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Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The aim of this study is to examine whether the complete (re-)activation of interface domains in the heritage language (HL) is possible or whether interfaces are likely to preserve features typical for the HL even after many years of residing in the country of origin. Design/methodology/approach: We present the group analysis of direct object marking in Turkish, which is a morphology-syntax-pragmatics interface, of Turkish-German returnees, who returned to Turkey after puberty and have been residing in the country for a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 34 years, and compare them with the control group consisting of Turkish speakers who have been living in Turkey all their lives. Data and analysis: The data were collected using a narrative task, a completion task and a grammaticality judgement task, and analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Findings/conclusions: The analysis of the narrative task revealed that the returnee participants used case-marking on direct objects productively depending on the discourse and syntactic position of the direct object in their heritage Turkish. However, their performance on the completion and grammaticality judgement tasks diverged from those of the control group. These findings can be considered as a piece of evidence that interface domains stay obstinate to complete (re-)activation and may preserve features typical for the HL many years after the return to the country of origin. Originality: The study suggests relevance of the Interface Hypothesis to the process of HL (re-)activation. Significance/implications: The study contributes to the research on the HL development of returnees after their return to the country of origin.

The present study aimed to investigate the extent to which audio description contributes to the visually impaired individuals’ comprehension of a film by examining the visually impaired and sighted participants’ comprehension of two versions of the same film, one with and the other without supplementary audio description. The results of the study showed that the visually impaired participants were able to comprehend and narrate the events to the same extent as the sighted participants did when the film was supplemented with audio description. The qualitative analysis validated this finding and demonstrated that the visually impaired participants were able to comprehend the film to a great extent with the assistance of audio description. These findings emphasized the role of audio description assistance and its effects as an important resource in converting visual information to vocal information, which greatly aids the visually impaired individuals’ film comprehension. Also, the use of “Causal Network Model” showed that understanding the plot better could enable the audio description creators to provide better assistance for the visually impaired if they applied this model.

The study contributes to research on the development of the heritage language after return to the country of origin and examines whether the ultimate attainment of the heritage grammar after many years of residing in the country of origin brings returnees to a level compatible with that of monolinguals. We focus on the production and perception of evidentiality markers in the heritage Turkish of Turkish-German bilinguals who returned to Turkey after finishing a German high school and have been residing in Turkey for more than 11 years. Two production tasks (a narrative task and a discourse completion task), as well as a grammaticality judgement task were used in the study. The data analysis revealed that the production and perception of evidentiality by the returnee participants diverged from those of the monolingual control group. The divergence manifested itself in ungrammatical uses of evidentiality markers in the context of the indirect evidentiality and less sensitivity to grammatical and ungrammatical items comprising direct and indirect evidentiality markers. The findings of the study suggest that after many years of residing in Turkey the language behaviour of the returnee participants still possesses features that are typical for heritage speakers.

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions:The aim of the study is to contribute to the debate about a possible contact-induced change in the heritage language and to examine whether there is contact-induced language change at the morpho-syntactic level in Turkish spoken in Germany. We focus on the perception and use of the converbs –Ip and –IncA in heritage Turkish.Design/methodology/approach:The perception and production of the converbs –Ip and –IncA by 30 German–Turkish bilinguals, who were born and have resided in Germany, are compared with those of the control group.Data and analysis:Two tasks are used in the study: a grammaticality judgement task and a picture-story description task. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses are utilized.Findings/conclusions:The analysis of the perception of the converbs by the participants revealed that the bilinguals’ perception of the grammatical constructions with –IncA and of the ungrammatical constructions with –Ip and –IncA differed significantly from that of the monolinguals; however, the perception of the grammatical constructions with –Ip was found to be similar between the bilingual and monolingual groups. The analysis of the production of the converbs by the bilingual participants showed that they tended to use the converbs significantly less than the monolingual control group did. The qualitative analysis of the production task also revealed that there were several cases in the use of the converbs that could be considered as ungrammatical and/or unconventional.

The use of translation for language teaching and assessment, by and large, has been abandoned with the adoption of audio-lingual and communicative approaches in language teaching. As a result, nowadays translation items are not commonly used for measuring language proficiency in international language proficiency tests (e. g. TOEFL, IELTS). However, there are several countries that still use translation items in their national language proficiency tests (e. g. Turkey, Japan, China, Romania among others). The present study aims to examine whether or not multiple-choice translation items are an appropriate tool for measuring proficiency in English. To this end, the perceived level of difficulty and validity of multiple-choice translation items in the National English Proficiency Test (YDS) in Turkey were examined. The findings revealed that the participants did significantly better on the translation items than on the rest of the test items. They also perceived the translation items as the easiest among all the rest items in YDS. Moreover, while YDS as a whole indicated a strong validity based on correlation with TOEFL PBT Reading Sample Test, the translation items indicated moderate validity. Importantly, there was a significant difference between the two correlations. These findings suggest that multiple-choice translation items are likely to lower the overall validity of YDS tests, inflate the scores of test-takers and, thus, might be considered as problematic for the quality of the tests.

