Does language similarity affect representational integration?

The Effect of Syntactic Similarity on Intra-Sentential Switching Costs: Evidence from Chinese-English Bilinguals

In order to better understand the role of syntactic similarity in a code-switched sentence, the current study explored the effect of similar and different syntactic structures on Chinese-English bilinguals' intra-sentential switching costs. L2 proficiency and switching directions as factors that potentially intervene in bilingual performance were together explored to see if there was any interaction. We manipulated the degree of syntactic similarity by utilizing clauses in active voice (greater similarity) and passive voice (lesser similarity). The study conducted a self-paced reading paradigm as a more natural language reading processing. Results showed overall longer reading times for active sentences than passive counterparts, which supported a syntactic similarity impediment rather than facilitation. The impediment seemed to be predominant irrespective of L2 proficiency. Furthermore, syntactic similarity modulated the asymmetry of switching costs between forward (L1-L2) and backward (L2-L1) direction: word RTs for the 1st and the 2nd switched word yielded greater costs in L2-L1 condition, while greater costs in L1-L2 condition was observed in 3rd switched word RTs and average RTs. The present study observed syntactic similarity impediment rather than facilitation for Chinese-English bilinguals. Notably, syntactic similarity plays a predominant role compared to L2 proficiency, and modulates the asymmetry between switching directions.

The effect of word transpositions on grammaticality judgements in first and second language sentence reading

This study investigated the cross-language influence of a reader's first language (L1, German) grammar knowledge on the syntactic processing of sentences in their second language (L2, English), using a grammaticality judgement task and comparing results with monolingual L1 English-speakers. In Experiment 1, unbalanced bilinguals (N = 82) read sentences in their L1 German and L2 English that were either grammatical in German but not English, grammatical in English but not German, or ungrammatical in both languages. Sentences were presented in mixed-language blocks. Grammaticality judgements were less accurate and slower for ungrammatical L2 sentences that were grammatical in their literal L1 translation, compared with sentences that were ungrammatical in both languages. Experiment 2 replicated these findings with an independent German-English bilingual sample (N = 78), using monolingual language blocks. In Experiment 3, effects were absent in decision accuracy and weaker in decision latency for monolingual English readers (N = 54). A post hoc validation study with an independent sample of L1 English-speakers (n = 21) provided further evidence that the ungrammatical English sentences with German word order were indeed less natural and grammatically acceptable to L1 English-speakers than the grammatical English sentences. These findings suggest that, consistent with competition models of language comprehension, multiple languages are simultaneously active and can compete during syntactic processing. However, due to the complex nature of cross-language comparisons, the cross-language transfer effects are likely to be driven by multiple interacting factors, of which one is cross-language transfer.

Syntactic representation of missing-verb anomalous utterances in Mandarin: Evidence from structural priming

Theories of how people interpret utterances with verb-related anomalies are chiefly based on English, but relatively little is known about the syntactic representation of missing-verb anomalous utterances in Mandarin, which has strikingly different typological features. In the current study, two experiments in structural priming paradigm were carried out to investigate whether native Mandarin speakers reconstructed a full syntactic form of missing-verb anomalous utterances. Our study shows that the magnitude of priming following a missing-verb anomalous sentence is equivalent to that following an error-free sentence, indicating that native Mandarin speakers reconstruct a full syntactic representation of missing-verb anomalous utterances. The results thus provide robust evidence for the syntactic reconstruction account.

Unified syntax in the bilingual mind

Are syntactic representations shared across languages, and how might that inform the nature of syntactic computations? To investigate these issues, we presented French-English bilinguals with mixed-language word sequences for 200 ms and asked them to report the identity of one word at a post-cued location. The words either formed an interpretable grammatical sequence via shared syntax (e.g., ses feet sont big – where the French words ses and sont translate into his and are, respectively) or an ungrammatical sequence with the same words (e.g., sont feet ses big). Word identification was significantly greater in the grammatical sequences – a bilingual sentence superiority effect. These results not only provide support for shared syntax, but also reveal a fascinating ability of bilinguals to simultaneously connect words from their two languages through these shared syntactic representations.

How do phonology and orthography feed back to influence syntactic encoding in language production? Evidence from structural priming in Mandarin

Do speakers make use of a word's phonological and orthographic forms to determine the syntactic structure of a sentence? We reported two Mandarin structural priming experiments involving homophones to investigate word-form feedback on syntactic encoding. Participants tended to reuse the syntactic structure across sentences; such a structural priming effect was enhanced when the prime and target sentences used homophone verbs (the homophone boost), regardless of whether the homophones were heterographic (homophones written in different character; Experiments 1 and 2) or homographic (homophones written in the same character; Experiment 2). Critically, the homophone boost was comparable between homographic and heterographic homophone primes (Experiment 2). Hence unlike phonology, orthography appears to play a minimal role in mediating structural priming in production. We suggest that the homophone boost results from lemma associations between homophones that develop due to phonological identity between homophones early during language learning; such associations stabilise before literacy acquisition, thus limiting the influence of orthographic identity on lemma association between homophones and in turn on structural priming in language production.