Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-h6jzd Total loading time: 0.001 Render date: 2025-02-18T16:35:33.777Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Do structure predictions persevere to multilinguals’ other languages? Evidence from cross-linguistic structural priming in comprehension

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2023

Xuemei Chen Open the ORCID record for Xuemei Chen [Opens in a new window] ,
Suiping Wang Open the ORCID record for Suiping Wang [Opens in a new window]  and
Robert J. Hartsuiker Open the ORCID record for Robert J. Hartsuiker [Opens in a new window]
Xuemei Chen*
Affiliation:
Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, 510631 Guangzhou, China School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
Suiping Wang*
Affiliation:
Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, 510631 Guangzhou, China
Robert J. Hartsuiker
Affiliation:
Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
*
Address for correspondence: Suiping Wang, or Xuemei Chen, Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University), Zhongshan Avenue 55, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631, China. Email: [email protected] or [email protected].
Address for correspondence: Suiping Wang, or Xuemei Chen, Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University), Zhongshan Avenue 55, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631, China. Email: [email protected] or [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Many cross-language sentence processing studies showed structural priming, which suggests a shared representation across languages or separate but interacting representations for each language. To investigate whether multilinguals can rely on such representations to predict structure in comprehension, we conducted two visual-world eye-tracking priming experiments with Cantonese–Mandarin-English multilinguals. Participants were instructed to read aloud prime sentences in either Cantonese, Mandarin, or English; then they heard a target sentence in Mandarin while looking at the corresponding target picture. When prime and target had different verbs, there was within-language structural priming only (Mandarin-to-Mandarin, Experiment 1). But when prime and target had translation-equivalent verbs, there was not only within-language but also between-language priming (only Cantonese-to-Mandarin, Experiment 2). These results indicate that structure prediction between languages in comprehension is partly lexically-based, so that cross-linguistic structural priming only occurs with cognate verbs.

Keywords

multilingualismstructural primingsentence comprehension
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , August 2023 , pp. 653 - 669
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. 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

