Language Processing and Ambiguity Resolution in Monolingual and Bidialectal Ageing Natalia Nannou1, Georgia Fotiadou1
[email protected],
[email protected], 1Language
Development Lab, Dept. of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Introduction
Methods
Language Processing
Experimental Task Self-Paced Reading Paradigm (Papadopoulou & Tsimpli, 2005a; 2005b)
à Age-related declines have been reported
Moving-window technique. Word-by-word fashion. Keypress to reveal next word. A GJT at the end of each sentence. Subject/Object ambiguity and morphological cues.
in language processing as limitations in speed and efficiency during sentential realtime resolutions (Myerson, Hale, Wagstaff, Poon & Smitch, 1990; Salthouse, 1996). à Bilingualism has showed its protective role against healthy cognitive decline (Bialystok et al., 2004). à Βidialectal ageing in relation to sentence comprehension and ambiguity resolution is still understudied. More so with respect to the facilitatory effect that Pontic-Greek bidialectalism possibly shares with bilingualism.
Subject/Object Ambiguities and Morphological Cues Locally complex structures and its resolution patterns based on morphological cues constitutes a fruitful domain in relation to bidialectal’s intuitions in older adulthood and the possible cognitive advantages that they experience.
Transitive Verb – Subject Reading (TS) Kathos/ majireve/ i/ astaki/ kaikan/ mesa/ stin/ katsarola. while was-cooking the-nom lobsters-nom burnt-3pl in the pot
Participants Ø 16 older adult Pontic-Greek Bidialectals (mean age: 60.8 yrs; SD: 3.6; range 55-69 yrs). Minority language. Heritage fluent speakers of Pontic-Greek; 3rd generation immigrants from Pontus. Ø 16 older adult Greek Monolinguals (mean age: 60.4 yrs; SD: 2.9; range 56-66 yrs)
Transitive Verb – Object Reading (TO) Kathos/ majireve/ tus/ astakus/ kaike/ mesa/ stin/ katsarola. while was-cooking the-acc lobsters-acc burnt-herself-3sg on the pot.
Background Measures
Intransitive Verb – Subject Reading (IS) Kathos/ etrehe/ i/ astaki/ kaikan/ mesa/ stin/ katsarola. while was running the-nom lobsters-nom burnt-3pl in the pot
ü D emographic questionnaire (language history, educational and socioeconomic background, literacy level and literary habits) ü Mini Mental State Examination
Intransitive Verb – Object Reading (IO) Kathos/ etrehe/ tus/ astakus/ kaike/ mesa/ stin/ katsarola. while was running the-acc lobsters-acc burnt-herself-3sg in the pot
(Folstein, Folstein & McHugh,
1975)
ü M atched in socioeconomic background, age and education.
Results Background Greek Monolingual Adult Biases in Subject/Object Sentential Ambiguities with Case as Morphological Cues Papadopoulou & Tsimpli (2005a)
Critical Segments: Determiner Preference for object readings à delay in subject conditions à Late Closure Effect Noun Preference for subject readings à Grammaticality Effect à Importance of morphological cues
Online procesing of critical segments (Mean RTs) Processing of critical segments (RTs)
Sentence Processing (RTs)
Determiner readings
Bidialectals 1200
900
900
1100
800
800
700
1000
600 900 800
* *
*
700
*
ü Do older BIL and MON show similar resolution preferences to younger adults? ü Do older BIL and MON show no differences to younger monolinguals in the accuracy of their responses in the GJT?
