Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T15:51:51.577Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Microscopic and macroscopic approaches to the mental representations of second languages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2017

Zhenguang G. Cai
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom. [email protected]/site/zhenguangcai/
Haitao Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, CN-310058, China. [email protected]/en/lht Centre for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, CN-510420, China.

Abstract

With a particular reference to second language (L2), we discuss (1) how structural priming can be used to tap into L2 representations and their relationships with first and target language representations; and (2) how complex networks additionally can be used to reveal the global and local patterning of L2 linguistic features and L2 developmental trajectories.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Borodkin, K., Kenett, Y. N., Faust, M. & Mashal, N. (2016) When pumpkin is closer to onion than to squash: The structure of the second language lexicon. Cognition 156:6070.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cai, Z. G., Pickering, M. J. & Branigan, H. P. (2012) Mapping concepts to syntax: Evidence from structural priming in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Memory and Language 66(4):833–49. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2012.03.009.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Čech, R. & Mačutek, J. (2009) Word form and lemma syntactic dependency networks in Czech: A comparative study. Glottometrics 19:8598.Google Scholar
Chan, A. Y. (2004) Syntactic transfer: Evidence from the interlanguage of Hong Kong Chinese ESL learners. Modern Language Journal 88:5674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, B., Jia, Y., Wang, Z. & Dunlap, S. (2013) Is word-order similarity necessary for cross-linguistic structural priming? Second Language Research 29:375–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clahsen, H. & Felser, C. (2006) Grammatical processing in language learners. Applied Psycholinguistics 27(1):342. doi:10.1017/S0142716406060024.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cong, J. & Liu, H. (2014) Approaching human language with complex networks. Physics of Life Reviews 11(4):598618.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corominas-Murtra, B., Valverde, S. & Solé, R. V. (2009) The ontogeny of scale-free syntax networks: Phase transitions in early language acquisition. Advances in Complex Systems 12:371–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eubank, L. (1996) Negation in early German-English interlanguage: More valueless features in the L2 initial state. Second Language Research 12(1):73106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrer i Cancho, R., Solé, R. V. & Köhler, R. (2004) Patterns in syntactic dependency networks. Physical Review E, 69:051915.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hartsuiker, R. J., Beerts, S., Loncke, M., Desmet, T. & Bernolet, S. (2016) Cross-linguistic structural priming in multilinguals: Further evidence for shared syntax. Journal of Memory and Language 90:1430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartsuiker, R. J., Pickering, M. J. & Veltkamp, E. (2004) Is syntax separate or shared between languages? Cross-linguistic syntactic priming in Spanish-English bilinguals. Psychological Science 15(6):409–14. doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00693.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ke, J. & Yao, Y. (2008) Analysing language development from a network approach. Journal of Quantitative Linguistics 15(1):7099.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, H. (2009) Statistical properties of Chinese semantic networks. Chinese Science Bulletin 54:2781–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, H. & Li, W. W. (2010) Language clusters based on linguistic complex networks. Chinese Science Bulletin 55(30):3458–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDonough, K. & Mackey, A. (2006) Responses to recasts: Repetitions, primed production, and linguistic development. Language Learning 56(4):693720. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9922.2006.00393.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mehler, A., Lücking, A., Banisch, S., Blanchard, P. & Job, B. (2015) Towards a theoretical framework for analyzing complex linguistic networks. Springer.Google Scholar
Rowland, C. F., Chang, F., Ambridge, B., Pine, J. M. & Lieven, E. V. M. (2012) The development of abstract syntax: Evidence from structural priming and the lexical boost. Cognition 125(1):4963. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2012.06.008.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Siew, C. S. & Vitevitch, M. S. (2016) Spoken word recognition and serial recall of words from components in the phonological network. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 42(3):394.Google ScholarPubMed
Steyvers, M. & Tenenbaum, J. B. (2005) The largescale structure of semantic networks: Statistical analyses and a model of semantic growth. Cognitive Science 29(1):4178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M. (2000) Do young children have adult syntactic competence? Cognition 74(3):209–53. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(99)00069-4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Patten, B. (2014) The psycholinguistics of SLA. In: Research methods in second language psycholinguistics, ed. Jegerski, J. & VanPatten, B., pp. 119. Routledge.Google Scholar
Wilks, C. & Meara, P. (2002) Untangling word webs: Graph theory and the notion of density in second language word association networks. Second Language Research 18(4):303–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar