Journal Description
Languages
Languages
is an international, multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed, open access journal on interdisciplinary studies of languages published monthly online by MDPI. The European Society for Transcultural and Interdisciplinary Dialogue (ESTIDIA) is affiliated with Languages and its members receive discounts on the article processing charges.
- Open Access— free for readers, with article processing charges (APC) paid by authors or their institutions.
- High Visibility: indexed within Scopus, ESCI (Web of Science), ERIH Plus, and other databases.
- Journal Rank: CiteScore - Q2 (Language and Linguistics)
- Rapid Publication: manuscripts are peer-reviewed and a first decision is provided to authors approximately 52.7 days after submission; acceptance to publication is undertaken in 8.6 days (median values for papers published in this journal in the second half of 2023).
- Recognition of Reviewers: reviewers who provide timely, thorough peer-review reports receive vouchers entitling them to a discount on the APC of their next publication in any MDPI journal, in appreciation of the work done.
Impact Factor:
0.9 (2022)
Latest Articles
The ProA Online Tool for Prosody Assessment and Its Use for the Definition of Acoustic Models for Prosodic Evaluation of L2 Spanish Learners
Languages 2024, 9(1), 28; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010028 - 15 Jan 2024
Abstract
Assessment of prosody is not usually included in the evaluation of oral expression skills of L2 Spanish learners. Some of the factors that probably explain this fact are the lack of adequate materials, correctness models and tools to carry out this assessment. This
[...] Read more.
Assessment of prosody is not usually included in the evaluation of oral expression skills of L2 Spanish learners. Some of the factors that probably explain this fact are the lack of adequate materials, correctness models and tools to carry out this assessment. This paper describes one of the results of the ProA (Prosody Assessment) project, a web tool for the online assessment of Spanish prosody. The tool allows the online development of evaluation tests and rubrics, the completion of these tests and their remote scoring. An example of use of this tool for research purposes is also presented: three prosodic parameters (global energy, speech rate, F0 range) of a set of oral productions of two L2 Spanish learners, collected using the tests developed in the project, were evaluated by three L2 Spanish teachers using the web tool and the rubrics developed also in the ProA project, and the obtained ratings were compared with the results of the acoustic analysis of these parameters in the material to determine to what extent there was a correlation between evaluators’ judgements and prosodic parameters. The results obtained may be of interest, for example, for the development of future automatic prosody assessment systems.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Speech Analysis and Tools in L2 Pronunciation Acquisition)
►
Show Figures
Open AccessArticle
An Open CAPT System for Prosody Practice: Practical Steps towards Multilingual Setup
by
, , , , , , , , , , and
Languages 2024, 9(1), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010027 - 12 Jan 2024
Abstract
This paper discusses the challenges posed in creating a Computer-Assisted Pronunciation Training (CAPT) environment for multiple languages. By selecting one language from each of three different language families, we show that a single environment may be tailored to cater for different target languages.
[...] Read more.
This paper discusses the challenges posed in creating a Computer-Assisted Pronunciation Training (CAPT) environment for multiple languages. By selecting one language from each of three different language families, we show that a single environment may be tailored to cater for different target languages. We detail the challenges faced during the development of a multimodal CAPT environment comprising a toolkit that manages mobile applications using speech signal processing, visualization, and estimation algorithms. Since the applied underlying mathematical and phonological models, as well as the feedback production algorithms, are based on sound signal processing and modeling rather than on particular languages, the system is language-agnostic and serves as an open toolkit for developing phrasal intonation training exercises for an open selection of languages. However, it was necessary to tailor the CAPT environment to the language-specific particularities in the multilingual setups, especially the additional requirements for adequate and consistent speech evaluation and feedback production. In our work, we describe our response to the challenges in visualizing and segmenting recorded pitch signals and modeling the language melody and rhythm necessary for such a multilingual adaptation, particularly for tonal syllable-timed and mora-timed languages.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Speech Analysis and Tools in L2 Pronunciation Acquisition)
►▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
Open AccessArticle
On the Acquisition of Differential Object Marking in Child Heritage Spanish: Bilingual Education, Exposure, and Age Effects (In Memory of Phoebe Search)
Languages 2024, 9(1), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010026 - 12 Jan 2024
Abstract
Studies on school-aged children have been infrequent in research on Spanish as a heritage language. The present study explored how dual-language immersion education, patterns of heritage language use, proficiency, and age shape child Spanish heritage speakers’ production and selection of differential object marking
[...] Read more.
Studies on school-aged children have been infrequent in research on Spanish as a heritage language. The present study explored how dual-language immersion education, patterns of heritage language use, proficiency, and age shape child Spanish heritage speakers’ production and selection of differential object marking (DOM). A total of 57 English–Spanish bilingual children and 18 Spanish-dominant adults completed sentence completion and morphology selection tasks. Results revealed that the group of heritage speaker children that produced and selected the differential object marker most frequently was the seventh and eighth grade children (ages 12–14, the oldest in the study) who had completed a dual-language immersion program. Different factors accounted for variability in each task: bilingual education and proficiency affected the production of DOM, while age affected selection. Heritage speakers selected DOM more frequently than they produced this structure. These findings have implications for theories of heritage language acquisition that emphasizes that language experience and exposure account for differences between heritage speakers and argue for the dissociation of production from underlying syntactic knowledge. The data also argue that heritage speakers may possess a bilingual alignment for DOM, whereby underlying receptive knowledge is modulated by cumulative exposure, while production depends more on bilingual education and proficiency in Spanish.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Approaches to the Acquisition of Heritage Spanish)
►▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
Open AccessArticle
Istro-Romanian Subjunctive Clauses
Languages 2024, 9(1), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010025 - 11 Jan 2024
Abstract
This paper aims to define the featural composition of the complementizers that introduce subjunctive complements in Istro-Romanian, and to identify the internal organization of the subjunctive clause in terms of subject positions, verb movement, clitic placement and constituent fronting. In a nutshell, the
[...] Read more.
This paper aims to define the featural composition of the complementizers that introduce subjunctive complements in Istro-Romanian, and to identify the internal organization of the subjunctive clause in terms of subject positions, verb movement, clitic placement and constituent fronting. In a nutshell, the observation is that the complementizer neca replaces se within the syntactic pattern of Old Romanian; that is, a pattern that displays intra- and inter-language variation with respect to the distribution of complementizers within the subjunctive CP. Tests of word order also indicate intra-language variation in the parametric settings for clitic placement (either high or low), for the argumental subject position (either in Spec,TP, yielding SVO, or in Spec,vP, yielding VSO) and for constituent movement under discourse triggers (either scrambling or fronting to CP).
Full article
Open AccessArticle
Grammatical Object Passives in Yucatec Spanish
Languages 2024, 9(1), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010024 - 10 Jan 2024
Abstract
Yucatec Spanish displays a type of sentence that appears to mix elements of an active impersonal and a passive. For example, “te castigaron por mi tío” may be interpreted as “you were punished by my uncle”, where a by-phrase headed by the preposition
[...] Read more.
Yucatec Spanish displays a type of sentence that appears to mix elements of an active impersonal and a passive. For example, “te castigaron por mi tío” may be interpreted as “you were punished by my uncle”, where a by-phrase headed by the preposition por introduces an agent rather than a cause or reason. The verb has active morphology—it is always third-person plural, and accusative clitics (e.g., te) and DOM-marked objects are possible. This type of sentence, which I descriptively label an active–passive (A-P) hybrid, has been mentioned in previous literature on contact varieties in Mayan-speaking regions of Mexico and Guatemala, but it has not been precisely described or analyzed formally. I argue that A-P hybrid constructions are instances of grammatical object passives. Grammatical object passives have certain active properties—accusative case is assigned to a theme argument and the morphology of the verb is active, but like passives, they require that the expression of the agent be a by-phrase rather than a grammatical subject. I claim that this is possible in this variety of Spanish due to the emergence of a null pronoun, absent in other varieties of Spanish, that can merge in the specifier of Voice and restrict, rather than saturate, an agent argument, permitting the subsequent addition of a third-person by-phrase. I demonstrate that this analysis is able to explain its hybrid properties as well as other person restrictions on the by-phrases that express the agent. Finally, I describe avenues of future research that will help discern the role that language contact may have played in the emergence of A-P hybrids.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches to Spanish Dialectal Grammar)
Open AccessArticle
L1 Japanese Perceptual Drift in Late Learners of L2 English
Languages 2024, 9(1), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010023 - 10 Jan 2024
Abstract
This study presents evidence of second language (L2) influence on first language (L1) perception of alveolar stops. Sixty-one L1 Japanese late learners of L2 English (onset ~12 years old) in Japan (N = 31) and in the US (N = 30) participated. We
[...] Read more.