Arai, M, van Gompel, RPG and Scheepers, C (2007) Priming ditransitive structures in comprehension. Cognitive Psychology 54, 218–250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2006.07.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barr, DJ (2008) Analyzing “visual world” eyetracking data using multilevel logistic regression. Journal of Memory and Language 59, 457–474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2007.09.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barr, DJ, Jackson, L and Phillips, I (2014) Using a voice to put a name to a face: The psycholinguistics of proper name comprehension. In Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (Vol. 143, Issue 1, pp. 404–413). https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031813CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barr, DJ, Levy, RP, Scheepers, C and Tily, HJ (2013) Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal. Journal of Memory and Language 68, 255–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2012.11.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bates, D and Maechler, M (2009) Package ‘lme4’(Version 0.999375-32): linear mixed-effects models using S4 classes. CRAN. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://cran.r-project.org/package=lme4Google Scholar
Bernolet, S and Hartsuiker, RJ (2010) Does verb bias modulate syntactic priming? Cognition 114, 455–461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2009.11.005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernolet, S, Hartsuiker, RJ and Pickering, MJ (2009) Persistence of emphasis in language production: A cross-linguistic approach. Cognition 112, 300–317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2009.05.013CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernolet, S, Hartsuiker, RJ and Pickering, MJ (2012) Effects of phonological feedback on the selection of syntax: Evidence from between-language syntactic priming. Bilingualism 15, 503–516. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728911000162CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernolet, S, Hartsuiker, RJ and Pickering, MJ (2013) From language-specific to shared syntactic representations: The influence of second language proficiency on syntactic sharing in bilinguals. Cognition 127, 287–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2013.02.005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bock, K (1986a) Meaning, Sound, and Syntax. Lexical Priming in Sentence Production. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 12, 575–586. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.12.4.575Google Scholar
Bock, K (1986b) Syntactic persistence in language production. Cognitive Psychology 18, 355–387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Branigan, HP and Pickering, MJ (2017) An experimental approach to linguistic representation. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 40. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X16002028CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Branigan, HP, Pickering, MJ and McLean, JF (2005) Priming Prepositional-Phrase Attachment During Comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 31, 468–481.Google ScholarPubMed
Cai, Z, Pickering, MJ, Yan, H and Branigan, HP (2011) Lexical and syntactic representations in closely related languages: Evidence from Cantonese–Mandarin bilinguals. Journal of Memory and Language 65, 431–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carminati, MN, van Gompel, RPG and Wakeford, LJ (2019) An investigation into the lexical boost with nonhead nouns. Journal of Memory and Language 108(June), 104031. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2019.104031CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, F, Dell, GS and Bock, K (2006) Becoming syntactic. Psychological Review 113, 234–272. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.113.2.234CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, X, Huang, J, Wang, S, Pickering, MJ and Branigan, HP (2016) The role of closed class content in Chinese sentence production: Evidence from syntactic priming. Poster in the Conference of Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing (AMLaP).Google Scholar
Chen, X, Wang, S and Hartsuiker, RJ (2022) Error-based structure prediction in language comprehension: evidence from verb bias effects in a visual-world structural priming paradigm for Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition 48, 60–71. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001048Google Scholar
De Bot, K (1992) Applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics 13, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/13.1.1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delong, KA, Troyer, M and Kutas, M (2014) Pre-Processing in Sentence Comprehension: Sensitivity to Likely Upcoming Meaning and Structure. Language and Linguistics Compass 8, 631–645. https://doi.org/10.1111/lnc3.12093CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Favier, S, Wright, A, Meyer, A and Huettig, F (2019) Proficiency modulates between- but not within-language structural priming. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science 3, 105–124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41809-019-00029-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fine, AB and Jaeger, TF (2013) Evidence for Implicit Learning in Syntactic Comprehension. Cognitive Science 37, 578–591. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12022CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frossard, J and Renaud, O (2019) Permutation tests for regression, ANOVA and comparison of signals: the permuco package. R Package Version 1.1.0. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/permuco/vignettes/permuco_tutorial.pdfGoogle Scholar
Gries, ST and Stefanowitsch, A (2004) Extending collostructional analysis: A corpus-based perspective on ‘alternations’. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 9, 97–129. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.9.1.06griCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grosjean, F (1992) Another View of Bilingualism. Advances in Psychology 83, 51–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4115(08)61487-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartsuiker, RJ, Beerts, S, Loncke, M, Desmet, T and Bernolet, S (2016) Cross-linguistic structural priming in multilinguals: Further evidence for shared syntax. Journal of Memory and Language 90, 14–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2016.03.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartsuiker, RJ and Bernolet, S (2017) The development of shared syntax in second language learning. Bilingualism 20, 219–234. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728915000164CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartsuiker, RJ, Bernolet, S, Schoonbaert, S, Speybroeck, S and Vanderelst, D (2008) Syntactic priming persists while the lexical boost decays: Evidence from written and spoken dialogue. Journal of Memory and Language 58, 214–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2007.07.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartsuiker, RJ and Kolk, HHJ (1998) Syntactic Persistence in Dutch. Language and Speech 41, 143–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hartsuiker, RJ and Pickering, MJ (2008) Language integration in bilingual sentence production. Acta Psychologica 128, 479–489. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2007.08.005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hartsuiker, RJ, Pickering, MJ and Veltkamp, E (2004) Is syntax separate or shared between languages? Cross-linguistic syntactic priming in Spanish–English bilinguals. Psychological Science 15, 409–414. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00693.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huang, J, Pickering, MJ, Chen, X, Cai, Z, Wang, S and Branigan, HP (2019) Does language similarity affect representational integration? Cognition 185, 83–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2019.01.005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huang, J, Pickering, MJ, Yang, J, Wang, S and Branigan, HP (2016) The independence of syntactic processing in Mandarin: Evidence from structural priming. Journal of Memory and Language 91, 81–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2016.02.