We examined how toddlers process lexical ambiguity where different underlying forms are neutralized at the surface level. In a preferential-looking procedure, French-learning 30-month-olds were familiarized with either liaison-ambiguous phrases (i.e., sentences containing a determiner and a non-word, e.g., "ces /z/onches," "these…

We used a typing task to measure the written production of compounds, pseudocompounds, and monomorphemic words on a letter-by-letter basis to determine whether written production (as measured by interletter typing speed) was affected by morphemic structure and semantic transparency of the constituents. Semantic transparency was analyzed using a…

The ability to generate novel utterances compositionally using generative knowledge is a hallmark property of human language. At the same time, languages contain non-compositional or idiosyncratic items, such as irregular verbs, idioms, etc. This dissertation asks how and why language achieves a balance between these two systems--generative and…

In this dissertation, we present three empirical studies exploring the relationship between the central planning processes of spoken word production--lexical selection, phonological encoding, and phonetic encoding--and three other cognitive processes traditionally considered separate or peripheral to this core system. Study 1 examines the role of…

The Exercise, an Exercise generator in the SOURCe project, is a tool that complements the properties and functionalities of the SOURCe project, which includes the search engine for the Searchable Online French-Greek parallel corpus for the UniveRsity of Cyprus (SOURCe) (Kakoyianni-Doa & Tziafa, 2013), the PENCIL (an alignment tool)…

A thesis abstract is an essential part of a thesis since it represents the content of the thesis. In Indonesia, where the abstracts need to be translated into English, a number of translation errors may occur. This study aims at analysing the translation errors in the thesis abstracts and classify the errors into major and minor errors. The data…

Previous research has shown that information referring to a named character or to information in the main clause of a sentence is more accessible and facilitates the processing of anaphoric references. We investigated whether the use of such cues are maintained in healthy aging. We present two experiments investigating whether information…

Mathematics has been defined by researchers as a 'second or third language' and, as a result, it should be taught as a second language. Results of the literature reviewed from the theories on the teaching of mathematics and English as a second language, as well as on mathematics learning and English as a second language acquisition, have resulted…

Is there an ideal time window for language acquisition after which nativelike representation and processing are unattainable? Although this question has been heavily debated, no consensus has been reached. Here, we present evidence for a sensitive period in language development and show that it is specific to grammar. We conducted a masked priming…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether processability theory (PT; Pienemann, 1998, 2005) accounts for the emergence of grammatical forms and structures in comprehension. Sixty-one learners of English participated in oral interviews that elicited a variety of structures relevant to PT. Learners were divided into two groups: those who…

Using a novel emotional perspective-taking task, this study investigated 4-year-olds' (n = 97) use of a speaker's emotional prosody to make inferences about the speaker's emotional state and, correspondingly, their communicative intent. Eye gaze measures indicated preschoolers used emotional perspective inferences to guide their real-time…

This study investigates the interpretation of disjunction words (English or) in negative sentences by Turkish- and German-speaking children. Both children and adults were asked to judge Turkish/German sentences corresponding to the English sentence "This animal did not eat the carrot or the pepper." Children acquiring both languages…

Many Latino children in the U.S. speak primarily Spanish at home with few opportunities for exposure to English before entering school. For monolingual children, the strongest early predictor of later school success is oral language skill developed before kindergarten. Less is known about how early oral language skills support later learning in…

Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) are a growing population of learners in English primary schools. These children begin school with differing levels of English language proficiency and tend to underperform in relation to their non-EAL peers on measures of English oral language and reading. However, little work has examined…

As readers struggle to coordinate various reading- and language-related skills during oral reading fluency (ORF), miscues can emerge, especially when processing complex texts. Following a miscue, students often self-correct as a strategy to potentially restore ORF and online linguistic comprehension. Executive functions (EF) are hypothesized to…