Languages

33 pages, 9323 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Creation of Humor Modality Through Pragmemic Triggers: Cross-Linguistic Dynamics

by William O. Beeman

Languages 2025, 10(8), 184; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10080184 - 29 Jul 2025

Humor creation is presented as a modality in human communication involving “double framing”, in which a scenario, understanding, or agreed-upon reality is presented and is suddenly revealed to be something else by being recontextualized during the humorous presentation. This analysis utilizes Ba Theory, [...] Read more.

Humor creation is presented as a modality in human communication involving “double framing”, in which a scenario, understanding, or agreed-upon reality is presented and is suddenly revealed to be something else by being recontextualized during the humorous presentation. This analysis utilizes Ba Theory, as articulated in the philosophy of Kitaro Nishida and Shimizu. Ba is a cognitive space for developing relationships, both interpersonal and in relationships to shared environments. A state of Ba arises in social interaction, requiring the need for pragmemic triggers to initiate creation and sustaining of a Ba state. The creation of humor requires that participants be in a state of Ba with each other, sharing the knowledge and understanding of the frames to which they are exposed. Examples are provided from Japanese, Chinese, German, Persian, Arabic, and English humor creation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Pragmatics in Contemporary Cross-Cultural Contexts)

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18 pages, 900 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Don’t Pause Me When I Switch: Parsing Effects of Code-Switching

by Marina Sokolova and Jessica Ward

Languages 2025, 10(8), 183; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10080183 - 29 Jul 2025

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of code-switching (CS) on the processing and attachment resolution of ambiguous relative clauses (RCs) like ‘Bill saw the friend of the neighbor that was talking about football’ by heritage speakers of Spanish. It checks whether code-switching imposes a [...] Read more.

This study investigates the effect of code-switching (CS) on the processing and attachment resolution of ambiguous relative clauses (RCs) like ‘Bill saw the friend of the neighbor that was talking about football’ by heritage speakers of Spanish. It checks whether code-switching imposes a prosodic break at the place of language change, and whether this prosodic break affects RC parsing, as predicted by the Implicit Prosody Hypothesis: a high attachment (HA) preference results from a prosodic break at the RC. A prosodic break at the preposition ‘of’ in the complex DP ‘the friend of the neighbor’ entails a low attachment (LA) preference. The design compares RC resolution in unilingual sentences (Spanish, with a default preference for HA in RC, and English, with the default LA) with the RC parsing in sentences with CS. The CS occurs at the places of prosodic breaks considered by the IPH. The results show sensitivity to the place of CS in RC attachment. CS prompting LA causes longer response times. The preference for HA in Spanish unilingual sentences is higher than in English ones. Heritage speakers are sensitive to the prosodic effects of CS. However, there is high variability across speakers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Language Processing in Spanish Heritage Speakers)

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23 pages, 4920 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Vocative Che in Falkland Islands English: Identity, Contact, and Enregisterment

by Yliana Virginia Rodríguez and Miguel Barrientos

Languages 2025, 10(8), 182; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10080182 - 28 Jul 2025

Abstract

Falkland Islands English (FIE) began its development in the first half of the 19th century. In part, as a consequence of its youth, FIE is an understudied variety. It shares some morphosyntactic features with other anglophone countries in the Southern Hemisphere, but it [...] Read more.

Falkland Islands English (FIE) began its development in the first half of the 19th century. In part, as a consequence of its youth, FIE is an understudied variety. It shares some morphosyntactic features with other anglophone countries in the Southern Hemisphere, but it also shares lexical features with regional varieties of Spanish, including Rioplatense Spanish. Che is one of many South American words that have entered FIE through Spanish, with its spelling ranging from “chay” and “chey” to “ché”. The word has received some marginal attention in terms of its meaning. It is said to be used in a similar way to the British dear or love and the Australian mate, and it has been compared to chum or pal, and is taken as an equivalent of the River Plate, hey!, hi!, or I say!. In this work, we explore the hypothesis that che entered FIE through historical contact with Rioplatense Spanish, drawing on both linguistic and sociohistorical evidence, and presenting survey, corpus, and ethnographic data that illustrate its current vitality, usage, and social meanings among FIE speakers. In situ observations, fieldwork, and an online survey were used to look into the vitality of che. Concomitantly, by crawling social media and the local press, enough data was gathered to build a small corpus to further study its vitality. A thorough literature review was conducted to hypothesise about the borrowing process involving its entry into FIE. The findings confirm that the word is primarily a vocative, it is commonly used, and it is indicative of a sense of belonging to the Falklands community. Although there is no consensus on the origin of che in the River Plate region, it seems to be the case that it entered FIE during the intense Spanish–English contact that took place during the second half of the 19th century. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Linguistic Boundaries: From the Acquisition of Languages to Multilingual Practices)

