Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T08:54:27.926Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cognitive restructuring in the multilingual mind: language-specific effects on processing efficiency of caused motion events in Cantonese–English–Japanese speakers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2021

Yi Wang  and
Li Wei
Yi Wang*
Affiliation:
UCL Centre for Applied Linguistics, University College London, London, UK
Li Wei
Affiliation:
UCL Centre for Applied Linguistics, University College London, London, UK
*
Address for correspondence: Yi Wang, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The current study explores how multilingual speakers with three typologically different languages (satellite-framed, verb-framed and equipollent-framed) encode and gauge event similarity in the domain of caused motion. Specifically, it addresses whether, and to what extent, the acquisition of an L2-English and an L3-Japanese reconstructs the lexicalization and conceptualization patterns established in the L1-Cantonese when the target language is actively involved in the decision-making process. Results show that multilingual speakers demonstrated an ongoing process of cognitive restructuring towards the target language (L3) in both linguistic encoding (event structures and semantic representations) and non-linguistic conceptualization (reaction time). And the degree of the restructuring is modulated by the amount of language contact with the L2 and L3. The study suggests that learning a language means internalizing a new way of thinking and provides positive evidence for L3-biased cognitive restructuring within the framework of thinking-for-speaking.

Keywords

thinking-for-speakingcaused motionCantonese–English–Japanese multilingualscognitive restructuringlanguage contact
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , August 2021 , pp. 730 - 745
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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

Allen, S, Özyürek, A, Kita, S, Brown, A, Furman, R, Ishizuka, T and Fujii, M (2007) Language-specific and universal influences in children's syntactic packaging of Manner and Path: A comparison of English, Japanese, and Turkish. Cognition 102, 16–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aske, J (1989) Path predicates in English and Spanish: A closer look. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Athanasopoulos, P (2009) Cognitive representation of colour in bilinguals: The case of Greek blues. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 12, 83–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Athanasopoulos, P, Bylund, E, Montero-Melis, G, Damjanovic, L, Schartner, A, Kibbe, A and Thierry, G (2015a) Two Languages, Two Minds: Flexible Cognitive Processing Driven by Language of Operation. Psychological Science 26, 518–526.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Athanasopoulos, P, Damjanovic, L, Burnand, J and Bylund, E (2015b) Learning to Think in a Second Language: Effects of Proficiency and Length of Exposure in English Learners of German. Modern Language Journal 99, 138–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Athanasopoulos, P, Damjanovic, L, Krajciova, A and Sasaki, M (2011) Representation of colour concepts in bilingual cognition: The case of Japanese blues. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 14, 9–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aveledo, F and Athanasopoulos, P (2016) Second language influence on first language motion event encoding and categorization in Spanish-speaking children learning L2 English. International Journal of Bilingualism 20, 403–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bates, DM, Maechler, D, Bolker, BM and Walker, S (2014) lme4: Linearmixed-effects models using Eigen and S4.Retrieved from http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=lme4.Google Scholar
Berman, RA and Slobin, DI (1994) Narrative structure. In Berman, RA and Slobin, DI (eds), Relating events in narrative: A crosslinguistic developmental study (Vol. 39). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 84.Google Scholar
Boroditsky, L (2001) Does Language Shape Thought? Mandarin and English Speakers' Conceptions of Time. Cognitive Psychology 43, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boroditsky, L, Fuhrman, O and McCormick, K (2011) Do English and Mandarin speakers think about time differently? Cognition 118, 123–129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, A (2015) Universal Development and L1-L2 Convergence in Bilingual Construal of Manner in Speech and Gesture in Mandarin, Japanese, and English. Modern Language Journal 99, 66–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, A and Chen, J (2013) Construal of Manner in speech and gesture in Mandarin, English, and Japanese. Cognitive Linguistics 24, 605–631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, A and Gullberg, M (2010) Changes in encoding of path of motion in a first language during acquisition of a second language. Cognitive Linguistics 21, 263–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, A and Gullberg, M (2011) Bidirectional Cross-Linguistic Influence in Event Conceptualization? Expressions of Path among Japanese Learners of English. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 14, 79–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bylund, E and Jarvis, S (2011) L2 effects on L1 event conceptualization. