Previous departmental linguistics seminars

2024

The impact of sociolinguistic variation on language processing: Tracing individual differences in on-going language change in ERPs

Jade Sandstedt (Volda University College / University of Tromsø) and Maki Kubota (University of Bergen / University of Minho) will present their study on the neurophysiological and behavioral effects of exposure to low-level sociolinguistic variation on sentence processing.

Time and place: Dec. 6, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Henrik Wergelandshus, 421

This study investigates the neurophysiological and behavioral effects of exposure to low-level sociolinguistic variation on sentence processing. The study tests morphosyntactic processes undergoing change in the Sunnmøre Norwegian dialect region, focusing on declining long-distance predicate participial agreement (e.g., geitene va fød-d-e/fø-dt ‘the goats were born-pret.part.-pl/∅’). Using a combination of detailed dialect survey data (n = 422) and ERP experiments (n = 156), including on-line reading, speech production, and acceptability judgment tasks, the study examines both inter- and intra-speaker variation to understand how narrow unilingual grammatical variability impacts on-line language processing. The experiment was conducted in Bokmål, a standard written variety of Norwegian that prohibits participial agreement, and tested two conditions: cross-dialectally invariant adjectival masculine/neuter gender agreement (control) and varying participial number agreement (target). Testing was conducted in two dialect regions: Sunnmøre (Western Norway, n = 73), representing the target group, whose dialect displays variable participial agreement, and Northern Norway (n = 83), representing the control group with invariant agreement.

The findings reveal significant effects of dialect grammatical variability, resulting in significantly attenuated ERP responses (P600s) and less discrete and less accurate grammaticality judgments among the Sunnmøre Norwegian group compared to Northern Norwegian speakers. Individual difference analyses of Sunnmøre sociolinguistic variation show that individual rates of participial agreement in production significantly predict individual variability in ERP response patterns. These findings highlight the dynamic interplay between intra- and inter-individual variability in the representation, production, and comprehension of grammatical variants undergoing change.

Bio

Jade Sandstedt is a Nordic linguist at Volda University College and currently also engaged in the project Experimental Approaches to Syntactic Optionality (PI Björn Lundquist) at the University of Tromsø. His current research focuses on (morpho)phonological and (morpho)syntactic variability as well as individual differences in speech planning, production, and comprehension. He is also interested in a wide variety of linguistic subjects, especially matters relating to phonological representations, sound change, and Nordic language history.

Maki Kubota is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Linguistic, Literary, and Aesthetics Studies at the University of Bergen and a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Minho. Her research interest includes: child bilingualism, language attrition, relationship between cognition and language, heritage language development, and language learning motivation and attitude. She is also recently engaged in work that examines neurocognitive underpinnings of bidalectalism in the Norwegian context.

Organiser

Language and Cognition Forum

Generalizability of Vowel Categories in IDS and ADS: Insights from Norwegian and Danish Using Machine Learning Models

Arun Prakash Singh, who is a Marie Curie Researcher on the Hindi-BabNet project, will present his ongoing work on vowel-based acoustic measures in Adult-Directed Speech (ADS) and Infant-Directed Speech (IDS), the aim being to clarify how vowel characteristics across the two registers ADS and IDS and two languages (Norwegian and Danish) influence generalization.

Time and place: Nov. 22, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands hus 421

Abstract

When speaking to infants, caregivers often use a specific speech register known as Infant-Directed Speech (IDS), which is suggested to support language acquisition. One characteristic of IDS is an expanded vowel space, where vowels, particularly the corner vowels (/i/, /a/, and /u/), are more articulated, or hyperarticulated. This expansion is believed to contribute to better language outcomes by creating more separable vowel categories, thus making them easier for infants to learn. However, it remains unclear how vowel space expansion directly affects language learning, particularly in terms of generalizing learned vowel categories to new speakers. While expanded vowel space can make categories more separable, facilitating clearer distinctions, it may also introduce more within-category variability, potentially leading to overlapping and less distinct categories. Nevertheless, the variability within expanded vowel spaces may actually support infants in generalizing learned vowel categories to new speakers.

This study investigates the impact of vowel-based acoustic measures, such as vowel space expansion, vowel variability, and separability, on the generalizability of vowel categories to new speakers. We examined these acoustic measures within two distinct representations of vowels: formants, which reflect physical articulation, and Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs), which capture perceptual characteristics. We aim to clarify how vowel characteristics across two registers (Adult-Directed Speech [ADS] and Infant-Directed Speech [IDS]) and two languages (Norwegian and Danish) influence generalization.

We extracted both formant-based and MFCC-based features from the corner vowels (/i/, /a/, and /u/) and computed each acoustic measure in both feature spaces, analyzing their relationship to the generalizability of these vowel categories produced by unfamiliar speakers. To assess generalizability, we trained two machine learning models—XGBoost and a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)—on ADS and IDS data for each language and tested them on ADS data from unfamiliar speakers within the same language. Pairwise comparisons across registers and languages reveal that larger vowel space expansion, combined with moderate within-category variability, enhances vowel separability, which positively influences the generalizability of vowel categories to new speakers. These findings suggest that when vowel articulation in IDS achieves an optimal balance—creating distinct vowel sounds with a moderate level of variability—it may improve infants' ability to recognize and generalize vowel categories produced by new or unfamiliar speakers

Organiser

Langauge and Cognition Forum

Plurilingual contexts and monolingual practices: A case study of inner coloniality in France

Paola Gamboa will discuss her experience as a researcher and lecturer in the undergraduate and master’s programs of didactics of French as a foreign or second language at Sorbonne Nouvelle University. This presentation will focus on the complexity of implementing plurilingual teaching practices, necessary for the process of welcoming immigrant minors, in a country like France whose national linguistic policy is monolingual.

Time and place: Nov. 8, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract

Pre-service and in-service language teacher’s actions are at the crossroad of institutional, constraints (time, space, a prescribed program, pre-determined teaching materials, an unpredictable student audience, etc.) and the use of a personal teaching style (Cicurel, 2013). This intersection is also impacted by a necessary number of didactic contextualizations at an institutional, regional or national level (Delcroix, 2029). In this presentation, I discuss my work designing and co-designing critical teaching sequences and plans for plurilingual students within the French monolingual context. The objective is to question and deconstruct the idea of universalism associated with teaching practices, transforming the classroom into a place: (1) to reflect on one’s own professional practice, (2) to implement action research, (3) to co-construct knowledge and self-development.

In France, although French is the only national official language, 12 regional languages are spoken and 50 additional languages are commonly spoken in the overseas territories. Additionally, the country’s linguistic diversity includes French Sign Language and 6 non-territorial languages (spoken by numerous French people with immigration origin and that are not restricted to any specific geographical area in the country). A clear promotion and preservation of the languages of France is set up by the government (Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs) and the notion of plurilingualism is directly associated with this language diversity.

The focus on the individual as the locus and actor of contact has encouraged a shift of terminology from multilingualism (the study of societal language contact) to plurilingualism (the study of an individual’s repertoires and agency in several languages). However, it should also be noted that in many European countries, the dominant orientation toward integrating migrants is to learn the language of the host country. Thus, the notion of "plurilingualisms" (in plural) helps to understand that the plurilingualism of individuals is neither universally recognized nor generally presented as an objective, nor fully considered as a true object of study (Coste, 2010). The pluralingualism of migrants is often viewed differently than plurilingualism in languages of France or Europe.

In the French context, laws on inclusion are part of the government’s response to the process of integrating immigrant children into the regular national school system (article L. 111-1 du code de l'éducation). However, this legislative initiative is not followed by the creation of development programs for teachers who work in UPE2A classes. My research and teaching activities are concerned with the analysis and implementation of historical, epistemological, theoretical, and methodological aspects of language teaching. To this end, I work with my undergraduate and master students in the design of critical teaching sequences and plans (Gamboa et al, 2023) identifying internal or external colonial heritage, student’s and teacher’s diversity, and analyzing educational systems and cultures.

References

Boula De Mareüil, P., Vernier, F., & Rilliard, A. (2017). Enregistrements et transcriptions pour un atlas sonore des langues régionales de France. Géolinguistique, (17), 23-48.

Castañeda-Peña, H., Gamboa, P., & Kramsch, C. (Eds.). (2023). Decolonizing Applied Linguistics Research in Latin America: Moving to a Multilingual Mindset. Taylor & Francis.

Cicurel, F. (2013). L'agir professoral entre genre professionnel, cultures éducatives et expression du «soi». Synergies Pays Scandinaves, (8), 19-33.

Coste, D. (2010). Diversité des plurilinguismes et formes de l’éducation plurilingue et interculturelle. Recherches en didactique des langues et des cultures. Les cahiers de l'Acedle, 7(7-1).

Gamboa, P. (2023). A plurilingual MOOC to engage reflexivity, criticality, and multimodality in educational practices. Questioning coloniality and cultural and linguistic mindsets. In Castañeda-Peña, H., Gamboa, P., & Kramsch, C. (Eds.). Decolonizing Applied Linguistics Research in Latin America: Moving to a Multilingual Mindset. (pp. 171-195). Routledge. Taylor & Francis.