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24 pages, 1300 KiB

Open AccessArticle

That Came as No Surprise! The Processing of Prosody–Grammar Associations in Danish First and Second Language Users

by Sabine Gosselke Berthelsen and Line Burholt Kristensen

Languages 2025, 10(8), 181; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10080181 - 28 Jul 2025

Abstract

In some languages, prosodic cues on word stems can be used to predict upcoming suffixes. Previous studies have shown that second language (L2) users can process such cues predictively in their L2 from approximately intermediate proficiency. This ability may depend on the mapping [...] Read more.

In some languages, prosodic cues on word stems can be used to predict upcoming suffixes. Previous studies have shown that second language (L2) users can process such cues predictively in their L2 from approximately intermediate proficiency. This ability may depend on the mapping of the L2 prosody onto first language (L1) perceptual and functional prosodic categories. Taking as an example the Danish stød, a complex prosodic cue, we investigate an acquisition context of a predictive cue where L2 users are unfamiliar with both its perceptual correlates and its functionality. This differs from previous studies on predictive prosodic cues in Swedish and Spanish, where L2 users were only unfamiliar with either the perceptual make-up or functionality of the cue. In a speeded number judgement task, L2 users of Danish with German as their L1 (N = 39) and L1 users of Danish (N = 40) listened to noun stems with a prosodic feature (stød or non-stød) that either matched or mismatched the inflectional suffix (singular vs. plural). While L1 users efficiently utilised stød predictively for rapid and accurate grammatical processing, L2 users showed no such behaviour. These findings underscore the importance of mapping between L1 and L2 prosodic categories in second language acquisition. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Second Language Acquisition of Grammar from a Psycholinguistic Perspective)

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18 pages, 1374 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Learning Environment and Learning Outcome: Evidence from Korean Subject–Predicate Honorific Agreement

by Gyu-Ho Shin, Boo Kyung Jung and Minseok Yang

Languages 2025, 10(8), 180; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10080180 - 26 Jul 2025

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between learning environments and learning outcomes in acquiring Korean as a language target. We compare two learner groups residing in the United States: English-speaking learners of Korean in foreign language contexts versus Korean heritage speakers. Both groups share [...] Read more.

This study examines the relationship between learning environments and learning outcomes in acquiring Korean as a language target. We compare two learner groups residing in the United States: English-speaking learners of Korean in foreign language contexts versus Korean heritage speakers. Both groups share English as their dominant language and receive similar tertiary-level instruction, yet differ in their language-learning profiles. We measure two groups’ comprehension behaviour involving Korean subject−predicate honorific agreement, focusing on two conditions manifesting a mismatch between the honorifiable status of a subject and the realisation of the honorific suffix in a predicate. Results from the acceptability judgement task revealed that (1) both learner groups rated the ungrammatical condition as more acceptable than native speakers did, (2) Korean heritage speakers rated the ungrammatical condition significantly lower than English-speaking learners, and (3) overall proficiency in Korean modulated learners’ evaluations of the ungrammatical condition in opposite directions between the groups. No between-group difference was found in the infelicitous-yet-grammatical condition. Results from reaction time measurement further showed that Korean heritage speakers responded considerably faster than English-speaking learners of Korean. These results underscore the critical role of broad usage experience—whether through home language exposure for heritage language speakers or formal instruction for foreign language learners—in shaping non-dominant language activities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Usage-Based Approaches to Second Language Acquisition: Crosslinguistic Perspectives)

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15 pages, 336 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mitigation, Rapport, and Identity Construction in Workplace Requests

by Spyridoula Bella

Languages 2025, 10(8), 179; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10080179 - 25 Jul 2025

Abstract

This study investigates how Greek professionals formulate upward requests and simultaneously manage rapport and workplace identity within hierarchical exchanges. The data comprise 400 written requests elicited through a discourse–completion task from 100 participants, supplemented by follow-up interviews. Integrating pragmatic perspectives on request mitigation [...] Read more.

