Developmental Psycholinguistics: On-line methods in Children's language processing (Language Acquisition and Language Disorders)

211 Pages·2008·2.53 MB·English

by  Irina A. Sekerina

Developmental Psycholinguistics
Language Acquisition and Language Disorders
(LALD)
Volumes in this series provide a forum for research contributing to theories of
language acquisition (first and second, child and adult), language learnability,
language attrition and language disorders.
Editor
Harald Clahsen Lydia White
University of Essex McGill University
Editorial Board
Melissa F. Bowerman Luigi Rizzi
Max Planck Institut für Psycholinguistik, University of Siena
Nijmegen
Bonnie D. Schwartz
Katherine Demuth University of Hawaii at Manoa
Brown University
Antonella Sorace
Wolfgang U. Dressler University of Edinburgh
Universität Wien
Karin Stromswold
Nina Hyams Rutgers University
University of California at Los Angeles
Jürgen Weissenborn
Jürgen M. Meisel Universität Potsdam
Universität Hamburg
Frank Wijnen
William O’Grady Utrecht University
University of Hawaii
Mabel Rice
University of Kansas
Volume 44
Developmental Psycholinguistics. On-line methods in children’s language
processing
Edited by Irina A. Sekerina, Eva M. Fernández and Harald Clahsen
Developmental Psycholinguistics
On-line methods in children’s language processing
Edited by
Irina A. Sekerina
City University New York
Eva M. Fernández
City University New York
Harald Clahsen
University of Essex
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8
American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Developmental psycholinguistics : on-line methods in children's language processing /
edited by Irina A. Sekerina, Eva M. Fernández, Harald Clahsen.
p. cm. (Language Acquisition and Language Disorders, issn 0925-0123 ; v. 44)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Language acquisition--Data processing. 2. Language acquisition--Research-
-Methodology. I. Sekerina, I. A. (Irina A.), 1961- II. Fernández, Eva M. III.
Clahsen, Harald.
P118.3.D487 2008
401'.930285--dc22 2007038990
isbn 978 90 272 5304 0 (Hb; alk. paper)
isbn 978 90 272 5305 7 (Pb; alk. paper)
© 2008 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 36224 · 1020 me Amsterdam · The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America · P.O. Box 27519 · Philadelphia pa 19118-0519 · usa
Table of contents
Introduction vii
Irina A. Sekerina, Eva M. Fernández and Harald Clahsen
Listofcontributors xvii
Behavioralmethodsforinvestigatingmorphological
andsyntacticprocessinginchildren 1
Harald Clahsen
Event-relatedbrainpotentialsasawindowtochildren’s
languageprocessing:Fromsyllablestosentences 29
Claudia Männel and Angela D. Friederici
Usingeyemovementsasadevelopmentalmeasure
withinpsycholinguistics 73
John C. Trueswell
Lookingwhilelistening:Usingeyemovementstomonitor
spokenlanguagecomprehensionbyinfantsandyoungchildren 97
Anne Fernald, Renate Zangl, Ana Luz Portillo
and Virginia A. Marchman
Whatlurksbeneath:Syntacticprimingduringlanguage
comprehensioninpreschoolers(andadults) 137
Jesse Snedeker and Malathi Thothathiri
Languageacquisitionresearch.Apeekatthepast:
Aglimpseintothefuture 169
Helen Smith Cairns
Index 187

Introduction
IrinaA.Sekerina,EvaM.FernándezandHaraldClahsen
Thestudyofchildlanguageoccupiesauniqueplaceinresearchonchildren’scog-
nitivedevelopment.Thiscomesasnosurprise,aslanguageisquiteclosetothe
coreofwhatitmeanstobehuman.Childrensuccessfullylearntheirnativelan-
guageinarelativelyshorttimeandwithouttheneedforformalinstruction.Lan-
guageisalsothemainvehiclebywhichwelearnaboutotherpeople’sthoughts;
therefore,cognitiveandlinguisticaspectsofhumandevelopmentmustbeinti-
matelyrelated.