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huettig, F, Rommers, J and Meyer, AS (2011) Using the visual world paradigm to study language processing: A review and critical evaluation. Acta Psychologica 137, 151–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2010.11.003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hwang, H, Shin, JA and Hartsuiker, RJ (2018) Late Bilinguals Share Syntax Unsparingly Between L1 and L2: Evidence From Crosslinguistically Similar and Different Constructions. Language Learning 68, 177–205. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12272CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ito, A, Pickering, MJ and Corley, M (2018) Investigating the time-course of phonological prediction in native and non-native speakers of English: A visual world eye-tracking study. Journal of Memory and Language 98, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2017.09.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaeger, TF and Snider, NE (2013) Alignment as a consequence of expectation adaptation: Syntactic priming is affected by the prime's prediction error given both prior and recent experience. Cognition 127, 57–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2012.10.013CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kantola, L and Van Gompel, RPG (2011) Between-and within-language priming is the same: Evidence for shared bilingual syntactic representations. Memory and Cognition 39, 276–290. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-010-0016-5CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kidd, E, Tennant, E and Nitschke, S (2015) Shared abstract representation of linguistic structure in bilingual sentence comprehension. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 22, 1062–1067. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-014-0775-2CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lemhöfer, K and Broersma, M (2012) Introducing LexTALE: A quick and valid Lexical Test for Advanced Learners of English. Behavior Research Methods 44, 325–343. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-011-0146-0CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levelt, WJM (1989) Speaking: form intention to articulation. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levelt, WJM, Roelofs, A and Meyer, AS (1999) A theory of lexical access in speech production. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 22, 1–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levy, R (2008) Expectation-based syntactic comprehension. Cognition 106, 1126–1177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2007.05.006CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Li, P, Bates, E and MacWhinney, B (1993) Processing a language without inflections: A reaction time study of sentence interpretation in Chinese. Journal of Memory and Language 32, 169–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montero-Melis, G and Jaeger, TF (2020) Changing expectations mediate adaptation in L2 production. Bilingualism 23, 602–617. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728919000506CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munakata, Y and Pfaffly, J (2004) Hebbian learning and development. Developmental Science 7, 141–148. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2004.00331.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muylle, M, Bernolet, S and Hartsuiker, RJ (2021) The role of L1 and L2 frequency in cross-linguistic structural priming: An artificial language learning study. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 24, 767–778. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728921000110CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nitschke, S, Kidd, E and Serratrice, L (2010) First language transfer and long-term structural priming in comprehension. Language and Cognitive Processes 25, 94–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690960902872793CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nitschke, S, Serratrice, L and Kidd, E (2014) The effect of linguistic nativeness on structural priming in comprehension. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 29, 525–542. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690965.2013.766355CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peter, MS, Chang, F, Pine, JM, Blything, R and Rowland, CF (2015) When and how do children develop knowledge of verb argument structure? Evidence from verb bias effects in a structural priming task. Journal of Memory and Language 81, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2014.12.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pickering, MJ and Branigan, HP (1998) The Representation of Verbs: Evidence from Syntactic Priming in Language Production. Journal of Memory and Language 39, 633–651.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pickering, MJ and Traxler, MJ (2004) Grammatical repetition and garden path effects. CUNY Sentence Processing Conference.Google Scholar
Rowland, CF, Chang, F, Ambridge, B, Pine, JM and Lieven, EVM (2012) The development of abstract syntax: Evidence from structural priming and the lexical boost. Cognition 125, 49–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2012.06.008CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scheepers, C (2003) Syntactic priming of relative clause attachments: Persistence of structural configuration in sentence production. Cognition 89, 179–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(03)00119-7CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scheepers, C, Raffray, CN and Myachykov, A (2017) The lexical boost effect is not diagnostic of lexically-specific syntactic representations. Journal of Memory and Language 95, 102–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2017.03.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoonbaert, S, Hartsuiker, RJ and Pickering, MJ (2007) The representation of lexical and syntactic information in bilinguals: Evidence from syntactic priming. Journal of Memory and Language 56, 153–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2006.10.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanenhaus, MK, Spivey-Knowlton, MJ, Eberhard, KM and Sedivy, JC (1995) Integration of visual and linguistic information in spoken language comprehension. Science 268, 1632–1634. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.7777863CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thothathiri, M and Snedeker, J (2008a) Give and take: Syntactic priming during spoken language comprehension. Cognition 108, 51–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2007.12.012CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thothathiri, M and Snedeker, J (2008b) Syntactic priming during language comprehension in three- and four-year-old children. Journal of Memory and Language 58, 188–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2007.06.012CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Traxler, MJ (2008) Lexically independent priming in online sentence comprehension. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 15, 149–155. https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.15.1.149CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Gompel, RPG and Arai, M (2018) Structural priming in bilinguals. Bilingualism 21, 448–455. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728917000542CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, C, Bernolet, S and Hartsuiker, RJ (2021) Are there segmental and tonal effects on syntactic encoding? Evidence from structural priming in Mandarin. In Journal of Memory and Language (Vol. 119). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2021.104220CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ziegler, J and Snedeker, J (2019) The use of syntax and information structure during language comprehension: Evidence from structural priming. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 34, 365–384. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2018.1539757CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Chen et al. supplementary material

Chen et al. supplementary material

Download Chen et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 290.9 KB