Anomalous Transfer of Syntax between Languages

Abstract

Each human language possesses a set of distinctive syntactic rules. Here, we show that balanced Welsh-English bilinguals reading in English unconsciously apply a morphosyntactic rule that only exists in Welsh. The Welsh soft mutation rule determines whether the initial consonant of a noun changes based on the grammatical context (e.g., the feminine noun cath-"cat" mutates into gath in the phrase y gath-"the cat"). Using event-related brain potentials, we establish that English nouns artificially mutated according to the Welsh mutation rule (e.g., "goncert" instead of "concert") require significantly less processing effort than the same nouns implicitly violating Welsh syntax. Crucially, this effect is found whether or not the mutation affects the same initial consonant in English and Welsh, showing that Welsh syntax is applied to English regardless of phonological overlap between the two languages. Overall, these results demonstrate for the first time that abstract syntactic rules transfer anomalously from one language to the other, even when such rules exist only in one language.

Electrophysiological Differentiation of the Effects of Stress and Accent on Lexical Integration in Highly Fluent Bilinguals

“…In the critical manipulation for Experiment 2 (overlap condition vs. no overlap condition), the L1 translations of prime and target words overlapped or did not overlap in their onset phonemes. A word-initial phonological overlap was selected consistent both with the prediction of the Cohort Model [53,54], namely that word candidate activation occurs within the first 150-200 ms of auditory input (roughly corresponding to the first 1-2 phonemes of a word), and with prior research demonstrating ease of processing for L2 words sharing initial consonants with L1 translations equivalents [14].…”

“…Lagrou, Hartsuiker and Duyck [9] investigated the influence of L1 accent, alongside sentence context and semantic constraints, on L2 intelligibility and language non-selective access. The experiment attempted to explain the effect of L1 accented L2 speech by bringing together two types of observation: (a) evidence that L1 accent can negatively affect L2 comprehension [8][9][10][11], and (b) the fact that when bilinguals process their second language, they automatically and implicitly activate native language translation representations [12][13][14]. In the experiment, Dutch-English bilinguals made lexical decisions regarding the last word of English sentences produced by a native speaker of English or Dutch.…”

“…English lexical stress is variable and, despite generally conforming to certain rules, may occur on any syllable within a given word. Stress is indicated for the most part through vowel reduction (e.g., the first syllable of the noun conflict is stressed and, depending on the dialect, contains the full vowel comprehension [8][9][10][11], and (b) the fact that when bilinguals process their second language, they automatically and implicitly activate native language translation representations [12][13][14]. In the experiment, Dutch-English bilinguals made lexical decisions regarding the last word of English sentences produced by a native speaker of English or Dutch.…”

“…In comparison to English, the relative paucity of research on Welsh lexical stress means that the intricacies of its realisation and perception are less well understood, and consequently remain subject to some debate. Although the current understanding of Welsh lexical stress is incomplete, it appears to be realised on the basis of two key characteristics: shorter duration and lower pitch of the stressed penultimate syllable relative , whereas the first syllable of the verb conflict is unstressed and contains the reduced vowel comprehension [8][9][10][11], and (b) the fact that when bilinguals process their second language, they automatically and implicitly activate native language translation representations [12][13][14]. In the experiment, Dutch-English bilinguals made lexical decisions regarding the last word of English sentences produced by a native speaker of English or Dutch.…”

Abnormal neural responses to harmonic syntactic structures in congenital amusia

“…Trials were averaged offline with an epoch length of 1,200 ms, including a baseline from 200 ms to 0 ms before the target onset. Trials with artifacts exceeding the amplitude of ±75 μV in any channel were rejected (Vaughan‐Evans, Kuipers, Thierry, & Jones, ). On average, 12.6% of all trials were rejected and 84 trials ( SD = 7) were retained per condition, with rejections being similarly distributed across groups and conditions ( F s < 1).…”