Second language (L2) speakers often experience difficulties in learning words with L2‐specific ph... more Second language (L2) speakers often experience difficulties in learning words with L2‐specific phonemes due to the unfaithful lexical encoding predicted by the fuzzy lexical representations hypothesis. Currently, there is limited understanding of how allophonic variation in the first language (L1) influences L2 phonological and lexical encoding. We report how the Mandarin Chinese L1 phonemic inventory and allophonic variation subject to phonotactic constraints predict phonological encoding problems for novel L2 English words with the /v/–/w/ contrast. L1 English and L1 Chinese participants speaking two varieties of Mandarin Chinese differing as to the presence of [ʋ]–[w] allophonic variation for the /w/ phoneme participated in a vocabulary learning task. The novel L2 words with the /v/–/w/ contrast were systematically less robustly encoded than the control words on the day of training and 24 hours later. The degree of fuzziness in lexical representations was jointly predicted by L1 allophonic variation subject to phonotactic constraints and L2 phonological categorization.
The study investigated the processing of Russian gender and number agreement by native (n= 36) an... more The study investigated the processing of Russian gender and number agreement by native (n= 36) and nonnative (n= 36) participants using a visual lexical decision task with priming. The design included a baseline condition that helped dissociate the underlying components of priming (facilitation and inhibition). The results showed no differences in the magnitude of priming between native and nonnative participants, and between gender and number agreement. However, whereas the priming effect in native participants consisted of both facilitation and inhibition, in second language (L2) learners it was characterized by facilitation in the absence of inhibition. Furthermore, the nonnative processing failed to demonstrate the default form bias, which optimized gender and number processing in native participants. Taken together, the findings indicate that although highly proficient L2 learners are able to demonstrate nativelike priming effects, their processing of morphosyntactic informatio...
This study explores the structure of the mental lexicon and the processing of Russian verbal morp... more This study explores the structure of the mental lexicon and the processing of Russian verbal morphology by two groups of speakers, adult American learners of Russian and Russian children aged 4-6, and reports the results of two matching experiments conducted at the University of Maryland, USA and St. Petersburg State University, Russia. The theoretical framework for this study comes from research on the structure of the mental lexicon and modularity in morphological processing. So far, there are very few studies investigating the processing of complex verbal morphology, with most of the work done on Icelandic, Norwegian, Italian, and Russian. The current views are shaped predominantly by research on English regular and irregular past-tense inflection, which has been conducted within two competing approaches. This study investigates the processing of verbal morphology in Russian, a language with numerous verb classes differing in size and the number and complexity of conjugation rule...
The U.S. government uses proficiency tests based on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) sca... more The U.S. government uses proficiency tests based on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale and considers ILR 3 (on a scale of 0–5) as the minimum acceptable level for professional proficiency in less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) (Brecht & Rivers, 2005). However, the majority of LCTL learners do not go beyond ILR 2, even after many years of study (Long, Gor & Jackson, 2012). Although proficiency scales like the ILR are attractive to end users and test administrators, for learners and instructors, these scales are less helpful. Currently, few data exist as to the appropriate linguistic content for the different ILR levels, or on psycholinguistically defensible learning sequences within the levels—especially at the advanced levels for LCTLs. We report on preliminary results of the Linguistic Correlates of Proficiency (LCP) project. The LCP project focuses on three LCTLs, Russian, Chinese and Persian, with the goals of identifying linguistic features that are implicated in...
The results of three experiments comparing the processing of verbs of motion by late second langu... more The results of three experiments comparing the processing of verbs of motion by late second language learners, American college students of Russian, and early starters, heritage speakers of Russian, are interpreted within the image-schematic framework developed in cognitive linguistics: the cross-linguistic typological approach introduced by Leonard Talmy (1985, 2000), the extension of this approach to Russian developed by Tore Nesset (2008), and the “thinking for speaking” hypothesis by Dan Slobin (1996). The results of the study support the claim that the system of verbs of motion is not fully acquired even in highly proficient second language learners. They typically lag behind not only native speakers, but also heritage speakers at the same proficiency levels.
