Search results for "Constructed language"
showing 9 items of 19 documents
New evidence for chunk-based models in word segmentation.
2014
International audience; : There is large evidence that infants are able to exploit statistical cues to discover the words of their language. However, how they proceed to do so is the object of enduring debates. The prevalent position is that words are extracted from the prior computation of statistics, in particular the transitional probabilities between syllables. As an alternative, chunk-based models posit that the sensitivity to statistics results from other processes, whereby many potential chunks are considered as candidate words, then selected as a function of their relevance. These two classes of models have proven to be difficult to dissociate. We propose here a procedure, which lea…
Knowledge Representation in Travelling Texts:from Mirroring to Missing the Point
2014
<p><em>Today, information travels fast. Texts travel, too. In a corporate context, the question is how to manage which knowledge elements should travel to a new language area or market and in which form? The decision to let knowledge elements travel or not travel highly depends on the limitation and the purpose of the text in a new context as well as on predefined parameters for text travel. For texts used in marketing and in technology, the question is whether culture-bound knowledge elements should be domesticated or kept as foreign elements, or should be mirrored or moulded—or should not travel at all! When should semantic and pragmatic elements in a text be replaced and by w…
Interaction of Language Policy and Assessment in Finland
2008
This paper reviews developments and future challenges in language policy, planning and assessment in Finland, where several important changes in legislation, curricula and assessment systems have recently taken place. Language proficiency requirement of immigrants and civil servants have been redefined, school curricula have been revised and new language examinations have been developed. The Common European Framework has been particularly influential. The paper also explores the tensions caused by changes, such as uncertainties in implementing new curricula in teaching and assessment, and differences between curricula and national examinations. The gate-keeping function of examinations also…
The simultaneous development of receptive skills in an orthographically transparent second language
2014
Learning to read in an orthographically very shallow language may seem easy. However, for adults who are non-literate in their first language (L1), have no experience of formal education, and have to acquire literacy in a new language (L2), learning to read at all can be a formidable task. In this article, the results of a case study of the outcome of the first 10 months of Finnish literacy training for five immigrant women (24–45 years of age) are presented. Relationships are sought between the participants' achieved reading skills, their oral receptive vocabulary, their knowledge of letters, their phonological working memory and their visual memory. The results of the study show that even…
FrameNet Resource Grammar Library for GF
2012
In this paper we present an ongoing research investigating the possibility and potential of integrating frame semantics, particularly FrameNet, in the Grammatical Framework (GF) application grammar development. An important component of GF is its Resource Grammar Library (RGL) that encapsulates the low-level linguistic knowledge about morphology and syntax of currently more than 20 languages facilitating rapid development of multilingual applications. In the ideal case, porting a GF application grammar to a new language would only require introducing the domain lexicon - translation equivalents that are interlinked via common abstract terms. While it is possible for a highly restricted CNL,…
Does the mastery of center-embedded linguistic structures distinguish humans from nonhuman primates?
2005
In a recentScience article, Fitch and Hauser (2004; hereafter, F&H) claimed to have demonstrated that cotton-top tamarins fail to learn an artificial language produced by a phrase structure grammar (Chomsky, 1957) generating center-embedded sentences, whereas adult humans easily learn such a language. We report an experiment replicating the results of F&H in humans but also showing that subjects learned the language without exploiting in any way the center-embedded structure. When the procedure was modified to make the processing of this structure mandatory, the subjects no longer showed evidence of learning. We propose a simple interpretation for the difference in performance observed in F…
Vocabulary Gains of Mono- and Multilingual Learners in a Linguistically Diverse Setting: Results From a German-English Intervention With Inclusion of…
2018
Today, group settings (e.g., in kindergarten) are more linguistically-diverse than ever. However, concepts in language acquisition only rarely include this fact. This paper reports on the effects of a language intervention which is based on a concept specifically designed for linguistically-diverse settings („PROgramme for BI- and MUltilingual Children“; Festman and Rinker, 2014). The implementation of the programme and its outcomes are described with the example of a German-English-immersion kindergarten, which was in fact plurilingual. We aimed at supporting children’s acquisition of the two languages in parallel with inclusion of their home languages. Overall, 52 (mono-, bi-, and triling…
A role for backward transitional probabilities in word segmentation?
2008
A number of studies have shown that people exploit transitional probabilities between successive syllables to segment a stream of artificial continuous speech into words. It is often assumed that what is actually exploited are the forward transitional probabilities (given XY, the probability that X will be followed by Y ), even though the backward transitional probabilities (the probability that Y has been preceded by X) were equally informative about word structure in the languages involved in those studies. In two experiments, we showed that participants were able to learn the words from an artificial speech stream when the only available cues were the backward transitional probabilities.…
Healthcare professionals on the move: Investing in learning a new language for work
2021
Artikkelissa tarkastellaan maahanmuuton kielikysymyksiä Unkarista Suomeen ja Ruotsiin työllistyneiden terveydenhuollon ammattilaisten näkökulmasta. Neksusanalyyttisessä viitekehyksessä tutkitaan sitä investointia, jonka nämä työntekijät tekevät oppiakseen uutta, työssä tarvitsemaansa kieltä eli suomea tai ruotsia. Tutkimusasetelma on pitkittäinen, ja analyysi perustuu terveydenhuollon ammattilaisten sekä muutamien kielikoulutuksesta ja rekrytoinnista vastaavien henkilöiden haastatteluihin. Kirjoittajat aloittivat omat tutkimuksesta itsenäisesti mutta yhdistivät voimansa ennen toista aineistonkeruukierrosta. Tämän myötä analyysissa voitiin kattaa useampia kulttuurisia ja ajallisia ulottuvuuk…