This study investigates how Greek professionals formulate upward requests and simultaneously manage rapport and workplace identity within hierarchical exchanges. The data comprise 400 written requests elicited through a discourse–completion task from 100 participants, supplemented by follow-up interviews. Integrating pragmatic perspectives on request mitigation with Spencer-Oatey’s Rapport-Management model and a social constructionist perspective on identity, the analysis reveals a distinctive “direct-yet-mitigated” style: syntactically direct head acts (typically want- or need-statements) various mitigating devices. This mitigation enables speakers to preserve superiors’ face, assert entitlement, and invoke shared corporate goals in a single move. Crucially, rapport work is intertwined with identity construction. Strategic oscillation between deference and entitlement projects four recurrent professional personae: the deferential subordinate, the competent and deserving employee, the cooperative team-player, and the rights-aware negotiator. Speakers shift among these personae to calibrate relational distance, demonstrating that rapport management functions not merely as a politeness calculus but as a resource for dynamic identity performance. This study thus bridges micro-pragmatic choices and macro social meanings, showing how linguistic mitigation safeguards interpersonal harmony while scripting desirable workplace selves. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Greek Speakers and Pragmatics)

18 pages, 346 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Stereotyped L1 English Speakers: Attitude of US Southerners Toward L2-Accented English

by Romy Ghanem, Yongzhi Miao, Shima Farhesh and Emil Ubaldo

Languages 2025, 10(8), 178; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10080178 - 23 Jul 2025

Abstract

The present study investigates how US Southerners perceive second language (L2) speech by recruiting 170 undergraduate students who spoke Southern American English to listen to recordings of four speakers (US, Bangladeshi, Chinese, and Saudi Arabian) and evaluate their attributes. The listeners were grouped [...] Read more.

The present study investigates how US Southerners perceive second language (L2) speech by recruiting 170 undergraduate students who spoke Southern American English to listen to recordings of four speakers (US, Bangladeshi, Chinese, and Saudi Arabian) and evaluate their attributes. The listeners were grouped based on their ethnic affiliation: African American, Anglo-American, and Asian/Hispanic/multi-racial. A random half were primed, being asked questions about whether/how other people had negatively commented on their accents. Results showed no effect of priming on speech ratings. Moreover, whilst African American and Anglo-American listeners rated L2 speakers lower than the L1 speaker in almost all aspects, Asian/Hispanic/multi-racial listeners did not. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue L2 Speech Perception and Production in the Globalized World)

17 pages, 531 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Discourse Construction Mechanisms: An Eye-Tracking Study on L1, L2, and Heritage Speakers of Spanish

by Adriana Cruz, Inés Recio Fernández, Mathis Teucher, Pilar Valero Fernández and Óscar Loureda Lamas

Languages 2025, 10(8), 177; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10080177 - 22 Jul 2025

Abstract

This study explores the cognitive processing of discourse construction mechanisms in Spanish, focusing on counter-argumentative relations that involve anaphoric encapsulation through either pronominal (e.g., a pesar de ello) or lexical forms (e.g., a pesar de [NP]). These constructions combine procedural meaning [...] Read more.

This study explores the cognitive processing of discourse construction mechanisms in Spanish, focusing on counter-argumentative relations that involve anaphoric encapsulation through either pronominal (e.g., a pesar de ello) or lexical forms (e.g., a pesar de [NP]). These constructions combine procedural meaning with referential retrieval, placing complex demands on discourse integration. Using eye-tracking data from 77 participants across three speaker groups, namely, L1, heritage, and L2 speakers, this study yields three main findings: (1) nominal expressions do not incur greater processing effort than pronominal ones under optimal communicative conditions; (2) heritage and L2 speakers exhibit higher processing effort than L1 speakers due to less automatized processing of discourse cues; and (3) heritage speakers show greater difficulty than L2 speakers, particularly with pronominal forms, likely due to the lower transparency of procedurally encoded meanings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Language Processing in Spanish Heritage Speakers)

