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Advances in Syntactic Adaptation
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Advances in Syntactic Adaptation

A special issue of Languages (ISSN 2226-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 August 2023) | Viewed by 14818

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Naomi Havron

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
2. Center for the Study of Child Development, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
Interests: language acquisition; prediction in language; cognitive development
Dr. Chiara Gambi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, University Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
2. Centre for Human Developmental Science, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK
Interests: language processing and acquisition; conversation; prediction

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are happy to announce that we will be soliciting abstracts for a Special Issue of Languages on Advances in Syntactic Adaptation.

Language users show a remarkable ability to rapidly adapt their understanding and production to their linguistic environment. Syntactic adaptation, in particular, has drawn considerable and varied research attention in the past two decades. The process by which language users fine-tune their syntactic preferences with reference to the linguistic input to which they are exposed has been suggested to underlie various phenomena in language processing, comprehension, production, and learning. As such, it has also been connected to the more general framework of predictive processing in language and other cognitive domains. The purpose of the current Special Issue is to present a collection of major developments in recent years in the study of syntactic adaptation, while presenting a mixture of work on processing, comprehension, production and learning (in children as well as in adults, and in first as well as second language acquisition). We also hope to present a balanced picture in terms of studies that find and do not find evidence for syntactic adaptation, and touch on various linguistic aspects as well as diverse languages and cultures. We welcome experimental, corpus, and computational works, as well as other relevant methods. We also welcome comprehensive theoretical reviews that put forward a strong case for or against predictive processing as a general framework for understanding syntactic adaptation phenomena. We hope that this Special Issue will provide a clear, comprehensive and varied representation of advances in this area in recent years, in a way that would weave these separate threads into a coherent picture of the state of the art. We encourage submissions of preregistered work with open material/code/results.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editors ([email protected], [email protected]) or to the Languages Editorial Office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

Tentative Completion Schedule

Abstract Submission Deadline: 15 January 2023
Notification of Abstract Acceptance: 15 February 2023
Full Manuscript Deadline: 15 August 2023

Dr. Naomi Havron
Dr. Chiara Gambi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Languages is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • syntactic adaptation
  • syntactic prediction
  • linguistic adaptation
  • linguistic prediction
  • error-based learning
  • implicit learning
  • syntactic priming

