scholarly journals Understanding Requires Tracking: Noise and Knowledge Interact in Bilingual Comprehension

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 1975-1983
Author(s):  
Esti Blanco-Elorrieta ◽  
Nai Ding ◽  
Liina Pylkkänen ◽  
David Poeppel
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Noisy Environments ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Speech In Noise ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Neurophysiological Data ◽  
Cortical Entrainment

Understanding speech in noise is a fundamental challenge for speech comprehension. This perceptual demand is amplified in a second language: It is a common experience in bars, train stations, and other noisy environments that degraded signal quality severely compromises second language comprehension. Through a novel design, paired with a carefully selected participant profile, we independently assessed signal-driven and knowledge-driven contributions to the brain bases of first versus second language processing. We were able to dissociate the neural processes driven by the speech signal from the processes that come from speakers' knowledge of their first versus second languages. The neurophysiological data show that, in combination with impaired access to top–down linguistic information in the second language, the locus of bilinguals' difficulty in understanding second language speech in noisy conditions arises from a failure to successfully perform a basic, low-level process: cortical entrainment to speech signals above the syllabic level.

scholarly journals Understanding requires tracking: noise and knowledge interact in bilingual comprehension

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esti Blanco-Elorrieta ◽  
Nai Ding ◽  
Liina Pylkkänen ◽  
David Poeppel
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Noisy Environments ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Neurophysiological Data ◽  
Noisy Conditions ◽  
Cortical Entrainment

AbstractUnderstanding speech in noise is a fundamental challenge for speech comprehension. This perceptual demand is amplified in a second language: it is a common experience in bars, train stations, and other noisy environments that degraded signal quality severely compromises second language comprehension. Through a novel design, paired with a carefully selected participant profile, we independently assessed signal-driven and knowledge-driven contributions to the brain bases of first versus second language processing. We were able to dissociate the neural processes driven by the speech signal from the processes that come from speakers’ knowledge of their first versus second languages. The neurophysiological data show that in combination with impaired access to top-down linguistic information in the second language, the locus of bilinguals’ difficulty in understanding second language speech in noisy conditions arises from a failure to successfully perform a basic, low-level process: cortical entrainment to speech signals above the syllabic level.Significance statementOver half of the world’s population is multilingual. Although proficiency in a second language improves over time, even to the point of reaching native-like proficiency, one persistent difficulty is understanding a second language in noisy environments (e.g. in crowds, train stations, etc.). We examined this processing impairment using a novel frequency-tagging paradigm with magnetoencephalography (MEG). We found that the reason underlying bilinguals’ difficulty in understanding second language speech in noisy conditions is induced by a failure to neurally track the operations reflecting structure (i.e., phrase) building.

Second language processing: when are first and second languages processed similarly?

2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Sabourin ◽  
Laurie A. Stowe
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
First Language ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
L1 And L2

In this article we investigate the effects of first language (L1) on second language (L2) neural processing for two grammatical constructions (verbal domain dependency and grammatical gender), focusing on the event-related potential P600 effect, which has been found in both L1 and L2 processing. Native Dutch speakers showed a P600 effect for both constructions tested. However, in L2 Dutch (with German or a Romance language as L1) a P600 effect only occurred if L1 and L2 were similar. German speakers show a P600 effect to both constructions. Romance speakers only show a P600 effect within the verbal domain. We interpret these findings as showing that with similar rule-governed processing routines in L1 and L2 (verbal domain processing for both German and Romance speakers), similar neural processing is possible in L1 and L2. However, lexically-driven constructions that are not the same in L1 and L2 (grammatical gender for Romance speakers) do not result in similar neural processing in L1 and L2 as measured by the P600 effect.