This study contributes to the discussion about the status of the weaker language (WL) by investigating whether reduced input in Russian in a Turkish-dominant environment is sufficient for monolingual-like acquisition of the WL. We focus on the acquisition of Russian cases by a Turkish-Russian child who has acquired his Russian in the Turkish-dominant environment mainly through interaction with his multilingual mother. The data were collected via video/audio recordings, covering the period of between two years and eleven months and four years of the participant. First, the data were examined in terms of the availability of Russian cases and their functions. Then, we looked into whether the data were marked with deviations from monolingual norms in terms of error rates and patterns. The findings suggested that despite the reduced input, the acquisition of Russian cases by the Turkish-Russian participant follows the same pattern as monolingual acquisition does.

The article presents two studies examining the impact of formal interpreting training (FIT) on Working Memory Capacity (WMC) of student–interpreters. In Study 1, we compared the storage and processing WMCs of last-year student–interpreters with the storage and processing WMCs of first-year student–interpreters and last-year Foreign Language Education (FLE) students. In Study 2, we examined the impact of FIT on the WMC of students–interpreters via comparing their results on the WM tasks at the beginning and at the end of their FIT. In both studies, Digit Span Task (DST) and Reading Span Task (RST) were utilized to test storage and processing WMCs. The results of Study 1 revealed that the last-year student–interpreters performed better than the first-year students–interpreters and the last-year FLE students on the RST, but not on the DST. The findings of Study 2 were consistent with Study 1 showing that after FIT, the student–interpreters performed better on the RST but not on the DST. Our findings can be considered as evidence supporting the view that FIT had a beneficial effect not only on the interpreting skills of student–interpreters but also on the central executive and processing capacity of their WM.

Aims: This study examines sequential bilingual language development focusing on the acquisition of two domains that interact with pragmatics, precisely, post-predicate constituents and case marking for direct objects in Turkish, which are cases of syntax–pragmatic and morphology–pragmatic interface, respectively, by Russian-Turkish and English-Turkish sequential bilinguals who had been acquiring Turkish as their child second language (cL2). Design: A cross-sectional design was adopted in the study. Methods: Narratives were used as a method of data collection. The use of post-predicate constituents and case markers for direct objects produced by the sequential bilinguals in their cL2 Turkish was compared with that of Turkish monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children. Conclusions: The study provides evidence that cL2 may be similar to monolingual and bilingual first language acquisition in some domains, while the other domains may be affected by age of onset and cross-linguistic influence from the other language that has developed to a certain extent.

This study aimed to examine the role of L1 in the acquisition of L2 by comparing the acquisition of the three spatial prepositions (in, on, at) in English by native speakers of Russian and Turkish. The study, adopting a comparative approach suggested by Jarvis (2000, Methodological rigor in the study of transfer: Identifying L1 influence in the interlanguage lexicon. Language Learning 50. 245–309), compared interlanguages of L2 learners with Russian and Turkish L1 backgrounds, and examined the interlanguages of the L2 learners in relation to their native languages. The data for the analysis were collected via utilizing two diagnostic tests and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings demonstrated that that the acquisition of the prepositions differed not only quantitatively but also qualitatively between the groups. The study adds to the comparative research examining the role of L1s in the acquisition of L2 and the effect of cross-linguistic influence taking place from background languages.

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions:Receptive multilingualism (RM), a mode of multilingual communication in which speakers of different languages use their own native language to communicate and still understand each other, is considered to be a relatively under-investigated area in multilingual research. This paper examines features of Turkish–Azerbaijani RM and, focusing on a hearer-based analysis, looks into strategies applied for achieving understanding in the receptive multilingual communication (RMC).Design/Methodology/Approach:The study is carried out within the conceptual framework of RM.Data and Analysis:Authentic data obtained from oral communication between an Azerbaijani and a Turkish native speaker are analyzed and a post-interview was conducted with the participants in order to investigate to what extent they were able to understand each other in the RMC and what strategies they applied to achieve understanding.Findings/Conclusions:The study reveals that the Turkish and Azerbaijani participants could communicate with each other in RM mode without much difficulty thanks to the typological proximity of their languages. In a few instances in which lack of understanding occurred, the participants were found to apply strategies such as asking questions for clarification, conveying confirmation, repeating, rephrasing, resorting to their lexical and world knowledge as well as utilizing the let-it-pass strategy.Originality and Significance/Implications:The significance of the study is twofold: first, it demonstrates that RMC between Turkish and Azerbaijani can be utilized as an alternative to lingua franca communication; and second, the study expands the taxonomy of hearer-based strategies in RMC.