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 14, 47–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bylund, E and Athanasopoulos, P (2014a) Language and thought in a multilingual context: The case of isiXhosa. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 17, 431–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bylund, E and Athanasopoulos, P (2014b) Linguistic Relativity in SLA: Toward a New Research Program. Language Learning 64, 952–985.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bylund, E, Athanasopoulos, P and Oostendorp, M (2013) Motion Event Cognition and Grammatical Aspect: Evidence from Afrikaans. Linguistics: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the Language Sciences 51, 929–955.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cadierno, T (2010) Motion in Danish as a second language: Does the learner's L1 make a difference? In Han, Z and Cadierno, T (eds), Linguistic relativity in SLA : Thinking for speaking. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Cadierno, T and Ruiz, L (2006) Motion events in Spanish L2 acquisition. Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics 4, 183–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casasanto, D (2008) Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Whorf? Crosslinguistic Differences in Temporal Language and Thought. Language Learning 58, 63–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casasanto, D and Boroditsky, L (2008) Time in the mind: Using space to think about time. Cognition 106, 579–593.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Choi, S and Bowerman, M (1991) Learning to express motion events in English and Korean: The influence of language-specific lexicalization patterns. Cognition 41, 83–121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cook, V and Bassetti, B (2011) Language and bilingual cognition. Psychology Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, V, Bassetti, B, Kasai, C, Sasaki, M and Takahashi, JA (2006) Do bilinguals have different concepts? The case of shape and material in Japanese L2 users of English. International Journal of Bilingualism 10, 137–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Council of Europe (2011) Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR). Council of Europe. Retrieved from http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic Cadre1_en.aspGoogle Scholar
Daller, MH, Treffers-Daller, J and Furman, R (2011) Transfer of conceptualization patterns in bilinguals: The construal of motion events in Turkish and German. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 14 , 95–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engemann, H, Harr, AK and Hickmann, M (2012) Caused motion events across languages and learner types. In Filipovic, L and Jaszczolt, KM (eds), Space and Time in Languages and Cultures: Linguistic Diversity. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, pp. 263–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Filipovic, L (2018) Speaking in a second language but thinking in the first language: Language-specific effects on memory for causation events in English and Spanish. International Journal of Bilingualism 22, 180–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Filipović, L (2011) Speaking and remembering in one or two languages: bilingual vs. monolingual lexicalization and memory for motion events. International Journal of Bilingualism 15, 466–485.Google Scholar
Filipović, L (2018) Speaking in a second language but thinking in the first language: Language-specific effects on memory for causation events in English and Spanish. International Journal of Bilingualism 22, 180–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Filipović, L and Geva, S (2012) Language-specific effects on lexicalization and memory of motion events. In Filipović, L. & Jaszczolt, K. (Eds.), Space and time across languages and cultures Vol2: Language, culture and cognition (pp. 269–282). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finkbeiner, M, Nicol, J, Greth, D and Nakamura, K (2002) The role of language in memory for actions. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 31, 447–457.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flecken, M, Athanasopoulos, P, Kuipers, JR and Thierry, G (2015a) On the road to somewhere: Brain potentials reflect language effects on motion event perception. Cognition 141, 41–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flecken, M, Carroll, M, Weimar, K and Von Stutterheim, C (2015b) Driving along the Road or Heading for the Village? Conceptual Differences Underlying Motion Event Encoding in French, German, and French-German L2 Users. Modern Language Journal 99, 100–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, E and Matthews, S (2006) Categoriality and Object Extraction in Cantonese Serial Verb Constructions. Nat Language Linguistic Theory 24, 751–801.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gennari, SP, Sloman, SA, Malt, BC and Fitch, WT (2002) Motion events in language and cognition. Cognition 83, 49–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grosjean, F (2001) The bilingual's language mode. In Nicol, J (ed), One mind, two languages: Bilingual language processing. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 1–22.Google Scholar