Traditionalmethodsofinquiryinmodernlinguisticsandcognitivepsychol-
ogyhaveenabledustolearnagreatdealabouthowchildrenacquirelanguageand
thestagestheygothroughontheirwaytoadultcompetence(Pinker1995).But
empiricalstudiesonhowchildren’slanguagedevelopspublishedoverthelast30
or40yearshaveastrikingcharacteristicincommon:theytreatlanguageacquisi-
tionasaprocessthatinvolvesbuildingastaticdatabasecalledthe grammar,tothe
exclusionofthemechanismsthatoperateinrealtimewhenthechildproducesor
comprehendslanguage.TheclassicCompetence/Performancedistinction(e.g.,
Chomsky1964)providesausefulframeworkfordiscussingthisproblem:while
investigationsofchildlanguageacquisitionaregroundedontheassumptionthat
knowledgeoflanguageisputtoworkviaasetofprocessingmechanisms(perfor-
mance),theprimaryconcerninacquisitionresearchhasbeenwithhowthatprin-
cipledknowledge(competence)develops.McDaniel,McKeeandCairns(1996),
intheirseminalbookonassessingchildlanguage,describedhowtheknowledge
thatconstitutescompetencehadupuntilthenbeenextensivelystudied,andthey
documentedthepredominanceofoff-lineexperimentalmethods,thatis,tech-
niquesthatpromptedchildrentoactoutsentences,answerquestionsorprovide
grammaticalityjudgments,responsesthatcouldthenbecomparedtothosepro-
videdbyadultsorbyolderoryoungerchildren.Armedwithempiricalevidence
ofthatsort,thefieldwasabletobegintoaddresssomeofthemostbasicquestions
aboutlanguagedevelopmentandtoformulateexplicitdescriptionsaboutthena-
tureofdevelopmentalsequences.
viii IrinaA.Sekerina,EvaM.FernándezandHaraldClahsen
Theeraoftraditionalresearchonlanguageacquisition,capturedsowellin
thevolumebyMcDanieletal.(1996),hasgrownintoamatureareaofinquiry
whoseinsightshaveledtoarichunderstandingaboutthedevelopmentoflin-
guisticcompetence.Buttimeshavechanged,asweenteranewerathattakesa
“dynamicprocessingapproach”tothestudyoflanguagedevelopment(Trueswell
thisvolume).Wearewitnessingagrowinginterestinthemechanismsthatun-
derlieproductionandcomprehensionabilitiesinchildren,ashiftfromafocus
oncompetencetoafocusonperformance.Thisenterprisehasbeensignificantly
facilitatedbyrecentadvancesintechnologiesthatpermittrackingbehaviorata
veryfinetemporalresolution,methodsthathavebeensuccessfullyandexten-
sivelyappliedtostudylanguageprocessinginadults.Suchnewtechniques,which
wewillcollectivelyrefertoason-line,measurereactiontimes,trackeyegazes,
examinebrainactivity.Someofthesemethods,likeself-pacedreading,self-paced
listening,andcross-modalprimingbenefitfromhavingalong-standingtradition
inthestudyofadultlanguageprocessing.Others,likeeyetrackingandneuro-
physiologicaltechniques(Henderson&Ferreira2004;Trueswell&Tanenhaus
2005;Carreiras&Clifton2004),arenewerbutquitepowerfuladditionstotheex-
perimentaltoolkit,particularlybecausetheyprovidethemeanstostudyingreat
detailveryearlyphasesofprocessing,andbecausetheyrelylittleonconscious
attentiontoormetalinguisticawarenessoflinguisticstimuli.
On-linemethodshavemadetheirwayintolanguageacquisitionresearch
withatrulyamazingspeed.Amere10yearsago,asdocumentedbyCecileMcKee
(1996)inherchapteronon-linemethodsinchildlanguageresearch,reaction
timemethods(cross-modalpriminginparticular)dominatedthescene,neu-
roimaginghardlyhavingapresence.EyetrackingwasfullyabsentfromMcKee’s
chapter.
