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Native language experience shapes pre-attentive foreign tone processing and guides rapid memory trace build-up : An ERP study

Gosselke Berthelsen, Sabine LU ; Horne, Merle LU orcid ; Shtyrov, Yury LU and Roll, Mikael LU (2022) In Psychophysiology 59(8).
Abstract

Language experience, particularly from our native language (L1), shapes our perception of other languages around us. The present study examined how L1 experience moulds the initial processing of foreign (L2) tone during acquisition. In particular, we investigated whether learners were able to rapidly forge new neural memory traces for novel tonal words, which was tracked by recording learners’ ERP responses during two word acquisition sessions. We manipulated the degree of L1–L2 familiarity by comparing learners with a nontonal L1 (German) and a tonal L1 (Swedish) and by using tones that were similar (fall) or dissimilar (high, low, rise) to those occurring in Swedish. Our results indicate that a rapid, pre-attentive memory trace... (More)

Language experience, particularly from our native language (L1), shapes our perception of other languages around us. The present study examined how L1 experience moulds the initial processing of foreign (L2) tone during acquisition. In particular, we investigated whether learners were able to rapidly forge new neural memory traces for novel tonal words, which was tracked by recording learners’ ERP responses during two word acquisition sessions. We manipulated the degree of L1–L2 familiarity by comparing learners with a nontonal L1 (German) and a tonal L1 (Swedish) and by using tones that were similar (fall) or dissimilar (high, low, rise) to those occurring in Swedish. Our results indicate that a rapid, pre-attentive memory trace build-up for tone manifests in an early ERP component at ~50 ms but only at particularly high levels of L1–L2 similarity. Specifically, early processing was facilitated for an L2 tone that had a familiar pitch shape (fall) and word-level function (inflection). This underlines the importance of these L1 properties for the early processing of L2 tone. In comparison, a later anterior negativity related to the processing of the tones’ grammatical content was unaffected by native language experience but was instead influenced by lexicality, pitch prominence, entrenchment, and successful learning. Behaviorally, learning effects emerged for all learners and tone types, regardless of L1–L2 familiarity or pitch prominence. Together, the findings suggest that while L1-based facilitation effects occur, they mainly affect early processing stages and do not necessarily result in more successful L2 acquisition at behavioral level.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
ERPs, L1–L2 similarity, pre-attentive lexicality effect, second-language acquisition, tone perception
in
Psychophysiology
volume
59
issue
8
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • pmid:35294788
  • scopus:85126320384
ISSN
0048-5772
DOI
10.1111/psyp.14042
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
957daf13-659d-48ba-a9b7-73329dd278b4
date added to LUP
2022-05-20 11:24:36
date last changed
2024-04-18 07:04:20
@article{957daf13-659d-48ba-a9b7-73329dd278b4,
  abstract     = {{<p>Language experience, particularly from our native language (L1), shapes our perception of other languages around us. The present study examined how L1 experience moulds the initial processing of foreign (L2) tone during acquisition. In particular, we investigated whether learners were able to rapidly forge new neural memory traces for novel tonal words, which was tracked by recording learners’ ERP responses during two word acquisition sessions. We manipulated the degree of L1–L2 familiarity by comparing learners with a nontonal L1 (German) and a tonal L1 (Swedish) and by using tones that were similar (fall) or dissimilar (high, low, rise) to those occurring in Swedish. Our results indicate that a rapid, pre-attentive memory trace build-up for tone manifests in an early ERP component at ~50 ms but only at particularly high levels of L1–L2 similarity. Specifically, early processing was facilitated for an L2 tone that had a familiar pitch shape (fall) and word-level function (inflection). This underlines the importance of these L1 properties for the early processing of L2 tone. In comparison, a later anterior negativity related to the processing of the tones’ grammatical content was unaffected by native language experience but was instead influenced by lexicality, pitch prominence, entrenchment, and successful learning. Behaviorally, learning effects emerged for all learners and tone types, regardless of L1–L2 familiarity or pitch prominence. Together, the findings suggest that while L1-based facilitation effects occur, they mainly affect early processing stages and do not necessarily result in more successful L2 acquisition at behavioral level.</p>}},
  author       = {{Gosselke Berthelsen, Sabine and Horne, Merle and Shtyrov, Yury and Roll, Mikael}},
  issn         = {{0048-5772}},
  keywords     = {{ERPs; L1–L2 similarity; pre-attentive lexicality effect; second-language acquisition; tone perception}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Psychophysiology}},
  title        = {{Native language experience shapes pre-attentive foreign tone processing and guides rapid memory trace build-up : An ERP study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14042}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/psyp.14042}},
  volume       = {{59}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}