Gamboa Diaz, P-A., Molinié, M., Tejada Sanchez, M.I., & Truscott de Mejia, A-M. (Eds.) (2019). Comprendre les dimensions interculturelles au quotidien. [MOOC]. Diffusé par COURSERA, l’université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3 et l’Université de Los Andes. https://www.coursera.org/learn/interculturalidad/

Mendonça Dias, C., Azaoui, B. & Chnane-Davin, F. (Dir.). (2020). Allophonie. Inclusion et langues des enfants migrants à l’école. Lambert-Lucas.

Moore, D., & Gajo, L. (2009). Introduction – French voices on plurilingualism and pluriculturalism: theory, significance and perspectives. International Journal of Multilingualism, 6(2), 137–153. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790710902846707

Pennycook, A. (2021). Critical applied linguistics: A critical re-introduction. Routledge.

Biography

My initial and continuous teacher and researcher development processes come from my Master’s degree in Bilingual Education (in education sciences) and my PhD in “didactique des langues et des cultures” (didactics of languages and cultures in language sciences). My research interests focus on (1) critical intercultural dimensions, (2) critical [bi-multi-plurilingual] teaching and learning processes; (3) diversity and Inclusion; (4) pre-service and in-service teacher’s development, and (5) Information and Communication Technologies for Education. Those interests are epistemologically, theoretically and methodologically inspired by authors in applied linguistics (Truscott de Mejia, 2002; Kramsch et al., 2023 or Pennycook, 2001); in anthropology (Rojas, 2010 and Rojas-Curieux, 2019) in sociology (Grosfoguel, 2006; Mignolo & Walsh, 2018); in literary and cultural studies (Glissant, 1996 and Bhabha, 2006) and in didactics of languages and cultures (Beacco et al., 2005, 2008, Abdallah-Pretceille, 1996 et Spaëth, 2007, 2014, 2020).

I am an associated member of the research team Didactiques des langues, des textes et des cultures (DILTEC) from Sorbonne Nouvelle University, in Paris. As a lecturer, researcher, and teaching designer, I work at Sorbonne Nouvelle developing projects for In-service teachers of French as a second language and its cultural dimension. Based on the works of some of the above-mentioned authors, as well as my own research and practices, I have been studying critical aspects concerning the Global-North and Global-South dynamics, as a way to question my own teaching and research practices; as well as the implications these questions may have for my pre-service and in-service teacher’s development activities.

Organiser

Multilingualism Research Forum

Language Revitalization and Commodification through Linguistic Landscape

Lorena Córdova-Hernández shares her reflections about the co-production of the Indigenous Linguistic Landscape in Southern Mexico and its incidences and contradictions in the language revitalization and commodification processes.

Time and place: Oct. 25, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract

Any action that promotes the public use and learning of Indigenous languages is welcome for their language revitalisation. In this way, the production of the Indigenous Linguistic Landscape (ILL) becomes a strategy of linguistic-cultural promotion that allows the (re)functionalisation of Indigenous languages in public spaces and begins to reverse their displacement.

From a research collaboration in southern Mexico, this presentation aims to reflect on the co-production of the ILL and its incidences and contradictions in language revitalisation and commodification processes. In particular, it aims to identify an essential difference between the production of the ILL for linguistic-cultural revitalisation and the production of the ILL for linguistic-cultural commodification.

Both processes are part of the symbolic system of what Benedict Anderson calls "imagined communities". However, their cultural purpose, emergence and impact in reversing language shift differ. Therefore, the presentation is an invitation to reflect through four axes of discussion:

1) linguistic landscape policy and planning;

2) perspectives on landscape production;

3) organisation for ILL design;

4) representation in ILL.

In conclusion, the (re)functionalisation of Indigenous languages in public space is not achieved by placing the ILL in public space or using it as a tourist element but by involving the community members in both the production and consumption of the landscape as a process of reversing linguistic displacement.

Biography

Lorena Córdova-Hernández is Professor at the Faculty of Languages, Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca, Mexico. Her collaborative research focuses on language documentation, revitalization, and intercultural education in Indigenous communities on the Mexican-Guatemalan border and endangered languages from Oaxaca.

Organiser

Multilingualism Research Forum

Colouring Creole: Language and Power at the Cape of Good Hope

Riaan Oppelt's talk explores the re-evaluation of Afrikaaps as a Creole language with rich roots and its role in addressing the complexities of identity and colonial legacies in South Africa.

This talk is a collaboration with Thomas Hylland Eriksen at SAI (Sosialantropologisk institutt/Department of Social Anthropology, UiO).

Time and place: Oct. 11, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract

Afrikaaps is a South African language that dates to the seventeenth century, from encounters between indigenous Khoekhoe people, Dutch colonisers and enslaved people from South-East Asia, under Dutch rule. Long considered a dialect of Afrikaans, Afrikaaps, its name placing it in the Western Cape region of South Africa, is being re-evaluated for its roots in creolized varieties of Malay, Dutch and the indigenous Khoekhoegowab sets of Khoekhoe languages. The port of Cape Town that located these early African-European encounters has since those events been named the Cape of Good Hope. This is a title that is at tension with enduring legacies of colonialism and apartheid, evident in contemporary power struggles around recognition, identity and livability at the Cape.

Against national, or ‘standardized’ Afrikaans that was the official language of apartheid, Afrikaaps has been considered in the South African imaginary as a lesser language, an impoverished form of Afrikaans. Afrikaaps had been connoted with impurity or ‘mixedness’, similar stigmas endured by South African speakers of Afrikaaps, who are broadly identified under the term “Coloured”, a colonial-era category of personhood that is much contested today.

The history of both Afrikaaps and its many speakers is troubled by impositions of categorization and shaming, and with this, an undervaluing of diversity in the Cape that has for centuries been far more comprehensive than what is typically assumed, as per Thomas Hylland Eriksen. The Afrikaaps language is a twin creole alongside Afrikaans that is now receiving overdue public and scholarly attention, much as the lumping racial category of “Coloured” is being reconsidered. In this paper, which draws on a recent shared writing with Thomas Hylland Eriksen, fundamental questions are raised about the relationship between individual and community in a place of both changing priorities and persistent residues of the past, namely the Cape. The paper also explores whether a creolized version of an already creolized language can contribute to reconciling diversity with shared identity.

Link to a movie that will be referred to in this talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxMponKKsdc

Biography

Riaan Oppelt has been a lecturer in the Department of English at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, since 2007. He teaches courses in Film, Theatre, Poetry and Detective Fiction. His research interests are Postcolonial and Neocolonial Violence, Language, Authenticity and Identity, Modernity/Modernism, and South African Literature. He is also a musician and playwright.

Organiser

Multilingualism Research Forum

Bilingual couples speaking Esperanto

Agnieszka Stępkowska explores how bilingual couples use and maintain Esperanto as a lingua franca, and efforts to pass the language onto their children.

Time and place: Oct. 9, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, P.A. Munchs hus Seminarrom 13

Abstract

My talk will feature language practices of bilingual couples speaking Esperanto. The aim of my study is to explore the interrelation between a specific type of a Lingua Franca (LF), i.e., Esperanto, and the manner of communication among the couples, including their children (Gobbo and Marácz 2021).

Esperanto as a planned and constructed language raises many inspiring questions also in the context of bilingual couples. I will focus on the use of Esperanto and its maintenance between partners.

My data shows that Esperanto speakers display a high level of language awareness. I found evidence for the couples’ joint effort to speak Esperanto to each other and to pass it on to their children (cf. Corsetti et al. 2004).

The talk to be presented views multilingualism from a less studied perspective by giving the voice to bilingual couples who decided to share the most widespread planned language ever (cf. Fiedler and Brosch 2022).

References

Corsetti, R., M. Pinto, and M. Tolomeo (2004) Regularizing the regular: The phenomenon of overregularization in Esperanto-speaking children. Language Problems and Language Planning 28(3), 261-282.

Fiedler, S., and C. Brosch (2022) Esperanto - Lingua Franca and language community. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Gobbo, F., and L. Marácz (2021) Two Linguas Francas? Social Inclusion through English and Esperanto. Social Inclusion 9(1), 75-84.

Biography

Agnieszka Stępkowska is a professor at the University of Szczecin, Poland. Her research interests focus on sociolinguistics and multilingualism, including the complex linguistic situation in Switzerland. Her latest book Pary dwujęzyczne w Polsce (Bilingual couples in Poland) came out in 2019.

Organiser

Multilingualism Research Forum

Decolonizing the mind in the process of Indigenous language writing

Nicasio Martinez Miguel discusses experiences from teaching in the Master’s Program in Translation and Interpretation of Indigenous Languages at the Autonomous “Benito Juarez” University of Oaxaca, Mexico, focusing on the use of identity texts as a tool for the development of Indigenous language literacy.

Time and place: Oct. 4, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract

Mexico is a country which is extraordinarily rich in languages. According to the government of Mexico, there are 11 families of languages. From those 11 families come 64 linguistic groups and from those linguistic groups come 364 linguistic variants (Gobierno de Mexico, 2008, pp. 39, 42). However, for many people, that richness is not a blessing but a curse: The Indigenous people have been put down for speaking their languages. Galeano (1992) expresses it this way: “El lenguaje [indígena] no es una señal de identidad, sino una marca de maldición. No los distingue: los delata.” (Indigenous language is not a sign of identity, rather a mark of a curse.It does not give distinction to Indigenous people, it betrays them”) (p. 19). Pachecho Ladrón de Guevara (2002) says that Indigenous teachers, even though they speak their native language, only use it to give instruction, but they teach the same content the teachers teach in the urban areas: they teach in Spanish, they teach the Spanish alphabet, they teach Spanish grammar. This type of “bilingual schooling” is a far cry from true bilingual learning (pp. 32, 33, 34). All of this has damaged Indigenous people’s identity, so it is necessary to reconstruct their identity in a positive way.