This study explores the structure of the mental lexicon and the processing of Russian verbal morp... more This study explores the structure of the mental lexicon and the processing of Russian verbal morphology by three groups of speakers, adult American learners of Russian, Russian children aged 4-6 with normal linguistic development, and Russian children aged 4-7 with specific language impairment (SLI). It reports the results of three matching series of experiments conducted at the University of Maryland, USA and St. Petersburg State University, Russia. The theoretical framework for this study comes from research on the structure of the mental lexicon and modularity in morphological processing. So far, there are very few studies investigating the processing of complex verbal morphology, with most of the work done on Icelandic, Norwegian, Italian,
We propose the fuzzy lexical representations (FLRs) hypothesis that regards fuzziness as a core p... more We propose the fuzzy lexical representations (FLRs) hypothesis that regards fuzziness as a core property of nonnative (L2) lexical representations (LRs). Fuzziness refers to imprecise encoding at different levels of LRs and interacts with input frequency during lexical processing and learning in adult L2 speakers. The FLR hypothesis primarily focuses on the encoding of spoken L2 words. We discuss the causes of fuzzy encoding of phonological form and meaning as well as fuzzy form-meaning mappings and the consequences of fuzzy encoding for word storage and retrieval. A central factor contributing to the fuzziness of L2 LRs is the fact that the L2 lexicon is acquired when the L1 lexicon is already in place. There are two immediate consequences of such sequential learning. First, L2 phonological categorization difficulties lead to fuzzy phonological form encoding. Second, the acquisition of L2 word forms subsequently to their meanings, which had already been acquired together with the L...
1. Background There are two main points of view in the literature regarding processing of regular... more 1. Background There are two main points of view in the literature regarding processing of regular and irregular inflectional morphology, and in particular regular and irregular verbs. According to the modular approach, regular and irregular verbs are processed by two distinct mechanisms. Regular verb forms are computed in a rule-processing system, while irregular verbs are processed in associative memory. (Marcus et al. 1992, 1995, Pinker 1991, Pinker and Prince 1988, 1991, 1994, Prasada and Pinker 1993, Ullman 1999). This so-called dual-system view holds that since irregular verbs are retrieved from associative memory, they will be frequency-sensitive. Thus, high-frequency forms will be better remembered than lowfrequency forms. Unlike irregular verbs, regulars will show no frequency effects. The opposite single-system approach in its two variations, the connectionist (MacWhinney and Leinbach 1991, Plunkett and Marchman 1991, 1993, Rumelhart and McClelland 1986) and the network (By...
Second language (L2) speakers often experience difficulties in learning words with L2‐specific ph... more Second language (L2) speakers often experience difficulties in learning words with L2‐specific phonemes due to the unfaithful lexical encoding predicted by the fuzzy lexical representations hypothesis. Currently, there is limited understanding of how allophonic variation in the first language (L1) influences L2 phonological and lexical encoding. We report how the Mandarin Chinese L1 phonemic inventory and allophonic variation subject to phonotactic constraints predict phonological encoding problems for novel L2 English words with the /v/–/w/ contrast. L1 English and L1 Chinese participants speaking two varieties of Mandarin Chinese differing as to the presence of [ʋ]–[w] allophonic variation for the /w/ phoneme participated in a vocabulary learning task. The novel L2 words with the /v/–/w/ contrast were systematically less robustly encoded than the control words on the day of training and 24 hours later. The degree of fuzziness in lexical representations was jointly predicted by L1 allophonic variation subject to phonotactic constraints and L2 phonological categorization.
The study investigated the processing of Russian gender and number agreement by native (n= 36) an... more The study investigated the processing of Russian gender and number agreement by native (n= 36) and nonnative (n= 36) participants using a visual lexical decision task with priming. The design included a baseline condition that helped dissociate the underlying components of priming (facilitation and inhibition). The results showed no differences in the magnitude of priming between native and nonnative participants, and between gender and number agreement. However, whereas the priming effect in native participants consisted of both facilitation and inhibition, in second language (L2) learners it was characterized by facilitation in the absence of inhibition. Furthermore, the nonnative processing failed to demonstrate the default form bias, which optimized gender and number processing in native participants. Taken together, the findings indicate that although highly proficient L2 learners are able to demonstrate nativelike priming effects, their processing of morphosyntactic informatio...
This study explores the structure of the mental lexicon and the processing of Russian verbal morp... more This study explores the structure of the mental lexicon and the processing of Russian verbal morphology by two groups of speakers, adult American learners of Russian and Russian children aged 4-6, and reports the results of two matching experiments conducted at the University of Maryland, USA and St. Petersburg State University, Russia. The theoretical framework for this study comes from research on the structure of the mental lexicon and modularity in morphological processing. So far, there are very few studies investigating the processing of complex verbal morphology, with most of the work done on Icelandic, Norwegian, Italian, and Russian. The current views are shaped predominantly by research on English regular and irregular past-tense inflection, which has been conducted within two competing approaches. This study investigates the processing of verbal morphology in Russian, a language with numerous verb classes differing in size and the number and complexity of conjugation rule...