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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38 pages, 4438 KiB  
Article
Exploring Bilingual Adaptation to Structural Innovations: Evidence from Canadian French
by Foteini Karkaletsou, Alina Kholodova and Shanley E. M. Allen
Languages 2024, 9(12), 375; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9120375 - 13 Dec 2024
Viewed by 235
Abstract
Bilinguals have been shown to adapt to syntactic innovations (i.e., structures that deviate from the standard grammar) either by producing such structures more or by processing them faster after repeated exposure. However, research on whether they adapt by increasing their acceptability ratings for [...] Read more.
Bilinguals have been shown to adapt to syntactic innovations (i.e., structures that deviate from the standard grammar) either by producing such structures more or by processing them faster after repeated exposure. However, research on whether they adapt by increasing their acceptability ratings for innovations is limited. We consider this to be a crucial gap in the literature, since it could provide insights into how speakers adapt their perception for innovations that they might otherwise not adapt to in their production and/or processing. On this basis, the present study investigates overall acceptability and trial-by-trial acceptability (adaptation) for different types of innovations in Canadian French with grammatical structural equivalents in English. Structure type and individual differences in language experience (dominance, proficiency, exposure, etc.) are considered as factors that influence these processes, as previous research has shown that they play a role in the acceptability of innovations in bilinguals. For this purpose, we employed a timed acceptability judgment task (TAJT), where adult bilingual speakers of French and English in Canada were asked to rate innovative sentences in French and their standard (grammatical) counterparts as fast and spontaneously as possible. Both acceptability ratings (offline measure) and response times (RTs) (online measure) across trials were measured to test whether speakers show adaptation on both levels. Results revealed that innovations were rated lower and for most structure types slower than their standard counterparts, with the different types of innovations showing differences. Crucially, adaptation on a group level was reflected only in response times and not in acceptability ratings. On an individual level, though, some participants adapted their ratings, but not consistently across all innovation types. Moreover, ratings and RTs were influenced by individual language experience, with participants with a higher contact with French (higher French Score) being faster and less accepting of innovative sentences compared to participants with a lower contact with French. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Syntactic Adaptation)
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22 pages, 1558 KiB  
Article
Priming of Possessive Constructions in German: A Matter of Preference Effects?
by Sarah Schimke and Sandra Pappert
Languages 2024, 9(5), 170; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9050170 - 8 May 2024
Viewed by 1093
Abstract
We investigated structural priming in adult native speakers, focusing on possessive constructions in German, where the two alternative structures involved differ in frequency. According to error-based learning approaches to priming, the less frequent structure should lead to a larger prediction error and larger [...] Read more.
We investigated structural priming in adult native speakers, focusing on possessive constructions in German, where the two alternative structures involved differ in frequency. According to error-based learning approaches to priming, the less frequent structure should lead to a larger prediction error and larger priming effects than the more frequent structure. In a comparison of preferences during a pretest and preferences during priming, we did not find evidence of such an inverse preference effect. Moreover, during priming, we observed increasing production rates of the preferred structure, hence, a cumulative priming effect. In line with hybrid models of priming, we propose that two mechanisms, namely, a mechanism learning from input as well as a mechanism accumulating activation during comprehension and production, are involved in the temporal development of priming effects. Moreover, we suggest that the interaction of the two mechanisms may depend on prior experience with the alternative structures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Syntactic Adaptation)
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15 pages, 1230 KiB  
Article
Is Syntactic Priming from Multiple Speakers Stronger?
by Kerime Eylul Eski and Luca Onnis
Languages 2024, 9(4), 137; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9040137 - 9 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1696
Abstract
Syntactic priming in dialogue occurs when exposure to a particular syntactic structure implicitly induces a speaker’s subsequent preference for the same syntactic structures in their own speech. Here, we asked whether this priming effect is boosted when individuals are primed by several different [...] Read more.
Syntactic priming in dialogue occurs when exposure to a particular syntactic structure implicitly induces a speaker’s subsequent preference for the same syntactic structures in their own speech. Here, we asked whether this priming effect is boosted when individuals are primed by several different speakers as opposed to one. In an initial baseline session involving a picture description task, we assessed adult participants’ production of double object/DO (vs. prepositional/PO) dative and passive (vs. active) transitive structures. Subsequently, participants played a picture description and verification game, in turns, with six other players (confederates). During verification turns, confederates primed participants by using DO and passive utterances. Crucially, participants were primed either by a single confederate (single-speaker priming condition, SSP) or by five confederates (multi-speaker priming condition, MSP). Across conditions, the same priming stimuli were presented in the same order, leaving speaker source/variation as the only different feature. The degree to which participants were primed for the target structures compared to baseline was measured. Results indicated a robust priming effect in both conditions. Nevertheless, the increase in the target structures’ use did not differ significantly between the SSP and MSP conditions, suggesting that speaker variation did not promote stronger priming. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Syntactic Adaptation)