The Master’s Program in Translation and Interpretation of Indigenous Languages at the Language Faculty of the State University “Benito Juarez” of Oaxaca, Mexico, is a program which aims to support the status and professional use of Indigenous languages in Mexico, and to provide greater respect to Indigenous language speakers. The students in the program are speakers of a variety of Indigenous languages, and most have not had schooling in their Indigenous language, but rather in Spanish.

As a teacher in this program, I have been involved in creating teaching plans to aid students in developing greater literacy in their Indigenous languages in order to be successful as future translators. My goal is for students to ‘decolonize their minds’ (Wa Thiong’o, 1986): First they need to feel comfortable writing in their own language; secondly, they need to decolonize their minds when writing and thinking in their language so that their translations sound natural, both written and orally, when they are interpreting from Spanish to their language.

In this presentation, I discuss my work using identity texts as a way to meet this need with MA students in the 2021-2022 cohort. The identity texts, when they are written or they are read before an audience, function like a mirror reflecting the students back to themselves in a positive way (Cummins & Early, 2011). Students wrote identity texts and read articles and selections from books that we discussed in class. The students were strongly encouraged to think in their language while they were writing. Drawing on the student texts, discussions, and my reflections as a teacher, I have begun to analyze this class, and how best to meet the aim of supporting Indigenous language speakers to think and write in their language. I will share my ongoing analysis process that is part of my PhD research.

References

Cummins, J. & Early, M. (2011). Identity Texts: The Collaborative Creation of Power in Multilingual Schools. Trentham Books.

Galeano, E. (1992). Ser como ellos y otros artículos. Argentina: Siglo veintiuno editores.

Gobierno de México. (2008). INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE LENGUAS INDÍGENAS: CATÁLOGO de las lenguas indígenas nacionales: variantes lingüísticas de México con sus autodenominaciones y referencias geoestadísticas. Diario Oficial. Extracted in September 17, 2024 from https://www.inali.gob.mx/pdf/CLIN_completo.pdf

Pacheco Ladrón de Guevara, L. (2002). Educación que silencia: la educación indígena en Nayarit. México: Univ. Autónoma de Nayarit.

Wa Thiong’o, N. (1986). Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Languages in African Literature. East African Educational Publishers Ltd.

Biography

Nicasio Martinez Miguel is from San Pedro Quiatoni, Oaxaca, Mexico. His native language is San Pedro Quiatoni Zapotec. When he started going to school everything was taught in Spanish. Even though everything was taught in Spanish, he did not really learn to speak it until he left home and went to live in the state capital, Oaxaca City, and later Mexico City. While living there, he tried to erase all signs of his Indigenous heritage. He wanted to continue his studies but could not. Years later, he started school again, finishing high school and then continuing to study. He holds a BA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, and a MA in Critical Language Education. Through these years, he realized the importance of his Indigenous heritage and his native language. Now he is one of the teachers in the Master’s Degree Program in Translation and Interpretation in Indigenous Languages. He teaches the subject “Indigenous Languages” and he is writing his PhD thesis about his teaching experience.

Organiser

Multilingualism Research Forum

Podcast as a tool to stimulate dialogue about language use across the university

Katja Årosin Laursen shares her experiences with producing a series of podcast episodes at the University of Copenhagen designed to stimulate dialogue on language use across the university.

Time and place: Sep. 6, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract

In this talk, I describe the process of creating a podcast designed to stimulate discussions on language use across the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) and to encourage students and staff to share their views and experiences.

In 2021, the University of Copenhagen adopted a new language policy, which has sparked significant debate among the university’s staff and students. Many have been – and still are – uncertain about how the language policy should be implemented in practice, and concerns have been expressed over the Danish language requirements that is part of the policy.

In an international multilingual environment like the university, there will always be implicit, informal language policies based on the language users’ attitudes and ideologies about language, regardless of whether there is a formal language policy to regulate or provide recommendations for linguistic practices or not. Even when there is a formal, written language policy in place, there is no guarantee that it will be followed or function in practice (cf. Mortensen, Hazel & Brandt 2024).

In this talk, I will discuss the development of the podcast series “Language Use at University of Copenhagen” which features various voices and dilemmas from the linguistic reality at UCPH. The purpose of the podcast series is to create a space where staff and students from the university can talk about language practices, language attitudes, and initiatives to influence and regulate language use (Spolsky 2021) – and to inspire listeners to engage with the same topics.

The podcast is hosted by the Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use (CIP) at the University of Copenhagen. Over the years, we have experimented with different formats for generating dialogue on issues related to language policy at the university: from pamphlet to video to podcast. In the talk, I will discuss the considerations and challenges we meet in the development of the podcast concept. Additionally, I will explain how we can see that the podcast seems to work quite well as a tool to create dialogue about language use and give ideas on how to create a podcast yourself.

References

Sprogbrug på KU – Københavns Universitet

Implementation of the UCPH language policy – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk)

Mortensen, Janus, Spencer Hazel & Adam Brandt. 2024. The Emergence of Language Policy as Practice in Transient Social Configurations. In Florence Bonacina-Pugh (ed.), Language Policy as Practice: Advancing the Empirical Turn in Language Policy Research, 223–248. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55783-5_10.

Spolsky, B. (2021). Rethinking language policy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Biography

Katja Årosin Laursen is an Academic Language Consultant at Centre for Internationalisation and Language Use (CIP) at the University of Copenhagen. Since 2011, Katja has been developing and teaching L2 courses in Danish for international staff and students at the university. The courses are based on thorough needs analyses, flexibility and tailor-made exercises and materials. The aim is to prepare the participants to improve their Danish skills and gain confidence in using Danish in all situations relevant to them, one small step at a time. She also teaches courses in academic writing in Danish and is involved in projects on language policy, language use, and disciplinary communication.

E-mail: aarosin@hum.ku.dk

Organiser

Multilingualism Research Forum

i-Competence and i-Practice? L2 interaction in the era of the conversational user interface

Spencer Hazel reports on work with the Voice-based Conversational User Interface (CUI or VUI) of the healthcare start-up Ufonia, showing how the recent adoption of Large Language Model (LLM) technology has opened up further opportunities to leverage Conversation Analysis and Applied Linguistics to help train CUIs in recipient design for L2 users

Time and place: Aug. 20, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Voice-based Conversational User Interfaces (CUIs or VUIs) are being rapidly adopted by service providers and other organisations seeking to automate interactions with customers and clients. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly rare to speak with a human agent when contac0ng an organisation. Ensuring that these ‘conversations’ are successful is challenging both for the conversation designers and engineers developing the technologies underpinning the CUI; and to anyone else required to engage with the CUI. To enable this, engineers rely on a range of technologies, such as speech recognition and Natural Language Processing and Understanding (NLP/NLU), to ensure the system understands the speech of the human client, and to genera te speech that is understandable and appropriate for the type of activity. This becomes exponentially more challenging in interactions where the client’s speech deviates from that on which the machines have been trained, including that of L2 speakers. Such clients may face situa0ons where their speech is unrecognised or wrongly processed by the machine. In the absence of a human interlocutor who may be able to adjust to this, this could lead to false outcomes, disengagement and marginalisation. This presentation reports on work carried out by the authors in partnership with healthcare start-up Ufonia. The company has developed a voice assistant, Dora, for carrying out routine clinical conversations across a number of hospital trusts (see Brandt et al. 2023). Using in- sights and methods from Conversation Analysis, the collaboration has worked to ensure that these conversation-framed user activities achieve the institutional aims of the phone-call, while providing an acceptable experience for the user. Specifically, here we report on how the recent adoption of Large Language Model (LLM) technology for carrying out these activities has opened up further opportunities to leverage Applied Linguistics to help train the CUIs in recipient design for L2 users. More information about the project is available here: https://interactionalai.com/

Speaker bio: Spencer Hazel is an Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics & Communication at Newcastle University. Hazel’s research deals with how people interact, both with each other, and with technology such as conversational user interfaces (CUI). Hazel adopts an conversation analytic approach to do so. Currently, he is pursuing research in the use of conversational AI, international workplaces, dementia communication, and theatre settings.

Hazel previously worked as a researcher at the University of Southern Denmark, as research associate for the projects CALPIU (Cultural and Linguistics Practices in the Internationalised University, Roskilde U), LINGCORP (Language and Interaction in the Global Corporate Workplace), and Transient Multilingual Communities, collaborating with researchers from Roskilde University, University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen Business School. Hazel has a background in the performing arts and in language teaching.

Organiser

Multilingualism Research Forum, Jenny Gudmundsen and Haley De Korne

Caregiver-infant turn-taking facilitates communicative development

Vivian Zhang from Cornell University presents her research on how caregiver-infant turn-taking facilitates communicative development

Time and place: June 21, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract: Turn-taking, characterized by rapid exchanges, is found in early caregiver-infant interactions across cultures, and is predictive of infant social, cognitive, and language outcomes. What aspects of caregiver behaviors facilitate these back-and-forth interactions and keep them going? How does the timing of caregiver-infant turn-taking differ across different groups, and what do these differences imply about the underlying mechanism of turn-taking? In this talk, I will review findings from both previous studies and my research on caregiver-infant turn-taking.