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20 pages, 407 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Reducing the Asymmetry of Theta-Assignment to Third-Factor Principles

by Tao Xie

Languages 2025, 10(8), 176; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10080176 - 22 Jul 2025

Abstract

This study focuses on the long-standing issue of θ-assignment in the generative enterprise literature. Despite the asymmetry of θ-assignment regarding structural positions (Head–Complement/Specifier–Head) being sanctioned by the Duality of Semantics, I argue that it is possible to eliminate the asymmetry in full accordance [...] Read more.

This study focuses on the long-standing issue of θ-assignment in the generative enterprise literature. Despite the asymmetry of θ-assignment regarding structural positions (Head–Complement/Specifier–Head) being sanctioned by the Duality of Semantics, I argue that it is possible to eliminate the asymmetry in full accordance with third-factor principles by proposing two independent frameworks. In the first framework, I propose that θ-assignment is executed by applying Minimal Search to locate the assigner and the assignee, where both the external argument and the internal argument receive the θ-role in the same way. In the second framework, which does not hinge on the assumptions or results of the first one, I propose that θ-assignment is a postsyntactical operation; thus, the Duality of Semantics, as well as concepts like θ-assignment in the syntax or θ-position, may be disregarded. For a proper θ-interpretation to be possible, the assigner and the assignee must be in the same transfer domain. Nonetheless, the empirical coverage of the Duality of Semantics is largely retained, suggesting merge can and must be simplest with respect to θ. Full article

27 pages, 1566 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Is There a Woman in Los Candidatos? Gender Perception with Masculine “Generics” and Gender-Fair Language Strategies in Spanish

by Laura Vela-Plo, Marta De Pedis and Marina Ortega-Andrés

Languages 2025, 10(7), 175; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10070175 - 21 Jul 2025

Abstract

This study examines how several gender-encoding strategies in Spanish and social factors influence gender perception, reinforcing or mitigating a sexist male bias. Using an experimental design, we tested four linguistic conditions in a job recruitment context: masculine forms (theoretically generic), gender-splits, epicenes, and [...] Read more.

This study examines how several gender-encoding strategies in Spanish and social factors influence gender perception, reinforcing or mitigating a sexist male bias. Using an experimental design, we tested four linguistic conditions in a job recruitment context: masculine forms (theoretically generic), gender-splits, epicenes, and non-binary neomorpheme “-e”. After reading a profile in one of these conditions, 837 participants (52% women) selected an image of a woman or man. Results show that masculine forms lead to the lowest selection of female candidates, manifesting a male bias. In contrast, gender-fair language (GFL) strategies, particularly the neomorpheme (les candidates), elicited the highest selection of female images. Importantly, not only did linguistic factors and participants’ gender identity influence results—with male participants selecting significantly more men in the masculine condition, but affinity with feminist movements and LGBTQIA+ communities or positive attitudes towards GFL also modulated responses—increasing female selections in GFL, but reinforcing male selections in the masculine. Additionally, no extra cognitive cost was found for GFL strategies compared to masculine expressions. These findings highlight the importance, not only of linguistic forms, but of social and attitudinal factors in shaping gender perception, with implications for reducing gender biases in language use and broader efforts toward social equity. Full article

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36 pages, 702 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhancing Code-Switching Research Through Comparable Corpora: Introducing the El Paso Bilingual Corpus

by Margot Vanhaverbeke, Renata Enghels, María del Carmen Parafita Couto and Iva Ivanova

Languages 2025, 10(7), 174; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10070174 - 21 Jul 2025

Abstract

Research on language contact outcomes, such as code-switching, continues to face theoretical and methodological challenges, particularly due to the difficulty of comparing findings across studies that use divergent data collection methods. Accordingly, scholars have emphasized the need for publicly available and comparable bilingual [...] Read more.