This study presents evidence of second language (L2) influence on first language (L1) perception of alveolar stops. Sixty-one L1 Japanese late learners of L2 English (onset ~12 years old) in Japan (N = 31) and in the US (N = 30) participated. We examined late L2 learners’ L2 perceptual ability and L1 perception drift by administering three perception tasks (AX discrimination, forced categorization, and goodness rating) on word-initial stop consonants. The L2 learners’ L1 Japanese and L2 English data were compared to those of Japanese and English monolinguals, respectively (N = 21, N = 16). All participants’ production data were also gathered to examine potential perception-production relationships. Late learners’ sensitivity patterns along a synthesized /da–ta/ continuum differed significantly from those of monolingual speakers, with a sensitivity peak location between the monolingual Japanese and English groups. This suggests that late learners’ voicing category boundaries may have been influenced by L2 English learning. The L2 learners’ goodness rating patterns of L1 Japanese stimuli also showed evidence of L1 perceptual drift: L2 learners tended to be more accepting of Japanese stimuli with longer VOTs compared to Japanese monolinguals.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Native Speech Perception in the Context of Multilingualism and Language Learning)
►▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
Open AccessArticle
Acoustic Correlates of Subtypes of Irony in Chilean Spanish
Languages 2024, 9(1), 22; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010022 - 10 Jan 2024
Abstract
►▼
Show Figures
Utterances containing verbal irony display prosodic particularities that distinguish them from non-ironic speech. While some prosodic features of irony have been identified in Spanish, previous studies have not accounted for different subtypes, nor have they examined this phenomenon in Chilean Spanish despite the
[...] Read more.
Utterances containing verbal irony display prosodic particularities that distinguish them from non-ironic speech. While some prosodic features of irony have been identified in Spanish, previous studies have not accounted for different subtypes, nor have they examined this phenomenon in Chilean Spanish despite the unique intonation patterns in this dialect. This study examined the acoustic and prosodic correlates of five subtypes of irony (jocularity, rhetorical questions, understatements, hyperbole, and sarcasm) spontaneously occurring in the casual speech of sociolinguistic interviews with fifteen Chilean women. We segmented 3907 syllable nuclei from 197 spontaneously occurring instances of irony and compared the syllables within the ironic utterances to those in the pre-ironic utterances, along seven acoustic and prosodic variables: pitch range, duration, F0, F1, F2, H1*–H2*, and HNR. The results showed that the speakers favored jocularity and did not produce sarcasm or understatements, and that jocularity, hyperbole, and rhetorical questions significantly differed from the baseline utterances along a variety of acoustic and prosodic measures. We argue that these cues contributed to marking the ironic utterances as salient, allowing these women to talk about difficult real-life events with a touch of humor. Our study provides additional evidence for the connection between prosody and pragmatics in Chilean Spanish and lays the groundwork for further examination of irony and prosody in this and other Spanish dialects.
Full article
Figure 1
Open AccessArticle
A Cartographic Approach to Verb Movement and Two Types of FinP V2 in German
Languages 2024, 9(1), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010021 - 09 Jan 2024
Abstract
In this paper, two syntactic configurations are considered that involve V-to-C movement in present-day German: Verb Second in run-of-the-mill declarative clauses and Verb Second in non-assertive embedded contexts. Along the lines of the cartographic approach and on the basis of syntactic and semantic
[...] Read more.
In this paper, two syntactic configurations are considered that involve V-to-C movement in present-day German: Verb Second in run-of-the-mill declarative clauses and Verb Second in non-assertive embedded contexts. Along the lines of the cartographic approach and on the basis of syntactic and semantic evidence, it is proposed that in both constructs, the finite verb targets neither Force° nor the head of any other projection hosting a moved constituent in its specifier, but, rather, that it moves into the lowest head in the extended CP layer, namely Fin°. As a result of this, (at least) two types of verb raising to Fin° are to be postulated in this language: one that is triggered by discourse/information structure (V21) and one that results from mechanical movement to C elicited by an otherwise lacking lexicalization of the relevant left-peripheral head (V22).