Vivian Zhang, a visiting PhD student from Cornell University, studies the turn-taking interactions between parents and children. She is interested in investigating the development of turn-taking across various groups, including bilingual families, and children with autism or down syndrome. She aims to understand how turn-taking facilitates child communicative development.

Organiser

Language and Cognition Forum and Luca Onnis and Natalia Kartushina

Negotiating online identities: The intersection of language, technology and power

Ron Darvin (University of British Columbia, Canada) discusses how applied linguistics research can address the compelling issues of language, technology and identity that confront us in the age of AI

Time and place: June 20, 2024 10:15 AM – 11:30 AM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract

Given the rise of AI and other disruptive technologies that shape the way we perform identities online and offline, this Invited Lecture offers a critical frame through which we can examine digital communication and language learning. Drawing on Darvin and Norton’s (2015) model of investment, it dissects how digital practices are negotiated with platform designs, sociotechnical structures (Darvin, 2023), algorithmic power (Bucher, 2018) and cultures-of-use (Thorne, 2016), and how ideologies and modes of exclusion are woven into these layers of digital mediation. To exercise agency, users need to navigate these entanglements and assemble their material, linguistic, and semiotic resources in ways that enable them to achieve their own intentions online. By engaging with materialist semiotics (Blommaert, 2013), this talk proposes how applied linguistics research can address the compelling issues of language, technology and identity that confront us in the age of AI.

Biography

Ron Darvin is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Language and Literacy Education of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. His research examines issues of language learning identity and investment, digital literacies, materiality and critical pedagogy, and his work has been published in journals such as Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Language Teaching, Language Learning and Technology, and TESOL Quarterly. He is the recipient of the 2020 Dissertation Award of the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) and the 2017 Emerging Scholar Award of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) LSP SIG.

Organiser

Multilingualism Research Forum

Language effects on colour perception

Language and Cognition Forum is happy to announce that PhD student Akvile Sinkevičiūtė (Northeastern University London ) will present her work on bilinguals' colour discrimination at Henrik Wergelands House on June 14th.

Time and place: June 14, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands hus or Zoom (link below)

Abstract

Colour terms divide the colour spectrum differently across languages. The cross linguistic differences in the number of basic colour terms have been suggested to influence speakers’ colour perception (Whorf, 1956), therefore challenging the universal nature of perceptual colour categories (Berlin & Kay, 1991). Previous study by Winawer et al. (2007) has reported that speakers of languages that have different words for light and dark blue (e.g., Russian siniy and goluboy) discriminate colour chips sampled from these two linguistic categories faster than speakers of languages that use one basic colour term for blue (e.g., English blue). Lithuanian is another language that has two blue categories: žydra for lighter blues and mėlyna for darker blues, while Norwegian has one: blå. This indicates that Lithuanians may be faster to discriminate between shades of blue when one shade is light and the other is dark and slower when shades are both light or dark, but Norwegians are likely to discriminate all blue shades at similar speed.

The faster discrimination between blues sampled from two Russian categories has been reported to be disrupted when participants engaged in a verbal interference task, suggesting that active language use can modulate the linguistic category effect (Winawer et al. 2007). Our study provided a stringent test of this hypothesis by examining colour discrimination under verbal interference in bilinguals speaking Lithuanian and Norwegian.

The results revealed that the language activated during verbal interference had a significant impact on bilinguals’ colour discrimination. By comparing Lithuanian and Norwegian monolinguals with Lithuanian–Norwegian bilinguals, we showed that actively using a language during colour discrimination modulates colour perception within the same individuals. Crucially, bilinguals seemed to perceive colours as Lithuanians or as Norwegians depending on the language activated in any moment. These findings offer insights on the impact of language on cognitive processes and perception.

Bio

Akvile is a first-year PhD candidate in Computer Science at Northeastern University London specialising in intergenerational colour communication. She holds an MPhil in Linguistics and Language Acquisition from NTNU. For her MPhil thesis project, in collaboration with Julien Mayor and Natalia Kartushina she examined how language can affect colour perception in Lithuanian-Norwegian bilinguals. Her research interests include colour perception, linguistics, and the cognitive basis of communication, aiming to understand the dynamics of intergenerational colour communication and devise practical solutions for improving communication about colour across different age groups. Her first PhD's study on colour naming is actively collecting data through a web-based experiment. To contribute to research on Norwegian colour names, visit www.colornaming.net/lang/no. For any other inquiries, feel free to reach out to her at as3508phd@students.nulondon.ac.uk.

Organiser

Hanna Andresen, Natalia Kartushina, Luca Onnis

Published June 3, 2024 12:49 PM

From the lab to the class: MA students presentations

Five MA students in Multilingualism will present the results of their psycholinguistic projects as part of the MULTI4150 - Project-based Research in Multilingualism course.

Time and place: June 7, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

First talk: Minds at work: Are executive functions engaged in language switching?

Abstract

While a body of research has investigated whether bi-/ multilingualism improves domain-general executive functions (EFs), recent studies have questioned the more fundamental assumption of whether EFs are involved in daily language switching in the first place. The present study explored the skill learning hypothesis, which proposes that the degree of EF-engagement in bilingual language control depends on factors such as language proficiency and task characteristics, whereby EFs-language switching associations are less likely in high-proficiency bilinguals than in low-proficiency ones, and in between tasks that are structurally different than in tasks that share similar characteristics. To test this hypothesis, we collected data from Norwegian-English bilinguals who performed a cued naming task (CN) and Stroop task. We used the Lexical Test for Advanced Learners of English (LexTALE) to measure their English proficiency. We expected 1) weak or no EF-CN associations in high-proficiency bilinguals but predicted that associations might exist between the Stroop task and CN, given that the Stroop task involves linguistic elements. Contrary to our expectations, our results revealed that even though the Stroop task has a linguistic element, it does not seem similar enough to language switching to prompt significant associations with this group of high-proficiency bilinguals.

Second talk: Common cognitive processes in learning patterns: The impact of multilingual experience

Abstract

The current study explored the possibility of a common cognitive process underlying both statistical and rule learning, challenging the traditional distinction between them. Additionally, it examined the influence of multilingual experience on these mechanisms. Participants engaged in a Transfer Learning Task, first exposed to a sequence of visual stimuli with statistical patterns, and then tested on their ability to transfer these patterns to novel stimuli. Despite inconclusive findings, the preliminary results showed a positive transfer trend in the matching condition, indicating successful application of learned patterns to similar stimuli. Conversely, transfer gains were negative in the non-matching condition, suggesting difficulties in applying learned patterns to different contexts. Moreover, there was a weak but positive correlation between multilingual experience and transfer gains in the matching condition, suggesting that greater multilingual proficiency may enhance pattern recognition and cognitive flexibility. Despite these promising findings, the small sample size calls for further research to confirm these results.

Speakers' information

The speakers are all students of the MA program in Multilingualism: Silvia Allegretta, Sofie Otto, Yueling Xiao, Ana Boskovic, and Jesenka Alic.

Organiser

Multilingualism Research Forum

Knud Knudsen og opphavet til ordet "ordskifte"

Sverre Stausland will present his research on the origin of the word ordskifte

Time and place: May 31, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract in Norwegian: Om folk trur dei veit noko om opphavet åt ordet "ordskifte", er det at Knud Knudsen, "far åt bokmålet", sjølv laga eller fann på denne nemninga. I dette føredraget skal eg syna kva som faktisk er opphavet åt dette ordet, og korleis ordet kom inn i dei norske skriftmåla.

Organiser

General Linguistics Forum and Valentina Alfarano

Perceptual similarity and acoustic variability as filters on tonal variation and change

Professor James Kirby from LMU Munich will present his research on perceptual similarity and acoustic variability as filters on tonal variation and change

Time and place: May 23, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract: In order to reason about the nature and directionality of constraints on tonal variation and change, researchers have typically focused on the comparison of acoustic F0 trajectories in real (or apparent) time, as well as the analysis of patterns of contextual tonal variation. However, like segmental sound change, tone change must ultimately involve perceptual realignment as well as changes in production norms. If there exist regions of greater or lesser perceptual equivalence within the tonal perceptual space, we could then ask whether these correlate with higher or lower regions of acoustic variability in tone pitch trajectories. Establishing this relationship between production and perception is crucial to formulating testable hypotheses about more and less likely patterns of tone change.

In this talk, I present our ongoing work on this topic, focusing on two case studies of Central Thai and Southern Vietnamese. First, we assess the variability of tonal production patterns using kernel density estimates of F0 trajectories extracted from spoken language corpora. In Southern Vietnamese, tonal onsets are found to be the region of greatest variability, while in Thai, the onset is generally a more stable region. Next, using data from a similarity judgment task, we show that the two languages ​​​​also partition the perceptual tonal contour space in different ways. In Thai, the primary dimension of perceptual similarity is rises vs. falls, while in Vietnamese, contours are clustered according to the register of the midpoint (high, mid, or low).

