Volume 13, Issue 1

Building upon recent discoveries highlighting the direct interplay between phonetics and morphology in production, perception, and comprehension, our study adds another dimension to this area of research: language learning. We use as template the case of English word-final /s/, where segment duration has been shown to serve as a critical cue for morphological category differentiation (non-morphemic, suffix, or clitic). In a study with German adults, employing an artificial language learning paradigm, we compared the ability to learn the distinction between singular and plural forms, where in one group, singular and plural were distinguished by phonemic content (/p/ vs. /f/), and in two other groups, singular and plural were distinguished by durational differences varying in length (/f/). The experimental design consisted of a training phase, followed by a number decision task involving new items. We employed a mouse-tracking paradigm, which allowed us to not only assess the success rate, but also analyze the reaction times and trajectories of participants’ responses in detail. Our findings reveal that the artificial language relying on the phonemic cues is learned easily, while learners of the artificial language relying on the subphonemic cues lag behind but apparently show signs of initial learning. Our results contribute to the understanding of the intricate relationship between phonetics and morphology, shedding light on the role of subphonemic information in linguistic categorization.

Traditional linguistic reference works are static artefacts that diverge from the representation of language as a cognitive phenomenon in several ways: Historically, these artefacts are rooted in the intuitions of highly educated speakers, they impose an artificial division between lexicon and grammar, and they lack psychological plausibility. Constructionist approaches break with this tradition and attempt to model language in cognitively plausible networks, known as constructicons , that are intended to mirror the linguistic knowledge as represented in speakers’ minds. However, there are numerous concepts of constructicons, including the concepts of reference and mental constructicons. This dichotomy reintroduces an old problem in a new guise. These two concepts fundamentally differ from each other, as the former describes language as an individual, cognitive phenomenon, and the latter describes language as a social phenomenon, extrapolating over more than one mental constructicon. This paper explores these fundamental differences using the example of German noun phrase agreement. First, it models NP agreement within a reference constructicon framework, followed by a comparison with elicited production data, which reveals substantial differences between reference and mental constructicons.

Aphasia is an acquired language disorder that can affect comprehension and production. While traditionally categorized into subtypes such as Broca’s, Wernicke’s, and anomic aphasia, many individuals exhibit features from multiple types, challenging rigid classifications. Historically, linguistic research into aphasia has often been guided by rule-based theories, influencing both assessment and treatment. However, alternative perspectives, such as the Usage-Based (UB) approach, offer a more dynamic view, emphasizing individual differences in language capabilities, and predicting variation along a continuum. Within this theoretical perspective, we apply a “Dynamic Network Model” (DNM), which combines word frequencies and transitional probabilities to elucidate individual networks of usage patterns for each person’s language. This study extends the DNM approach to clinical data, analyzing the language networks of six speakers with aphasia (two each with anomic, Wernicke’s, and Broca’s) alongside two control participants, to explore individual differences in spoken language and non-verbal communication. Results reveal that the speakers with aphasia generally have smaller networks, with disrupted connections. However, network size varies within and across aphasia types. Additionally, the speakers with aphasia use more non-verbal communication than control participants, with those with Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasias using it the most. While some findings may be predicted based on traditional aphasia sub-classifications, the results indicate considerable individual differences within each of the participant groups, both in their spoken language and non-verbal communication, supporting a usage-based approach and adding to questions about the validity of discrete aphasia classifications.

According to usage-based accounts of language acquisition, abstract linguistic representations emerge gradually from lexically specific formulas. Higher levels of abstractness are typically associated with increased flexibility, that is, variability in the use of constructions. Developing flexibility can be measured in different ways, e.g., diversity of word use in specific slots of the construction (absolute lexical flexibility), variability in the combination of lexical items (relative lexical flexibility), and the range of semantic meanings expressed within the construction (semantic flexibility). While prior research has mostly focused on the development of flexibility in the verb slot, less is known about how flexibility develops in other slots, and whether different measures of flexibility develop simultaneously or along individual pathways. The present study aims to describe the development of absolute and relative lexical flexibility as well as semantic flexibility in one German-speaking child’s acquisition of the ditransitive construction. The results indicate that lexical and semantic flexibility in the verb slot increase over the course of development. At the same time, the argument slots show considerable flexibility from early on and, contrary to expectations, the construction does not appear to emerge from a small set of highly frequent lexicalized patterns. In particular, conventionalized expressions, which are common in the input, emerge only later in development. The emergence of these lexicalized patterns may in turn support the development of flexibility in other aspects of the construction. These findings suggest that the child acquires both more abstract representations of the construction, as indicated by an increase in flexibility, as well as routinized and highly frequent formulas stored at lower levels of abstraction.