IS
400
TO IO
600 500
*
* *
*
*
* *
*
*
700 YOUNG MON OLD BIL OLD MON
600 500
*
*
*
** *
*
400
300
300
200
200
100
100
Older (BIL & MON)0 TS TO IS IO slower than YOUNG ü Group Effect: BIL > MON ü No Group Effect ü Syntactic Function x Verb Type among BIL ü Main Effect of Verb Type across Groups Ø Preference for Transitives vs. Intransitives Ø Direct - object preference in transitive (in line with Traxler, 2002; Fotiadou, 2010) conditions Late closure effect (as in Papadopoulou & Tsimpli, ü Main Effect of Syntactic Function across Groups 2005a; 2005b) Ø Preference for Subject vs. Object readings Ø Similar resolution preferences to YOUNGER (consistent with Papadopoulou & Tsimpli, 2005a; 2005b; MON; protective effect of bidialectalism MON adults). 0
TS
400
kathos erave kathos magireve
tous tous
skoufous astakous
epese kaike
kato mesa
sto stin
patoma katsarola
BIL faster than MON Monolinguals 1200 1100 1000 900 TS 800
IS TO
700
IO
600 500
kathos kathos
etrehe gelouse
i i
skoufi glistrisan astakoi kaikan
apo mesa
tin stin
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
*
*
karekla katsarola
*
* *
OLD BIL OLD MON
TO
IS
IS
IO
Grammaticality Judgment Task - Accuracy
YOUNG MON
TS
TO
ü NO resolution preference among MON: Grammaticality Effect: Morphological cues override syntactically based parsing strategies in Greek evidence for low processing in ageing
400
*
ü Do older BIL exhibit faster linguistic processing than older MON due to their expected cognitively superior performance that sustained bidialectalism has offered them?
500
*
ü Do older adults (BIL & MON) exhibit slower language processing compared to younger monolinguals (as in Papadopoulou & Tsimpli, 2005a; 2005b) due to the expected age-related declining processing speed?
TS
**
1000
1000
GJT Accuracy
Research Questions
Noun readings
ü No Group Effect in ACC ü BUT Lower ACC of older BIL + MON compared to YOUNGER MON (Papadopoulou & Tsimpli, 2005a) à Evidence for cognitive constraints in older adulthood. ü Syntactic Function x Verb Type across Groups: Ø TO < IO (more accurately) Ø IS < IO (more accurately)
IO
Discussion v Both older groups BIL and MON: slower processing than younger monolingual adults à age-related decline. v Older BIL: faster processing than older MON à bidialectal advantage; cognitive reserve in normal ageing. v Linguistic processing deviations: à In the Det: BIL similar resolution preferences to YOUNG adults; protective effect of bidialectalism. MON showed no resolution preferences; age-related cognitive & linguistic decline. à In the Noun: Preference for subject readings and accusatives across groups, similar to young adults. Delay for MON. v Overall, lower accuracy levels by both BIL&MON in contrast to young adults. à WM constraints (Christensen et al., 2006).
References
[1] Christensen, M. V., Kyvik, K. O., & Kessing, L. V. (2006). Cognitive function in unaffected twins discordant for affective disorder. Psychological medicine, 36(8), 1119-1129. [2] Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E., & McHugh, P. R. (1975). “Mini-mental state”: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of psychiatric research, 12(3), 189-198. [3] Fotiadou, G. (2010). Voice Morphology and Transitivity Alternations in Greek: Evidence from Corpora and Psycholinguistic experiments. Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Aristotle University Thessaloniki. School of Philosophy. [4] Myerson, J., Hale, S., Wagstaff, D., Poon, L. W., & Smith, G. A. (1990). The information-loss model: A mathematical theory of age-related cognitive slowing. Psychological review, 97(4), 475. [5] Papadopoulou, D., & Tsimpli, I. (2005a). Morphological cues in children’s processing of ambiguous sentences: A study of subject/object ambiguities in Greek. In BUCLD 29: Proceedings of the 29th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 471-481). [6] Papadopoulou, D., & Tsimpli, I. (2005b). Morphological cues in L2 sentence processing: Evidence from subject/ object ambiguities in Greek as L2. In Language Acquisition and Development. Proceedings of GALA2005 (pp. 405- 410). [7] Salthouse, T. A. (1996). The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition. Psychological review, 103(3), 403. [8] Traxler, M. J. (2002). Plausibility and subcategorization preference in children's processing of temporarily ambiguous sentences: Evidence from self-paced reading. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology: Section A, 55(1), 75- 96.