Comparing the production and perception results reveals that the portions of the F0 trajectories with the highest stability across talkers do not correlate straightforwardly with the regions of maximal perceptual salience. The regions of lowest variability in production are almost invariably located from the onset to midpoints of tonal contours, while in perception, listeners of both languages ​​seem to prioritize information in the second half of tone contours, consistent with previous work establishing the relatively greater perceptual salience of F0 offsets. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings for theories of tonal variation and change.

Organiser

General Linguistics Forum and Valentina Alfarano

Analysing language policies in the context of higher education in South Africa: The role of English and indigenous languages

Carmen Sumillera Iglesias presents the outline and methodology of her PhD project about South African language policies in higher education.

Time and place: May 2, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract

In South Africa, the diversity of languages not only adds to its linguistic fabric, but also holds substantial significance for its academic and social-cultural dimensions. As one of the countries in the world with more officially recognized languages, South Africa has 12 languages, including English, Afrikaans (of European origin), nine Bantu (indigenous) languages, and sign language. Despite this expected multilingualism, English prevails in higher education spheres and other institutional forces of the country because, even though indigenous languages are highly valued as markers of identity, it can be argued that they are not often considered to be the optimal vehicle for teaching and learning (Parmegiani, 2014; Rudwick, 2008). Language policies aim at boosting and ensuring the use of one or more languages that coexist under the same jurisdiction. In South Africa’s case, both the current legislation and the Language Policy Framework for Public Higher Education Institutions (2020) vindicate the use of indigenous languages in public universities to guarantee the right to access universities of every citizen. With this context in mind, a case study of two South African universities will shed light on the impact that language policies have in the use of native tongues as well as the role that English plays in academia.

In this talk, I will present the outline and methodology of my PhD project, which is still in the initial stage. The study focuses on examining the impact that language policies have on the South African higher education context.

References

Language Policy Framework for Public Higher Education Institutions (2020). Department of Higher Education and Training (South Africa). http://www.gpwonline.co.za

Parmegiani, A. (2014). The (dis)ownership of English: language and identity construction among Zulu students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 17(6), 683-694, https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2014.953775

Rudwick, S. (2008). ‘Coconuts’ and ‘oreos’: English-speaking Zulu people in South African township. World Englishes, 27(1), pp. 101-116.

Biography

Carmen Sumillera Iglesias is a predoctoral research fellow at the University of Salamanca (Spain) and a member of the LINDES research group from the same institution. She is a recipient of a doctoral training contract from the Spanish Ministry of Universities. Considering South African speakers’ language attitudes towards English and native tongues as well as the initiatives to implement language policies in higher education institutions, her PhD project aims to analyse the impact that such policies have on South African universities.

Organiser

Multilingualism Research Forum

The impact of L1 use on corrective feedback uptake targeting pronunciation amongst Italian ESL learners in online 1-to-1 classes

Ilaria Marazzina will present her ongoing Master's project on first language use in second language teaching.

Time and place: Apr. 26, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract:

This mixed-methods, action research study investigated the effect of utilising adult learners' first language for corrective feedback interactions targeting pronunciation, during online, 1-to-1 classes. Matched pairs of adult, Italian learners of English as a second language (N= 10) participated in a six-week, pronunciation course intervention via Zoom, instructed by a bilingual teacher-researcher in either English and Italian (+L1) or English only (-L1) conditions. Participants undertook pre-tests and post-tests before and after the course, comprised of two sets of Elicited Imitation and Elicited Reading tasks. The course sessions were video-recorded, transcribed, and analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Descriptive statistics regarding the number of corrective feedback episodes, the type and language of the corrective feedback, and whether participants exhibited corrective feedback uptake were produced; in addition to inferential statistics obtained from paired samples t-tests conducted on the pre-test and post-test data. The course session transcripts, the researcher’s field notes, and the post-course questionnaire responses were also thematically coded in order to shed light on any affective factors that may interact with the perception of first language-use in second language instruction. The results of the quantitative analyses revealed that all participants obtained higher post-test scores in the Elicited Imitation task, with a higher statistical significance of improvement for participants in the +L1 condition. It was also shown that participants receiving both English and Italian corrective feedback exhibited higher rates of corrective feedback uptake than their peers in the English only condition, despite error types made, and corrective techniques used being roughly equal across both conditions. Moreover, the qualitative analyses confirmed a limited but functional use of the learners’ L1 in the +L1 condition, predominantly for translating and explaining L2 concepts, as well for making L1-L2 linguistic comparisons, which the participants reported to be beneficial for their understanding. The findings provide support for a ‘disciplined’ use of L1 in L2 teaching, in line with translanguaging pedagogical approaches.

Author biography:

Ilaria Marazzina is a bilingual English-Italian professional language teacher who has been working in language education both in classrooms and online with international students for over 8 years. Currently, she is completing her Master’s degree in Multilingualism at the University of Oslo, following her previous studies in Linguistics and Cultural Mediation at the University of Milan. She is passionate about bridging the gap between academic research in Second Language Acquisition and language teaching practices, with a particular focus on didactics, educational technologies and multilingualism as a resource. Last year, she collaborated on a UiO research project investigating the role of individual differences in L2 speech production.

Organiser

Multilingualism Research Forum

The grammar of fake news: Evidence from English and Russian

Nele Põldvere and Elizaveta Kibisova present their research on the grammatical differences between fake and genuine news in English and Russian.

Time and place: Apr. 19, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract: In this talk, we present preliminary findings from the Fakespeak project (funded by The Research Council of Norway) on the grammatical differences between fake and genuine news in English and Russian. Grammatical features are well suited as input for automatic fake news detection systems because they can be easily identified and because, in linguistics, they have been shown to reveal systematic differences between registers of language use. The methodological approach is Multidimensional Analysis, a robust corpus-based register analysis of grammatical features, which originated in English. The approach takes as its starting point large corpora of fake and genuine news, which in Fakespeak we have collected and classified based on the veracity labels of fact-checkers in English (PolitiFact) and Russian (Provereno.media). We start the talk by presenting the methodological approach and its applications in English register studies. Then, we present the preliminary findings in Russian, and, finally, we lay out our future plans for extending the studies both in English and Russian.

Organiser

General Linguistics Forum and Valentina Alfarano

“Don’t judge a book by its cover”: Why the use of eye-tracking is useful in the investigation of bilingual children’s conceptualization

Hanna Andresen presents parts of her PhD project and discusses the significance of investigating bilingual children's conceptualization.

Time and place: Apr. 12, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract

“Don’t judge a book by its cover”: Why the use of eye-tracking is useful in the investigation of bilingual children’s conceptualization

While previous studies on bilingual children have mostly focused on morpho-syntactic phenomena (cf., Engemann, 2022), in this talk I focus on the importance of additionally investigating their conceptualization. Around the world – also in Norway – people get discriminated or judged because of their linguistic behavior or “shortcomings” (as discussed by Olszewska & Opsahl, 2024). In other words, people get judged based on their linguistic performance, or “surface language”.

In the talk, I present a study on how simultaneous bilingual Norwegian-English children conceptualize goal-oriented motion events in their two languages, which have different, and partly conflicting, language-specific conceptualization patterns (Andresen, Delucchi & Mertins, submitted). Are the bilingual children able to acquire two different perspectivations of the same event – and what do the results tell us about the relation between “surface language” and conceptual competence? I show the significance of using methodologies such as eye-tracking and memory tests in addition to the linguistic data – to be able to “look under the surface” – and to tell a different story of children's bilingualism.

References:

Andresen, H., Delucchi Danhier, R., & Mertins, B. (submitted). Dominant-while-speaking. How Norwegian-English children conceptualize motion events.

Engemann, H. (2022). How (not) to cross a boundary: Crosslinguistic influence in simultaneous bilingual children’s event construal. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 25, 42–54. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728921000298

Olszewska, A., & Opsahl, T. (2024). “If you don’t speak Norwegian well, they think you are stupid”: Experiencing and responding to linguistic racism by Polish migrant workers in Norway. Multilingualism Research Forum (2024-04-05), MultiLing, University of Oslo.

Organiser

Language and Cognition Forum

“If you don’t speak Norwegian well, they think you are stupid”: Experiencing and responding to linguistic racism by Polish migrant workers in Norway

Aleksandra Ita Olszewska and Toril Opsahl present a narrative study of Polish migrant workers’ lived experiences at the intersection of linguistic racism and Whiteness, organized by the Multilingualism Research Forum

Time and place: Apr. 5, 2024 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract:

Although Poles constitute the largest migration community in Norway, they sometimes remain invisibly present in language policies and practices (Opsahl, 2021). Studies have also shown that Polish migrants tend to be stigmatized (van Riemsdijk, 2013; Sapieżynska, 2022), exploited on economic basis (Rye & Andrzejewska, 2010), and overlooked in integration policies, specifically, language courses, which are aimed at non-EU citizens only (Gmaj, 2018). As language is assumed to be crucial for professional success, the knowledge of Norwegian or lack thereof may include or exclude individuals from professional spaces in Norway (Kraft, 2019).

This qualitative study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) adopts an emic perspective and examines how Polish migrants to Norway linguistically navigate the workplace and make sense of their experiences. Guided by the constructs of linguistic racism (Dovchin, 2020; Olszewska, 2022; Tankosić & Dovchin, 2021) and Whiteness (Andersson & Rye, 2023; Fylkesnes et al., 2024; Thomas et al., 2023; van Riemsdijk, 2010), this paper drew upon narrative inquiry (De Fina, 2021) to gain in-depth understandings of participants’ perspectives and stories.