Research on language contact outcomes, such as code-switching, continues to face theoretical and methodological challenges, particularly due to the difficulty of comparing findings across studies that use divergent data collection methods. Accordingly, scholars have emphasized the need for publicly available and comparable bilingual corpora. This paper introduces the El Paso Bilingual Corpus, a new Spanish–English bilingual corpus recorded in El Paso (TX) in 2022, designed to be methodologically comparable to the Bangor Miami Corpus. The paper is structured in three main sections. First, we review the existing Spanish–English corpora and examine the theoretical challenges posed by studies using non-comparable methodologies, thereby underscoring the gap addressed by the El Paso Bilingual Corpus. Second, we outline the corpus creation process, discussing participant recruitment, data collection, and transcription, and provide an overview of these data, including participants’ sociolinguistic profiles. Third, to demonstrate the practical value of methodologically aligned corpora, we report a comparative case study on diminutive expressions in the El Paso and Bangor Miami corpora, illustrating how shared collection protocols can elucidate the role of community-specific social factors on bilinguals’ morphosyntactic choices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Linguistic Boundaries: From the Acquisition of Languages to Multilingual Practices)

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31 pages, 474 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Discourse Function of Differential Object Marking in Turkish

by Klaus von Heusinger and Haydar Batuhan Yıldız

Languages 2025, 10(7), 173; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10070173 - 18 Jul 2025

Abstract

Differential Object Marking (DOM) is a cross-linguistic phenomenon in which the overt marking of direct objects of certain transitive verbs exhibits distinct morpho-syntactic properties. In Turkish, DOM is realized by the accusative suffix -(y)I and is considered to be determined by parameters such [...] Read more.

Differential Object Marking (DOM) is a cross-linguistic phenomenon in which the overt marking of direct objects of certain transitive verbs exhibits distinct morpho-syntactic properties. In Turkish, DOM is realized by the accusative suffix -(y)I and is considered to be determined by parameters such as referentiality/specificity, affectedness, and topicality. In addition, Enç argues that discourse-linking, which is a backward-looking discourse function, is another relevant parameter. In this paper, we investigate whether DOM also serves a forward-looking discourse function, which has remained underexplored. Using corpus studies and offline experiments, we investigate the forward discourse function of DOM in Turkish by analyzing the frequency of anaphoric expressions referring to the direct object with vs. without DOM. Corpus data show that non-modified human indefinite direct objects with DOM are taken up significantly more often in the subsequent discourse than those without DOM. However, forced-choice and paragraph continuation tasks do not support these observations. We evaluate various parameters that might contribute to the discourse prominence of direct objects with DOM and those that might mask such effects. We conclude that there is some corpus evidence that DOM contributes to a forward-looking discourse function, though our experimental methods may be inadequate to capture it. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Theoretical Studies on Turkic Languages)

33 pages, 654 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Colloquialization Processes in the 20th Century: The Role of Discourse Markers in the Evolution of Sports Announcer Talk in Peninsular Spanish

by Shima Salameh Jiménez

Languages 2025, 10(7), 172; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10070172 - 18 Jul 2025

Abstract

This paper analyzes 20th century colloquialization processes in Peninsular Spanish, in line with recent works addressing mass-media colloquialization. Previous studies suggest a change in sports-talk announcing towards a more informal model, which is supported by the incorporation of new linguistic features as well [...] Read more.

This paper analyzes 20th century colloquialization processes in Peninsular Spanish, in line with recent works addressing mass-media colloquialization. Previous studies suggest a change in sports-talk announcing towards a more informal model, which is supported by the incorporation of new linguistic features as well as by the influence of some external changes. In this context, this study delves into the role of discourse markers as a colloquialization parameter, as a growth in their employment has been detected since ca. 1990. To further explore the data, a manually compiled corpus has been transcribed and analyzed: our corpus consists of both radio and TV football-match recordings aired in Spain from 1980 to 2000 and from 2000 to 2024. These two big periods have been subdivided into five-year periods or micro-diachronies to allow for a more detailed analysis. Results reveal a consolidation of the use of discourse markers by sports announcers, contrasting with earlier broadcasts that tended to avoid them or that employed more formal discourse markers, typically related to written, planned discourses. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pragmatic Diachronic Study of the 20th Century)

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23 pages, 514 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Complaints in Travel Reality Shows: A Comparison Between Korean and Chinese Speakers

by Weihua Zhu

Languages 2025, 10(7), 171; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10070171 - 18 Jul 2025

Abstract

This study compares complaints in Korean and Chinese, focusing on how they are expressed explicitly or implicitly. Complaints are potentially face-threatening, yet they frequently appear in conversations among native Korean and Chinese speakers who are characterized as upholding Neo-Confucian values and emphasizing social [...] Read more.