Hendriks, H, Hickmann, M and Demagny, AC (2008) How English native speakers learn to express caused motion in English and French. Acquisition et Interaction en Langue Étrangère 27, 15–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hickmann, M and Hendriks, H (2010) Typological constraints on the acquisition of spatial language in French and English. Cognitive Linguistics 21, 189–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hickmann, M, Hendriks, H, Harr, AK and Bonnet, P (2018) Caused Motion across Child Languages: A Comparison of English, German, and French. Journal of Child Language 45, 1247–1274.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hickmann, M, Taranne, P and Bonnet, P (2009) Motion in First Language Acquisition: Manner and Path in French and English Child Language. Journal of Child Language 36, 705–741.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hohenstein, J, Eisenberg, A and Naigles, L (2006) Is He Floating across or Crossing Afloat? Cross-Influence of L1 and L2 in Spanish-English Bilingual Adults. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 9, 249–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarvis, S and Pavlenko, A (2008) Crosslinguistic influence in language and cognition. New York/London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ji, Y (2017) Motion event similarity judgments in one or two languages: An exploration of monolingual speakers of English and Chinese vs. L2 learners of English. Frontiers in Psychology 8, 909.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ji, Y, Hendriks, H and Hickmann, M (2011) The expression of caused motion events in Chinese and in English: Some typological issues. Linguistics 49, 1041–1077.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ji, Y and Hohenstein, J (2014) The syntactic packaging of caused motion components in a second language: English learners of Chinese. Lingua 140, 100–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ji, Y and Hohenstein, J (2017) Conceptualising voluntary motion events beyond language use: A comparison of English and Chinese speakers’ similarity judgments. Lingua 195, 57–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ji, Y and Hohenstein, J (2018) English and Chinese children's motion event similarity judgments. Cognitive Linguistics 29, 45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kersten, AW, Meissner, CA, Lechuga, J, Schwartz, BL, Albrechtsen, JS and Iglesias, A (2010) English Speakers Attend More Strongly than Spanish Speakers to Manner of Motion when Classifying Novel Objects and Events. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 139, 638–653.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lai, VT, Rodriguez, GG and Narasimhan, B (2014) Thinking-for-Speaking in Early and Late Bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 17, 139–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamarre, C (2007) The linguistic encoding of motion events in Chinese: With reference to cross-dialectal variation. Typological studies of the linguistic expression of motion events 1, 3–33.Google Scholar
Langacker, RW (1987) Foundations of cognitive grammar, Vol 1. Stanford, CA: Stanford University.Google Scholar
Langacker, RW (1991) Foundations of cognitive grammar, Vol 2. Stanford, CA: Stanford University.Google Scholar
Langacker, RW (2008) Cognitive grammar a basic introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loucks, J and Pederson, E (2011) Linguistic and non-linguistic categorization of complex motion events. In Bohnemeyer, J and Pederson, E (eds), Event representation in language and cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 108–133.Google Scholar
Lucy, A (2016) Recent Advances in the Study of Linguistic Relativity in Historical Context: A Critical Assessment. Language Learning 66, 487–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lupyan, G (2012) Linguistically modulated perception and cognition: The label-feedback hypothesis. Frontiers in Psychology 3, 54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matsumoto, Y. (2017) Types of motion-event expressions and expressions of path in In Y, Japanese. Matsumoto (Ed.), The typology of motion expressions (pp. 247–276). Tokyo: Kurosio Publishers.Google Scholar
Matthews, S (2006) On serial verb constructions in Cantonese. In Aikhenvald, Y. Alexandra and Dixon, RMW (eds), Serial Verb Constructions. A Cross-Linguistic Typology. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 69–87.Google Scholar
Matthews, S and Yip, V (2011) Cantonese: A comprehensive grammar. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Montero-Melis, G and Bylund, E (2017) Getting the ball rolling: the cross-linguistic conceptualization of caused motion. Language And Cognition 9, 446–472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montero-Melis, G, Jaeger, TF and Bylund, E (2016) Thinking Is Modulated by Recent Linguistic Experience: Second Language Priming Affects Perceived Event Similarity. Language Learning 66, 636–665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ochsenbauer, AK and Engemann, H (2011) The impact of typological factors in monolingual and bilingual first language acquisition: Caused motion expressions in English and French. LIA Language, Interaction and Acquisition 2, 101–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Papafragou, A, Hulbert, J and Trueswell, J (2008) Does Language Guide Event Perception? Evidence from Eye Movements. Cognition 108, 155–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Papafragou, A and Selimis, S (2010) Event categorisation and language: A cross-linguistic study of motion. Language and Cognitive Processes 25, 224–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, HI (2019) How do Korean–English bilinguals speak and think about motion events? Evidence from verbal and non-verbal tasks. Bilingualism: Langauge and Cognition. doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728918001074Google Scholar