Full article
Open AccessArticle
Lexical–Syntactic Classes of Adjectives in Copular Sentences across Spanish Varieties: The Innovative Use of Estar
Languages 2024, 9(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010020 - 09 Jan 2024
Abstract
This paper aims to provide a clearer understanding of the structure known in the literature as the innovative use of estar, illustrated in sentences like Luego salgo/voy a visitar usuarios que están muy morosos [Medellín, Colombia; Preseea] (“Today I am going to visit
[...] Read more.
This paper aims to provide a clearer understanding of the structure known in the literature as the innovative use of estar, illustrated in sentences like Luego salgo/voy a visitar usuarios que están muy morosos [Medellín, Colombia; Preseea] (“Today I am going to visit users that are.ESTAR defaulting debtors”). In such sentences, no comparison is established between stages or counterparts of the subject of predication with regard to the property expressed by the adjective, as opposed to estar-sentences in standard/general Spanish. This innovative structure is a syntactic scheme employed throughout different Latin American Spanish varieties. The goal of this paper is twofold: it is both descriptive and theoretical. From a descriptive perspective, it offers an exhaustive and updated empirical characterization of the extent of this structure in Latin American Spanish based on an analysis of the Preseea corpus. This description takes into consideration both its geographical distribution in the different Latin American dialectal varieties and the lexical–syntactic classes of adjectives that appear as predicates in innovative estar-sentences. Building on this, from a theoretical point of view, a critical evaluation is made of the existing proposals in the literature that explain the properties—both syntactic and semantic—of the innovative construction.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches to Spanish Dialectal Grammar)
►▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
Open AccessArticle
Exploring Microvariation in Verb-Movement Parameters within Daco-Romanian and across Daco-Romance
by
and
Languages 2024, 9(1), 19; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010019 - 08 Jan 2024
Abstract
This article reviews some of the principal patterns of morphosyntactic variation within Daco-Romanian and across Daco-Romance in support of a distinction between low vs high V-movement grammars variously distributed in accordance with diatopic variation (Daco-Romance: west vs east, Aromanian: north vs south), diachronic
[...] Read more.
This article reviews some of the principal patterns of morphosyntactic variation within Daco-Romanian and across Daco-Romance in support of a distinction between low vs high V-movement grammars variously distributed in accordance with diatopic variation (Daco-Romance: west vs east, Aromanian: north vs south), diachronic and diagenerational variation (Megleno-Romanian) and endogenous vs exogenous factors (Istro-Romanian). This approach, which builds on the insights of the Borer–Chomsky conjecture, assumes that the locus of parametric variation lies in the lexicon and the (PF-)lexicalization of specific formal feature values of individual functional projections, in our case the clausal heads T and v and the broad cartographic areas that they can be taken to represent. In this way, our analysis locates the relevant dimensions of (micro)variation among different Daco-Romance varieties in properties of T and v. In particular, we show that the feature values of these two heads are not set in isolation, inasmuch as parameters form an interrelated network of implicational relationships: the given value of a particular parameter entails the concomitant activation of associated lower-order parametric choices, whose potential surface effects may consequently become entirely predictable, or indeed render other parameters entirely irrelevant. In this way we can derive properties such as verb–adverb order, auxiliary selection, retention vs loss of the preterite, the availability of a dedicated preverbal subject position, the distribution of DOM, and the different stages of Jespersen’s Cycle across Daco-Romance quite transparently, based on the relevant strength of T and v in individual sub-branches and sub-dialects.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal Studies in Balkan Romance Languages)
Open AccessArticle
Relative Clause Processing and Attachment Resolution across Languages: Tatar–Russian–English Trilinguals
Languages 2024, 9(1), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010018 - 31 Dec 2023
Abstract
►▼
Show Figures
The study investigates psycholinguistic mechanisms of sentence parsing and ambiguity resolution by balanced Tatar–Russian bilinguals who learnt English as their additional language. We check the parser’s sensitivity to the selectional properties of the matrix verb and/or social conventions in processing and attachment resolution
[...] Read more.