Whenappliedtothestudyofchildlanguage,on-linemethodspermitre-
searcherstoobservetheinteractionofgrammarprinciples(competence)and
behaviorallimitationsand/orpreferences(performance),withagreaterlevelof
detailandagreaternumberofperspectivesthaneverbefore.Wecannowinves-
tigatehowchildrencoordinatemultiplesourcesofinformationinrealtimeand
arriveatsentencemeaningusinginformationextractednotonlyfromthewords
andstructureofthesentencebutalsofromthenonlinguisticcontext.Theap-
plicationofon-linemethodsalsomakesitpossibletotestchildren’sperformance
limits,toseparateperformancefromcompetenceinassessingchildren’sstaticand
developinglinguisticknowledge,anapproachthatpermitsbuildingandtesting
theoriesabouthowchildren’slanguageprocessingcontributestotheiracquisition
oflanguage(Fodor1998).
Thegrowingimportanceofon-linemethodsinchildlanguageresearchwas
evidentattheforumthatbroughtthisvolumeintobeing,theWorkshop on On-
 Introduction ix
Line Methods in Children’s Language ProcessingheldattheGraduateCenterofthe
CityUniversityofNewYorkinMarch2006.Workshopparticipantsdiscussed
andevaluatedquestionsaboutthedesign,methodology,ethics,andpracticalities
ofconductingsuchstudieswithchildren,andspeculatedonfuturedirectionsfor
theemergingfieldofdevelopmental psycholinguistics(Trueswellthisvolume)and
itssubfield,developmental cognitive neuroscience(Männel&Friedericithisvol-
ume).Inassemblingthisvolume,weaskeddistinguishedresearchers–pioneers
intheapplicationtochildlanguageresearchofarangeofon-linemethods–to
provideoverviewsonhowchangingresearchparadigmsareadvancingourun-
derstandingoflanguageprocessinginchildren.Whiletheoverarchingtheme
ofthisvolumeismethodologicalinnature,thecollectionofchaptersachievesa
broadcoveragealsooflinguisticanddevelopmentalareasbyincludingresearch
onbothcomprehensionandproduction;byaddressingsound-,word-andsen-
tence-levelrepresentations;andbydiscussingaspectsofacquisitionthroughout
theentirespanofearlychildhood,frominfancytotheelementaryschoolyears.
Thechaptersinthevolumearededicatedtoreactiontimemethods(Clahsen);
eyetrackinginitstwomainforms,free-viewing(Trueswell;Snedeker&Thotha-
thiri)andlooking-while-listening(Fernald,Zangl,Portillo&Marchman);and
event-relatedpotentials(ERPs;Männel&Friederici).Functionalneuroimaging
(fMRI),magnetoencephalography(MEG)andopticalimaginghaveyettomake
theirwayintodevelopmentalpsycholinguisticsand,therefore,arenotrepresent-
edinthevolume.
Wehavechosentogroupandorderthechaptersintermsofthemethodsthey
focuson,startingwithmethodsexaminingbehavioralresponsesandfollowed
bymethodsanalyzingevent-relatedpotentialsandmethodstrackingeyegazes.
Closingthevolume,Chapter6providesahistoricalbackdropandspeculates
aboutthefutureofthefield.
Chapter1,“Behavioralmethodsforinvestigatingmorphologicalandsyntac-
ticprocessinginchildren”(HaraldClahsen),describesandevaluatesexperiments
usingresponse-timemeasurestoexamineprocessesinvolvedinchildren’spro-
cessingofsentencesandinflectedwords.ThechapterbuildsonCecileMcKee’s
documentation(1998)ofon-linemethodsinchildlanguageresearchandpres-
entsanupdatedoverviewfocusingontechniquesthatClahsen,Felser,andthe
researchgroupattheUniversityofEssexhaveusedtoexaminehowchildren
processcomplexsyntacticphenomenaandmorphologicallycomplexwordsin
realtime.Thechapterintroducesfivecriteriaagainstwhichthevariousmeth-
odsforstudyingchildren’son-linelanguageprocessingcanbeassessed.These
criteriaare:(a)timesensitivityofthetechnique,(b)naturalnessofstimulipre-
sentation,(c)childappropriatenessofthetechnique,(d)linguisticversatility,and
(e)filedcompatibility.Itthenprovidesanoverviewofbehavioraltasksforin-