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The main research question we seek to answer in the present study is: “What effect does reduced input in the non-dominant and dispreferred language have on the acquisition of Russian gender morphology by a bilingual Turkish–Russian child: Is it still sufficient for its monolingual-like development or can it cause incomplete acquisition of Russian gender morphology, at least, in some domains?” Design/methodology/approach: This study is a longitudinal case study. Data and analysis: The main source of data collection is video and audio recordings. Twenty-five recordings are available. They cover the period of between two years and 11 months (2;11) and 4;0. The data are examined in terms of the availability of masculine, feminine and neuter form-related genders, as well as availability of feminine and masculine semantic-related genders of nouns and pronouns in the first-, second- and third-person contexts. We look into whether the data of the bilingual child is marked with deviations from monolingual Russian data and/or incomplete acquisition of gender in any domain. Findings/conclusions: The findings of the present study, on the one hand, support the view that, by and large, reduced to a certain degree, input is still sufficient for monolingual-like language development; on the other hand, it demonstrates that reduced input may lead to non-monolingual-like and/or incomplete acquisition and, therefore, appears to be a main factor determining the development of a language and accounting for its strengths and weaknesses

The Interface Hypothesis (IH) postulates that interface structures are potentially vulnerable to incomplete acquisition in the end-state L2. Two plausible explanations have been suggested as possible causes of the L2 divergence at the interface: (1) the interaction between two competing grammatical systems, and (2) differences between monolinguals and bilinguals in integrating information from different domains in L2. This study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the interface phenomenon and to examine the extent to which L1 interference might account for L2 divergence at the interface. To this end, the study examines the use of Turkish accusative case (AC) in the end-state L2 grammar of L1 Russian and L1 English advanced users of L2 Turkish. The findings provide additional evidence for the IH and suggest that L2 divergence at the interface is likely to reflect more differences between monolinguals and bilinguals in integrating information from different domains rather than L1 interference.

This study aimed to evaluate translation quality of the standards translated from English into Turkish before 2016 and after 2016 to determine whether there was an improvement in the translation quality of standards as a result of the introduction of a translation commission [auftrag]. For this purpose, corpus one (C1) consisting of ten randomly chosen standards in the field of construction translated before 2016, and corpus two (C2) consisting of ten randomly chosen standards in the field of construction translated after 2016 were evaluated according to the translation quality assessment model Multidimensional Quality Metrics(MQM) (Lommel, Burchardt,&Uszkoreit, 2014, 2015). The translation errors found in each corpus were classified according to seventeen error types and their severities. Then the results of the translation quality analysis of C1 and C2 were compared to find out whether there was any improvement in the translation quality of C2 after the introduction of the translation commission. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were utilized in the study. The data analysis revealed that the introduction of the translation commission improved the quality of translation: there was a significant decrease in error rates in C2. Moreover, the error patterns in C1 and C2 were found to differ significantly: the translation errors in C1 were distributed uniformly over the error categories, while the majority of the errors in C2 belonged to the category of Fluency. The study finally discussed the findings in relation to the availability of a translation commission in the translation process within the framework of Skopos theory., Bu çalışmada, 2016 yılında çeviri siparişinin kullanılmaya başlamasıyla standart çevirilerinin kalitesinde bir artış olup olmadığını belirlemek üzere 2016 yılından önce ve 2016 yılından sonra İngilizceden Türkçeye çevrilmiş standartların çeviri kalitelerinin incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu amaçla, 2016 yılından önce inşaat alanında çevrilmiş standart metinleri arasından rastgele seçilen 10 standarttan oluşan Derlem 1 (D1) ile 2016 yılından sonra yine inşaat alanında çevrilmiş standart metinleri arasından rastgele seçilen 10 standarttan oluşan Derlem 2 (D2) Multidimensional Quality Metrics (MQM) (Lommel, Burchardt, & Uszkoreit, 2014, 2015) çeviri kalitesi değerlendirme modeline göre değerlendirilmiştir. Her bir derlemde bulunan çeviri hataları bu modelin on yedi farklı hata türüne ve önem derecesine göre sınıflandırılmıştır. Çeviri siparişinin 2016 yılında kullanılmaya başlamasından sonra D2’nin çeviri kalitesinde herhangi bir artış olup olmadığını tespit etmek amacıyla her iki derlemin çeviri kalitesi analizlerinin sonuçları karşılaştırılmıştır. Araştırmada hem nicel hem de nitel analiz yöntemleri kullanılmıştır. Veri analizi çeviri siparişinin kullanılmaya başlamasından sonra yapılan çevirilerin kalitesinin arttığını göstermiştir: D2’de hata oranlarında önemli bir azalma bulunmuştur. Ayrıca iki derlem arasındaki hata türleri önemli ölçüde farklılık göstermiştir: D1’deki çeviri hataları, hata kategorine istatistiksel olarak homojen bir şekilde dağılırken, D2’deki hataların büyük bir kısmı Akıcılık kategorisinde sabit kalmıştır. Son olarak, bu çalışmada tespit edilen sonuçlar çeviri sürecinde bir çeviri siparişinin bulunmasıyla ilişkili olarak Skopos kuramı çerçevesinde tartışılmıştır.