The study investigates psycholinguistic mechanisms of sentence parsing and ambiguity resolution by balanced Tatar–Russian bilinguals who learnt English as their additional language. We check the parser’s sensitivity to the selectional properties of the matrix verb and/or social conventions in processing and attachment resolution of ambiguous relative clauses (RCs). We chose English and Russian because they have a documented preference for low attachment (LA) and high attachment (HA), respectively, and Tatar, as we have found out in earlier work, has no attachment ambiguity. We conducted a self-paced reading task in English and Russian which returned 61% HA in Russian, 49% HA in English. It was followed by a pen-and-paper translation task. The translation post-test checked whether an attachment preference demonstrated in either English or Russian showed in RC translations into Tatar. The results return an 80% preference for LA in English–Tatar translations and 61% in Russian–Tatar translations. Both syntactic information and world knowledge influence online RC processing in Russian and English. Therefore, the multilingual parser incorporates information from multiple sources in either L1 or Ln processing. The parser may favor LA as a default parsing option while maintaining sensitivity to individual grammars (Russian), where this preference should be overridden.
Full article
Figure 1
Open AccessArticle
Nominal Possession in Contact Spanish Spoken by Mapudungun/Spanish Bilinguals
by
and
Languages 2024, 9(1), 17; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010017 - 29 Dec 2023
Abstract
Possession has been scarcely studied in the variety of Spanish in contact with Mapudungun and in Chilean Spanish. In this contribution, we analyze the nominal possessive constructions found in a corpus of interviews with speakers from five communities: three Mapudungun–Spanish bilingual communities from
[...] Read more.
Possession has been scarcely studied in the variety of Spanish in contact with Mapudungun and in Chilean Spanish. In this contribution, we analyze the nominal possessive constructions found in a corpus of interviews with speakers from five communities: three Mapudungun–Spanish bilingual communities from the Araucanía Region, one Spanish monolingual rural community from the Bío Bío Region, and one Spanish monolingual urban community from the Araucanía Region. The possessive constructions found in the contact Spanish, rural Spanish, and urban Spanish varieties are analyzed and compared to describe the domain of possession and to propose some possible explanations from the perspective of language contact theory for the case of the Spanish spoken by bilinguals. From the corpus of transcribed interviews, nominal possessive constructions were selected, classified, described, and compared. Double possession with restrictive relative clauses, and unstressed possessive pronouns plus a prepositional phrase with genitive/specific value, showed a limited frequency of occurrence. These constructions are analyzed using the Code-Copying framework. This perspective accounts for the observed equivalencies between both languages in contact and the constructions emerging in the bilinguals’ speech. This work contributes to the documentation of the variety and, more generally, to the description of the expression of possession in the Latin American contact varieties of Spanish.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches to Spanish Dialectal Grammar)
Open AccessArticle
Levels of Variation in Subordinates of Immediate Succession in Current Spanish
Languages 2024, 9(1), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010016 - 28 Dec 2023
Abstract
In this paper, I analyze, from a compositional perspective, the relevant features to construct the interpretation of immediate succession between a subordinate event and the event that takes place in the main sentence. Among all the components involved in the construction of the
[...] Read more.
In this paper, I analyze, from a compositional perspective, the relevant features to construct the interpretation of immediate succession between a subordinate event and the event that takes place in the main sentence. Among all the components involved in the construction of the meaning of immediate succession, I focus particularly on the subordinators, which present a mosaic of variation in current Spanish. The key ideas that can be derived from the data analysis are the following. First: subordinators of immediate succession are the loci of variation of temporal subordinates. Second: a subordinator of immediate succession is a “linguistic variable” that can be syntactically materialized in different forms by applying general rules that do not change the meaning, although sometimes they do change the grammatical category. Third: in the diachronic evolution of Spanish, several patterns of internal structure have emerged for immediate succession subordinators. However, most of them have ceased to be productive, although some subordinators that were coined with these patterns have survived as fossils in the current language. Fourth: the only productive pattern in the present language can be reduced to the Adv (immediacy) + que scheme, which goes back to Late Latin.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches to Spanish Dialectal Grammar)
Open AccessArticle
Middle-Passive Constructions, Dative Possessors, and Word Order in Spanish
Languages 2024, 9(1), 15; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010015 - 27 Dec 2023
Abstract
This paper examines data from Spanish middle-passive sentences whose grammatical subject contains a body-part noun, externally possessed by means of a dative possessor. I advocate for an analysis whereby the possessor originates inside the theme DP and raises to the specifier of an
[...] Read more.