Through convenience and purposeful sampling, 22 participants with a wide array of jobs were recruited, each of whom was of Polish background, was employed in Norway, and used Norwegian at work. The data included semi-structured individual and focus group interviews, surveys, and researcher’s reflexive journal. However, interviews played the leading role as “[at] the root of in-depth interviewing is an interest in understanding the lived experience of other people and the meaning they make of that experience” (Seidman, 2013, p. 9) which aligned with the goal of our work.

Findings of this study provide nuanced insights into Polish migrants’ linguistic realities in the workplace. Specifically, the study demonstrated: (a) how participants experienced various types of linguistic racism and (b) how participants responded by either denying, rationalizing, opposing, and challenging linguistic racism.

Results of this study can be helpful in addressing Polish migrants' needs in creating linguistically just workplace settings for Polish migrants by, for example, designing and organizing workshops for Norwegian employers. A better understanding of Polish migrants’ perspectives in Norway may lead to a more inclusive integration and better mutual understanding between Poles and Norwegians.

Bios:

Aleksandra Ita Olszewska currently works as postdoctoral research fellow at MultiLing, Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo. She is part of the project NorPol: Second‐Language Communication in Workplace Settings—The Case of Polish Migrants in Norway. Aleksandra received her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction with a specialization in ESOL and bilingual education from the University of Florida in 2020 as a Fulbright scholar from Poland. Aleksandra’s research interests include migration, multilingualism, bi/multilingual education, teacher education, humanizing and arts-based research methods, and socially just pedagogies.

Toril Opsahl is a professor of Scandinavian linguistics and Norwegian as a second language at MultiLing, Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo. She serves as PI of the project NorPol: Second‐Language Communication in Workplace Settings—The Case of Polish Migrants in Norway, funded by the Research Council of Norway (2020–2024). Her research interests include SLA, multilingualism, ideologies and language policies, the grammar–pragmatics interface, interactional sociolinguistics, and urban speech styles.

Organiser

Multilingualism Research Forum

Extraordinary Language and Cognition/EyeHub Lecture: Professor Debra Titone

EyeHub, in collaboration with the Language Research Forum, is delighted to announce that Professor Debra Titone (McGill University, Department of Psychology) will give an extraordinary talk at Henrik Wergelands house March 15th.

Time and place: Mar. 15, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands hus, MultiLing meeting room 421, or Zoom

Abstract

Title of talk: Reading­-To­-Think: How We Generate Social or Other Inferences In A First And Second Language

Language use is inherently social (reviewed in Titone & Tiv, 2023, Bilingualism: Language & Cognition). Thus, most of us reason and make social decisions every day based on what we read in a first or second language (also known as theory of mind, mentalizing, perspective taking, etc.). Major research areas within the cognitive and neural sciences separately illuminate the cognitive mechanisms of reading (e.g., decoding words, sentences, and discourse) and thinking (e.g., inferencing, reasoning, decision making). In this talk, I will discuss new eye-tracking work from my lab that addresses how multilingual adults read-to-think in their first and second language, as it pertains to multi­sentence texts that require logical, mentalizing, or ironic inferences. As part of this, I will also explore how individual differences in social language use, as reflected by language entropy (e.g., Gullifer & Titone, 2020, Bilingualism: Language & Cognition), modulate eye-movement reading patterns.

Reference to Subkinds

Qiongpeng Luo will present his research about developing an explicit, formal semantics for the construction of subkinds in natural language.

Time and place: Mar. 8, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

In this talk, I motivate and develop an explicit, formal semantics for the construction of subkinds in natural language. The primary data come from the manifestations of Bolinger's Contrast across languages. After establishing that adjectival modification structures are instances of kind modification, I contend that what lies beneath the (cross-linguistically robust and stable) contrast is the demarcation between well-established subkinds (WEKs) and ad hoc subkinds (AHKs). Although both WEKs and AHKs are grammatically relevant means to constructing subkinds from kinds, the former name institutionalized, pre-established subkinds with distinguishing properties, while the latter are used to impute to the kinds under discussion some contextually imposed-upon properties and to construct subkinds in an ad hoc way. In the talk, I will offer a partition-based, compositional semantics for subkind reference and discuss its theoretical and empirical implications.

About the speaker : Qiongpeng Luo is a Professor of Linguistics at the School of Liberal Arts, Nanjing University. His research areas include formal semantics and syntax-semantics interface. He is visiting the Department of Linguistic and Nordic Studies of UiO under a Norwegian-Chinese Government Exchange Fellowship.

Organiser

General Linguistics Forum and Valentina Alfarano

‘Can I write Arabic here?’: mobilizing the chat function to solve metalinguistic trouble in a video-mediated L2 context

Jenny Gudmundsen and Jessica Pedersen Belisle Hansen present a conversation analysis of second language communication in a video-mediated environment

Time and place: Mar. 1, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract:

In this paper, we investigate how participants in a second language (L2) learning context use a wide range of semiotic resources, such as gaze, gestures and the chat function, during repair organization in a video-mediated environment. Drawing on multimodal Conversation Analysis (CA), the study explores screen recordings of naturally occurring interactions in a digital language café. Language cafés are arenas where L2 users can socialize and practice a new language with first language-speaking (L1) volunteers without a set agenda other than just to talk. Because of social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic and technological advances, many language cafés and language tutoring sessions moved online (e.g. Malabarba et al., 2022).

Based on the analysis of a single case, this paper analyses a prolonged repair sequence in which the L2 speaker of Norwegian teaches the L1 speaker of Norwegian about the Arabic script. The topic causing challenges is a letter in the Arabic alphabet. The participants draw upon gesture-talk combinations (Eskildsen & Wagner, 2015) and the chat function in the videoconference platform to collaboratively achieve mutual understanding. The findings demonstrate that the chat function’s affordances of writing and visualizing Arabic letters contribute to solve metalinguistic problems and provide support for the participants' metalinguistic practices. In addition, the paper discusses how the “fractured ecologies” (Luff et al., 2003) of video-mediated interaction might challenge how participants perceive and interpret each other’s actions and practices. Finally, we discuss analytical challenges posed by the asymmetric nature (Arminen et al., 2016) of the video-mediated environment.

The findings contribute to our understanding about how participants draw on embodied, verbal and screen-based resources to establish mutual understanding and create moments of language learning in the ‘polyfocal’ setting (Thorne & Hellermann, 2022) of video-mediated interaction (Çolak & Balaman, 2022; Dooly & Tudini, 2022; Uskokovic & Talehgani-Nikazm, 2022). The study provides new empirical insights on how interactants’ multimodal practices may be shaped by the affordances and constraints of video-mediated settings.

References

Arminen, I., Licoppe, C., & Spagnolli, A. (2016). Respecifying Mediated Interaction. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 49(4), 290–309. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2016.1234614

Çolak, F., & Balaman, U. (2022). The use of online dictionaries in video-mediated L2 interactions for the social accomplishment of Virtual Exchange tasks. System, 106, 102772. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2022.102772

Dooly, M., & Tudini, V. (2022). ‘We should google that’: The dynamics of knowledge-in-interaction in an online student meeting. Classroom Discourse, 13(2), 188–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/19463014.2021.2023596

Eskildsen, S. W., & Wagner, J. (2015). Embodied L2 Construction Learning: Embodied L2 Construction Learning. Language Learning, 65(2), 268–297. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12106

Luff, P., Heath, C., Kuzuoka, H., Hindmarsh, J., Yamazaki, K., & Oyama, S. (2003). Fractured Ecologies: Creating Environments for Collaboration. Human–Computer Interaction, 18(1–2), 51–84. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327051HCI1812_3

Malabarba, T., Mendes, A. C. O., & de Souza, J. (2022). Multimodal Resolution of Overlapping Talk in Video-Mediated L2 Instruction. Languages, 7(2), 154. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7020154

Thorne, S. L., & Hellermann, J. (2022). Coda: The interactional affordances and constraints of technology-rich teaching and learning environments. Classroom Discourse, 13(2), 231–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/19463014.2022.2071959

Uskokovic, B., & Talehgani-Nikazm, C. (2022). Talk and Embodied Conduct in Word Searches in Video-Mediated Interactions. Social Interaction. Video-Based Studies of Human Sociality, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.7146/si.v5i2.130876

Author biographies:

Jenny Gudmundsen (first author) is a PhD fellow at Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (MutliLing) at University of Oslo. Her PhD-project deals with how people interact in digital language cafés, arenas where second language users practice their new language with first language-speaking volunteers. Using Conversation Analysis with a multimodal approach, she investigates how participants co-construct social practices when encountering language-related issues in video-mediated settings.

E-mail: jenny.gudmundsen@iln.uio.no

Jessica Pedersen Belisle Hansen (co-author) is Associate Professor at Østfold University College. In her PhD project, she investigated the organization of video-mediated interpreting in hospital encounters using multimodal conversation analysis. Her research includes interaction in classroom settings, interaction in hospital settings, multimodal interaction and mediated interaction.