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39 pages, 2825 KiB  
Article
Trial-Level and Contiguous Syntactic Adaptation: A Common Domain-General Mechanism at Play?
by Varvara Kuz, Fangzhou Cai, Keyue Chen, Jiaxin Chen, Xuzi Qi, Clement Veall, Yuanqi Zheng, Zhengping Xu and Andrea Santi
Languages 2024, 9(3), 73; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9030073 - 23 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1525
Abstract
Garden-path sentences generate processing difficulty due to a more preferred parse conflicting with incoming parsing information. A domain-general cognitive control mechanism has been argued to help identify and resolve these parsing conflicts. This cognitive control mechanism has been argued to underlie adaptation to [...] Read more.
Garden-path sentences generate processing difficulty due to a more preferred parse conflicting with incoming parsing information. A domain-general cognitive control mechanism has been argued to help identify and resolve these parsing conflicts. This cognitive control mechanism has been argued to underlie adaptation to garden path processing at the trial level (conflict adaptation) and contiguously over the experiment (syntactic adaptation) in independent literature. The strongest evidence for its domain generality comes from garden-path processing being facilitated when preceded by a non-syntactic conflict (e.g., Stroop). This has been reliably observed in the visual world paradigm, which, like Stroop, requires irrelevant visual information to be suppressed. We tested the domain generality of conflict adaptation and its relationship to contiguous syntactic adaptation across four experiments (n = 562). To eliminate the visual object confound, the Stroop task was followed by a sentence-reading task. We observed Stroop and ambiguity effects, but no conflict adaptation in each experiment. Contiguous syntactic adaptation was replicated and most compatible with the parser changing its expectations and/or improving revision. While the data largely fail to support a domain-general cognitive control mechanism, a language-specific one could operate in both trial and contiguous syntactic adaptation and is worth future exploration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Syntactic Adaptation)
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28 pages, 505 KiB  
Article
Adaptation of Gap Predictions in Filler-Gap Dependency Processing during Reading
by Emily Atkinson and Akira Omaki
Languages 2023, 8(4), 285; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8040285 - 12 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1683
Abstract
Syntactic adaptation effects have been demonstrated for an expanding list of structure types, but the mechanism underlying this effect is still being explored. In the current work on filler-gap dependency processing, we examined whether exposing participants to a less common gap location—prepositional object [...] Read more.
Syntactic adaptation effects have been demonstrated for an expanding list of structure types, but the mechanism underlying this effect is still being explored. In the current work on filler-gap dependency processing, we examined whether exposing participants to a less common gap location—prepositional object (PO) gaps—altered their gap predictions, and whether these effects would transfer across tasks when this input was presented in a quasi-naturalistic way (i.e., by reading stories). In Experiment 1, we demonstrated that comprehenders dampened their direct object (DO) gap predictions following exposure to PO gaps. However, Experiments 2A and 2B suggest that these adaptation effects did not transfer when the quasi-naturalistic exposure phase was presented as a separate task (Experiment 2A) and when they also needed to generalize from a syntactic to a semantic measure of direct object gap predictions (i.e., filled gap vs. plausibility mismatch sentences; Experiment 2B). Overall, these experiments add filler-gap dependency processing, as well as the gap predictions associated with it, to the growing list of structures demonstrating adaptation effects, while also suggesting that this effect may be specific to a singular experimental task environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Syntactic Adaptation)
14 pages, 1090 KiB  
Article
The Role of Prediction Error in 4-Year-Olds’ Learning of English Direct Object Datives
by Chiara Gambi and Katherine Messenger
Languages 2023, 8(4), 276; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8040276 - 23 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1656
Abstract
Is children’s acquisition of structural knowledge driven by prediction errors? Error-driven models of language acquisition propose that children generate expectations about upcoming words (prediction), compare them to the input, and, when they detect a mismatch (i.e., prediction error signal), update their long-term linguistic [...] Read more.
Is children’s acquisition of structural knowledge driven by prediction errors? Error-driven models of language acquisition propose that children generate expectations about upcoming words (prediction), compare them to the input, and, when they detect a mismatch (i.e., prediction error signal), update their long-term linguistic knowledge. But we only have limited empirical evidence for this learning mechanism. Using a novel touch-screen app and a pre-post training between-subjects design, we tested the effect of prediction errors on 120 English-learning 4-year-olds’ understanding of challenging direct object datives. We hypothesized that children who are exposed to input that encourages the generation of prediction error signals should show greater improvements in their post-test comprehension scores. Consistent with error-driven models of language learning, we found that children exposed to sentences that encouraged the generation of incorrect linguistic predictions improved numerically more than those who were exposed to sentences that did not support predictions. However, we caution that these preliminary findings need to be confirmed by additional testing on much larger samples (we only tested 20–30 children per training condition). If confirmed, these findings would provide some of the strongest empirical support to date for the role of prediction error in the acquisition of linguistic structure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Syntactic Adaptation)