This paper examines data from Spanish middle-passive sentences whose grammatical subject contains a body-part noun, externally possessed by means of a dative possessor. I advocate for an analysis whereby the possessor originates inside the theme DP and raises to the specifier of an applicative projection to be licensed with dative case. I show that the unmarked order for dative DPs in these configurations is preverbal. These phrases may appear as the sole preverbal constituent, presumably in preverbal subject position, thus forcing the theme DP to remain inside the VP; alternatively, both the dative DP and theme DP can occur preverbally, in which case, the former appears to be left dislocated while the latter would be probed to preverbal subject position. This last scenario leads to a minimality violation, since the theme would be probed over the empty pronominal standing for the possessor that must necessarily sit in Spec, ApplP for the inalienable possession construal to obtain. Instead, I argue that both preverbal dative and theme DPs in Spanish middle-passive sentences are left dislocated and corefer with empty pronominals inside the sentence; the null dative possessor, being closer to T° always raises to subject position, which avoids any potential intervention effects. Finally, I explore how these data can be analyzed within a paratactic approach.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Syntax and Discourse at the Crossroads)
Open AccessArticle
Insights into Phraseological Processing through Stimuli Modification: An Exploratory Eye-Tracking Study on Native Speakers and Learners of Italian
by
, , , , and
Languages 2024, 9(1), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010014 - 27 Dec 2023
Abstract
►▼
Show Figures
Collocations are one of the most studied types of word combinations. Their intricate nature, based on varying degrees of restriction, begs the question as to how modifications in their typical form influence the way they are processed by native speakers and learners. In
[...] Read more.
Collocations are one of the most studied types of word combinations. Their intricate nature, based on varying degrees of restriction, begs the question as to how modifications in their typical form influence the way they are processed by native speakers and learners. In this study, an eye-tracking experiment was carried out. We compared native speakers and learners of Italian when processing typical (i.e., common) and atypical (i.e., uncommon) collocations of Italian. Atypical collocations were developed by manipulating the grammatical and lexical components of a set of typical collocations. We also investigated how the online processing was affected by the different modifications (i.e., lexical and grammatical) performed and proficiency levels included. Both kinds of modifications disrupt collocation processing, with lexical modification being generally more salient than grammatical modification in terms of processing costs. Further, proficiency level influences phraseological processing, with varying effects related to the different kinds of modifications. The findings of our study are largely in line with previous research, while providing new insights into how lexis and grammar affect phraseological processing. They contribute to the evidence on languages other than English, a still under-researched domain in second language acquisition as a whole.
Full article
Figure 1
Open AccessArticle
Diverging Grammaticalization Patterns across Spanish Varieties: The Case of perdón in Mexican and Peninsular Spanish
Languages 2024, 9(1), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010013 - 25 Dec 2023
Abstract
This study investigates the contemporary grammaticalized uses of perdón (‘sorry’) in two varieties of Spanish, namely Mexican and Peninsular Spanish. Methodologically, the investigation is based on a taxonomy of offenses, organized around the concept of ‘face’ and based on spoken data of Spanish
[...] Read more.
