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We investigated the predictive processing of grammatical number information through stem-vowel alternations in German strong verbs by adult first language (L1) speakers and Dutch-speaking advanced second language (L2) learners of German, and the influence of working memory and awareness (i.e., whether participants consciously registered the predictive cue) thereon. While changed stem vowels indicate a singular referent (e.g., /ε/ in fällt3SG, “falls”), unchanged vowels indicate plural (e.g., /a/ in fallt2PL, “fall”). This target structure presents a challenge for L2 learners of German due to its subregularity and low salience. With their eye movements being tracked, participants matched German auditory sentences (VSO order) with one of two pictures, displaying identical action scenes but varying in agent number. The number cue provided by the strong verbs allowed participants to predict whether the upcoming subject would be singular or plural. The analyses revealed significant prediction, measured as predictive eye movements toward the target picture and faster button-press responses. Prediction in the L2 group was weaker than in the L1 group and present in the eye movement data only. Higher working memory scores were linked to faster predictive presses. Approximately half of the participants had become aware of the predictive cue, and being aware facilitated prediction to a limited extent.

Brain tumour patients with mild language disturbances are typically underdiagnosed due to lack of sensitive tests leading to negative effects in daily communicative and social life. We aim to develop a Dutch standardised test-battery, the Diagnostic Instrument for Mild Aphasia (DIMA) to detect characteristics of mild aphasia at the main linguistic levels phonology, semantics and (morpho-)syntax in production and comprehension. We designed 4 DIMA subtests: 1) repetition (words, non-words, compounds and sentences), 2) semantic odd-picture-out (objects and actions), 3) sentence completion and 4) sentence judgment (accuracy and reaction time). A normative study was carried out in a healthy Dutch-speaking population (N = 211) divided into groups of gender, age and education. Clinical application of DIMA was demonstrated in two brain tumour patients (glioma and meningioma). Standard language tests were also administered: object naming, verbal fluency (category and letter), and Token Test. Performance was at ceiling on all sub-tests, except semantic odd-picture-out actions, with an effect of age and education on most subtests. Clinical application DIMA: repetition was impaired in both cases. Reaction time in the sentence judgment test (phonology and syntax) was impaired (not accuracy) in one patient. Standard language tests: category fluency was impaired in both cases and object naming in one patient. The Token Test was not able to detect language disturbances in both cases. DIMA seems to be sensitive to capture mild aphasic deficits. DIMA is expected to be of great potential for standard assessment of language functions in patients with also other neurological diseases than brain tumours. only published online, no volume/issue number ispartof: Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics vol:36 issue:11 pages:1-25 ispartof: location:England status: Published online

This study investigates the relationship between nine quantitative measures of L2 speech complexity and subjectively rated L2 proficiency by comparing the oral productions of English L2 learners at five IELTS proficiency levels. We carry out ANOVAs with pairwise comparisons to identify between which proficiency levels the observed differences are to be situated, as well as ordinal logistic regression modelling, allowing us to combine multiple complexity dimensions in a single analysis. The results show that for eight out of nine measures, targeting syntactic, lexical and morphological complexity, a significant overall effect of proficiency level was found, with measures of lexical diversity (i.e. Guiraud's index and HD-D), overall syntactic complexity (mean length of AS-unit), phrasal elaboration (mean length of noun phrase) and morphological richness (morphological complexity index) showing the strongest association with proficiency level. Three complexity measures emerged as significant predictors in our logistic regression model, each targeting different linguistic dimensions: Guiraud's index, the subordination ratio and the morphological complexity index.

The present study analyses the impact of a bilingual Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programme vis-à-vis a regular monolingual programme on the development of different aspects of L2 learners’ linguistic (syntactic, morphological and lexical) complexity. Five pupils enrolled in a Dutch–English CLIL programme in a secondary school in the Netherlands are compared with five peers following the mainstream programme with English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching. The longitudinal development of these ten pupils’ linguistic complexity in L2-English is investigated by means of six complexity measures calculated for each of eleven writing tasks collected over a period spanning their first nineteen months of secondary education. Linear mixed models are used to estimate the effects of time and programme type on the pupils’ L2 complexity. The results indicate that both groups of learners significantly increase the complexity of their L2 writing over the course of the study. Surprisingly, only limited effects of programme type (CLIL vs non-CLIL) are found, despite considerable differences in the quantity and quality of instructional exposure to the target language, suggesting that for these pupils increased and more varied instructional exposure to the L2 in the CLIL programme did not lead to significantly different L2 productions in terms of linguistic complexity. Several possible explanations for these findings are considered and the implications for CLIL research are discussed.