E-mail: jessica.p.hansen@hiof.no

Organiser

Multilingualism Research Forum

The role of face emojis in speech act marking

Patrick Georg Grosz presents his research on the role of face emojis in speech act marking, organized by the General Linguistics Forum

Time and place: Feb. 16, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract: Emojis are a human-made artifact that fills a communicative gap in written digital communication (see, e.g., Gawne & McCulloch 2019). Face emojis consistently amount to ~50% of the most frequently used 50 emojis, plausibly reflecting the use of face emojis as digital written counterparts of facial expressions (see, e.g., Maier 2023). This talk focuses on the role of face emojis in speech act marking. Imperative clauses (e.g. "call me!") are notoriously underspecified with regards to the speech act that they encode (Command, Permission, Request, Invitation, etc.), see Kaufmann (2012:169). Face emojis can disambiguate the speech act of an imperative. Since face emojis predominantly express emotive meaning (see Grosz et al. 2023), the fact that they disambiguate speech acts entails that emotive devices can play a role in speech-act marking. I propose to analyze face emojis as speech act cues (Grosz 2014): they do not semantically encode speech act information, but their emotive meanings support some speech acts while blocking others. We expect that facial expressions may exhibit a similar inference from emotive meaning (see Scherer et al. 2018) to speech-act disambiguation.

Organiser

General Linguistics Forum and Valentina Alfarano/Eline Visser

Language learning and forced migration

Guri Bordal Steien will present her longitudinal study of refugee learners of Norwegian, organized by the Multilingualism Research Forum

Time and place: Feb. 2, 2024 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

The aim of this talk is to reply to the several recent calls within SLA to focus more on societal impact by drawing attention to the needs of different learner groups. I am concerned with a group of learners—adult resettlement refugees with limited prior schooling—who have received limited attention in the field. At the same time, language learning is arguably particularly pressing for this group. In this talk, I present ethnographic research on the basic literacy learning of Nora, a resettlement refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo via Uganda to Norway. Based on Nora’s story, I argue that the precarity of the refugee condition—before and after resettlement—should be addressed to better understand refugees’ needs as language learners.

Speaker bio: Guri Bordal Steien is a professor of linguistics at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences. She was a postdoctoral fellow at MultiLing in 2013–2016. Currently, she is researching resettlement refugees form the Democratic Republic of the Congo via Uganda’s processes of learning Norwegian in (and outside) of the Introduction Programme.

Organiser

Multilingualism Research Forum and Haley De Korne

Branding Tøyensk: Register Grafting and Lexical Convergence in a Gentrifying Oslo Neighborhood

Janet Connor presents her ethnographic research on communication, diversity and convergence in the central Oslo neighborhood of Tøyen, organized by the Multilingualism Research Forum

Time and place: Jan. 31, 2024 1:15 PM – 2:15 PM, Henrik Wergelands Hus 421

Abstract: Most studies of multilingual urban communities focus on variation and (super)diversity of linguistic practices. While this trend is understandable, in this talk I will argue that we need to also look at the unexpected moments of homogeneity. I draw on ethnographic research in the central Oslo neighborhood of Tøyen, where I found that seemingly opposed groups, from local activists to real estate developers, spoke about the neighborhood in the same ways, using the same key terms. Using Gal (2018)’s concept of grafting, I show how lexical convergence becomes a tool through which different actors work to make themselves, and their visions for the neighborhood, authoritative.

Biography: Janet joined the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics as an Assistant Professor in 2021. Before Leiden, she received a joint PhD in Anthropology and Linguistics from the University of Chicago. She has conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Oslo as a former MultiLing affiliate. Janet’s research focuses on how language practices are important to citizenship and belonging, paying particular attention to forms of listening and uptake.

Organiser

Multilingualism Research Forum and Haley De Korne

2023

Corpus-based computational dialectology: Data, methods and results
By Yves Scherrer (IFI).

Time and place: Dec. 15, 2023 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, PAM 4

The CorCoDial (corpus-based computational dialectology) project aims to infer dialect classifications from variation-rich corpora, focusing in particular on the dialect-to-standard normalization task to introduce comparability between different texts. In this talk, I will present several case studies focusing mainly on the Finnish, Norwegian and Swiss German dialect landscapes. In the first study, we investigate to what extent topic models can find dialectological rather than semantic topics. In the second study, we formulate the dialect-to-standard normalization task as a neural machine translation problem and investigate what the embeddings of speaker labels tell us about the origin of the speakers. If time permits, I will also talk about the use of automatic character alignment for the induction of phonological and morphological variation patterns.

Comparative research on Reefs-Santa Cruz and why it matters for theories of language change, grammatical relations and the history of Oceanic

By Valentina Alfarano and Åshild Næss.

Time and place: Nov. 3, 2023 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM, PAM 4

In this talk, we will present ongoing research on the Reefs-Santa Cruz (RSC) language group, and outline why it is significant for historical and typological research on Oceanic languages. RSC belongs to a subgroup that stems from a very early migration from the Proto Oceanic homeland, and the languages in it shows significant internal variation. In particular, they can shed light on the transition from the so-called symmetrical voice system found in languages in the western Austronesian area to the system of grammaticalised transitivity and accusative alignment that characterises most Oceanic languages. While Äiwoo (Reefs) retains a simplified version of a symmetrical voice system, and so can be seen as a transitional language with a symmetrical voice system and Oceanic morphology, the Santa Cruz languages appear to retain certain voice-like characteristics in otherwise largely transitivity-based systems. Understanding the historical processes that have led to this situation may shed light on processes that shape systems of clausal organisation and changes from one type of system to another more generally.

Two types of extraction asymmetries in Javanese applicatives

Our ex-colleague Jozina Vander Klok from Humboldt University Berlin is visiting to talk about Javanese applicatives in (formal) syntactic and semantic terms.

Time and place: Oct. 27, 2023 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, PAM 4

There are two applicative constructions in Javanese, the 'benefactive' and the 'locative' applicative. We observe two types of extraction asymmetries in Javanese applicatives: (i) where only the applied object can be extracted from an NP+NP (or double object) construction for both applicative types, and (ii) where only the theme verbal object from a 'benefactive' applicative construction can be extracted with NP+PP post-verbal word order.

I argue that the first asymmetry is due to both applicative types having a low applicative structure, providing further cross-linguistic support for Jerro (2020) that the semantic role type is not inherently linked to a syntactic construction.  As for the second asymmetry, I propose that benefactive and locative applicative structures diverge when the applied argument is headed by a PP: Benefactives allow for the theme verbal object to be in Spec,LApplP, while locatives do not, rendering the Theme verbal object inaccessible for movement. 

Universal and definite when-clauses in Indo-European and beyond – A study in token-based typology

By Dag Haug.

Time and place: Oct. 20, 2023 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, PAM 4

In this talk I explore the distinction between universal and definite interpretations of WHEN-clauses. This is lexicalized in some well-known languages, such as German (wenn/als), but not much discussed in the typological literature. Through semantic maps extracted from a massive parallel corpus of Bible texts (Mayer and Cysouw 2014), I show, following Haug and Pedrazzini (2023), that it is a wide-spread distinction. Moreover, there is a parallel distinction between universal and definite interpretations of correlatives and headless relative clauses, which are often source constructions for WHEN-clauses. In correlatives, this distinction is predictable from the (historical) morphology of the relativizer, as shown by Belyaev and Haug 2020. I explore whether WHEN-clauses display a similar connection between morphology and meaning.

Belyaev, O. and Haug, D. (2020), The genesis and typology of correlatives, Language 96.

Haug, D. and Pedrazzini, N. (2023), The semantic map of when and its typological parallels, manuscript under review.

Mayer, T. and Cysouw, M. (2014). Creating a massively parallel Bible corpus. In Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC’14)

Parsing, fast and slow: a two-system approach to some problems in linguistics

Jamie Y. Findlay explores the idea that the distinction between fast/automatic and slow/deliberate thought processes can be drawn inside the domain of language processing.

Time and place: Oct. 6, 2023 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, PAM 4

Daniel Kahneman's influential book Thinking, fast and slow brought to popular attention the so-called 'dual process' theory from psychology. This posits that there are two distinct kinds of thought process: a fast, intuitive, automatic kind (System 1), and a slow, deliberative, controlled kind (System 2). It also suggests that the two can be in conflict, and that, despite what economists might like to believe about 'rational actors', we rely on the former kind of thinking rather more than the latter. Parsing, i.e. the processing of linguistic information, is generally seen as being of the automatic, System 1 type, but in this talk I explore the idea that the same distinction, between fast/automatic and slow/deliberate processes, can equally well be drawn inside the domain of language processing, and that it offers a useful explanatory lens through which to re-contextualise some well-studied linguistic phenomena (such as the nature of literary language), as well as the recent rise of Large Language Models. It also further contributes to the debate around experimental research methodologies in theoretical linguistics -- namely whether we really know what processes such experiments are in fact probing.

Meaning beyond Truth Conditions: Expressives, Personas, Affect

Elin McCready (Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan) considers aspects of linguistic meaning that require the analyst to go beyond the idea of truth conditions.

Time and place: Sep. 8, 2023 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, PAM 4

Three kinds of meaning are considered: expressive meaning, social meanings in the sense of indexation of personas, and the generation of affect. She presents a characterization of each meaning type together with the kind of formal analysis that’s been proposed and some empirical motivation: slurs and honorifics (for expressive content), social personas as indexed in speech overtly or covertly (via dogwhistling), and the interpretation of literary text.