This study investigates the contemporary grammaticalized uses of perdón (‘sorry’) in two varieties of Spanish, namely Mexican and Peninsular Spanish. Methodologically, the investigation is based on a taxonomy of offenses, organized around the concept of ‘face’ and based on spoken data of Spanish from Mexico and Spain. This taxonomy turns out to be a fruitful methodological tool for the analysis of apologetic markers: it does not only offer usage-based evidence for previous theorizing concerning the grammaticalization process of apologetic markers, but also leads to a refinement of these previous results from a contrastive point of view. Evidence from both corpora suggests a more advanced stage in the grammaticalization process of perdón in Mexican Spanish, where it can be used not only as a self-face-saving device geared towards the positive face of the speaker, but also in turn-taking contexts oriented towards the negative face of the interlocutor. Peninsular Spanish, on the other hand, resorts to a more varied gamut of apologetic markers in these contexts.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Grammaticalization across Languages, Levels and Frameworks)
Open AccessArticle
In the Echoes of Guarani: Exploring the Intonation of Statements in Paraguayan Spanish
Languages 2024, 9(1), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010012 - 25 Dec 2023
Abstract
This explorative study examines intonation contours in neutral and non-neutral statements of Paraguayan Spanish, a variety shaped by extensive contact with Guarani, a co-official language of Paraguay. Paraguayan Spanish displays both lexical and syntactic borrowings from Guarani, along with innovative intonation patterns not
[...] Read more.
This explorative study examines intonation contours in neutral and non-neutral statements of Paraguayan Spanish, a variety shaped by extensive contact with Guarani, a co-official language of Paraguay. Paraguayan Spanish displays both lexical and syntactic borrowings from Guarani, along with innovative intonation patterns not found in other Spanish varieties. Previous but still limited research on yes/no and wh-questions in this variety suggests the emergence of a unique intonational system, possibly of a hybrid nature, in both Spanish monolinguals and Spanish–Guarani bilinguals. To date, no comprehensive description of intonation patterns in Paraguayan Spanish statements exists. The present study addresses this gap by analyzing data obtained through a Discourse Completion Task, covering broad-focus statements, contrastive focus, exclamatives, and statements of the obvious. Data were collected in 2014 from two monolingual speakers, eleven bilingual Spanish-dominant speakers, and eight bilingual Guarani-dominant speakers. The intonation is formalized using the Autosegmental–Metrical model of intonational phonology and the Spanish Tones and Break Indices labeling system. The findings reveal three main realizations of nuclear accents (L+H*, H+L*, and innovative >H+L*) in neutral and non-neutral declarative sentences, lengthening of syllables, diverse syntactical strategies, and lexical borrowings. The study contributes to the understanding of a lesser-studied Spanish variety and offers insights into theoretical aspects of contact linguistics.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Prosody in Shared Linguistic Spaces of the Spanish-Speaking World)
►▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
Open AccessArticle
Existential Constructions, Definiteness Effects, and Linguistic Contact: At the Crossroads between Spanish and Catalan
by
Languages 2024, 9(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010011 - 23 Dec 2023
Abstract
Existential sentences in Spanish are sensitive to the definiteness or quantification restriction or effect, which prevents personal pronouns, proper nouns, and definite constituents from occupying the pivot position. Contact varieties between Spanish, a robust language as regards the effect, and Catalan, which has
[...] Read more.
Existential sentences in Spanish are sensitive to the definiteness or quantification restriction or effect, which prevents personal pronouns, proper nouns, and definite constituents from occupying the pivot position. Contact varieties between Spanish, a robust language as regards the effect, and Catalan, which has a weaker version, remain largely unexplored. This paper fills this void. A large corpus was gathered to quantitatively study the variation between definite and indefinite pivots. Examples involving definite, specific pivots and even proper names, hitherto unnoticed, are brought to the fore. The pivot of the existential in Spanish is argued to bear Partitive case, as shown by (i) pronominal existential pivots in other Romance languages, (ii) the phi-feature defectiveness of the clitic out of the pivot position, (iii) and partitive pronouns with unaccusatives in Spanish. The hypothesis is put forth that varieties of Spanish in contact with Catalan no longer relate Partitive case to the non-definiteness of the pivot.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches to Spanish Dialectal Grammar)
►▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
Open AccessArticle
The Language of Deception: Applying Findings on Opinion Spam to Legal and Forensic Discourses
Languages 2024, 9(1), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010010 - 22 Dec 2023
Abstract
Digital forensic investigations are becoming increasingly crucial in criminal investigations and civil litigations, especially in cases of corporate espionage and intellectual property theft as more communication occurs online via e-mail and social media. Deceptive opinion spam analysis is an emerging field of research
[...] Read more.