Cognitive load refers to the mental resources available in working memory, which can vary due to, e.g., the inherent complexity of a task. Studies have investigated the effect of a higher cognitive demand on speech, either on fluency, lexical use or linguistic display of emotions. Fewer have investigated all these parameters jointly, and most focus on English. Here we manipulate working memory load with an image-depiction task with or without access to the image and investigate whether cognitive load impacts speech production in French, i.e., correlates with both fluency metrics (number of word tokens and lemmas, lemma-token ratio, counts and rates of filled pauses, interruptions and repetitions) and/or with lexical metrics (use of words from a given lexical field or with a given connotation). Our results show that, compared to their peers in the low cognitive load condition (with access to the image), speakers under high cognitive load (who describe the image from memory) indeed tend to use more disfluencies but show little differences in the use of specific vocabulary or in emotional words. Although the absence of lexical differences may be due to inherent language- or task-specific differences, the confirmation that an increase in cognitive load implies an increase in disfluency indicates that at least this one parameter is a cross-linguistic indicator of speech production under high cognitive load.

Literacy, the ability to read and write, is a relatively recent cultural invention, however, it has profound effects on cognition, and emerging studies also show that it may influence the mental representations of grammar among native speakers. This contradicts the widely-held assumption that all individuals within an L1 community acquire the same grammar unconsciously. The emerging studies indicate that the availability of a writing system, alongside nonverbal reasoning (i.e., reasoning and problem solving skills), and metalinguistic skills fostered by literacy, contributes significantly to ultimate language attainment. Recent scholarship suggests that illiterate individuals exhibit large individual differences in linguistic knowledge and how well they abstracted various grammatical forms, challenging the notion of uniform grammar that is thought to be achieved successfully across native speakers. This article reports on the state-of-the-art of illiteracy-grammar studies and reevaluates this hypothesis by investigating the impact of literacy on L1 grammar knowledge among illiterate speakers and makes suggestions for future studies.

This study explores the diachronic changes in the pattern [ zur N ung kommen / bringen ], arguing for its status as a semi-schematic construction in late 19th-century German, expressing converse/anti-converse diathesis, constituted through the interplay of the two verbs. Through evidence supporting this status, I aim to show that the role of creativity in the emergence of new schematic constructions should, in part, be reconsidered — a perspective that diverges from the recent argument presented by Norde and Trousdale (2024). In particular, I challenge the proposal to categorize diachronic developments leading to schematization as E-creative within the framework proposed by Sampson (2016). While creativity introduces linguistic innovations, I propose shifting the focus to conformity as a driving force in schematization, as norm-oriented language users adopt and entrench these patterns through consistent usage.

Light verb constructions (LVCs) are complex predicates that consist of a desemanticized (light) verb and a phrasal element. A recurring element in the discussion of German light verb constructions is the claim that these multi-word units can be substituted by simplex verbs and are thus synonymous with simplex verbs. In this paper, I examine the question of synonymy based on a selected data sample of LVCs consisting of stehen ‘stand’ and the preposition unter ‘under’. Based on the assumption that total synonyms should not exist, I demonstrate that stehen unter -LVCs not only differ semantically from corresponding simplex verb constructions but also from seemingly synonymous LVCs, and therefore do not form synonyms with the mentioned construction types. While the first type of synonymy (LVCs and simplex verbs) has already been discussed in depth in the literature, the discussion of seemingly synonymous LVCs represents a new step in the discourse on LVCs.

This study examines the naming of the diverse native potato species in the peasant community of Pampacorral, proposing an analytical approach grounded in the theoretical framework of Cognitive Linguistics. From this perspective, processes such as perception, conceptualisation, and symbolisation converge, each encompassing various cognitive mechanisms, including perspective, profiling, encyclopaedic knowledge, metaphor, metonymy, and codification. The names of the native potato species in Pampacorral are thus understood as the outcome of a complex yet realistic process involving multiple phases, processes, and mechanisms, with the nomenclature of varietal diversity serving to validate this novel approach. Thus, the names of potatoes reveal a set of metaphorical and metonymic patterns.