This study compares complaints in Korean and Chinese, focusing on how they are expressed explicitly or implicitly. Complaints are potentially face-threatening, yet they frequently appear in conversations among native Korean and Chinese speakers who are characterized as upholding Neo-Confucian values and emphasizing social harmony. Although some contrastive studies have examined complaints across languages, none have specifically investigated the explicit and implicit strategies employed in Korean and Chinese complaint discourse. Given the growing intercultural contact between Korean and Chinese speakers, this gap calls for closer attention. To address this, the present study explores how native Korean and Chinese speakers articulate complaints in the Korean and Chinese versions of the travel reality show Sisters Over Flowers. Sixteen episodes were analyzed using interactional sociolinguistic methods, incorporating both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The analysis uncovered both explicit and implicit strategies (e.g., expressions of annoyance or disapproval, overt grievances, questions, advice, teasing, and hints). Notably, the Korean participants produced significantly fewer complaints than their Chinese counterparts. These findings offer theoretical and practical insights. Theoretically, the results challenge overly broad notions of East–West pragmatic distinctions by demonstrating meaningful variation within East Asian cultures. Practically, a better understanding of explicit and implicit complaint strategies in Korean and Chinese can enhance intercultural communication, promote culturally sensitive responses, and bridge misunderstandings in increasingly globalized settings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Pragmatics in Contemporary Cross-Cultural Contexts)

23 pages, 4184 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Game on: Computerized Training Promotes Second Language Stress–Suffix Associations

by Kaylee Fernandez and Nuria Sagarra

Languages 2025, 10(7), 170; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10070170 - 16 Jul 2025

Abstract

Effective language processing relies on pattern detection. Spanish monolinguals predict verb tense through stress–suffix associations: a stressed first syllable signals present tense, while an unstressed first syllable signals past tense. Low-proficiency second language (L2) Spanish learners struggle to detect these associations, and we [...] Read more.

Effective language processing relies on pattern detection. Spanish monolinguals predict verb tense through stress–suffix associations: a stressed first syllable signals present tense, while an unstressed first syllable signals past tense. Low-proficiency second language (L2) Spanish learners struggle to detect these associations, and we investigated whether they benefit from game-based training. We examined the effects of four variables on their ability to detect stress–suffix associations: three linguistic variables—verbs’ lexical stress (oxytones/paroxytones), first-syllable structure (consonant–vowel, CV/consonant–vowel–consonant, CVC), and phonotactic probability—and one learner variable—working memory (WM) span. Beginner English learners of Spanish played a digital game focused on stress–suffix associations for 10 days and completed a Spanish proficiency test (Lextale-Esp), a Spanish background and use questionnaire, and a Corsi WM task. The results revealed moderate gains in the acquisition of stress–suffix associations. Accuracy gains were observed for CV verbs and oxytones, and overall reaction times (RTs) decreased with gameplay. Higher-WM learners were more accurate and slower than lower-WM learners in all verb-type conditions. Our findings suggest that prosody influences word activation and that digital gaming can help learners attend to L2 inflectional morphology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Second Language Acquisition of Grammar from a Psycholinguistic Perspective)

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45 pages, 12653 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mastery, Modality, and Tsotsil Coexpressivity

by John B. Haviland

Languages 2025, 10(7), 169; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10070169 - 15 Jul 2025

Abstract

“Coexpressivity” is the property of utterances that marshal multiple linguistic elements and modalities simultaneously to perform the distinct linguistic functions of Jakobson’s classic analysis (1960). This study draws on a longitudinal corpus of natural conversation recorded over six decades with an accomplished “master [...] Read more.