Digital forensic investigations are becoming increasingly crucial in criminal investigations and civil litigations, especially in cases of corporate espionage and intellectual property theft as more communication occurs online via e-mail and social media. Deceptive opinion spam analysis is an emerging field of research that aims to detect and identify fraudulent reviews, comments, and other forms of deceptive online content. In this paper, we explore how the findings from this field may be relevant to forensic investigation, particularly the features that capture stylistic patterns and sentiments, which are psychologically relevant aspects of truthful and deceptive language. To assess these features’ utility, we demonstrate the potential of our proposed approach using the real-world dataset from the Enron Email Corpus. Our findings suggest that deceptive opinion spam analysis may be a valuable tool for forensic investigators and legal professionals looking to identify and analyze deceptive behavior in online communication. By incorporating these techniques into their investigative and legal strategies, professionals can improve the accuracy and reliability of their findings, leading to more effective and just outcomes.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges in Forensic and Legal Linguistics)
►▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
Open AccessArticle
The Effect of Congruency and Frequency of Exposures on the Learning of L2 Binomials
by
and
Languages 2024, 9(1), 9; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010009 - 21 Dec 2023
Abstract
Although extensive research has been carried out on opaque formulaic language where the meaning is not the sum of the individual words (i.e., idioms and many collocations), it is still not clear how cross-language congruency and frequency of exposure influence the learning of
[...] Read more.
Although extensive research has been carried out on opaque formulaic language where the meaning is not the sum of the individual words (i.e., idioms and many collocations), it is still not clear how cross-language congruency and frequency of exposure influence the learning of transparent formulaic language in an L2. In the current study, self-paced reading along with offline word order recognition tasks were used to investigate the role of cross-language congruency and the frequency of exposure on the learning and processing of fully transparent binomials. In the self-paced reading, Arabic second language learners of English and native English speakers encountered three types of binomial phrases either two or five times in English texts: English-only binomials, Arabic-only binomials that were translated into English, and congruent binomials (acceptable in English and Arabic). A subsequent offline task revealed that both native and non-native speakers developed knowledge of the ‘correct’ order of binomials (i.e., fish and chips, not chips and fish) after only two exposures in the self-paced reading. Native speakers were more accurate on congruent and English-only items than Arabic-only items, while non-natives speakers exhibited no differences in accuracy across the binomial types. The offline task showed that native speakers responded faster to congruent and English-only items than Arabic-only, and non-native speakers responded faster to congruent items than English-only and Arabic-only. The frequency of exposure had no effect, with no difference in response times and accuracy between two and five exposures.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Idiomatic and Formulaic Language: Learning, Processing and Representation)
Highly Accessed Articles
Latest Books
E-Mail Alert
News
Topics
Topic in
Education Sciences, Languages, Religions, Sustainability
From Education and Humanities to Improve Knowledge, Society and the Digital Transformation
Topic Editors: Rosabel Roig-Vila, Jordi M. Antolí-Martínez, Antonio Cortijo, Vicent Martines, Santiago Mengual Andrés, Elena Sánchez-López, Fabrizio Manuel Sirignano, Alexander López PadrónDeadline: 7 March 2024
Topic in
AI, Algorithms, BDCC, Future Internet, Informatics, Information, Languages, Publications
AI Chatbots: Threat or Opportunity?
Topic Editors: Antony Bryant, Roberto Montemanni, Min Chen, Paolo Bellavista, Kenji Suzuki, Jeanine Treffers-DallerDeadline: 30 April 2024
Topic in
Education Sciences, J. Intell., Languages, Social Sciences, Societies
Social Sciences and Intelligence Management
Topic Editors: Liza Lee, Kuei-Kuei Lai, Linda Pavitola, Kate Chen, Teen-Hang MeenDeadline: 31 May 2024
Conferences
Special Issues
Special Issue in
Languages
Advances in Australian English
Guest Editors: Chloe Diskin-Holdaway, Kirsty McDougallDeadline: 19 January 2024
Special Issue in
Languages
Translanguaging and Intercultural Communication
Guest Editor: Eriko SatoDeadline: 31 January 2024
Special Issue in
Languages
Spanish in the US: A Sociolinguistic Approach
Guest Editor: Alberto PastorDeadline: 15 February 2024