This is a joint event between ILN's Departmental linguistics seminars and IFIKK's The future of pragmatics lecture series.

Post-verbal subjects in an SV language

In this talk, Linn Iren Sjånes Rødvand presents data from the underdescribed Austronesian language Patani.

Time and place: June 9, 2023 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, PAM2

In this talk, I explore the use of post-verbal subject pronouns (VSpro) in Patani (South Halmahera-West New Guinea, Austronesian). VSpro is a surprising phenomenon in Patani, which otherwise displays SV order. In interpreting occurrences of VSpro, predicate class plays a crucial role. VSpro is attested with controlled events (motion and location verbs – called Active verbs in Patani) on the one hand, and uncontrolled events (called non-Active) on the other. When VSpro occurs with a motion or location verb, it seems to express finality, as in (2) below, or unexpectedness.

1) m-fyan            nniy                             2)        m-fyan             aw       to

    2SG-go           COAST                                   2SG-go           2SG     already

    ‘you went coastwards’                                  ‘you’re gone’ (you’re not coming back)

With non-Active predicates on the other hand, no difference in meaning from its (S)V counterpart is detected. I propose that VSpro with such predicates can be understood as relics of an earlier system of semantic or active alignment (Croft 2022), which is still found in other languages in the region (see Klamer 2008, Holton 2008, Schapper 2015). This means that even though they are formally similar, VSpro-Active and VSpro-non-Active are in fact two different constructions.

Reconsidering the IPA Vowel Quadrilateral

Stefano Coretta (Edinburgh) will give a guest lecture about why the IPA vowel chart doesn't work

Time and place: May 26, 2023 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, PAM2

The IPA vowel chart is among one of the very first tools we learn as linguists. Linguistics students are asked to memorise the vocalic symbols and their position in the chart. Specifically, they are taught that the vertical axis of the chart corresponds to vocalic height distinctions and that the horizontal axis of the chart corresponds to frontness distinctions. These axioms (plus others) are imparted without allowing for any critique.
 
However, since the very inception of the IPA, the characteristics of the vowel chart in particular have been put under the spotlight of an attempted debate (which seems to have been dismissed by the IPA committee of the time), initiated by at least two authors: Göran Hammarström in 1973 and Michael Ashby in 1989. More recently, Geoff Lindsey has criticised the traditional IPA vowel chart (by also invoking Peter Ladefoged's own critique) and proposed an alternative that commits to being a better representation of the vocalic acoustic space as we understand it from the measurements of formants.
 
This talk will review the critiques of these and other authors and the main characteristics of the acoustic and articulatory space of vowels in support of Lindsey proposal. Specifically, we will see how the overall acoustic vocalic space of human languages is triangular and not trapezoid (as Daniel Jones would want us to believe) and how a triangular vowel chart solves the issue of descriptive phoneticians when they are faced with the choice of picking a vowel symbol for a particular vocalic sound.

Introducing Autophon: Automatic phonetic annotation of Nordic languages

Nate Young has made an app that could make the lives of those interested in sound change in Scandinavian a lot easier. Come and see the beta version presented!

Time and place: May 12, 2023 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, PAM2

This talk introduces the beta web application autophon.se that simultaneously (1) offers new phonetic annotation models for the three main Nordic languages and (2) houses these models within a user-friendly OS-agnostic web interface. The contextual background for this tool is that time-stamped phonetic annotations are required for any acoustic-phonetic analysis. For analyses of systematic sound change, extraordinarily large amounts of such annotations are required. For the Nordic languages, most such annotations are still executed manually due to a technological gap in so-called "forced alignment" technology. Manual annotation is both time-consuming and expensive, so this has limited acoustic-phonetic work on spontaneous speech in our region. The app presented in this talk is a preliminary step in closing that gap. Although it is in beta, autophon will be showcased, and I will elicit feedback to help pave a clearer way for further refinement and development. An additional goal of the talk is to make colleagues aware of a tool that – even in beta form – may already be useful for their current research endeavors.

Combined calls in primates and birds

Camille Coye (Institut Jean Nicod, École Normale Supérieure, Paris) is a visiting researcher at the Super Linguistics research group. She works on animal communication.

Time and place: Apr. 28, 2023 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, PAM2

Numerous animal species combine calls into larger structures. Recently, a line of research emerged, which relies on interdisciplinary collaborations between linguists and biologists to characterize such animal systems precisely. The goal is (i) to better understand how these systems work and (ii) to assess whether they display any rudimentary parallels with language. I will present two sets of studies investigating the combined calls of a primate (the Diana monkey) and a bird (the Japanese tit) and summarise some of the most recent advances in the field of animal linguistics.

Semantic differences in visually similar face emoji

Lea Fricke, Patrick Grosz & Tatjana Scheffler.

Time and place: Apr. 14, 2023 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, PAM1

Are face emojis linguistic signals or merely text-accompanying pictures?

In this talk, Lea Fricke, Patrick Grosz and Tatjana Scheffler present recent experimental work from the ViCom project Semantics and Pragmatics of Emojis in Digital Communication. They investigate semantic differences in two groups of visually similar emoji pairs: Emoji pairs with a small visual difference that either does or does not correspond to a difference in a human facial expression according to an adaptation of the Facial Action Coding System for emojis by Fugate & Franco (2021). Their results show that the small difference between the two emojis of a pair creates a difference in meaning. The results support a lexicalist approach to emoji semantics, which treats face emojis as conventionalized linguistic signals (Grosz et al. 2023).

Presupposition projection: Let's test again!

Saeedeh Salimifar talks about presupposition projection:

Time and place: Mar. 17, 2023 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, PAM2

The idiosyncratic behaviour of presupposition triggers with regards to projection has given rise to various experimental investigations. For instance, while the semi-factive predicate realize presupposes the truth of its complement clause in a sentence like ‘she didn’t realize that I have not told the truth’, it merely points to a possibility in ‘if I realize later that I have not told the truth, I will confess it to everyone’ (Karttunen 1971b, p.5). As a result, several experiments focus, to a degree, on a more heterogeneous selection of triggers to demonstrate this variability in presupposition projection (e.g., Xue and Onea (2011), Smith and Hall (2011), Tonhauser et al. (2018)), whereas others are more centred around the clause-embedding predicates to, among other things, attempt to distinguish the so-called factive predicates from the non-factive predicates using their projection behaviour (e.g., de Marneffe et al. (2019), Degen and Tonhauser (2021)).

In this study, I focus on a number of lexical and structural triggers that have been left out of such experimental inquiries. The result of the experiment supports the hypothesis that variability in degrees of projectivity is not limited to only a number of triggers. All triggers, even the ones that are placed in the same group, hold this characteristic. Given the little context that participants are presented with, we argue that the observed variability indicates the important role of context in the projection behaviour of triggers. Thus, following such experiments with a corpus study to investigate naturally occurring data and discover the actual factors that affect the projection behaviour of triggers and cause this variability will be extremely beneficial. 

Relevance Theory, Lexical Insertion and the Syntax-Pragmatics Interface

What’s in a ‘verb’? Is there some lexical content which marks a word as a ‘verb’ or ‘noun’, or even a single level of analysis at which we could define them? Evidence from multiple fields of linguistics suggests not.

Time and place: Feb. 17, 2023 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, PAM1

In this talk, Biu Rainey will be giving an overview of their thesis, which draws on elements of Relevance Theory, Dynamic Syntax and Cognitive Grammar to construct an new account of word class: the phenomena associated with class are ostensive cues, with which a speaker can guide inferential reasoning on the part of a listener. Pragmatic and syntactic capacity work in tandem, each constraining the other and providing context to a parse. These processes are then subject to interacting processes of entrenchment (in the mind) and conventionalization (across a community). Biu will be presenting theoretical work outlining core ideas, as well as some proposed experimental work looking at how young children understand novel and familiar words when used verbally and then nominally.

Field report

In this informal seminar, Eline Visser will report about her last field trip to the Indonesian Karas Islands, where she gathered data on the previously undocumented language Uruangnirin. She'll talk about language endangerment, fieldwork methods, Uruangnirin grammatical relations, some other preliminary findings and whatever else comes up.

Time and place: Feb. 3, 2023 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, PAM1

Two talks on Norwegian gender

Elena Varona and Margareta Berg (master students at ILN) practice their presentations for the ConSOLE conference. Elena will talk about grammatical gender selection in Spanish-Norwegian code switching and Margareta will discuss attitudes towards gender neutral pronouns in Norwegian.

Time and place: Jan. 20, 2023 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM, PAM1

This seminar will consist of two talks given in English by two MA students to prepare for presenting at ConSOLE.

Margareta will present the research she carried out in her BA thesis, where she explored the attitudes towards and use of gender-neutral pronouns. She also explored how speakers of Norwegian feel about the insertion of a gender-neutral pronoun in the language. In this talk, she discusses her findings, which had a great diversity, though there were more positive attitudes than expected. Speakers of Norwegian were generally accepting to the insertion of hen ‘they (singular)’ and thought it would have a positive effect on our society.

Elena will talk about her BA thesis as well. She looked into grammatical gender selection (masculine or feminine) of Norwegian nouns by native speakers of Spanish when code-switching. The results agreed with previous literature that argues for masculine gender to be the default. However, there are other factors at play, as the phonological shape of the word and the gender of the translation equivalent seem to also affect the gender selection.