Although Turkey houses various immigrant groups, still not much is known about them. To this end, this study aims to initiate a report of a particular group of immigrants residing in Turkey. Specifically, we focus on the language use, preference and attitudes of Russian immigrants in Turkey in the belief that communication processes lie at the heart of the acculturation processes and reflect the degree to which immigrants adapt to the host society. The data have been collected from 109 Russians permanently residing in Turkey through a questionnaire and interviews. Our findings suggest that the Russian diaspora reveals a pure sample of integration to the Turkish host society and they can be defined as “bi-dominant,” that is, capable of using the two languages jointly depending on their needs and communicational contexts, and as “bi-cultural,” that is, acculturated into the Turkish host culture while at the same time retaining their Russian roots.

Journal of Child Language Acquisition and Development&nbsp

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This study aims to contribute to the discussion about the weaker language development by examining the effect of restricted input and use on the acquisition of the morphological category of aspect in Russian by a Turkish–Russian bilingual child in a Turkish-dominant environment. The main goal the study pursues is to investigate whether the reduced input and restricted use of Russian, mainly through communication with a Russian-speaking mother, is still sufficient for monolingual-like acquisition of Russian aspect. Design/methodology/approach: This study is a longitudinal case study. Data and analysis: The main source of data collection is video and audio recordings. Twenty-five recordings are available. They cover the period of between two years and 11 months (2;11) and 4;0. First, the data is examined in terms of the availability of perfective and imperfective forms and meanings they (these forms) express in the Russian language. Then, we look into whether the data of the bilingual child is marked with deviations from the monolingual Russian data in terms of error rates and patterns. Findings/conclusions: The findings of the study suggest that despite the reduced input, the acquisition of Russian aspect in the Turkish-dominant environment follows the same pattern as a monolingual acquisition does. Originality, and significance/implications: The study contributes to the discussion about the weaker language development in bilingual contexts and adds to the growing body of research looking at the development of a particular language in a variety of different contexts.

Aims and Objectives: Several studies suggest that third language acquisition (TLA) is marked with complex patterns of language interaction. However, it is not clear yet to what extent multilinguals activate each of their background languages in TLA, as various factors may trigger the activation of one of the previously learnt languages. This study aims to contribute to the discussion by examining the use of verbal morphology in third language (L3) Turkish of Russian–English–Turkish trilinguals. We investigate whether the use of verbal morphology in L3 Turkish of Russian–English–Turkish trilinguals differs from that of Turkish native speakers and in the case of a deviation, which of the background languages can account for it. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study is done within the framework of cross-linguistic influence. Data and Analysis: The data are collected from eight native speakers of Russian who are highly proficient in their L2 English and L3 Turkish, and use their three languages more or less equally every day. Fictional narratives are employed in the study as the tool for data collection. The use of finite and non-finite verbal forms in Turkish is compared with the baseline data coming from native speakers of Turkish. Findings/Conclusions: The results reveal that the trilingual participants mainly use the verbal morphology consistently with native speakers of Turkish; nonetheless, two deviations from the Turkish baseline stand out: tendency to use finite verbal forms in their noun clauses and inconsistency in the use of temporal-aspectual markers in finite verbal forms. The former can be attributed to the L1 and L2 interlanguage, while the latter can be attributed to the influence of particularly L1 Russian. Originality, and significance/Implications: Thus, the study provides evidence that the source of interference into L3 production is likely to occur due to the cross-linguistic influence from L1, which in turn might imply the predominant position of L1 over sequentially learnt languages at the morphosyntactic level in the language processing.