Quantifying contextual effects in second language processing of phonolexically ambiguous and unambiguous words

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 909-942 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNA CHRABASZCZ ◽  
KIRA GOR
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Meaning Disambiguation

ABSTRACTSecond language (L2) speakers often experience difficulty discriminating speech sounds of the nonnative language, which can result in phonolexical ambiguity. We report two experiments that examine how L2 Russian speakers may utilize contextual constraints for phonolexical ambiguity resolution during speech comprehension. L2 ambiguous words constitute minimal pairs with palatalized and unpalatalized consonants in the Russian language, where the phonological feature of palatalization marks semantic, morphological, or syntactic distinctions between words. L2 performance is compared to that of a control group of Russian native speakers. The results demonstrate that L2 listeners rely on contextual information for meaning disambiguation during sentence comprehension, but that the relative reliance on different types of context is task specific.

Differential lateralization in first-versus second-language processing: An fMRI study

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thad Polk ◽  
Charles Behensky ◽  
Heather Pond ◽  
Stefan Frisch ◽  
Marilyn Shatz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Fmri Study

Measuring second language proficiency with EEG synchronization: how functional cortical networks and hemispheric involvement differ as a function of proficiency level in second language speakers

2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Reiterer ◽  
Ernesto Pereda ◽  
Joydeep Bhattacharya
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Frequency Range ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Language Students

This article examines the question of whether university-based high-level foreign language and linguistic training can influence brain activation and whether different L2 proficiency groups have different brain activation in terms of lateralization and hemispheric involvement. The traditional and prevailing theory of hemispheric involvement in bilingual language processing states that bilingual and second language processing is always at least in some form connected to the right hemisphere (RH), when compared to monolingual first language processing, the classical left-hemispheric language-processing domain. A widely held specification of this traditional theory claims that especially bilinguals or second language learners in their initial phases and/or bilinguals with poor fluency and less experience rely more on RH areas when processing their L2. We investigated this neurolinguistic hypothesis with differently proficient Austrian learners of English as a second language. Two groups of L2 speakers (all Austrian German native speakers), differing in their L2 (English) language performance, were recorded on electroencephalography (EEG) during the processing of spoken English language. A short comprehension interview followed each task. The `high proficiency group' consisted of English language students who were about to complete their master's degree for English language and linguistics, while the `low proficiency group' was composed of non-language students who had only school level performance and less training in English. The age of onset of L2 learning was kept constant: 9 years for both groups. To look for cooperative network activity in the brain, EEG coherence and synchronization measures were analysed for a high EEG frequency range (gamma band). Results showed the most significant group differences in synchronization patterns within the lower gamma frequency range, with more RH involvement (extensive right-hemisphere networks) for the low proficiency group, especially when processing their L2. The results can be interpreted in favour of RH theories of second language processing since, once again, we found evidence of more RH involvement in (late) second language learners with less experience and less training in the L2. The study shows that second language training (and resulting proficiency) and/or differences in ability or state of linguistic alertness can be made visible by brain imaging using newly developed EEG-synchronization techniques as a measure.

Meta-analysis of the neural representation of first language and second language

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 799-819 ◽  
Author(s):  
RAJANI SEBASTIAN ◽  
ANGELA R. LAIRD ◽  
SWATHI KIRAN
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
First Language ◽  
Likelihood Estimation ◽  
Neural Representation ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Meta Analyses

ABSTRACTThis study reports an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of published functional neuroimaging studies of bilingualism. Four parallel meta-analyses were conducted by taking into account the proficiency of participants reported in the studies. The results of the meta-analyses suggest differences in the probabilities of activation patterns between high proficiency and moderate/low proficiency bilinguals. The Talairach coordinates of activation in first language processing were very similar to that of second language processing in the high proficient bilinguals. However, in the low proficient group, the activation clusters were generally smaller and distributed over wider areas in both the hemispheres than the clusters identified in the ALE maps from the high proficient group. These findings draw attention to the importance of language proficiency in bilingual neural representation.

Theories and frameworks in second language processing

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 702-703 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANTON MALKO ◽  
LARA EHRENHOFER ◽  
COLIN PHILLIPS
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Second Language Processing

Analyzing L2 sentence processing in terms of cue-based memory retrieval is promising. But this useful general framework has yet to become a specific theory of L1-L2 differences.

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