Park, HI and Ziegler, N (2014) Cognitive shift in the bilingual mind: Spatial concepts in Korean–English bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 17, 410–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pavlenko, A (2011) Thinking and Speaking in Two Languages: Overview of the field. In Pavlenko, A (Ed.), Thinking and speaking in two languages. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, pp. 237–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pavlenko, A and Malt, BC (2011) Kitchen Russian: Cross-Linguistic Differences and First-Language Object Naming by Russian-English Bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 14, 19–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pavlenko, A and Volynsky, M (2015) Motion Encoding in Russian and English: Moving Beyond Talmy's Typology. 99(S1), 32–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peyraube, A (2006) Motion events in Chinese: Diachronic study of directional complements. In Hickmann, M and Robert, S (eds.), Space in languages: LIinguistic systems and cognitive categories. Philadelphia: Benjamins, pp. 121–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
R Development Core Team (2013) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.Google Scholar
Slobin, DI (1996) From”thought and language” to “thinking for speaking”. In Gumperz, J and Levinson, S (Eds.), Rethinking linguistic relativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 70–96.Google Scholar
Slobin, DI (2003) Language and thought online: Cognitive consequences of linguistic relativity. In Gentner, D and Goldin-Meadow, S (eds), Language in mind: Advances in the study of language and thought. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 157–192.Google Scholar
Slobin, DI (2004) The Many Ways to Search for a Frog: Linguistic Typology and the Expression of Motion Events. In Strömqvist, S and Verhoeven, L (eds), Relating events in narrative, Vol. 2. Typological and contextual perspectives. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, pp. 219–257.Google Scholar
Slobin, DI (2006) What makes manner of motion salient? Explorations in linguistic typology, discourse, and cognition. In Hickmann, M and Robert, S (Eds.), Space in languages: Linguistic systems and cognitive categories. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins, pp. 59–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slobin, DI and Hoiting, N (1994) Reference to movement in spoken and signed languages: Typological considerations. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soroli, E and Hickmann, M (2010) Language and spatial representations in French and in English: evidence from eye-movements. In Marotta, G, Lenci, A, Meini, L and Rovai, F (eds), Space in language. Pisa, Italy: Editrice Testi Scientifici, pp. 581–597.Google Scholar
Spring, R and Horie, K (2013) How cognitive typology affects second language acquisition: A study of Japanese and Chinese learners of English. Cognitive Linguistics 24, 689–710.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Talmy, L (1985) Lexicalization patterns: Semantic structure in lexical forms. In Shopen, T (Ed.), Grammatical categories and the lexicon. Language typology syntactic description (Vol. 3). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 57–149.Google Scholar
Talmy, L (2000) Toward a cognitive semantics. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Treffers-Daller, J and Calude, A (2015) The role of statistical learning in the acquisition of motion event construal in a second language. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 18, 602–623.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trueswell, JC and Papafragou, A (2010) Perceiving and Remembering Event Cross-Linguistically: Evidence from Dual-Task Paradigms. Journal of Memory and Language 63, 64–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Von Stutterheim, C and Nuse, R (2003) Processes of conceptualization in language production: language-specific perspectives and event construal. Linguistics 41, 851–881.Google Scholar
Von Stutterheim, C, Andermann, M, Carroll, M, Flecken, M and Schmiedtova, B (2012) How grammaticized concepts shape event conceptualization in language production: Insights from linguistic analysis, eye tracking data, and memory performance. Linguistics 50, 833–867.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whorf, BL (1956) Language, thought, and reality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Wolff, P and Holmes, KJ (2011) Linguistic relativity. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science 2, 253–265.Google ScholarPubMed
Xu, D (2006) Typological change in Chinese syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yiu, C (2013) Directional Verbs in Cantonese: A Typological and Historical Study. Language and Linguistics 14, 511–569.Google Scholar
Yiu, C (2014) Directional verbs in modern Cantonese: A typological perspective. In Yiu, C (Ed.), The Typology of Motion Events : An Empirical Study of Chinese Dialects. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 33–135.Google Scholar
Zlatev, J and Yangklang, P (2004) A third way to travel: The place of Thai in motion event typology. In Strömqvist, S and Verhoeven, L (eds), Relating events in narrative. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, pp. 159–190.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Wang and Wei supplementary material

Wang and Wei supplementary material

Download Wang and Wei supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 31.2 KB