The U.S. government uses proficiency tests based on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) sca... more The U.S. government uses proficiency tests based on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale and considers ILR 3 (on a scale of 0–5) as the minimum acceptable level for professional proficiency in less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) (Brecht & Rivers, 2005). However, the majority of LCTL learners do not go beyond ILR 2, even after many years of study (Long, Gor & Jackson, 2012). Although proficiency scales like the ILR are attractive to end users and test administrators, for learners and instructors, these scales are less helpful. Currently, few data exist as to the appropriate linguistic content for the different ILR levels, or on psycholinguistically defensible learning sequences within the levels—especially at the advanced levels for LCTLs. We report on preliminary results of the Linguistic Correlates of Proficiency (LCP) project. The LCP project focuses on three LCTLs, Russian, Chinese and Persian, with the goals of identifying linguistic features that are implicated in...
The results of three experiments comparing the processing of verbs of motion by late second langu... more The results of three experiments comparing the processing of verbs of motion by late second language learners, American college students of Russian, and early starters, heritage speakers of Russian, are interpreted within the image-schematic framework developed in cognitive linguistics: the cross-linguistic typological approach introduced by Leonard Talmy (1985, 2000), the extension of this approach to Russian developed by Tore Nesset (2008), and the “thinking for speaking” hypothesis by Dan Slobin (1996). The results of the study support the claim that the system of verbs of motion is not fully acquired even in highly proficient second language learners. They typically lag behind not only native speakers, but also heritage speakers at the same proficiency levels.
This study explores the structure of the mental lexicon and the processing of Russian verbal morp... more This study explores the structure of the mental lexicon and the processing of Russian verbal morphology by three groups of speakers, adult American learners of Russian, Russian children aged 4-6 with normal linguistic development, and Russian children aged 4-7 with specific language impairment (SLI). It reports the results of three matching series of experiments conducted at the University of Maryland, USA and St. Petersburg State University, Russia. The theoretical framework for this study comes from research on the structure of the mental lexicon and modularity in morphological processing. So far, there are very few studies investigating the processing of complex verbal morphology, with most of the work done on Icelandic, Norwegian, Italian,
We propose the fuzzy lexical representations (FLRs) hypothesis that regards fuzziness as a core p... more We propose the fuzzy lexical representations (FLRs) hypothesis that regards fuzziness as a core property of nonnative (L2) lexical representations (LRs). Fuzziness refers to imprecise encoding at different levels of LRs and interacts with input frequency during lexical processing and learning in adult L2 speakers. The FLR hypothesis primarily focuses on the encoding of spoken L2 words. We discuss the causes of fuzzy encoding of phonological form and meaning as well as fuzzy form-meaning mappings and the consequences of fuzzy encoding for word storage and retrieval. A central factor contributing to the fuzziness of L2 LRs is the fact that the L2 lexicon is acquired when the L1 lexicon is already in place. There are two immediate consequences of such sequential learning. First, L2 phonological categorization difficulties lead to fuzzy phonological form encoding. Second, the acquisition of L2 word forms subsequently to their meanings, which had already been acquired together with the L...
1. Background There are two main points of view in the literature regarding processing of regular... more 1. Background There are two main points of view in the literature regarding processing of regular and irregular inflectional morphology, and in particular regular and irregular verbs. According to the modular approach, regular and irregular verbs are processed by two distinct mechanisms. Regular verb forms are computed in a rule-processing system, while irregular verbs are processed in associative memory. (Marcus et al. 1992, 1995, Pinker 1991, Pinker and Prince 1988, 1991, 1994, Prasada and Pinker 1993, Ullman 1999). This so-called dual-system view holds that since irregular verbs are retrieved from associative memory, they will be frequency-sensitive. Thus, high-frequency forms will be better remembered than lowfrequency forms. Unlike irregular verbs, regulars will show no frequency effects. The opposite single-system approach in its two variations, the connectionist (MacWhinney and Leinbach 1991, Plunkett and Marchman 1991, 1993, Rumelhart and McClelland 1986) and the network (By...
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