“Coexpressivity” is the property of utterances that marshal multiple linguistic elements and modalities simultaneously to perform the distinct linguistic functions of Jakobson’s classic analysis (1960). This study draws on a longitudinal corpus of natural conversation recorded over six decades with an accomplished “master speaker” of Tsotsil (Mayan), adept at using his language to manage different aspects of social life. The research aims to elaborate the notion of coexpressivity through detailed examples drawn from a range of circumstances. It begins with codified emic speech genres linked to prayer and formal declamation and then ranges through conversational narratives to gossip-laden multiparty interaction, to emphasize coexpressive connections between speech as text and concurrent gesture, gaze, and posture among interlocutors; audible modalities such as sound symbolism, pitch, and speech rate; and finally, specific morphological characteristics and the multifunctional effects of lexical choices themselves. The study thus explores how multiple functions may, in principle, be coexpressed simultaneously or contemporaneously in individual utterances if one takes this range of modalities and expressive resources into account. The notion of “master speaker” relates to coexpressive virtuosity by linking the resources available in speech, body, and interactive environments to accomplishing a wide range of social ends, perhaps with a special flourish although not excluded from humbler, plainer talk. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coexpressivity, Gesture, and Language Emergence: Modality, Composition, and Creation)

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22 pages, 792 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Childhood Heritage Languages: A Tangier Case Study

by Ariadna Saiz Mingo

Languages 2025, 10(7), 168; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10070168 - 9 Jul 2025

Abstract

Through the testimony of a Tangier female citizen who grew up in the “prolific multilingual Spanish-French-Darija context of international Tangier”, this article analyzes the web of beliefs projected onto both the inherited and local languages within her linguistic repertoire. Starting from the daily [...] Read more.

Through the testimony of a Tangier female citizen who grew up in the “prolific multilingual Spanish-French-Darija context of international Tangier”, this article analyzes the web of beliefs projected onto both the inherited and local languages within her linguistic repertoire. Starting from the daily realities in which she was immersed and the social networks that she formed, we focus on the representations of communication and her affective relationship with the host societies. The analysis starts from the most immediate domestic context in which Spanish, in its variant Jaquetía (a dialect of Judeo-Spanish language spoken by the Sephardic Jews of northern Morocco) was displaced by French as the language of instruction. After an initial episode of reversible attrition, we witnessed various phenomena of translanguaging within the host society. Following the binomial “emotion-interrelational space”, we seek to discern the affective contexts associated with the languages of a multilingual childhood, and which emotional links are vital for maintaining inherited ones. This shift towards the valuation of the affective culture implies a reorientation of the gaze towards everyday experiences as a means of research in contexts of language contact. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Linguistic Boundaries: From the Acquisition of Languages to Multilingual Practices)

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10 pages, 239 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Syntactic Adaptation: A Robust Phenomena with Open Questions

by Naomi Havron and Chiara Gambi

Languages 2025, 10(7), 167; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10070167 - 9 Jul 2025

Abstract

Syntactic adaptation is the phenomenon whereby exposure to particular syntactic structures influences subsequent language processing and production [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Syntactic Adaptation)

19 pages, 896 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Online Effects of Processing Instruction on the Acquisition of the English Passive Structure

by Amin Pouresmaeil, Xin Wang and Alessandro Benati

Languages 2025, 10(7), 166; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10070166 - 7 Jul 2025

Abstract

This study investigates the immediate and delayed effects of processing instruction (PI), which is an input-based pedagogical intervention, and its key component, structured input (SI), which aims to foster making correct form-meaning connections, on the acquisition of the English passive structure. Thirty-four ESL [...] Read more.

This study investigates the immediate and delayed effects of processing instruction (PI), which is an input-based pedagogical intervention, and its key component, structured input (SI), which aims to foster making correct form-meaning connections, on the acquisition of the English passive structure. Thirty-four ESL learners, who had not received any formal instruction on the target structure, were randomly assigned to either a PI group (n = 12), SI group (n = 12), or Control group (n = 10). Both the PI and SI groups received 1 hour of computer-based instruction, while the control group did not receive any instruction. A self-paced reading test was used to measure the accuracy of response and response time in selecting the correct pictures. The test was administered before instruction, immediately after instruction, and 3 weeks later. The results indicated that both the PI and SI groups improved significantly in accuracy on both posttests, while the control group did not. No significant gains, however, were found in response time for any of the groups on any of the posttests, although the PI group was comparatively faster than the SI group on the immediate posttest. Full article

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