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21 pages, 1337 KiB  
Article
Abstract Priming and the Lexical Boost Effect across Development in a Structurally Biased Language
by Alina Kholodova, Michelle Peter, Caroline F. Rowland, Gunnar Jacob and Shanley E. M. Allen
Languages 2023, 8(4), 264; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8040264 - 10 Nov 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2247
Abstract
The present study investigates the developmental trajectory of abstract representations for syntactic structures in children. In a structural priming experiment on the dative alternation in German, we primed children from three different age groups (3–4 years, 5–6 years, 7–8 years) and adults with [...] Read more.
The present study investigates the developmental trajectory of abstract representations for syntactic structures in children. In a structural priming experiment on the dative alternation in German, we primed children from three different age groups (3–4 years, 5–6 years, 7–8 years) and adults with double object datives (Dora sent Boots the rabbit) or prepositional object datives (Dora sent the rabbit to Boots). Importantly, the prepositional object structure in German is dispreferred and only rarely encountered by young children. While immediate as well as cumulative structural priming effects occurred across all age groups, these effects were strongest in the 3- to 4-year-old group and gradually decreased with increasing age. These results suggest that representations in young children are less stable than in adults and, therefore, more susceptible to adaptation both immediately and across time, presumably due to stronger surprisal. Lexical boost effects, in contrast, were not present in 3- to 4-year-olds but gradually emerged with increasing age, possibly due to limited working-memory capacity in the younger child groups. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Syntactic Adaptation)
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20 pages, 2352 KiB  
Article
Investigating Adaptation to And-Coordination in English: An ERP Study
by Edith Kaan
Languages 2023, 8(3), 207; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030207 - 2 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1515
Abstract
According to certain approaches to adaptation, readers and listeners quickly adjust their processing of sentences to match properties of recently encountered sentences. The present preregistered study used ERP (event-related brain potentials) to investigate how and when readers change their processing in response to [...] Read more.
According to certain approaches to adaptation, readers and listeners quickly adjust their processing of sentences to match properties of recently encountered sentences. The present preregistered study used ERP (event-related brain potentials) to investigate how and when readers change their processing in response to recent exposure to sentences of a particular structure. We presented English speakers (n = 36) with three virtual blocks of English sentences with and-coordination ambiguities. In the first and third block, the ambiguity was always resolved towards a noun phrase (NP-) coordination; in the second block, the structure was always a clausal (S-) coordination. We manipulated the plausibility of the critical noun after the conjunct. N400 and P600 plausibility effects were probed to see to what extent the reader preferred an NP- coordination or expected the sentence to continue differently. Our results suggest that readers change their processing as a function of recent exposure but that they do not immediately adapt to the target structure. Furthermore, we observed substantial individual variation in the type and change in response over the course of the study. The idea that structural adaptation is immediate and a direct reflection of the properties of the recent context therefore needs to be fine-tuned. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Syntactic Adaptation)
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19 pages, 740 KiB  
Systematic Review
Prime Surprisal as a Tool for Assessing Error-Based Learning Theories: A Systematic Review
by Judit Fazekas, Giovanni Sala and Julian Pine
Languages 2024, 9(4), 147; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9040147 - 16 Apr 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1689
Abstract
Error-based learning theories of language acquisition are highly influential in language development research, yet the predictive learning mechanism they propose has proven difficult to test experimentally. Prime surprisal—the observation that structural priming is stronger following more surprising primes—has emerged as a promising methodology [...] Read more.
Error-based learning theories of language acquisition are highly influential in language development research, yet the predictive learning mechanism they propose has proven difficult to test experimentally. Prime surprisal—the observation that structural priming is stronger following more surprising primes—has emerged as a promising methodology for resolving this issue as it tests a key prediction of error-based learning theories: surprising input leads to increased structure repetition as well as learning. However, as prime surprisal is a relatively new paradigm, it is worth evaluating how far this promise has been fulfilled. We have conducted a systemic review of PS studies to assess the strengths and limitations of existing approaches, with 13 contributions selected out of 66 search results. We found that alongside inconsistency in statistical power and how the level of surprisal is measured, the limited scope of current results cast doubt on whether PS can be used as a general tool to assess error-based learning. We suggest two key directions for future research: firstly, targeting the scope of the prime surprisal effect itself with reliable statistical power and appropriate surprisal measurements across a greater variety of languages and grammatical structures; and secondly, using the prime surprisal method as a tool to assess the scope of an error-based learning mechanism utilising conditions in which prime surprisal has been reliably established. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Syntactic Adaptation)
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