Search results for "Multilingual"
showing 10 items of 229 documents
Multilingualism and Ethnic Prejudice
2021
Abstract. This study explored the relationship between the ability to talk to others in more than one language and ethnic prejudice, considering the quality and quantity of intergroup contact. A structural equation model analysis was carried out on a sample of 631 Italian citizens. The results showed that multilingualism led to an increase of acceptance of intergroup differences and positive attitudes toward Moroccans and that the quality (but not quantity) of intergroup contact-mediated those relationships. The mediating role of the quality of intergroup contact extends previous results on the relationship between multilingualism and positive attitudes toward ethnic out-groups. These find…
Measures of native and non-native rhythm in a quantity language.
2005
The traditional phonetic classification of language rhythm as stress-timed or syllable-timed is attributed to Pike. Recently, two different proposals have been offered for describing the rhythmic structure of languages from acoustic-phonetic measurements. Ramus has suggested a metric based on the proportion of vocalic intervals and the variability ( SD) of consonantal intervals. Grabe has proposed Pairwise Variability Indices (nPVI, rPVI) calculated from the differences in vocalic and consonantal durations between successive syllables. We have calculated both the Ramus and Grabe metrics for Latvian, traditionally considered a syllable rhythm language, and for Latvian as spoken by Russian l…
Relationship Between the Linguistic Environments and Early Bilingual Language Development of Hearing Children in Deaf-parented Families
2013
We explored variation in the linguistic environments of hearing children of Deaf parents and how it was associated with their early bilingual language development. For that purpose we followed up the children's productive vocabulary (measured with the MCDI; MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory) and syntactic complexity (measured with the MLU10; mean length of the 10 longest utterances the child produced during videorecorded play sessions) in both Finnish Sign Language and spoken Finnish between the ages of 12 and 30 months. Additionally, we developed new methodology for describing the linguistic environments of the children (N = 10). Large variation was uncovered in both the amount…
Electrophysiological correlates of cross-linguistic semantic integration in hearing signers : N400 and LPC
2014
We explored semantic integration mechanisms in native and non-native hearing users of sign language and non-signing controls. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants performed a semantic decision task for priming lexeme pairs. Pairs were presented either within speech or across speech and sign language. Target-related ERP responses were subjected to principal component analyses (PCA), and neurocognitive basis of semantic integration processes were assessed by analyzing the N400 and the late positive complex (LPC) components in response to spoken (auditory) and signed (visual) antonymic and unrelated targets. Semantically-related effects triggered across modali…
Why have I failed? Why have I passed? A comparison of students’ causal attributions in second language acquisition (A1–B2 levels)
2019
Background Previous literature highlights the importance of causal attributions in achievement and motivation. However, the studies about causal attributions in second language acquisition (SLA) are limited and scarce. Aims This study was designed to determine the frequency of successful and unsuccessful activities per English level and to compare the causal attributions (explanations of outcomes) on successful and failure authentic tasks undertaken in the context of learning English as a foreign language (EFL) acquisition in an Official School of Languages (OSL). Sample To this aim, 407 native Spanish students from levels A1 (n = 111), A2 (n = 113), B1 (n = 98), and B2 (n = 85) in OSL part…
Translation as alchemy: the aesthetics of multilingualism in film
2012
The aim of this paper is to explore the aesthetics of multilingualism in film. We start with a discussion of translation strategy in several films and continue with two case studies based on Azur et Asmar (2006) by Michel Ocelot, on the one hand, and Nostalghia (1983) and Offret (1986) by Andrei Tarkovsky, on the other. Our analysis does not involve a comparison between the original dialogues or monologues and their translations into one or several languages, but, rather, it focuses on the role of translation in film making, considering it independently from any pre-existing oral or written texts. This will lead us to a number of reflections about the possibility and the limits of communica…
Implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning at Schools in Latvia
2017
The European Union supports multilingualism and promotes the learning of foreign languages since their knowledge enhances understanding among peoples and increases employability. To increase the efficiency and effectiveness of foreign language education in schools, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has been promoted in Europe; this has influenced ways in which Latvia nowadays approaches bilingual education. A qualitative case study was undertaken to explore the implementation of CLIL at schools in Latvia, CLIL being seen as an element of bilingual education. This article outlines the development of CLIL in Latvia, which is largely embedded in national level policies which have…
Interference in Dutch–French Bilinguals : Stimulus and Response Conflict in Intra- and Interlingual Stroop
2018
Abstract. In the present manuscript, we investigate the source of congruency effects in a group of Dutch–French bilinguals. In particular, participants performed a color-identification Stroop task, in which both (first language) Dutch and (second language) French distracting color words were presented in colors. The typical finding is impaired responding when the word and color are incongruent (e.g., “red” in blue) relative to congruent (e.g., “red” in red). This congruency effect is observed for both first and second language distracting color words. The current experiment used a 2-to-1 keypress mapping manipulation, which allows one to separate stimulus conflict (i.e., conflict between w…
"Tottakai mää tiiän mikä se on englanniks ku se on melkeen sama ruotsiks!" : bilingual and multilingual children learning English : children's views
2015
Kaksi- ja monikielisyyttä on tutkittu paljon esimerkiksi lasten kielen kehityksen ja kognitiivisen kehityksen näkökulmasta. Lasten käsityksiä omasta kaksikielisyydestään tai sen vaikutuksista ei ole juurikaan tehty tutkimuksia. Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitettiin yhdentoista kaksi- ja monikielisen lapsen näkemyksiä kaksikielisyydestä ja kielen opiskelusta. Kyseessä oli haastattelututkimus, jossa haastateltiin kuutta tyttöä ja viittä poikaa, jotka olivat neljäs-, viides- ja kuudesluokkalaisia. Lapset kävivät ruotsinkielistä luokkaa suomenkielisessä koulussa ja he tulivat joko kaksi- tai monikielisistä kodeista tai heillä oli kielikylpytausta. Lapset olivat opiskelleet englantia yli vuoden verra…
Sociolinguistics from the Periphery
2016
This leading team of scholars presents a fascinating book about change: shifting political, economic and cultural conditions; ephemeral, sometimes even seasonal, multilingualism; and altered imaginaries for minority and indigenous languages and their users. The authors refer to this network of interlinked changes as the new conditions surrounding small languages (Sámi, Corsican, Irish and Welsh) in peripheral sites. Starting from the conviction that peripheral sites can and should inform the sociolinguistics of globalisation, the book explores how new modes of reflexivity, more transactional frames for authenticity, commodification of peripheral resources, and boundary-transgression with hu…