However, when sentences were slowed, they showed facilitative priming for the pronoun condition. For experiment (2), children with DLD performed at-chance when interpreting sentences with pronouns regardless of speech rate. While children with DLD have been shown to have difficulty processing sentences containing anaphors (such as pronouns), results suggest that this is not due to loss of intrinsic knowledge of binding principles. By slowing the rate of speech input, we showed that children with DLD do have access to that knowledge and can make the correct link during real-time processing between a pronoun and its structurally licensed antecedent (Experiment 1) but need more time to do so. However, the effect of slowed speech input does not extend to final comprehension (Experiment 2).</p>","PeriodicalId":520217,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in language sciences","volume":"3 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11391914/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142306175","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The effect of second language acquisition on central auditory processing abilities and its interaction with HIV.","authors":"Abby Kambhampaty, Christopher E Niemczak, Samantha M Leigh, Jonathan Lichtenstein, Monika Adhikari, Abigail M Fellows, Albert Magohe, Jiang Gui, Linda Zhang, Enica R Massawe, Jay C Buckey","doi":"10.3389/flang.2024.1427392","DOIUrl":"10.3389/flang.2024.1427392","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Second language learning is a multifaceted task that benefits across numerous neurocognitive domains including central auditory processing. Existing cross-sectional and longitudinal data show that performance on tests of central auditory processing [central auditory tests (CATs)] worsens with HIV infection. Second language learning may modify this relationship. To explore the relationship between second language learning, central auditory processing, and its interaction with HIV, we assessed the effect of learning English as a second language on CATs among children both living with and without HIV (CLWH/CLWOH) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Three hundred and seventy-two native Kiswahili speaking children aged 3-10 years old (196 CLWOH, 176 CLWH) were enrolled. Participants completed questionnaires about English language learning, socioeconomic status (SES), and health history. Three central auditory tests-the Triple Digit Test (TDT), the Staggered Spondaic Word Test (SSW), and the Hearing-In-Noise Test (HINT)-were used to assess each participant's central auditory processing abilities. Multivariate linear regression was used to assess the effect of written and spoken English language learning at home and in school on CATs with age, HIV-status, and SES included in each model.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>HIV status, age, and SES were all significant predictors of all three central auditory tests, with CLWH performing significantly worse on all three CATs than CLWOH. Children actively learning spoken and written English at home had significantly better central auditory processing abilities on the TDT compared to children not actively learning English at home (<i>p</i> < 0.01) independent of HIV status, age, and SES. Children learning spoken and written English at school performed significantly better on the HINT (<i>p</i> < 0.05) than those not actively learning English at school.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>Learning English at home and learning English in school were associated with improved central auditory performance independent of HIV status, SES, and age. These findings also underscore the significance of second language acquisition as a potential mechanism of improving central auditory function within a Kiswahili-speaking cohort. This study found differences in central auditory processing between children exposed to English at home and in school, suggesting differences in language learning in both settings mediated by SES, and this benefit exists regardless of HIV status.</p>","PeriodicalId":520217,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in language sciences","volume":"3 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12393694/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144985770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}