Doctoral Dissertation Research: Linking comprehension costs to production patterns during the processing of mixed language

博士论文研究：将混合语言处理过程中的理解成本与生产模式联系起来

• 批准号: 1123874
• 负责人: Paola Dussias
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-01 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1123874&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Linking; comprehension

Codeswitching, defined as the alternation of two languages within bilingual discourse, is ubiquitous in many bilingual communities, including Spanish-English bilingual communities in the U.S. The motivation for this project derives from the fact that bilinguals' ability to codeswitch reveals important aspects of language and human cognition that would not be readily apparent by studying individuals who speak one language alone. Most codeswitching studies have focused on spoken production by means of naturalistic data collection; however, the way in which bilinguals comprehend switches has been largely unexplored. This is a significant gap because codeswitching is not only a production phenomenon: when a speaker produces a codeswitched sentence, the recipient of the message must also engage interpretive mechanisms that can accommodate the mixing of two languages. Given this gap, Rosa Guzzardo Tamargo, under the direction of Drs. Paola Dussias and Chip Gerfen, will investigate the constraints that guide the comprehension of codeswitched sentences. The hypothesis being tested, which derives from current models of language comprehension, predicts that frequent switches in production are easier for individuals to comprehend than less frequent switches. The comprehension of two types of codeswitches will be examined: frequently occurring codeswitches involving estar + verb (e.g., los niños están playing) and infrequent codeswitches involving haber + verb (e.g., los niños habían played). The approach to be used integrates reading comprehension tasks with production tasks. Eye movements will be recorded while Spanish-English bilinguals read codeswitched sentences. Production data from the same bilinguals will also be collected to test the link between ease of comprehension and production frequency. Results from these experiments will inform current debates about the architecture of the human sentence processing mechanism and the link between the production and comprehension systems. The planned studies will also enhance the infrastructure for research by establishing opportunities for collaboration between faculty members and students at two U.S. institutions.

语码转换被定义为双语话语中两种语言的交替，在许多双语社区中普遍存在，包括美国的西班牙语-英语双语社区。该项目的动机源于这样一个事实：双语者的语码转换能力揭示了以下重要方面：大多数语码转换研究都集中在通过自然数据收集的方式来研究语言和人类认知。双语者理解转换的能力在很大程度上尚未得到探索，因为语码转换不仅仅是一种生产现象：当说话者产生语码转换的句子时，消息的接收者也必须采用能够适应两种语言混合的解释机制。为了解决这个问题，Rosa Guzzardo Tamargo 在 Paola Dussias 博士和 Chip Gerfen 博士的指导下，将研究指导语码转换句子理解的限制条件，该假设源自当前的语言模型。理解，预测生产中频繁的切换比不频繁的切换更容易理解。将检查涉及两种类型的语码切换的理解：涉及 estar + 动词的频繁出现的语码切换（例如，los niños están 演奏）和不常见的语码切换 haber。 + 动词（例如，los niños habían发挥）。所使用的方法将阅读理解任务与生产任务结合起来，同时记录眼球运动。西班牙语-英语双语者阅读语码转换的句子。还将收集来自相同双语者的生产数据，以测试理解难易度和生产频率之间的联系，这些实验的结果将为当前关于人类句子处理机制的架构和联系的争论提供信息。计划中的研究还将通过为两个美国机构的教师和学生之间的合作提供机会来增强研究基础设施。