This cross-sectional study investigated the impact of length of instruction, out-of-school exposure to foreign language input, and gender on learners’ receptive vocabulary knowledge in two foreign languages: French (first foreign language) and English (second foreign language). The findings suggest that, although length of instruction correlated positively with vocabulary knowledge in English and French, the gains remained modest when out-of-school exposure to the foreign language input was limited. Despite fewer years of English instruction, participants’ vocabulary knowledge in English was considerably larger than their French vocabulary knowledge, which can be explained by their large amounts of out-of-school exposure to English language input. Participants’ online activities in particular had a positive effect on their vocabulary knowledge in English. Although gender influenced participants’ engagement with online activities in English, gender did not have a direct effect on their vocabulary knowledge, asthe structural equation modeling analysis showed. Open Practices: This article has been awarded an Open Materials badge. The test materials are publicly accessible via the IRIS database at https://www.iris-database.org: The English VocabLab test (https://www.iris-database.org/iris/app/home/detail?id=york%3a933919) and The French VocabLab test (https://www.iris-database.Org/iris/app/home/detail?id=york%3a933777). Learn more about the Open Practices badges from the Center for Open Science: https://osf.io/tvyxz/wiki.

When using computer-aided translation systems in a typical, professional translation workflow, there are several stages at which there is room for improvement. The SCATE (Smart Computer-Aided Translation Environment) project investigated several of these aspects, both from a human-computer interaction point of view, as well as from a purely technological side. This paper describes the SCATE research with respect to improved fuzzy matching, parallel treebanks, the integration of translation memories with machine translation, quality estimation, terminology extraction from comparable texts, the use of speech recognition in the translation process, and human computer interaction and interface design for the professional translation environment. For each of these topics, we describe the experiments we performed and the conclusions drawn, providing an overview of the highlights of the entire SCATE project. The research in this project was funded by the Flemish Agency for Innovation and Technology IWT, project number 13007.

We present a simple yet powerful data augmentation method for boosting Neural Machine Translation (NMT) performance by leveraging information retrieved from a Translation Memory (TM). We propose and test two methods for augmenting NMT training data with fuzzy TM matches. Tests on the DGT-TM data set for two language pairs show consistent and substantial improvements over a range of baseline systems. The results suggest that this method is promising for any translation environment in which a sizeable TM is available and a certain amount of repetition across translations is to be expected, especially considering its ease of implementation.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of intensive speech treatment on the conversational intelligibility of Castilian Spanish speakers with Parkinson's disease (PD), as well as on the speakers' self-perceptions of disability. Method Fifteen speakers with a medical diagnosis of PD participated in this study. Speech recordings were completed twice before treatment, immediately posttreatment, and at a 1-month follow-up session. Conversational intelligibility was assessed in 2 ways—transcription accuracy scores and intelligibility ratings on a 9-point Likert scale. The Voice Handicap Index (Núñez-Batalla et al., 2007) was administered as a measure of self-perceived disability. Results Group data revealed that transcription accuracy and median ease-of-understanding ratings increased significantly immediately posttreatment, with gains maintained at the 1-month follow-up. The functional subscale of the Voice Handicap Index decreased significantly posttreatment, suggesting a decrease in perceived communication disability after speech treatment. Conclusion These findings support the implementation of intensive voice treatment to improve conversational intelligibility in Spanish speakers with PD with dysarthria as well as to improve the speakers' perception of their daily communicative capabilities. Clinical and theoretical considerations are discussed.

This paper reports on a study on the nature and extent of the development of English L2 writing proficiency of 45 adult ESL learners over the time of an intensive short-term EAP program as evaluated by means of objective measures targeting different components of lexical and syntactic complexity. In addition, we compare the scores on these measures with more holistic and subjective ratings of learners' overall writing quality. Results reveal that some measures, but not necessarily the most popular linguistic complexity measures (e.g., subordination ratios and lexical richness measures), can indeed adequately and validly capture development in L2 writing in short-term ESL courses. Results further suggest that different subcomponents of syntactic and lexical complexity in L2 writing develop at different rates, which stressed the importance of calculating a sufficiently wide range of complexity measures in order to obtain a comprehensive picture of L2 development.